Leaderboard

Back-piece finished a few weeks ago. Valerie Vargas, Frith Street Tattoo, London

The votes have been counted, and the winner of this month's contest is.... @TrixieFaux with her gorgeous sleeve from Kim Saigh. Congrats!! Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address. Thanks to everyone for your submissions! New contest will be up soon.

2nd tattoo completed this past friday by brian bruno, richmond, va Sorry for the not-so-good phone picture quality...

It's been six weeks since the last session, but today we finally got to continue on my back. At first we just wanted to do the colouring of the Kitsune, but we even managed to put all the blue in the coat. All this was done 4 hours (of agony :) ).

Yay, thank you! While there weren't a ton of entries this month it was still tough competition with amazing tattoos. I love my tattoo so much and I'm so happy my name can now say "Contest Winner" under it. :D

Whilst I understand where you are coming from, I can't help but feel that there are more similarities than you'd think. I am a bartender, I'm not a college kid working in a bar for some extra cash or someone who can't find any other form of employment. This is the profession that will feed my family someday, and I take my work seriously. When you go into a bar and order an Old Fashioned, your not just buying a drink, your buying a memory and an experience- you should be treated with attention, care and respect. Tipping is a recognition that you have received that respect, if your bartender doesn't do this then you shouldn't tip him. He needs to learn. I don't think it really matters if you run food or make beautiful tattoos for a living, you tip because you appreciate the service you've received. I always tip my tattooer and I'm super pleased to learn that some of that tip will make its way to the front desk, because a good tattoo shop, like a good bar is a rare and wonderful thing and i can imagine it takes a hell of a lot of work to get right.

Latest (unfinished) addition to my back. Badly bruised, especially under my arm where you can't see. We couldn't finish the details, and the scales are barely started. He said my skin was done for the night. I hate to put up something so incomplete, but it's going to be forever before the last layers go on anything and I'm impatient!

This isn't necessarily awful advice. There is an aftercare school of thought that if you keep a tattoo clean and avoid picking, abrasion etc then it will heal fine. I haven't always used this method but when I have it hasn't caused any problems in the long term although heavier dryness or scabbing can be a feature. Applying product of one kind or another can relieve a feeling of dryness / stretching and in some cases prevent heavy scabbing, but the flipside is some people invariably over-apply at first. A secondary argument is that every time you handle the tattoo and apply something there could be an issue if your hands aren't clean. Just keeping it to washing eliminated a lot of fingering. If the tattoo really healed that badly then maybe the bigger issue is the ability of the artist versus the aftercare. If (if!) he was a complete butcher then no choice of aftercare would salvage it. His response to you as quoted is undoubtedly poor. Vote with your feet and go elsewhere for a good cover-up.

Just imagine how awesome this t-shirt would look on you: If you win the LST Tattoo of the Month contest it will be yours for Free Free Free Free Free Free (or if you don't win you can always order one here: LST Store | Last Sparrow Tattoo) The rules: The tattoo picture that gets posted in this thread for June 2014 with the most 'likes' for the month wins! The contest starts on the first of the month and ends on the last day of the month. Your tattoo picture must be posted in this thread (both tattooers and tattoo customers can win) in order to qualify. Include with your photo/post...tattoo artist name & tattoo shop. You MUST be the one who has the tattoo or did the tattoo. You can 'like' as many tattoos as you want. It can be a finished or in progress tattoo. You cannot enter the same tattoo in more than one contest.

here's another little tid bit of my recent session with Grime last Wednesday...

I just grabbed one of the last spots with Chad K. in 2 weeks after a lot of dithering. Now I'm going to make a superfluous post on here because I'm happy about it. On one of my scheduled days off, no less. Thanks for the final nudge, @Graeme.

dragons on the feets scheduled in 2 weeks.

I've been to two well regarded London studios recently (Family Business and Black Garden). Being English, I felt terribly awkward about the whole tipping thing but wanted to express my appreciation for what I consider to have been great experiences all round. Both times I asked at the desk on my way out and received the same answer: not expected but appreciated. I also asked how much and was told that most people don't tip at all so anything is great, they gave me a suggested range and I went with the upper limit of that range (because I'm in a position to do so, but I didn't feel it was expected). It wasn't a percentage, they gave me a range regardless of total tattoo cost. I hadn't considered the shop folk, but now I've read that I'm doubly glad that I tipped as much as I could. In both shops they were fantastic. Anyway, hope that helps a bit when people are trying to decide whether to tip or not in the UK.

I just wanna give you the heads-up that talking about specific $ amounts here is in kind of poor taste and discouraged. I mean, how much IS a tattoo worth to you? How much is that tattooers service worth to you? A tip is a sign of appreciation for the service above and beyond the agreed upon price. When you tip your artist you are also tipping the front desk as well; that person gets tipped out by the artists at the end of the day. That person has a hard and dirty job; no matter what the hourly wage is they are still in an extemely high-risk profession. Tipping in general in the states is a bigger deal than you might think. Do you know that servers/waiters/waitresses here make WAY less than minimum wage? Employers can get away with paying one as little as $2.13 an hour. That means when you don't tip that person you really fucked up their day. I had more than a few jobs before I started tattooing and being a server was one of them for about 2 years. I know what a good tip means; that 1 person or table made all the difference that day/shift. No, your tattooer isn't in that same boat as a server but good client behavior also = good customer behavior in the outside-the-shop world as well. I haven't read much more than 1 or 2 pages in this entire thread so if all of this was said somewhere previously then you can give me the late pass. When a client gives me a tip of any amount these days I don't care how much it is, I'm just happy to see how stoked they are. Even broke-ass college students will make a point to do it. I'm glad to see that you re-considered doing it from now on. - - - Updated - - - Also wanted to say that what you got from your Smith St visits are fucking bad-ass.

