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Hey all, I've been MIA due to school, but i just got my other thigh tattooed so I thought I would post it. Done by Stace Forand at Steveston tattoo (just outside of vancouver, Canada) 1 session, 5.5 hours. - - - Updated - - - Not sure why it posted sideways, but I'm on my phone and cannot be bothered to figure out how to flip it. Sorry.

One from today by Bert Krak at SSTP:

I posted this over in "http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/5952-thread-posting-while-getting-tattooed-page9.html#post107507" mid grind last night, but here's an update. Right ribs to arm pit and detailing out the right side. I'm still limited to what he puts on Instagram, so it's not close up and the lighting isn't great. But man this is getting me crazy happy! Although, of course, next session was supposed to be my last one ... but now it's not again... ;) But he can detail it out all he wants - I'm just in love. Ahhh, he just put up a detail shot. The right is finished - second pass on the blue and rays are next, and finishing the left ribs, then a final pass for whites and blacks. Stolen from Sean Zee's Instagram

..especially when they have bats in them!

In the meantime, there is LST. :)

Nothing booked yet and this will have to wait until I've finished my back but plans are underway for getting my chest properly started. Going to get a kurikara Fudo really big on my torso. It's going to rule.

i'll put this up here, not all healed up yet but whatevs Untitled by misomad, on Flickr

D'Angelo - Black Messiah J.Cole - 2013 Forest Hills Drive Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron Jhene Aiko - Souled Out Chuck Inglish - Convertibles Chromeo - White Women Fink - Hard Believer Pharell Williams - Girl Prince - Art Official Age Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2

Totally forgot I've listened to Sun Kil Moon's Benji a lot. Dur.

@marley mission - good way to put it - "the hurt is a valued part of the process." I don't really place any importance to it, just that it has to accompany the getting of the work. Yes, the tattoo wouldn't be the same without it - they go hand in hand, but yeah, other types of pain slam tattoo pain hands down end of story. A marathon is a decent comparison. I've drawn heavily on the mental fortitude I've built as a runner to get me through tough tattoo sessions. I wouldn't consider myself a pain lover as a result, although some folks are drawn to that aspect of getting tattoos. For me, the pain just is.

Got my next appointment all set up for the second week in January. Looking forward to more work being done, not looking forward to *getting* it done :D Got the right side peonies worked on last time, they'll have brown added to the leaves in the future, and some lines on the petals.

Just got done with my chest/half sleeves from Horitomo at State of Grace. Took me a couple of years to get it all done since I had to fly there and book back to back sessions. First, here is a pic of my fucked up tattoo that I got when I was 18. Horitomo touched it up and incorporated it with his art. SOrry not sure why some photos are posting sideways, I have it upright when I loaded them. [/img] [/img] [/img]

