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Here's the results of my first sitting for my crane and peonies back piece with Richard Pinch in Aberdeen. I'm delighted with it. It's a bit peely still (sitting was last Thursday) but seems to be healing nicely. As you can see, he made a start on the shading, and there's colour to add too, and it's going to be extended downwards over my bum in time. - - - Updated - - - Ack, that's tiny! Oh well, you get the idea. And hello, everyone, by the way!

I have a friend who for the past week has been crying on his FB about mean girls and the last one that dissed him and how she could've been great blah blah Get over it and go meet some new women. Bitching about something that didn't go your way is just pissing into the wind.

Healed koi from last month

Or maybe the universe is just telling you this is not the guy to do this tattoo???

You are so high maintenance that it sounds like this tattooer dodged a bullet and should be sending you a thank you card.

Considering a number of the forum members have their Doctorate or are fairly close to getting one you may not get a sympathetic audience here. Most professionals wear long sleeves - I suggest you do too. My only optometrist concern is that they do their job.

Here is two updates for me. We are 12 hours in now (2 x 6 hour sessions). First one was all the linework and yesterday was nothing but shading and coloring, I can't wait to get it finished off so we can start on my other arm! Linkylinks Linework Instagram yesterdays session Instagram The artist is Dan Bursell, ex Westside Tattoo (Brisbane Australia). I'll be having him do my other arm too as I love his work.

So if I understand your story... You approached the guy with your tattoo idea. He said, "Yeah, cool." You didn't leave a deposit. You didn't make an appointment. You went to the shop and he traced your arm, showing he had every intention to do your tattoo. You didn't leave a deposit. You didn't make an appointment. He posted on Facebook that he had an opening and you wrote back. Maybe you were the first; maybe you were the hundredth. A lot of tattooers who post on FB and IG still want you to make appointments via email, phone, or in person. And when in fact you did email, lo and behold you got one. Too bad he had to reschedule. It happens. Maybe he had an out-of-town client who couldn't rebook, who knows? In any event, he offered you another slot, twenty-four hours later, after regular shop hours, meaning he went out of his way to accommodate you. Get a tattoo from the guy or don't. Some artists are worth waiting for. I haven't been getting tattooed for twenty years, but I do understand it's a unique business -- not like buying a T-shirt at the mall.

So go somewhere else.

I am an ABO Ceritfied Optician (well I was, I have let it laps)......I wear a lab coat but my neck and hands are tattooed and there is no way for me to cover those! It really depends.....can't you just wear long sleeved shirts and have them hidden? I work full time and have been an Optician for over 25 years with mostly visible tattoos.....and to be honest I really enjoy the doctors who are willing to accept me for who I am..... I guess the question here is.....do you want to be who you really are in life OR do you want to hide that and bow down to what you are perceiving is people who won;t accept you because you are tattooed? If wasn't easy for me......I was actually not promoted into management at Lenscrafters because of a silly tattoo I had on my index finger I got when I was fifteen......mind you I was able to train people for management.....LMFAO! I learned this from a former manager about 7 years ago..... BUT....you know what....having to work twice as hard to get where I am now made me twice as good as my peers! ;) I have run several optical departments in hospitals and managed a few stores and private practices..... I am working full time as an Optician at a VA Hospital by day now and working full time in the evenings and weekends as a tattoo apprentice....working my ass of to learn to tattoo the right way! Let me just say this.....I hope you will be strong and brave and be one of those doctors that keeps his tattoos BUT if you don't.......please don't ever put a dollar sign over giving an Optician who has visible tattoos a chance because you may find the best employee you could ever want to have if you give them that chance!

Not a fan of the idea

If you don't want to live with tattoos then get them removed. If you like having your tattoos or are worried about what other people think then wear a long sleeve shirt. You don't need a doctorate to figure that out.

