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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

Haven't posted here in awhile, thought I'd pop in and show you guys some of my tattoos from the last year Battle Royale by Aaron Coleman, Bulldog by Bubba, and Spider by Matt Arriola

It was 1985, I was 17 and my best mate Dave (RIP) came around home to show me his new tattoo, a Chinese black and grey dragon he had tattooed on his arm. I was like, fuck! ya should have told me mate, I would have got tattooed with ya. So with that, off we went to High Energy Tattoo in the valley. I was nervous as fuck, a biker run no bullshit shop. I think I was more nervous about saying or doing the wrong thing than the tattoo itself. When I walked in, it was funny, I instantly felt at home and knew this was the beggining of something that I had always wanted. Dave took the chair to have his second tattoo done. A couple of hours later it was my turn. Sitting there holding the album cover to "The Day The Country Died" I've had a few tattoos covered from the early days, and some better than this one, but would never even think about losing this. It was the beginning of it all.

i guess a posting a photo is the nice thing to do @Mark Bee

I was almost disappointed when I couldn't find any ignorant bad reviews on the shops I frequent.

Every hairy man needs a bear tattoo!

Got my right foot tattooed on friday night. Wasn't bad at all. Actually got to sit in a comfortable position and had a good view of the tattoo making. Limped around after but swelling was minimal.

If you want to get a tattoo for the sake of getting a first tattoo without spending a ton of money I suggest getting something small that is still good quality. Also, if you are into tattoos don't get something small in a space that will someday be perfect for a bigger, better tattoo. What I mean by this is I recommend against getting a small tattoo on your shoulder because someday you might be in a better position to save up for something awesome on your shoulder. Am I making any sense? Pick a local shop or artist that you like and go talk to them. Tell them your budget and get some ideas. And have fun! Don't forget to enjoy the whole process.

Take your time, do your homework and save up if your second sentence is more important to you than the first. I know my first few tattoos have a lot of "charm" (read: they have awesome nostalgic associations but are pretty crappy) because of the conflicting ideals you've stated above...

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?

Hiya, Cadena - from a fellow Texan (sort of). I won't recommend ideas as much as advise you to become familiar with the various styles of tattoo artwork. Educate yourself to what is possible in this media (almost anything) and locate the artists whose style also speaks to you (many started off as street artists). You can eventually decide upon and bring subject matter and references. The trick is locating the best artist to pull off your vision.

Hey all! I've been lurking along and have already learned a ton at LST. I have a single tattoo, a bad college decision. I've had it lasered a few times, and now I'm looking for a cover up. I can see already that this place is addictive. I've gone from "maybe it should be a little larger than I was going to go" to "and I need this and this, and ohhhhh look at that!" Thanks for letting me hang out.

"The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory.” -- Aldo Gucci

When I was researching tattoo shops and artists, I did spend some time on yelp reading reviews. I've gotten work from 4 different artists/shops. Doing my part. I posted positive reviews on yelp and attached a picture of my tattoo.

@Mick Weder if you wrote a memoir, I would read it. Great stuff!

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.

For heavily tattooed, see @Mick Weder. :D

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.

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.

I'm mainly concerned that this conversation hasn't mentioned beer. Beer and ham in Barcelona. Boy oh boy, they do it right. :D:D:D *eyes clock to see if it is too early to crack out a Moretti in the garden. It's sunny here you know! In England! Fancy that.*

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

Bitches, am I right?

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

I got this one done by Phil Hatchet Yau this weekend at Ink-n-Iron. He's a great tattooer and also really fast.

Is it poor form to ask an artist to cover up their own work? In my case it isn't that the tattoos are poorly done or that i regret them or anything, quite the opposite actually. Its just that they are fifteen years old, and i am a different person now with different taste. i have other ideas for things i want on me, and seeing as how i want a Japanese half-sleeve on my left arm, one of them would have to be covered to make that happen anyhow. I have to, for the time being, confine my tattoos to areas not visible when wearing a polo type shirt, so the real estate on my upper arms is precious. My instinct is that it is kind of rude and awkward to ask someone to cover up work they did. Anyone out there care to weigh in?

