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Couple more quick ones from Fergus Simms

This might be too political for this site? But here goes. In my opinion/experience, PUA culture is bad news for everybody involved. It looks like you still have some detoxing to do. Try thinking of your interactions with women as something other than transaction-based, to start. You also don't know what a person may have experienced to cause him or her to "lash out" at light touch from a stranger. I wish you luck. Thanks to everybody on here for helping to keep this a good space for women, by the way... Because I think we need a picture of something nice right about now, here's a backpiece by Forrest Cavacco that I'm currently drooling over: Edit: sorry it's so huge...

Here a li'l photoessay of our venture to State of Grace. Still pretty jel I didn't get a tattoo or even a lousy T-shirt but the wee one did. /r220/ddglazer/DSC06564.jpg[/img][/url]

I wrote as much in the upcoming tattoos thread, but thought it'd make sense to report that I had a consultation yesterday with Horitoshi 1 here. Stoked to get work from a master!

I just wanted to address what you said above. I don't like to share too much about my personal life, but I will on this occasion. I suffer from a mental illness, but am a fully functioning person who gets up and goes to work every day, shares a smile and laugh with collegues, lifts weights at the gym, and spends a lot of time with my friends. Not many people know about my mental struggles, and those that do it's only because I have told them. Mentally ill people generally don't look sick (yes there are cases where it's apparent someone isn't well by their actions). When we are ill we don't have a runny nose, or a cough. When I am sick, and when I am well, I still don't like to be touched by strangers. Mental illness is surprisingly common. It still has a stigma attached to it, and I would bet money on the people who you think are mentally and emotionally stable, that there are a few of them who are sufferers, but you wouldn't pick it. I guess what I'm trying to say, is don't be so casual with flippant remarks regarding the mental health of people. You can't judge how they are doing mentally on whether they lash out at being touched by strangers. That is stupid.

good god this

Got the dagger done by Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo today! Heart is healed. Stole his instagram picture(The black square is another piece he posted that isn't mine! Blacked it out)

There's defo some advantages. When we take the kids to the beach and looking for a primo spot to sit, it's amazing how when I'll strip down to a pair of shorts, put up the umbrella, fold out the chair and crack a coldie, then the people who up and move ha! Was it sumfink that I done? Thanks for the space.

And these are mostly the subtle stares we might pick up on. When my wife (who has nil tattoos) are out and I may be walking ahead, she sees so many people cranking their necks and literally stop to stare. She can't believe it. On another note but, we took our kids to a music concert some time back one evening. All the other stiff parents in their usual shirts, ties and lovely attire...I'm in my usual jeans, t shirts and thongs. The following day at the school...you know, some mother had the audacity to say to my wife...your poor kids. When my wife asked what the fuck she was talking about, she says...don't you feel ashamed on the bad influence your husband has on your children? Fuck, didn't that bitch cop a serve from the Mrs.

I had so much fun last Sunday having an off the wall tattoo slammed into the back of my neck, that we're gonna do the same this Sunday. Kinda takes me back to how we started...not sure what I want, just pick one on the day, maybe have a little custom piece drawn up over a couple of ales then drill it in. Makes a nice change to big fields so planned out and executed. It's awesome how after all these years being tattooed that the buzz is still alive. :)

@TrixieFaux @DJDeepFried The family that tattoos together...stays together! Awesome little pictorial.

Scott Sylvia, Blackheart Tattoo, finished earlier this year. Sorry about the shat picture quality. Titty Sprinkles.

Nothing interesting...just tats n cats?! That's the most interesting!!!!!!!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got this from Eddy Deutsche yesterday, gonna add a body and some more to it in another session, which is gonna be awesome. Very happy with it as it is now though. Sort of a bad pic, but you get the idea

Tony Hundahl Rock Of Ages

Hello all! I am frequently here reading through the threads, but it is only today I have decided to set up an account to contribute. Quiet day at work! Known as Gabe (artist name LadyGabe), 25, female, in the UK. Already a member of other forums, passionate collector, and especially love Traditional / Neo Trad work. As a creative little spud I like to illustrate, paint, create eco crafts, upcycle and practice as a freelance Make up Artist. My full time job is an Account Manager (boo boring) but working hard to move into a self employed creative position. Starting to study web design, photography, and hope to be working as a tattoo apprentice soon. Not here to try and gain any interest in my personal work / gain apprenticeship, so dont worry I wont be spamming you with my art! I just want to chat to other collectors / artists, who especially appreciate solidly lined tattoos. I appreciate realism / watercolour etc... in their own way, but give me a solid line any day! Here are some pictures of a few of my collection so far. Much love and inky cuddles Gabe

very cute =) I want the experience of getting tattooed on the floor like that. It's so much more old school Japanese to me. Gotta experience that one day.