I tried a dry heal a couple of times and they healed up perfectly fine. Just itchy as hell for me, more so than other heals. I still prefer what I've found works best for me.

I was about to say thats a great spot for dragons, but who am I kidding-- anywhere is a great place for dragons.

I'd go but I refuse to pay $40 for one day plus a mysterious $6 fee. I understand there's a lot going on for your money, I guess it's just not my scene and I'd rather support tattooing than a bunch of bands I don't care about and a bunch of unfinished 'show cars'... I'm not trying to shit on your parade, it'll be a fun time, just not my thing I guess. If you want to go to a real tattoo convention hit up the SFO convention put on by State of Grace in October...

I got this last night from Dave Regan while he is guesting at Classic Electric Tattoo in Frederick, Maryland. Beautiful shop, and town. I had just met Dave, but it felt like I was getting tattooed by an old friend. Fun times all around. Photo pilfered from Dave's instagram account. (@dutchraven)

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

I like the ideas here. I feel that where I love now many people EXPECT to be tipped for a job being done regardless of their performance. This has actually made me want to tip People way more when I recognize they are personalizing the experience. I've been putting thought into how to tip for a large tattoo, especially now considering what irezumi said about it contributing to the shop guys as well.

I must've missed a post here, and thank you.*edited thoughtless post

Did shoulder to shoulder, I thought we would have more progress but my right shoulder took a lot of black. Used a 21 (?) on me I'm assuming it's 21 needles. Pain wasn't awful But I am red this morning.

If it's an occult / Twin Peaks owl then normal rules of thumb do not apply.

What a dick. Well, there are several philosophies about healing a tattoo, and looks like this one didn't work for you. Sucks. Ask around here - you'll get recommendations for better artists. Is a cover-up a possibility?

I am sooo bruised and still leaking a lot. Sides up to the armpit are just can't take the abuse. There will be no nice shiny "after" pictures of this one.

Thanks! I figured it had to do with enlightenment or a Buddhist philosophy or some such. I agree though, I think there's something funny about some of what the descriptions say. There are a few contradictions I think. I'm sure there are more than a few depictions on people too, where even the artist didn't really know what it represented and mixed elements up unintentionally and just added it in because they'd seen it somewhere and thought it was cool. Not that it would bother most. It really just bugs me because I like learning about the stories and little details like that and it drives me nuts not understanding.

Not the first gougetheeyes... I'm not covered and smothered by a long shot, nor am I a collector, but I have an older Grime and J. Rassier, and a bunch from a D. Snodgrass. All old news, but just recently getting back into the excitement of things.

My toddler dropped a hardback book on my three day old foot tattoo (This moose belongs to me, Oliver Jeffers. A whimsical tale of a boy,his moose, and whether we ever truly own anything.) My toddler now knows how to say "Oh shit shit shit".

Yeah me too. I'm doing a guest spot in Bmore this summer so that should give me a chance to go up to NY and see that. - - - Updated - - - Skulls | California Academy of Sciences May 16th to November 30th. If any of you in SF decide not to see this I'm gonna slap you when we meet in real life. I'm gonna be making a visit later this year specifically to see this and bring a sketchbook. Tomorrow the admission is free.

@polliwog the owls are not what they seem. So do it!

I've been seriously thinking about getting a Chad Koeplinger flash illustration of an owl with a flaming head. I saw it while I was getting tattooed in Ohio and immediately wanted it tattooed on me but felt conflicted because, well, it's an owl. But it's an owl with fire...

For what it's worth I feel no animosity towards panthers. My thought process when thusly: "What's the toughest thing I could possibly get, so everyone can see how nails I am?" "I know, A Panther" "Wait, with a fucking dagger through it" and then that turned out to be too much tough for me to handle, so there's a butterfly as well: Seriously though, it looks cool. What more reason would you like?

Because the easiest way to make a tattoo tougher is to put a dagger in it!

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

My Kim Saigh arm is healed. Why is it so hard to get good pics? There are 5 shots here and still no full view of the inner bicep rose. Oh well. Good enough!

Well, that concludes the contest for this month :D

Congratulations @TrixieFaux, again, such a beautiful sleeve!

@irezumi I agree. I guess each of us has to find our own method. And you're right. Many people simply wont listen. I teach english and history. I'm a professional writer. I earn my keep via teaching and writing. I spend hours trying to get my students to follow certain, basic steps, and invariably many chose to ignore me - then they wonder why they were not successful. You can lead a horse to water, right?

I was bored, and I Googled "forehead koi tattoo." The Tale of the Carp Transforming to A Dragon - General Chinese Culture - China History Forum, Chinese History Forum : Koi Fish Legend?? TattooNOW : I'm not really convinced by either of these, although I bet the second one is closer. It's probably related to the Buddhist concept of the third eye. I see this Buddha Eyes (Wisdom Eyes) Symbol - ReligionFacts used in Jondix's work a lot. I've seen similar symbols in Japanese tattoos.

Love this show!

Starting my back on the 14:th of June (!!!) Very stoked and nervous, such a commitment.

I also have my dogs exact paw print on the top of my foot. It's still the tattoo that gets noticed the most. I don't regret getting a "meaningful" tattoo at all since I got it before he passed away, so it was nice to have right after the initial loss.

things shot full of arrows Well we have a thread about arrows but it's not linking.

@Tesseracts This is my leg. Arrows are tough.

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

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.

Been a while, My latest paints. Really like this one.

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

@scubaron I can't even with that octopus! Yoni is so fucking good!

I don't know if this is really "geeky" or not .....It's my "Analog Bunny" tattoo! Television (doesn't look as much like one as it should) with "rabbit ears" and the date that the US went totally digital with television and did away with the old analog system!