It was 2 weeks after I turned 18 in '99. My mum took me to a shop attached to a flea market. I got 2 kanji characters on my lower back that were meant to say crazy but actually say arrogant..no surprise there. I've had a few laser treatments on it and it's getting covered, along with a couple others, when I do my full back next year. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This one made me chuckle: "Great artwork and tattooing, however, it is $60 an hour for tattoos and you can't get an appointment very quickly. They require a one - hour consultation a week before the appointment for large pieces and a down payment is required for all tattoo. I am happy with the work they did but the consultation was pointless since I asked for colorful swirls on my arm and ended up with pink clouds and stars. It looks good, but they were a bit pushy when it came to color and style of my tattoo." At least she gave them 4 stars. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry if this is massively inappropriate, but I've worked way too much construction to not get a chuckle out of this one

I find it funny because I've told the people at the desk on several occasions how they were some Of the most professional and nicest i have encountered... Maybe I'm stupid. But the way people talk to them is shocking

All I can say about that is get the tattoo you love, not the tattoo you can afford. Do research on style and figure, then rock out and enjoy the experience and art. You'll love the result.

Finishing up the last week of summer session at uni! Visiting my family in calgary for a week in July, then going to South Africa and Mauritius for all of August.

Jesus CHRIST, @mmikaoj. That is incredible. My whole back is done, but I can't really imagine having two artists at once work on it. Respect.

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.

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

...so you made go look at some Yelp reviews of local shops around me. One in particular looks like the ratings were a concerted effort to get 5 stars. Most of them talk about 1) it's clean 2) people are nice 3) they came around and asked if anyone wanted coffee, 4) the art deco is cool (unlike the "shady parlors in NYC") and 5) everyone is very professional. Very little about the actual tattoos. This is in a new area and clearly caters to those who are very afraid to step outside their comfort zone. Nothing wrong with that, but the reviews always seem to be about the shop rather than the tattoo. What also screws up the ratings are the drama queens who go in for piercings - "XYZ was very rude and spoke to me in an arrogant tone." Too bad there isn't an outlet to review particular tattooers and leave the shop and drama out of it.

I can't take a thread titled "Facial Tattoos" seriously. Sorry guys...

Watching the World Cup at work and NOT GETTING FIRED FOR IT. The United States really needs to change it's priorities.

Going back to 1975-1980, you really had to ferret out an artist who would do a face tattoo. Most would not do anything above the collar and even hands. Rob

This completely flies in the face of all the talk of sobriety here, but it looks like I'm going to be teaching a course on beer tasting in the fall.

30 in 30 sounds like a breeze... Usually I hear 90 in 90. Some people swear by it. I think you just have to do whats best for you and constantly evaluate yourself and your needs, then adjust accordingly. - - - Updated - - - Also big news for me... I got accepted to an MSW program! Starting in the fall and so ready to hit the books again after a few years of mindlessly working. And my husband and I have been struggling with our opposing schedules and the new puppy has made it challenging to find alone time together, but last night we hung out in bed and chatted for a long time before falling asleep and I had so much fun just catching up and being silly. I haven't laughed that hard in years! It's a beautiful thing having a life partner. I highly recommend it! :)

@Mick Weder Thanks a ton for the share. It means a lot. Getting back into normal life is definitely difficult. Living on the edge, or at time going past it, has really made me into a different person than I was as a kid. It started in middle school for me, when I saw the kids who were getting high and listening to underground music and wanted to get into their clique. Now, I have a few friends who aren't heavy drinkers or are trying to get sober, and it's a journey for sure. Went to another meeting last night with my sister's boyfriend. The speaker was awesome. He was this old punk dude who went through so much, and is now going on 32 years sober and clean. His stories were very inspiring. He had some cool things to say about the whole God part of NA, which I found supportive of my own views. Saw someone who ran cross country at my high school's sister school and talked with her for a while. Going to a welcome to NA meeting tonight and a CA meeting tomorrow.