Finishing mah buttcheeks with Scott Sylvia next weekend, its like an Ukiyo-e Geisha and some swans. Worth mentioning that IMHO Scott Sylvia's Japanese tattooing has got to be some of the most underrated and unassuming out there...not sure if we'll finish but I can't think of anyone who tattoos faster, guy is blazingly quick. Looking forward to posting the finished product.

Alright, luckily we got started late and could only do 5 hours. That was enough. I made the mistake of going in on Sunday for a deep tissue massage. That made everything extra tender and sensitive for Tuesday. Never get a massage before a tattoo. Just don't do it. This session covered hair, robes, wind bar/cloud touch-ups, adding orange to the fire. Also a healed butt shot. From Instagram danahelmuth; (Damn, looking at my butt up close, look at that scar tissue on the red in the snake! He beat me up.)

My second tattoo. I love how the wings turned out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@TrixieFaux - thank you for the reminder that stares are not always hostile. I find this so tough, because it's hard to know if people are admiring or being creeps. I usually say that I never get comments or stares about my tattoos because we live in a very tattooed neighbourhood (that's also really gay, so I am pretty uninteresting to most, haha), but for some reason this past week I have been getting constant comments. Earlier, when I was walking the dog, a man stopped me to say, "you have beautiful legs" (I am wearing a dress that's short-ish so you can see a lot of my thigh tattoos). And like, I had no idea if he was saying it in an admiring or sleazy way... I mean that is kind of a weird thing to say to a stranger, even if you mean well! I don't want to be ungenerous when folks say stuff like that, but when it's ambiguous I also tend to opt for protecting myself and not engaging, which is kind of a shame if people mean well. (That said, why is it that many of the comments I've gotten recently have been of the ambiguous nature above, and not like, "I love your tattoos", but instead commenting on the body part itself? I guess the comments sound ambiguous because they probably ARE, like these dudes are admiring my tattoos while assessing my body at the same time. I dunno.) Of course, he could have been talking to my dog, who does indeed have a sweet set of gams.

And back to the original topic: stares. Now that I have blue hair & tattoos, I can't be sure what they're staring at...is it my hair, or is it the tattoos, or both? My solution: if it feels like someone is staring, look at them and smile. So far I've gotten several smiles and a couple of compliments back. There was a group of three I could see out of the corner of my eye who seemed to be watching my every move and watched me go sit down at the beach Sunday. When I finally looked up at them, one of them apologized and said, "We love your tattoo," referring to the Horitomo. I've had someone else ask if she could take a picture of my leg to show her boyfriend. Well sure! I also told her to google Horitomo and monmon cats. This cat, even in its scabby peeling phase is averaging at least one compliment from a stranger per day.

hey mate welcome to LST, can i ask who did the lion on your foot? its badass!

I got my first apprenticeship when I was 18 and had no idea what I was doing. (Funny, now I just don't know, but I know what I'm doing) I paid $1800 to a man and his wife who shall remain nameless. I'm drawing, cutting stencils, and all that stuff. They seemed like good folks. A little sleazy, but I was sorta sleazy then too. I never got to tattoo in that shop either. Four months in... I got to the shop Tuesday (closed Sun/Monday), early as always and stand around for a few hours. There was a pizza place across the street and I sit down and have a few .89 cent slices, and end up walking in the AC repair company office next door. I ask if they had seen them. It was said that there was an attempted armed robbery on Saturday night after I left at nine, and _________ had shot the guy. Turns out to be total BS. The wife, who worked there as well, had found out her husband was getting really good "tips" from dancers and had gone to town on his gear, pulled a knife on him, and scared him right out of the state. Not my place to speak of others infidelities, but I'd signed a contract! And with that his Harley, with the blown head gasket that was oft used by all of us as a bench to sit on while we smoked cigarettes (have to give it to them, it was still the Speed Stick days, but they had a no smoking policy in the shop) disappeared as if into thin air. I still that bike once and while... with him NOT on it. I have no idea what happened to these people but ___________ still owes me sleeves.