My $0.02 as a business owner myself (in an unrelated professional field) I can say that I have miss-judged my workload, other clients (who already paid me) have canceled/screwed up my schedule, my dog gets sick, my car gets a flat, or whatever. Remember these are people too. I also don't hand hold any of my clients (some of which are very large companies or acronym government organizations. Sometimes it comes down to bad luck or simply miscommunication, or more often lack of communication. One thing I've found with business owner to business owner interactions is we all realize the other 20 hours a day, we have our other lives to live. That being said during work time nothing ever, ever runs 100% flawless. A good point was brought up if you dropped a deposit. While I never say it, a customer that didn't plop down some cash already is still a potential. Do you know how often clients engage with the 101 questions, then just drop off the face of the earth? Way more than I would like. A lot of those times I am left with a bunch of work I did with nothing to show for it. This is disappointing and also costs me money. While I was dicking around with Mr. 101 questions I could have been doing paid work for someone I know has the cash to back up the questions, and most of those times I am wondering why the hell did they just drop off the face of the earth. Did I insult them, did I miss a meeting? As mentioned by @BrianH I have also passively avoided clients I know are just dead ends or difficult to work with. I have a "client" that has so far asked 1000 questions, a million "ideas", etc but has yet to execute one. I no longer pick up the phone when he calls, ignore his voicemails and barely read his emails. He has wasted way too much of my time to bother responding. Even if he was to go ahead with paid work, I know his method of operation and it would be a time suck. Why do x10 the work for the same pay I get from clients that are no nonsense types who have reasonable expectations. This all being said, I don't know the whole story so I am simply putting down some of my own thought processes. So until I get the story from the shop/artists side, I am making no judgement calls.

Didn't get done today. I think one more session should finish the shading and get the color in. Feck was it getting tender. Has a lot more detail to it than I thought it would have, but I'm not complaining! And holy balls on cleaning it when we got home. I about came unglued a couple times and I can handle some shit. It is SO red and swollen hahahahaha oh Lordy the only thing you can do is laugh and wonder why you're so damn dumb to do such things to yourself. Got it done at Big Brain in Omaha, Dominic did mine, and Josh is working on JD's. I'll post his next. The peony on the inside of my arm is going to be so gorgeous-I wish it was on the outside! I better lose about 30lbs so I can just walk around and flex my arm all day to show it off. Will be adding to it, at least to curve around the frog (he's staying-I love frogs- but maybe he will be freshened up since he's kinda old) and meet the cherry blossom in the middle of the back of my neck. When that is done I will decide if I want to continue the theme around the cherry blossoms and down the other arm, or leave it and just add a few more blossoms and some wind on that arm instead. I never planned to go that low either, on the arm. I feel like a bad ass. - - - Updated - - - JD's. One more session on his, and then he will decide what he wants to do, to expand it to his elbow, and I think he will put something across the top of his back and connect it down the other arm to the elbow.

At this shop you go to, are you required to leave a deposit to make an appt/start a drawing? Personally I don't nor have I ever worked at a place where I would do any artwork, outside of what was doodled during a consultation, until a client has left a deposit.

Talk to the person. And like was mentioned, if you weren't in a book or written on a schedule, you didn't have an appointment. By the time he saw some Facebook comment, 48 people could have come into the shop, of whom several could have booked all of his time. Which could lead to offering you an after hours spot, so that you don't have to wait even longer to get tattooed. Perhaps the counter guy already wrote someone in there without him realizing it, which caused the issue to reschedule to Sunday. Mainly, talk to the person about your concerns, hang your angry customer hat at the door, and listen to his issues or concerns. Perhaps most importantly, IF YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR NAME IN A BOOK, YOU DON'T HAVE AN APPOINTMENT. And if you don't have an appointment, your drawing probably isn't getting worked on, unless it's large and involved.

Update: Had a bit of progress and I have a consultation with Alex Reinke tomorrow, have nearly everything planned out. One quick question, has anyone had a bodysuit lined out before any shading or colour? Thank you for the support guys/ladies.

Holy Moly! I finally did it. I converted the PAL DVD to NTSC so that North American, Canadian, Japanese and the rest of South American tat fans can watch the DVD in the comfort of not-in-front-of-a-computer - such a thing does exist. You can buy it from store.copperheadeditions.com Also a friendly reminder that you can stream a HD version at the Copperhead Editions site too - this version is just the documentary without bonus features but it's in HD so you can see all my shaky camera work! Thanks to everyone for the support and patience with this project.