It's constant to stay on top eh mate?! Ya know, I remember when I was young and started dropping lots of LSD & mushrooms and shit, I did it 'cause it was fun, and ya just don't realise how quickly everything spirals out of control. From there I started shooting amphetamine. When I realised I had an amphet problem, I started shooting smack to wean off the speed...so it was like shoot speed in the AM, shoot smack in the PM and instead of having one, now we had fuckin' two addictions to battle. Man, a few years living like this is one thing...but I find the hardest battles it not so much the physical addictions I needed to conquer, but the integration back into "normal" society. Dealing with the Mr & Mrs Jones's of the world. When ya lived on the edge man, it's real hard to find stimulation at times. They're the times I find myself at my weakest. It took a long, long time to understand what it meant about it being "for life"...actually, I think I just started to work this out recently. You know...you're gonna draw lots of strength from this journey mate. Embrace those positives :) I wouldn't normally throw something so personal like this out there, but the topics here & thought....fuck it.

Went to an NA meeting in SF tonight. It was marked an atheist meeting, but they still had the traditional 12 steps. Seemed odd. Anyway, I went, introduced myself, and heard the stories, all of which I related to in a very deep way. The speaker held the room without any seeming effort, and I enjoyed what he had to say about changing the way one views life. One word of advice, and I can't speak for all NA meetings, but do not drink the coffee at NA meetings. It was beyond scalding and there was only powdered creamer and refined sugar. What possessed me to drink it in the first place is beyond me. Took one sip and politely set the styrofoam cup under my chair. After the meeting, I took some of the pamphlets, and chatted with one of the members about taking the first step and how he was working on his higher power. After the meeting, I took it upon myself to get lost for an hour and a half trying to find my car. Just got home and wrote this post. Going to a meeting tomorrow, perhaps with my sister's boyfriend, who has attended meetings before. Yay me.

Ooo a mango tree! We have plain old trees that just shed these seed things that look like long caterpillars. And then seed things that spin around like helicopters. Aaaand then some other stupid thing they shed. Every time the wind blows. I wish we'd at least get some kick ass fruit out of it. Stupid trees. We are redoing some of our landscaping, which isn't probably awesome to some, but it is to us b/c we pride ourselves on our abilities in the yard. Aaaaand we've got two weeks before the play opens and it's a bit scary. A big production for a small community. I'm meeting new people and trying to come out of my shell but holy moly, maybe Les Mis wasn't the best choice for my first foray into theater-as-therapy hahahaha.

I hate you so much right now.

Oh, you're in Queensland? I had no idea that God had granted such mango powers to your homeland. I bet if you had the money, you'd byu a friggin mango farm. I'd get so high up in those mango trees and mack on them all day. Yonana? No. Looks fucking yummy.

my wife & myself just spent 9 days on Maui

My first tattoo was done when I was 15. A tattooer called Steve, as far as I can remember, in Bath. My first visit to the shop was with a couple of pals. I went first, I think we all decided on a swallow on the forearm. Anyway I had a bit of a rash on my forearm. The tattooer asked me about the rash. I said it was probably a sun rash. He said ok come back when it's gone. So my first visit ended in bitter disappointment. The next in the chair was my mate Pete. He always fancied himself as a bit of a tough guy, but he was looking very nervous. So the tattooer started the tattoo. He did the outline on this tiny tattoo and was about to start on the colour when my mate said " you don't have to colour it in do you". The tattooer, looking rather puzzled said "no not if you don’t want me to". We really took the piss out him on the train on the way home. What a pussy. I went back a few weeks later with two pals and we all had the same deaths head tattoo on our forearm. Ones now dead the other had his covered. So mines the only one left. That was 41 years ago and I still love that tattoo. So much so that I booked Alex Binnie to recreate the tattoo on my upper leg on April 13th.

My first tattoo story isn't anywhere as amazing as the gentleman I tattooed yesterday. This is his first tattoo , done 32 years ago by Capt. Jack Collidge in New Jersey and it's still amazing today.

3 pints of guinness or jameson.