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i hate hearing tattooers being referred to as 'up and coming'. it's a toxic description that makes you treat them as such. Treat him as the tattooer that he is, and if you dont like how he's treating you, walk away. don't feel like you have to get tattooed by him in order to make sure you get there before he blows up big. Ive heard this same exact scenario so many times...and like i said, referring to anyone as up and coming will make you treat them differently and theyll pick up on it, and possibly take advantage. if hes being so dismissive thats also his fault, or he might truely have just double booked himself. i find managing booking appts online and thru the shop simultaneously means fuck ups happen. cool down, then maybe go back and have a chat about booking in and leaving a deposit.

Been a while but I'm slapping this up. War Elephant by Destroy Troy out of Kansas City/Timeless Tattoo. http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/gallery/member/16793-war-elephant.html&imageuser=4428

Got this little guy from Nikki "Balls" Lugo at Tattoo Paradise over the weekend. She's awesome!

Apologies. Can't get a better wrap around pic myself at present so stolen from her blog. Drawn on Eagle Vs Snake piece by the amazingly talented Valerie Vargas, Frith Street Tattoo, London.

Second session on my thigh plus my foot in 45 minutes time. I'm really nervous :-( I really shouldn't have searched for threads on feet during the journey here, ignorance was bliss ;-) Sent from my GT-I8190N using Tapatalk

For whatever reason, if I'm not comfortable with an artist, I won't have them tattoo me. I had something small done recently at a new shop and while the tattoo itself was satisfactory, I wasn't comfortable how the artist conducted himself and how he spoke of other artists that had done work on me in the past. So I won't be going back there. Rob

This is happening. That beer is Bee Tea from Night Shift. I don't usually go for spiced beers, but this is nice. Ignore my big stupid face; drinking it from a Wonder Woman tumbler makes it better

You sent me off on a Quest for Knowledge (LOL!) and I'll be ordering some of this stuff for a couple reasons: 1) Zinc Oxide is the only ingredient that is broad spectrum for UVA and UVB (and UVC). 2) It doesn't contain any of the ingredients that can be irritants or are not recommended for children (Bad stuff = para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and benzephenones like dioxybenzone, oxybenzone, or sulisobenzone). (<--- I'll be returning the Bullfrog for Kids that I just bought because it contains some of these ingredients.) 3) Contains no ingredients that are shown to contribute to coral bleaching!!! (Bad stuff = oxybenzone, butylparaben, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4MBC)) This link has descriptions and the study reference, and statements from National Park Service, National Geographic and Scuba Diving Life: Coral Reef Safe Sunscreen Information - Badger This link includes a nice chart of all FDA approved ingredients and their effectiveness for UBA and UVB (page 4). Great reference for reading labels. http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/doc/sunscreen.pdf Thanks @beez for the recommendation.

Just got this Indonesian mask by Anderson Luna, in progress. 2nd session in 2 weeks.

Face to face is the only way to initiate any rapport.

I had the final session on my back Saturday, and I'm pretty much out of room so no more big tattoos for me. So now I'm at the stage of leaving red and green dead skin flakes everywhere like some sort of gross Hansel and Gretel, and... I'm weirdly sentimental about it! As if having a square foot of your skin being annoying is something to miss. On the other hand, I will never feel nostalgic for the two nights I couldn't sleep because both cheeks and both hips were sore. It was a fun session.

Hey guys, here's an article about SPF. I remembered reading somewhere that there is really not a lot of difference between SPF 50 & 100. Here's an article - just a single one without any extra links, sorry - about that. Please consider it a jumping off point and not the final word. SPF 100 Sunblock | Mark's Daily Apple Also I believe zinc oxide and titanium oxide are the best ingredients to look for in in sunscreens, both providing barrier protection. Also I'm gonna get some non nano zinc and mix it with some jojoba or something and see if I can't make my own! I'll update you guys, unless someone gets there first.

Spiced beers. Interesting. Nice Wonder Woman cup. I got a Superman mug. We could play drunken super heroes ;) This South Australian beer is superb.

Just got back from a three-day silent Buddhist meditation retreat with Noah Levine and Against the Stream in Joshua Tree. Hard to be away from @TrixieFaux and the little one, but it was beautiful and challenging and (hopefully) life-changing. There was a lot of high-quality tattooage on display -- I call them Tatuddhists -- but of course I couldn't ask anyone, "Where'd you get your work?" Noah himself is pretty much covered with work from @Scott Sylvia and I think @Juan Puente, Eddy Deutsche and some other dudes. Funny how I kind of stumbled upon ATS. 1) At a kids' birthday party, a friend introduced @TrixieFaux to this other mom and was like, "You have tattoos, she has tattoos, you guys should be friends!" As if -- but it turned out she was pretty cool and also Noah's wife. 2) A few days later, we went to a Jondix art show here in L.A. (where we met @ian among others) that just happened to be at the center. I don't believe in all that hippie shit but for sure the universe was trying to tell me something. Anyway if you happen to be in SoCal check 'em out Against The Stream Buddhist Meditation Society but they're also opening one in San Fran and in NYC there's Dharma Punx which I plan to check out when I'm there next month.

While I had originally planned to work on my back today, we ended up filling in a few spots on my legs. The tattoos are from Dan Higgs' flash and were made by Tim Pausinger at The Pearl in Toronto. Sigh. Sideways pic.

I was lucky to catch this angry panther on my inner bicep from Tony Hundahl when he visited Oslo last week :D

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Savannah? I love them! - - - Updated - - - We just got a puppy over the weekend to add to our 5 cats.

Wow! Since the last time I heard him speak he got a gnarly Hooper-style mandala piece covering his whole head. Really hope he'll be there when I'm in NYC next month.