You may be surprised. I work in a corporate environment & required to deliver information to large groups of Directors. I have this saying, "you gotta know your stuff & own your space" I'll be the one who determines how I'll be perceived. I notice peoples initial reaction when they see this dude walk in suited up from the neck to the fingers. I also notice their reaction when I walk out, which then has nothing to do with my tattoos. I chose to express my different outlook on life through tattoos, I ain't ever gonna let them make me doubt who I am. Faaark being ashamed.

OMG! Haha this is so funny! And a little bit sad, Im guessing from the people judging this, it will be a lot of horrible tattoos showing off! And more publicity to the wrong people. You are too sweet @TrixieFaux @hollyjoybee :o but sadly I don't think good tattoos would get me far in a show like this! Im not enough drama :rolleyes: hehe

So my friend sat for almost 4 hours to get her back lined. Sat like a rock. Totally tougher than me. It's on Yutaro's IG feed (@warriorism). And progress pics on my IG feed too (@dammitcabs).

Taki posted this TV segment today regarding the Perseverance Exhibit. It features Onizuka Tattoo's LA Horitaka (of the Horitoshi Family). His client does most of the talking though. There are cameos by Horitaka, and Jiro Yaguchi too. Tattoo Art Embodies Proud Japanese Tradition | NBC Southern California

i got this winged dragon from Steve Boltz at the BACOTTA back in 2010... top/back of my shoulder.

Heck yeah! I wish there were more providers around here w/tattoos. Or..well, any. Besides, if you have a Doctorate of something, I kinda think that means you iz smart. Who gives a shit if you have tattoos-you trump them b/c you are a Doc-tor. Professional people w/tattoos, in my eyes, serve to help beat down the stereotypes. The tattoos are a part of who you are and speak to who you are as a person.

Just a thought for the original poster - complaining about the behaviour of a tattooer on an open forum might not be the best idea, even if you've made both yourself and the tattooer/shop fairly anonymous. (As long as there are pictures of your tattoos online, linked to your username, you are somewhat identifiable.) It took me a while to realize this myself - like, if I plan on continuing to travel and get tattooed at various shops (which I do), does it help me or anyone else to grouse in a general way about, say, grumpy receptionists? It doesn't foster good will. I'm new to this whole thing, but in some ways it seems like a small/interconnected world. Going to try for kindness and discretion. Edit: I see that Slayer has offered similar advice. So again, what Slayer said.

Get some pizza at Lucali 575 Henry street. It's not too far away from Smith Street. NYC traffic sucks, so coming in early is a good idea. Which airport you flying into ?

I don't know where you live but I would totally use this to my advantage and market myself to other cool people. Can doctor's market themselves? haha

Thanks for the responses everyone. There is one earlier flight that i didn't wanna take because it's wayyy earlier (like having to take off more work and wake up early (the horror)). But i'm just gonna suck it up and take the earlier flight to be safe.

Got the ball rolling on making an official appointment with Henning during the convention. Only about 4 more months...

I think there is one that @dcostello made long ways back

My optometrist wears a lab coat/ drs coat. Most others wear a shirt and tie and slacks of some sort. Considering this how much are your face hands and neck tattooed?

When I read "Aaron Coleman Panther" I was looking for the "like" button even before I saw the picture. Great tattoo! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You've gotten a lot of input from people here and I think it comes down to a personal decision none of us can make for you. Removing myself from this particular situation (again I like to stay biased on one-person situations), I would say you have two courses of action: 1) You really, really want to get tattooed by a particular guy. You head down to the shop in person, schedule a date, cross your fingers. 2) You find out your styles don't mesh. You go back on the hunt for another artist that you want to try and establish a relationship with. When it comes down to it at the end of the day it is your money, time, body, etc. I think any further relief will not come from strangers on a forum but from your own personal actions. At LST we love to give guidance, but remember you will not always like the response. I will also offer some unsolicited advice and avoid "tattling" on someone. The world in which professionals live is a very small one in any industry. You do not want to be labeled as the difficult guy to work with. Complainers (even if valid), never get painted in a positive light, ever. Realistically even if this guy is out to screw you over, I highly doubt a phone call to his boss will change anything. Business owners are there everyday and know the people who work for them. If he really is that bad at holding onto clients, he won't last very long. If you don't want to do business with them I suggest you just stop contacting them, count your blessings that you didn't get involved with a guy you don't like and move on. From experience I can tell you I ate a hefty deposit on a guy I didn't mesh with at all. I chalked it up to a learning experience, and I only ever mentioned it to another tattooer because they asked. From what I heard, he wasn't allowed back at the shop and the shop gave me a free hour to make up for it, against my will (wasn't their fault).

