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Been kinda forgetful/lazy to post in this thread. If you follow me on IG, then these are not new. I've gotten these since the Rassier baby heads. Tuesday flash from Candi Kinyobi at Tuesday Tattoo in San Francisco, CA. Under the tutelage of Jesse Tuesday (who's a badass tattooer that's totally under the radar). Ultimate sad girl with sad heart from happy tattooer and fellow LST'er Carolyn LeBourgeois @cltattooing at FTW Tattoo in Oakland, CA. Tengu from Stewart Robson at Black Heart Tattoo in San Francisco, CA. Was able to nab a cancellation thanks to Ross "INSIDE SCOOP" Hogg. I unfollowed a bunch of tattooers on IG, so I totally wouldn't have known about this. Thanks again @hogg!

Well, we (finally) started - after almost 2 years waiting for him to move and cut down his list a bit. Start of a full half squidpant. I wasn't going to post it yet - but he did, so I stole this image off of Thomas' instagram:

Well since Stewart posted it on his instgram.....I will repost it here. Mine is top left. I will post a bigger pic when it heals.

I finished teaching my course on beer tasting and appreciation last night and it went well! People seemed to have fun and enjoy themselves, they learned a little bit about beer, had their horizons broadened a bit, and drank some good beers. Getting up in front of people and talking for three hours is tough though and I don't know how the teachers and professors here do it, especially since feeding people alcohol isn't generally part of the lesson. I'm going to be doing the same course in the new year, as well as a couple of one-off courses, one about stouts in the lead up to St Patrick's day, and another in May about summer beer, so those should be fun as well.

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

i like it because it doesn't scream "super meaningful tattoo"

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-oom-oom-oom Oom-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-a-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow Papa-oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow Well, don't you know about the bird Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word surfin' bird made by King Len kinglentattoos.com

Beyond happy with this rose from Chris Garver this week. Pic stolen from his IG

I haven't posted this on here yet. Session four on my back, we shaded my butt and thigh.

This weekend can't come soon enough. I'll be there. Asian guy. Long hair. Glasses. Asian man's beard. Traditional black and grey japanese tattoos. @cvportagee, dinner would be cool, I'll be on the lookout for you, and others. Otherwise for anyone I haven't met previously and sees a guy matching the description above, feel free to say Hi. I'd love to match faces to LST monikers.

I had a fantastic experience at Diamond Club last night with one of my favorite tattooers, Brian Kaneko (truenaturetattoo on Instagram). I got this peony: Shad, Junii, and Dr. Claw were there, too, which made it even more fun. But the best part is that @Iwar wanted to get something from Brian, but couldn't get an appointment. He asked if he could show up during mine, and I said, "Of course!" He walked in right after I got there, so I introduced him to Brian and Shad. They all started laughing, then Brian said, "By the way, I tattooed him earlier today. I had a cancellation." So now Iwar and I are not only banhammer bros, but we're botan brothers, too.

Heeeeey girl! <3 Don't be shy! Tell errbody you love Aaron Coleman and Valerie Vargas and how you currently have a soft spot for big, bold, beautiful, western traditional designs and roses! Lotsa roses! And ladyheads! Hey y'all, it's my sissy-in-law (once removed sorta :p )! <3...wait...did I just totally out you?! :eek: Anyhoo, dying to hear what ideas are brewing because I suspect you are barking up the right tree. I am a big fan of the Arizona-Aaron-Coleman-road trip idea! Welcome to Last Sparrow! xoxo

I know the feeling. My artist has been on holidays so I have enjoyed a month off of no tattooing. Almost forgot what it was like not having to deal with constant healing and shitty nights of little sleep. I often think about taking a few months off but then stupid me keeps booking the appointments. Over Christmas I am having a 5 week break from tattooing so will be looking forward to that, might be able to actually spend some time at the beach. My thoughts now are just get it done and then i can enjoy the art and the freedom of no healing and maybe more importantly not spending most of my "spare money" on fortnightly tattoo sessions. However even before I have finished my back I am thinking about designs for the next spot so who knows when I will be off this roller coaster ride. :)

Hey everyone. It's been a while so here are a couple new things. Got the "born lost" skull from Ross K. Jones at Idle Hand's get what you want. The flash was redrawn by Austin Maples. Also got this shishi head from Koji Ichimaru while he's at SOG.

Valerie Vargas? Aaron Coleman? Lady heads and lots of roses? Never heard of 'em! Welcome!