Tattoo Forrest! Because I'm in the mood to fantasize about backpieces even though that probably won't happen for years and years. One of many downsides to looking at stuff on the internet: it's easy to fixate on artists who live thousand of miles away while ignoring the amazing talent the next few towns over...

Agreed. He and Todd Noble both have underrated Japanese that people seem to miss. And yeah. He's fast as hell.

I agree you come across as a troll here. Also you sound like the creepy dude at the bar. googling your username explains a lot and makes any further discussion pointless.

You guys are seriously the cutest family.

Well, Horitoshi sensei was not obstinate or scary. Super friendly and kind. I may have signed up to get rib dragons in addition to a chest ONI (*_*). ONI will start mid July.

I'm going to Ikebukuro tomorrow for a consultation with Horitoshi 1. Excited and a bit nervous. I keep on imagining (hopefully) paranoid scenarios where he explodes saying something like, "You want me to tattoo what!? How dare you!"

We finally got around to finishing my arm off on Sunday, I am absolutely stoked with how it turned out! I can't wait to get onto the other arm after I get the wedding out of the way next year

I really enjoyed our year end recap thread. I discovered a bunch of things that I hadn't heard! What has everyone really been stoked on the first six months of the year? Here is my top ten thus far (in no particular order): 1. Augustines - Augustines 2. The Afghan Whigs - Do The Beast 3. Jessica Lea Mayfield - Make My Head Sing 4. Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else 5. Young Fathers - Dead 6. Cheap Girls - Famous Graves 7. OFF! - Wasted Years 8. Primitive Man - P // M 9. The Cutthroats 9 - Dissent 10. Godflesh - Decline And Fall Not alot of Hip-Hop that has done it for me so far. That Riff Raff record was stink stink. I'm patiently awaiting the A$AP MOB record.

Hahaha, it's true, you have to jiggle the flux capacitor on top of the turncoat spring. It's the only thing that gets that pesky needle bar to move up and down.

@CultExciter .... No I am not! I am using 4 hamsters and a big wheel they run in which hooked up to a motor from a small wind turbine! It's not great for long tattoos but it works well for small kanji and doing lettering! ;) As long as they are happy and running I can make money! But mostly I use magic.....he he he

Haha. I like that. Smashed it in! That's what it's about...load it up & drill it in. Ever time I've hit real painful areas, old mate says...there's two ways we can tackle this. Good attitude ;)

Thank you! It's kinda hard to see in the picture, but it's not fully colored in which makes it look even crazier in person.

Steam Summer Sale! Just finally got around to getting Bioshock Infinite for $9.99 on today's daily deal...

Welcome to LST!

^holyshit, that's fkcn nuts

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.

Three absolutely great tattoos so far! will add this into the mix just for fun. My 3/4 peacock sleeve by Mie at Nine Tails Tattoo in East London. Its a cover up of an old black and grey piece that I had 6 laser sessions on over a couple of years. Final touch up finished last week.

Best album of 2014!!

@ironchef that is one hell of a tattoo, truly mindbowing I cant wait to see it finished - - - Updated - - - Valerie just finished my back, just short of a year, maybe 40 hours, its been a ride and I've loved every minute, well apart from the love handles, that sucked :D

People that have been tattooing for a long while know how hard of a craft tattooing is. I remember how crazy my 1+ years of college was. There was no way I could do both at the same time. I would definately be failing at one if not be a D+ student at both. D+ tattooer is not what I'm trying to be. Maybe you are different though. Maybe you CAN excel at both, together. Also, if you are serving an apprenticeship at a shop, you should be having machine recommendation conversations with your mentor. He or she should have enough experience to point you in the right direction instead of you asking strangers online. Another thing, if you really wanna sign up for the big race, do you really wanna be wearing pro wings? There are plenty of good machine builders out there. (hint*one partly RUNS THIS FORUM!!!!), but again, your mentor should be advising you. My machines are an investment to my trade not a chore in my craft.

ha! agreed!