"The last thing I want is a patient to come in, see my tattoos, think I am uneducated and irresponsible..." I don't have much interest in perpetuating stereotypes. The best way to attract clients would be to be very a very good doctor. Until you grow a reliable, stable, practice, wear long sleeves.

No one likes a tattletale. Say something to the tattooer if you feel like it. Be prepared to not getting the response you want to hear, even though I do hope you get that. This all sounds like a bad Yelp review.

Ha! Well, I did think it was a joke at first...but, then again America's Next Top Model is (was?) really successful, so of course they are doing this. Never heard of those magazines either, but Hellenbrand is cool! Ok, I'm sure this is too cheesy for her, but @Eilin should go on this show. She'd win. She's gorgeous and she has the best tattoos!

I can tell you I've been accidentally double-booked, dates forgotten, etc, in the past. I also generally always get tattooed after hours, some tattooers just like that for whatever reason. I actually like it because the shop is different after hours.

I hate outlining. Hate. It. Hate. Hate.

New panther from Aaron Coleman, mostly healed.

My husband is booked with Roxx in 2015 for a big chest-piece (his first tattoo), which means I'll be returning to CA for try #2 with Horitomo.

I have just started my back piece (with Richard Pinch in Aberdeen, Scotland) and I really wish I'd read this thread before I went! I booked an all day sitting, against the advice of Richard's receptionist, because I've done all-day sittings before on my arms and I thought it would be fine. It was not fine. 3 hours in, when Richard was lining over my ribs, the room started to spin, I broke out in a sweat like someone had turned on a tap, and I thought it was goodnight vienna. Head between knees, breathe, breathe, bit of chocolate, drink of water, breathe, breathe. We started again after 10 minutes but I never felt quite right after that. Still feel a bit sick this morning. Just made it to 7 hours, though, and I can't believe what he managed to get done in that time - he just does not stop. Before we started, he said I could take as many breaks as I wanted, and I said breezily, "oh, I'll just take a break when you do". How he laughed! I've no pictures yet but I'm ecstatic with how it's looking so far - is a crane, wings outstretched, flanked by two big leafy peonies. I'm going to get it extended downwards over my bum but it will be three hour max sessions for me from now on. I'm still not sure quite what happened with the near-faint episode: I've never got close to that before. Combination of the pain, and low blood sugar, and probably holding my breath I think. There weren't any easy bits either - it just felt like being drilled! Up there with childbirth in my own personal pain index, no question All that said I feel totally elated today.

Just booked with R.H. Wells at the Montreal convention in September.

Heavy blue session. Not a great pic, but you get the idea. From Dana's instagram. Also, @Bunny Switchblade it was a pleasure to meet you and your husband yesterday. Again, sorry I wasn't a great conversationalist, I thought I'd be doing better off than how I really was!

Thanks! It's my second one from Eli. I have one from Bert too. Someday I want to get tattooed by Boltz and Santoro too. - - - Updated - - - Panther by Bert Krak. Done at SSTP June 2012. My third tattoo ever.

Bert 2012.

Not the greatest photo, but I got this from Eli in 2011:

@irezumi I got you buddy Eli, 2012 Sorry for all the leg y'all. I ran to the bathroom and took this photo real quick.

Bert.......2010(ish) Wasn't done at Smith Street though......

I know more of you out there have stuff from here. No need to be stingy. Bert, 2009

Once again everything Slayer just said