I'd go with taking off Friday and having a three day weekend for sure. The longer amount of time where you wouldn't be busy on your feet the better. I made sure that I had a three day weekend minimum on my last foot and it helped a ton. You could get both feet tattooed just to be done with it but I don't think that would be too good of an idea. Having at least one good foot allows you to put more weight on that one while walking so that your able to baby the other foot which also helps. As far as the healing goes the 2nd time around I was a bit more diligent in staying off my feet and keeping the swelling down which helped with the healing. I wrapped my foot in plastic when I went to bed and whenever I had to wear shoes. It healed extremely well and I had virtually no scabbing. I was shocked considering my first foot tattoo was nothing but a pain in the a$$. Scabs and swelling for more then a week and a few spots that need to be touched up.

I like California Baby a lot, really thick white-out stuff.

When my wife got her foot done, she was laughing at a friend who had said how shitty it was. She thought he was referring to the actual pain while getting tattooed. She realized the next day how crappy the healing was. She wishes she'd done both at once (like her best friend did) to just get all of the healing/swelling/limping done at once. Of course, she is glad she has her other foot free for a Monmon cat. Follow the tips from everyone above and you'll be fine. Hell, I had a foot injury for the better part of the last year, and I'm regretting not getting mine tattooed while I wasn't running six days a week. I may actually get them done a few days after my next marathon. I figure I'll be limping anyway, so why not?

Dharma Punx is great! I believe they have a podcast, as well. I keep forgetting to look into it.

Oh, man. John Gloyne's stuff is awesome! Can't wait to see some pics.

Such nice folks on here! Oh no way, well not yet at least. For now top of the shoulders to just above my waistline. I'm going to John Gloyne @ Hot Stuff tattoos in Asheville, NC this weekend for the first session. Will def post up progress pics as it comes along; I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions during the healing process. Yeah, I'm a little nervous about the pain, but mostly it's ALL I can think about everyday. I'm so excited to finally get started.

I was visiting my Friend in His new tattoo shop in the small toen of Zwolle, Holland. I saw some old flash he had laying around. I just love rosés so i Told him i Would love To have it. So he gave it To me day Well spent (otherwise i Would be at home just playing watchdogs) Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met behulp van Tapatalk

@DJDeepFried That sounds awesome. I'd love to do something like that. I spent a great deal of time (daily) doing meditation at a local Buddhist center in the city where I did my MA. It was such a gruelling and unpleasant process that I needed some way to manage the stress. Meditation was a brilliant way to work things out. I lost the habit when I moved back to Toronto, but I'm seriously thinking about finding a place here and starting up again.

.::The Original Firefly ::. Ice tea flavored vodka. Some like it with lemonade; I like it on the rocks with water. Perfect summer drink. There are a few other brands jumping on the bandwagon, but imitators IMO.

Now that there's a beautiful tattoo @Leemac74! Valerie is amazing.

Ahhh, good ol Neutrogena! A few years ago my friends temporarily nicknamed me "SPF 100", when I brought a bottle of Neutrogena spf100+, with us on a wedding/vacation to Maui. I was the only one to bring sunblock and also the only one who didn't bring board shorts. I have an extreme distaste for direct sunlight and tanning. I'm paranoid of turning into a walking handbag. ;-)

5. This will be the last one for a while. My wife asked what does "a while" mean ?:)

Since Horitomo posted my arms on Instagram I thought I should share them here. All shading is done. Next session color begins!

I know you said no shunga, but get a shunga tattoo! Or a crab.

Dan Sinnes, October, in Luxembourg. My wife for sure and me if there's time! No shunga... Maybe a spider but I feel like everyone has got one of those from him!

@Tesseracts great tattoo! do you have your 3rd tattoo planned yet?

Just got this a couple hours ago by Noah Moore at the Torchbearer. :D

So go somewhere else.

Maybe you are a difficult customer and he is passively avoiding you.

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.

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.

Sounds like he just wants to fuck you over and get your money and go party! Or.. sounds like he's nervous about doing a sizable tattoo and has been getting some guidance on the drawing along the way and maybe chose a time that his mentor is free and can give him a little coaching. If he's an apprentice (or still super green) he may be sweating it. I doubt it's some grand, money-making scheme. If you like the kid's work, work with him. Also, sometimes you have to get tattooed on days that aren't 100% convenient.

I still can't get a handle on what a Hipster is. Maybe the generation gap lets me down. Are we talking motherfuckers who change their style depending what the current trend is? In Australia we have a simple term for them types. "Wankers".

These are healed from Craig Boxcar Chaizen and Josh Adams, respectively, done around a month ago. I suck at pictures and any wonkiness is from the position i had to contort myself into to take the shot.

If there's one LST newcomer poster that I hate, it's the one who pontificates about tattooing while never reading any of the most important threads and posts. That guy is a dick, and I really think they just don't give a shit about keeping this forum true to its original intent, which is discussion of, as @Graeme put it, getting good tattoos. It's fucking simple, people.

Can you please tell me how to fix my obviously failing reading comprehension because I somehow didn't manage to understand that you meant one specific individual when you wrote that you find it "incredulous that most girls obsess over their hairdressers/nail salons to the point of following them like groupies from shop to shop, have their phone # in their phones and damn sure know to ask for "Ramon's" next available day. I bet you they'll drop hundreds on a Louis-Vuitton bag but will squawk of the same for a Theresa Sharpe piece." Go fuck yourself, mouthbreather.

I kind of hate you right now. Those are two things I've always wanted, but ran out of room for. Who's doing them? As for my feet, I got a daruma and Oiwa (cool legend about her, by the way) by Bill and Junii Salmon: