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A bunch of people on here have probably seen this all ready but here is what Rudy Fritsch and Iain Mullen did to my back today, took approximatively 2 hours all in all I have a new found respect for people with back tattoos as of this session. Shit is brutal! Only a small portion of it felt all right. I had to struggle really hard at times. I was trying to surf the balance between consciously being there with the agony and discomfort and zoning out and into my head as much as possible. Divine moments of pain, that's what I kept thinking, while also trying to breath slow and stable. Getting tattooed by two tattooers working simultaneously is a good idea though. It's only about 1,568 as painful as getting hit with only one machine but it's about twice as quick! Most of the time the machine working at the most tender spot would be my focus and the other one was mostly irritating. You do get some crazy synergies and some combination of spots gives you new concepts of what pain can feel like. Recommended! Also very happy with the result so far, of course, hardly any need to say that right? Very rememberable afternoon at Imperial Tattoo in Stockholm

Oh my goodness, how do you people take such nice photos of yourselves?! I've contorted myself into the most ridiculous poses and these are the best I can do. So apologies for TERRIBLE photos in advance. I tried, I really did. Anyway, so here are some healed pics of my arm. I've got myself another appointment with the same artist next week. I'm thinking that I would like him to add more flowers, probably pink peonies. He does amazing flowers, and I am more than happy to let him just draw them on as he thinks best. I was thinking that I'd like him to go up onto my shoulder a bit more at the back, and then underneath my arm and maybe a bit lower down but not too far (down to the elbow). But now I'm excited and want to talk about it and started thinking that maybe I should ask you, oh wise LSTers, if you had any other ideas that I might want to consider? Is this a good idea? Something else? Different layout? I want to make sure that I've considered all options, as I never intended on getting this tattoo on my arm at all, so haven't really had much time to think it all through! I have an accidental cohesive arm tattoo :D

yesterday i got this from philipp ohme in dortmund, germany. unintentionally i get tattooed on the weirdest dates: 11-11-11, 12-12-12. 11-12-13 (european standard) & yesterday, friday, 13th.

My horse head done last month by the super lovely Emily Rose Murray. Still a bit dry and shiny.

I was in my last year of high school and really wanted a tattoo, I went to a shop and made an appointment for after my 18th birthday. I even got birthday money to go towards my tattoo. I was (is) very much into art, and particularly surrealism. So I got the elephants from "Les Elephants" by Salvador Dali as I had a large print on my wall for years and it's my favourite painting of his. It cracks me up as apparently it's a (relatively) popular tattoo, but I don't care. I still like it, and I especially like how it's framed by my sleeves. It was done by Scott Veldhoen at Eternal Image Tattoo in Calgary (Canada). First photo is after I got them done in 2003 (I was doing hair modelling for a hairdresser pal hence the cheesy photo) Second photo is at my wedding in 2011

For heavily tattooed, see @Mick Weder. :D

My newest tattoo, I sat 5 hours for it last Saturday, and this pic is from the next day. I commissioned the art from my favorite artist (Hannah Yata) and had the tattoo done by Dana Krieg at Pop's Tattoo Emporium in Kingston, NY. I absolutely adore it!! (Although the current healing phase is driving me crazy)

That's a lovely tattoo, @growltiger! I'd suggest adding more peonies and then bringing it all together with a traditional Japanese-style black & gray background (wind bars, waves, clouds, etc.) for a more cohesive look.

He does really nice birds. I want one. Your body is a canvas Also, this landscape thing is cool.

I suggest turning it into a half sleeve and back piece.... inner arm is a good place to start that journey.

Thank you @Fala, @Pugilist, @Euchlid, @MadeIndelible, @Breakme - Yesterday was a tough day - she was pretty knocked out. I had hard food and 6 cans of wet food to tempt her. Tuna juice out of the can got 2 paws up. It just sucks seeing her dragging herself to the litterbox, but she was a *good girl* in the potty department. This morning she looks noticeably better - some brighter eyes, and she was sitting by the window. Yay kitteh!

Best of luck for your kiki! She is beautiful and would definitely make a beautiful monmon cat :) - - - Updated - - - This is Hugues (pronounced oog). We mostly call her oogie, she's a 4 year old Frenchie and the first dog for myself, as well as my husband. She is rad, except for her breath which always smells like a bag of rotting anuses. Thankfully her cute face makes up for it. I'm sure someday I'll get a tattoo of her, I just don't know what.

But are you going to get a '13', or are you going to go into full rebel mode and do a '15' :p

I'm going to have to post on the relationships and tattoos thread about how my wife doesn't support me getting tattoos because she won't bring me delicious, delicious pata negra while I'm confined to a hotel bed because I've hobbled myself by getting my knees blasted while on vacation.

I never thought it would come to this, but @Graeme: it's tattoos or ham. You can't have both.

Chad did most of my shin in under two hours which wasn't too bad, though I remember thinking at the time that numbness is a really wonderful thing. Me and @Pugilist are going to Barcelona and I'm hoping to get tattooed by El Monga or one of the other Aloha guys. If it happens I'll just pick something off the wall and stick it on my legs, but I was wondering if one of those bat heads or something similar on the knee was not a completely idiotic option.

Finally got around to finishing my knee with Koeplinger. It sucked, so I'm kinda dreading the other one. If I were you I'd wait @Graeme. Walking a lot can be a challenge, at least the first couple days after.

I'm definitely not heavily tattooed, but I have more work than average, and am in the process of getting quite a bit more. My girlfriend has no tattoos, nor does she plan on getting one - and is both supportive and excited about my tattoos - she encourages me to get more and is really into the art aspect. From her perspective she thinks they're hot and that I need more. From my perspective I don't care so much about whether or not she gets any done - if she gets work, great and I'll support it. If she doesn't it changes nothing.

My husband and I had been married for a few years when he asked me if I would consider getting a tattoo. He said that he found tattoos on women very attractive and sexy, and after a lot of thought I decided to get one. I will spare the decision-making details now since it i already posted them here: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/546-relationships-tattoos-page32.html#post72275 I decided I wanted a peony on the front of my hip. Although I was happy to get the tattoo, I considered it very private. I was uncomfortable about getting anything that might show, so I picked a location where it would never be visible in public (accept maybe in the locker room at the gym, where I planned, of course, to go to great lengths and convolutions to keep it covered). The day arrived and I showed the artist my idea. He suggested adding some background to peony - some cherry blossoms, foliage, and decorative elements to give it a Japanese style. That made it much bigger than I had planned - It would be about 4" x 6", which I thought was gigantic at the time! I almost said no because I wanted to keep it small, but it did look much better with the added portions so I said, "Go for it." Part of it was over a bone, and the artist warned me that it might be more painful in that area. I remember staring intensely at the needle as he was ready to make the first line, and I prepared for the feeling of the needle because I wanted to have a vivid memory of the moment that my skin was changed forever. The needle first touched in a soft area, and the pain was not as bad as I expected, and as he worked for the first few minutes, I thought that this was going to be pretty easy. Then he started working over a bone, and OW! The pain was indeed pretty intense there. But except for the flashes of pain over the bone, the experience was not that bad. It took about an hour to complete, maybe longer, but I'm really not sure how long it took because I was concentrating so much on what the artist was doing. This was going to be my only tattoo and I saw it as a pretty important life event, so I wanted to mentally absorb every aspect of the experience. About halfway through the session, even the pain over the bone started to melt away, and I started to feel a little euphoric, and I was almost enjoying the feeling. As I watched him add the color, the tattoo began to take a recognizable form, and I started to realize that it was very beautiful - even more so than I had ever imagined. I was glad that we made it bigger than I originally planned. It started to hit me - "It's part of me. I'm tattooed, There's no turning back." I was so glad I had decided to get it - I was almost giddy. When he finished I looked in the mirror, and I was nearly speechless. I remember saying "Oh Wow...Oh Wow! Its so beautiful!" over and over. I loved it, and I was so proud of myself! Afterwards we went to a restaurant and and as we ate, I was floating. I was just babbling on and on about how much I loved it, how happy I was that I decided to get it, and how glad I was that he had suggested it, and how pretty it was, and how realistic it looked, and how the pain really wasn't that bad, and how I liked the colors, and how I wondered how the girls at the gym would react, and on, and on, and on... finally when I ran out of breath and words, I blurted out, "I want to get another one!" That was how I got started! At the beginning of that day I thought I was getting my first and only tattoo. I could have never imagined that I would someday have half sleeves and several tattoos. I'm at eight and counting, and have big plans for much more coverage.

Boy needs to plan ahead. But hey, he should fit in around here because he's got Ok, so that was a waste of 10 minutes of my life.

Full rebel 15, obviously!

Ha! I guess that’s part of the problem. There ARE so many options. Let’s not even start my munewari vs. chest piece/torso decision process. My back piece is of a historical Warlord from the 1500s. I once remarked to Jill Bonny, the artist I go to, that if I had chosen a specific mythological story, it would have been easy to figure out what else could work to pair with it. Got “Benkei” on my back, then “Yoshitsune” would be a natural pairing on the front, right? She in turn pointed out that by not doing so I actually freed myself to pick pretty much from everything. I did talk with Jill though. I originally wanted *2 other specific samurai , munewari style, since the figure on my back is popularly known as the first of a trio who consolidated the lands under 1 rule. She didn’t dig it. She likes the image of Nobunaga to stand strong on its own, rather than have other samurai dilute it. Makes sense but I still have that idea stuck in my head to some degree. She mentioned I did have a theme going for me. I have water elements on my lower body, and as you move up transitions to earth, then air elements. Also I have a “real life” theme going on with the back portion of my body. I have a koi on the back of my right leg. Namakubi on my back thighs and bum, and Oda Nobunaga on my back. She also pointed out I have “mythological” stuff on my arms so why not have the back/ back legs have “real” things and arms/torso have mythical things. With that I’ve thought perhaps tengu as it relates to warrior aspects that play off the back piece although there is no direct story link between tengu and nobunaga like there is with Yoshitsune and tengu. I’m being too anal about that. Or tennyo to completely disassociate and contrast things like the real vs mythical and brutal warrior vs heavenly messenger. I do already have yin yang monmon cats on my feet, and dragons and ho-o are yin yang-ish pairings as well. There’s Fujin/Raijin as a potential too. Or there are Buddhist deities/Myo-o figures. Shinto ones too. I’m neither Buddhist nor Shinto so I'm not intimately familiar with subjects from that source. I’ve been thinking mainly in terms of finding stories to depict or guardians/deities or human-like figure oni types. Hannya may actually work, not the mask, but the creature. Perhaps creatures like a baku will work too if I can't find a 2 legged subject. Thanks for the suggestions @DevilMan & @misterJ. Anyone else, keep ‘em coming as I know I think too much and am being too anal about wanting things to relate. Or PM me since I don’t want to de-rail things too much. I am grateful though. I’d like to get this dang thing started by Fall, but if I can’t decide I’ll wait. No use rushing. Thanks again.

@beez, Friday the 13th tattoos are so passé. Now, Sunday the 15th tattoos are where it's at. Be a rebel ;-)

I hate those things! They remind me that those people were cool because they didn't need tattoos to be cool and that I might be barking up the wrong tree with my obsession. Ha! The thing about ideology/fashion is you can't see it for what it is when you're in it. Look at any photo of yrself from more than a decade ago. You look silly but at the time you thought you looked great. At the same time that's what's great about tattoos--you're committing yourself to something for life when it's obvious that nothing is "timeless"--it's inherently stupid and in bad taste.

I like this thing, it's been done for the last few hundred thousand of years...word of mouth.

Starting my back & ass-piece tomorrow. Collaboration between Iain Mullen and Rudy Fritsch. Very happy that this is going to happen!

I started out with stuff on my back, telling myself it was all I would ever want. Haha then I started worked the desk as a shop so that went out the window. I got a snake and a rat on my calf in 2005,and I love it as it's the pattern on my ball python(who died a few years later). So it's meaningful for me, but it means I cannot sleeve my leg. I decided that sleeving only one leg with a cohesive design is not for me. So my current tattoo plans are to cover my legs as much as possible without making it look like I'm trying to tie a bunch of random tattoos together into sleeves. I started with a big thigh piece and will get a complimentary one on the other side when I have enough $ to do it. I love that this idea leaves me with the option of getting some smaller pieces as filler as well. I walked around with one 3/4 sleeve for years before getting the other side done in 2010/2011.i also have zero plans to tattoo my chest as it's not a look for me, and since I would like kids in a couple years I'm leaving torso real estate out of the picture for the time being. I want to get as much of my legs done before kids so it's go time! I'm trying to load up the piggybank when I can!

Thought that Amy deserves a post. My 1.5 year old frenchie.

Well, that concludes the contest for this month :D

I might get my knee done tomorrow. I've had a couple of ideas, but I can't decide! I was thinking I might get a devil head, but I've got a hot stuff near my ankle and I'm thinking that might be too much devil. I've also seriously considered a buffalo head. Or a bear. Maybe a bear's head. I've spent the last few days pouring over books and images. Having a hard time with this one.

Thanks everyone :-) I hadn't considered a traditional Japanese background... that's definitely food for thought. I'll have a look at some. I do also love his birds, but I wonder if other critters would look odd with the kitsune as the scale would be all out. Though I suppose a bird would be roughly the size of a foxes head perhaps. Too many creatures? I must admit, I had been thinking ahead to a backpiece... so I'll mention that to Rodrigo so he can factor in making it extendable in the future.

I will make a case for Yelp and tattoo shops being useful, because I actually visited Kings Ave in NYC the first time because of Yelp. In my naivete, I decided to start getting tattooed in NYC after moving closer to the city, so I took to Yelp to find the highest rated shop. Ignored the star ratings and instead read the reviews carefully, then checked out websites with portfolios. I was most impressed by Kings Ave and stumbled upon a few articles about Mike Rubendall in the process, so I decided to visit the shop and then make my final judgement. Never turned back after that--love the shop and everyone working there! Basically my whole point was that Yelp led me to my regular shop...I think I had enough sense to go in person, but nonetheless... Yelp can be helpful in some ways even when it comes to tattoo shops. And Kings Ave definitely has some shitty reviews. I love when they call the front desk guy a pretentious douchebag haha. Guess it takes one to know one?

Sorry typo :) I meant a Baku, a 'dream eater'. Baku are classic chimera; the body of a bear, the nose of an elephant, the feet of a tiger, the tail of an ox, and the eyes of a rhinoceros. One legend says that when the gods were finished creating the animals, they took all of the odds and ends lying around and put them together to make the baku. Have a look at Baku – The Dream Eater | for some more info

This has real potential as a .sig.

Where are you located?

I am tattooed and married to a man who does not have any tattoos. I'm not extensively tattooed (yet!), but I have 9 and two of them are quite large. My husband was always attracted to tattooed women even though he never made the plunge himself. He's very supportive and actually always telling me that I should get more, haha. I think he was just as excited as I was about the large thigh tattoo I just got, and he loves it. I don't think someone has to have tattoos in order to appreciate and understand the culture. But there are people (like my mother... and sister-in-law) who don't appreciate it or understand it and have no desire to. And of course, I could never have had a successful relationship with someone in that camp, as even when I only had one small one, my plan was always been to get more.

Chrome bodysuit=robocop reboot. Don't worry everything repeats itself as far as trends go. New means, you just got exposed to it. Be ready for the 90's reboot because it's coming. Not limited to just tattooing. I've been seeing weird and frightening fashion statements being made on a regular basis. Some hybrid high waisted Mc hammer pants, just one example. Lots of 90's movies being remade too. I'm ready to start doing that chrome tribal robocop bodysuit on the first new trendsetter.

My mates and I got sweet Felix tattoos today for Friday the 13th, mine was done by Adrian Hing of Frankie Lees Tattoo Parlour

me and my mates all got these fun little felix tattoos today, mine was done by Adrian Hing at Frankie Lee's tattoo parlour in Melbourne.

I have an appointment, but yeah it's just coincidence! Maybe I'll get him to stick a 13 in there somewhere...

Just finished up this wild ass dude by Alan Berg

it's a manly symbol from back when real men got tattoos, and today real men still get them because we're manly enough to get a tattoo we like and not care if other people are ruining its meaning. By men i of course mean women too, because it's a damn fine woman who can stand by that tattoo.

On Sunday I got a gross Mr. Toad. No particular reason, I wanted to start getting more stuff on my legs, and I wanted something traditional Japanese. Done by Stace at waterstreet tattoo in vancouver, Canada.

finally got my other knee tattooed this afternoon. by lowercase j

by Stewart Robson On a side note, me and @ThatGuy crossed paths in Frith Street without realising, Crossing the online/reality divide. It's a Fantastic back piece! Gets my vote this month.

Couple more. Inside thigh. Front knees.

Sorry for my absence! Been so busy moving, traveling and getting tattooed! haha :cool: Here's some healed pictures of my dragon-koi by Lehi, and monmon cat by Horitomo! And a tiny lil memory-cat by Mary Joy at tattoo city! Had the best trip ever, even got to see Ed Hardy's studio!

I've got a pharoes horses with a dagger through, it's cool but I really feel like I need to put a dagger through something else, almost got a dagger through a kewpie before might pull that one out. People will think it's about abortion but I just think it'd look rad

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

Took me longer than I thought to get in for my first session but here it is. Still need to add color. I wish I could stare at it but it is on my back so that is not comfortable to do. :(