No Oiwa...and it is indeed a MOST excellent one! Mine is the apsara/tennyo-messenger-spirit-thingy on the right. I was already getting a little puffy in that pic so she's distorted. Not nearly as pretty as she really is. Will post a healed one, well...when it heals :D. How awesome/intense is the next week of posts going to be with the convention and post-convention guesting?! I'm so excited and also kinda don't want to see. I want them all...really.

@CABS, I'm in SF all weekend. I'll be at the Convention for sure on Saturday though it's likely I'll be there either Friday or Sunday too. Haven't decided yet. @JoshRoss, I'll be sure to swing by to check out what you're getting from Horimitsu. See everyone there. Hey @beez, are you going to be at the Convention this year? How'd the Shad tattoo go?

This is what I tell everyone: Get a dragon.

Background: I lived in Japan for a while some time ago, and I was previously married to a Japanese woman, but I have no experience of Japanese tattoo culture. Tipping is definitely not done in restaurants, taxis etc. However, Japan is definitely a gift oriented society. My guess would be that a monetary tip would be frowned upon, but a gift would be appreciated. If you go to a Japanese department store you will see many pre-packaged gift ideas, and I expect a small bottle of quality alcohol would be appreciated.

I emailed pictures that depicted the population density of the planet for my artist to reference. She did a stencil of the outline, then after inking it she used a printout of one of the pictures to fill in the population representation. I'm very pleased with the outcome. For my first tattoo of my dolphins and patrol pin, I mounted them on black velvet and took a nice closeup for the artist to draw a stencil from. For my next, I want a figure 8 faked hemp line. I will probably buy some and take a photo of it to guide whoever does the art. I'd like it close to realistic.

That's what she said.

My arm by Joel Madberg, Salvation Tattoo Stockholm:

It comes down to how YOU communicate your expertise. Your in the prime position to help educate. The average collector/ enthusiast without any understanding or artistic knowledge needs to seek their ideas from somewhere.,.dont they? Do you just expect them to come in with a blank idea and you magically come up with the same interpretation, or expect to only tattoo what you want to put on their skin. That comes with time and trust. It's like an old time piece of flash, it's been duplicated a million times. Isn't that plagiarism to a degree? A panther is a panther is a panther. I understand to a point what your saying, a custom one of a kind piece, well maybe, but pieces say things to people and can capture exactly what that means to that individual as well, so it could mean more than just wanting a copy cap design. It's like my smoking wizard with the starburst from the pipe as the background. I had wanted a wizard for 20 years, but no wizard captured that exact pictorial message, until I came across this wizard on the net. I took that picture in to my tattooer and said...man, after all these years I found the one. I can understand if you need to change it, but it's emulates something quite specific. His response, and knowing me for years was...man, your right, it captures you perfectly, I couldn't make it any better. We slightly changed some aspects like hat band & colour, but why try and reinvent the wheel on this occasion? It was perfect. Is this wrong? Fuck you to anybody who thinks it is, this is one piece out of my entire suit that had already been captured, it speaks volumes, it's my favourite tattoo next after my back tattoo. There's also been times I've taken an exact design in and said ...man, something like this...and from there we come up with a complete new transition, sn even better custom piece. Maybe next time someone comes in with an exact picture and turning them away (only to have it tattooed by someone else without any education) you can say...man, that's a great design, I can see why you chose this. What's it's meaning to you?...dig a little, become a consultant, tap into that individual a little and say, ya know man?...leave it with me, I reckon I can come up with something even better for YOU without doing s copy. That person may just walk out of there with a little bit more knowledge than they did prior to them entering, and maybe you EARN a loyal and devoted customer for years to come. I'm no tattooer, I'm also no artist, but I've learned a lot from my tattooer over the years because he actually took the time to help me understand. This is the 1 reason that he has been responsible for my entire suit, and the rework of everything he didn't originally do. I'm just offering a different perspective on this subject, not having a dig. We all help educate each other, because my tattooer had mentioned to me the same, that over the years has learned to appreciate where his clients come from also. "Booze, Blues & Tattoos"

AND it's well done.

This is pretty cool. People still get tattoos?

You might also go in the opposite direction and select something that gives you peace or makes you smile or laugh. Then when you are feeling angry or hostile, perhaps it can diffuse your mood. To center you. Or something that reminds you of a peaceful place or time that could trigger those feelings in you. You mentioned the military affected you significantly - is there some imagery you saw at the time you had this epiphany? Or, silly as it sounds, perhaps you had this epiphany while you were doing pushups or some crazy thing - make the tattoo involve something associated with when or where you had that epiphany and perhaps seeing it could re-trigger it. Good luck. There's nothing wrong with wanting a tattoo to have personal meaning and as a reminder of something. And you were very brave to share this life's lesson with a bunch of strangers. I hope you are able to find the imagery that you seek.

"Body art community"

I'll more than likely be wearing a Quiet Life camp hat, can't miss it. Glasses too. More than likely a black shirt. If you follow me on IG (@damncabs), I look like that. Not a crying Drake though. My appointment is at 5pm on Saturday. I can only make it to one day. Was gonna try to score a Koji walk up, but getting to the convention before doors open and waiting for my 5pm appointment might be too big a gap. - - - Updated - - - What day you gonna be there Lance?

Nice.

If you look in a lot of older shops you will see signs that say....."No photos please!" But people still took photos on occasion.....tattooers traded flash with other tattooers.....and eventually some tattooers with artistic talent redrew images and put them on a sheet all together and sold them even though they probably were not all their own images or original ideas! Hence......"flash" Honestly......and I will probably take some heat for this.......If you don't want your tattoos reproduced then DON'T put photos up on the internet for the world to see! That goes for tattooers and for customers! It's a big world out there and you can't expect everyone to have integrity! Your work IS going to get stepped on somehow by someone eventually.....eventually it all gets done over and over and over! Okay......so like was said....educate the people and explain to them keeping in mind someone down the street is going to do what they want eventually! Let them know in your opinion it is stealing someone elses work and you'd like to make some subtle changes to "make it lay on their body better" or because it's well done BUT "something could make it even better" Tattooers are sales people......it's one of those things you need to do.....be a sales person and talk the people into something you want them to do with it....make them think it's their idea too! If they have to walk.....then they have to walk.... At the end of the day when you go home......you have to be able to live with yourself so you do what you think is best! :D

Scotch is always best. Thanks, dude! @Lance, I did get in with Horimitsu for Saturday. It's at 8 PM, so I'll probably stroll in pretty late.

Here is what I had done (~ 4" wide") on my left chest about 4" above the nipple to commemorate something that definitely marked my life: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/gallery/uncategorized/17110-after-touchup.html

Dude I saw that Fudo monmon cat backpiece in person while I was getting that shishi. It was right before the black shading and it already looked fucking amazing. Can't wait to see it colored.

So I am one of those weirdos who did their back first, and Stephanie always said to me that the great thing about starting there is that most other things will seem like child's play in comparison. Starting in my arms has been a treat!!

True true true. But I think I'm going to take a break for a couple months. The constant sessions are wearing me down.

Major tattoo envy going on here. I knew those peonies were on guys here when I saw them on Instagram. And that damn Fudo Monmon Cat is on @ivarro isn't it?

You're good at life.

it's hard to feel sympathetic about this when you're working on such a cool back piece.

@Graeme and @Pugilist We need to up the LST ante and make a west coast trip, get monmon cats from Horitomo and peonies from Kaneko! What say youz???

A huge (yooj) thank you to @CultExciter for his handiwork on this preliminary flyer for the event!! Emails to artists will (hopefully) be going out tonight. Luckily, we've got the man himself @Scott Sylvia on board, as well as Justin Weatherholtz from King's Ave and buddies @Perez and Nash Hogan from 3Kings. And, one of my personal favorites, Michael Aul from Spiral. Beyond stoked with how this is coming together. And please feel free to spread the word and pass this along! For any more info, etc. check out www.thewarriorsfund.org and try not to make fun of my wordpress skills or just email me at [email protected] and I'll give you the rundown. Thanks everyone!

@hogg It's funny because when I saw Diamond Club post a Brian Kaneko peony on their instagram yesterday I mentioned to Anna that you got a really beautiful one, then she told me that you hadn't had your appointment yet. Of course it was on @Iwar. His botans are so gorgeous.

Yeah I just logged in to around 500 notifications. I thought my nudes had leaked!

!!!

OMG I would love to go on a pug crawl.

Tattooers tattoo over all sorts of scars, stretch marks, etc. Don't feel embarrassed or worried! This is the job, what makes it challenging and interesting. They have seen it all! I felt self-conscious when I started going onto my thighs because I have lots of cellulite. I wasn't sure how designs would turn out. The answer is obvious: my thighs are ten times cooler now. :)

Do you follow any of the female artists at Saved? michelle-tarantelli stephanie-tamez virginia-elwood tamara-santibanez Or Rose Hardy at Kings Ave?

Don't settle. Travel to NYC if you like the NYC artists more than what is locally available.

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 find comments at the bottom of "news" articles to be a combination of sad, scary, and entertaining.