The first time I travelled to Asia was in 2008. I was very privileged to have my Sifu (Master, RIP) take me along with his family to Foshan, China to learn about the roots of Wing Chun kung fu and experience Chinese culture. Then we would spend time in Hong Kong to train Ving Tsun with his Master (my Sigung, grandfather teacher). We had some free time and went to explore the street markets one evening. We had been in the area the day before and I noticed the big blue “TATTOO” sign on the busy street. My curiousity had me drawn to it and I wanted to see what it was all about. I would say I was still inexperienced at this time, 5 years after my first piece (maybe 50hrs in?) however tattoo culture was becoming something I had become very fascinated by. If you wanted to see pictures of tattoos you would muster some courage, suffer through the intimidation of ~actually going into~ a tattoo shop; you could see what your punker friends had scratched on each other; you would sneak a peak at the BME website (the internet! Oh my!). I went off on my own at night time to find this mysterious tattoo shop. I had split off on my own, away from my group. My time was limited to explore. I found the building underneath the big blue sign, went up several flights of a dark dingy stairwell. And there it was “JIMMY HO TATTOO”. Just an apartment door framed with classic tattoo flash pasted to the wall. So I rang the buzzer… I thought maybe it would be cool to get a tattoo in China…but I was also very hesitant. Did I have enough time? My group didn't know where I took off too and I had to meet back pretty soon. I was uncertain about the safety of the needles and ink. Healthwise it seemed risky. China isn't exactly the cleanest place in the world. How was I going to heal a new tattoo being in the hot sun all day and then training (contact) the evening? Afterall, my focus in Hong Kong was Ving Tsun. ...I remember being so nervous when I rang the buzzer. Shaky. There was no answer. So I waited for a bit, my curiousity had brought me this far. But what the hell was I doing here? Sketchy. And then a head suddenly appeared through a gap in the flash covered window. This older gentleman opened the door, poked his head into the stairwell to see who else was around and waved me in. I was pretty mesmerized. Here I am a younger, naïve kid, swept up in the energy of Hong Kong at night. Here I was in a sketchy, dimly lit building in an old man’s apartment studio. Old timey flash, certificates, photos, a lot of tattoo history covering every square inch of the 300 sqft apartment. What in the hell was I doing here? “Tattoo?” He said. That was about the only English he knew and would speak to me. He motioned at my long sleeve shirt, I didn’t have any of my tattoos showing. So I took off my shirt and showed him the work I had amassed at that point. Both my arms fully covered. Some leg tattoos. A big dragon on my ribs. He gave an approving half smile and motioned for me to sit down. I think this man knew that I wasn’t there to get a tattoo from him that night. However he made my curiosity feel welcomed in his studio. Looking around the studio it felt like a risky place to get tattooed and I felt I wasn't experienced enough to think otherwise. Not very sanitary by North American standards (but probably cleaner than some of those tattoo conventions haha). The bench pillow was covered in ink and blood stains. I couldn’t see an autoclave. The ink bottles in the corner looked a little crusty. The older tattooer gentleman didn’t have any visible tattoos and there was a serious language barrier. He gave me some his photo albums to flip through. It wasn’t a portfolio. It was more like family photo albums. Very old pictures of some American-classic tattoo designs he had made on people - eagles, panthers, daggers, hearts. There were pictures of him with groups of shirtless Chinese men, dragon and tiger backpieces and sleeves on display. Photos of this older Chinese gentleman with who I would assume to be elder American and European tattooers (I would be to naïve to have named at that time in my tattoo journey…I’m pretty sure there was a pic of him with Hardy, I think Pinky too? I really can’t remember). The whole experience was very surreal, I was nervous and awe-struck. I was going to have an amazing story about meeting Jimmy Ho, but would anybody really believe me? Or care? Afterwards, I did a bit of research (in which there was and still is limited info online). It turns out Jimmy Ho was the son of the late James Ho, who opened up Rose Tattoo, one of the first tattoo shop in Hong Kong back in the 1940s. My mind was blown that I had just had an exchange with a man from tattoo royalty. The next day I was exploring and ended up checking out another tattoo studio “Star Crossed Tattoo”. It was run by two friendly UK ex-pats Ross and Julia. I spent the afternoon talking with them about HK life, punk rock, tattoos, watched Julia tattoo and confirmed a few things. Yes, I had just met Jimmy Ho. He was tattoo royalty in Hong Kong. Hygiene standards were very questionable in Hong Kong/China at that time. Very risky, healthwise. The HK tattoo scene wasn’t regulated by the health board. Later on in the trip I would venture back to the area of Jimmy Ho’s tattoo shop. I didn’t take any pictures inside his shop, I was too distracted by the reality of the interaction - a human exchange about tattoos that happened in spite of a language and cultural barrier - and I didn’t want to be disrespectful towards a man that had let a stranger into his studio apartment. But I wanted to get a picture of the big blue TATTOO sign from the street during daylight. At that time I realized that I must have been a batshit crazy kid (even if I did know some kung fu!) to take a back alley into this area at night time, as there were a bunch of strip clubs, bath houses, massage parlours and gambling going on in the area with Triad looking Chinese (dragon/tiger halfsleeves) working the doors on the block. Not a place a young white tourist would want to find himself alone at night time. No guts, no glory I guess haha. I didn’t get a tattoo on the trip. And I have no regrets about that. But what Jimmy Ho did give me was an incredible memory and experience. Another story to go along with all the pictures I wear on my body. Thank you for reading :) PS If anybody has any further info about Jimmy Ho, James Ho, Hong Kong tattoo history please do share, love to learn more about it. - - - Updated - - - I did find this https://www.facebook.com/jimmy.ho.7127/media_set?set=a.292623604111543.71717.100000917175393&type=3

That new D'Angelo album is too good.

Ill throw my leg in! One of em anyway. Artist Lisa Cardenas.

The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There Praise – Lights Went Out Dikembe – Mediumship Beach Slang - Who Would Ever Want Anything So Broken? and Cheap Thrills on a Dead End Street Nothing – Guilty of Everything Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties – We Don’t Have Each Other Restorations – LP3 Run the Jewels - Run The Jewels 2 Lawrence Arms – Metropole Taylor Swift - 1989

You'll do fine :) I just did my back in three consecutive days, and although it was tough it is definitely doable. The way we did it, was to split up the areas being worked on so we didn't have to go over open skin on the second and third days, I would definitely recommend that approach as even getting close to previously worked on areas really really sucked. Stupid back of my ribs began to bruise up and working over them wasn't fun. Pretty much, just eat well, rest up beforehand, plenty of fluids, and some form of distraction is always helpful, willpower is the one thing you'll need. I put my head down in some parts and just tried to imagine I was a big piece of paper that had to hold still so she could draw (a big, meaty, piece of paper lol). Oh, and allow your body to heal afterwards. I went into mild shock the night after my third day.. And I admittedly did try to push myself a bit hard with commitments outside of tattoo sessions on my trip. My mum is a nurse, and the way she phrased it was "the amount of pain you've just put your body through with that many hours tattooing, you've effectively run a marathon.. So just allow yourself to fucking rest!" Haha. Anyway, I feel like I have rambled enough - sorry everyone! Side note; @SeeSea .. How's your progress??

I'm not big into portrait tattoos but I plan on getting a portrait of Bill Murray LEGEND think i'm going with stripes 8)

Somehow, beautiful, delicate, feminine tattoos are quite bad-ass.

@SeeSea looking so good!

Yeah, that's a good thought. And "closure" might not actually be finishing the piece as intended, but maybe just bringing it to some intermediate stopping point that gives nod to the fact that it's not finished, but that now it is. If that makes sense.

Tattoo pain isn't real pain anyway. I could still be crazy mind you, but everything is getting covered at some point so no sense in putting things off because they're going to hurt. Besides, if you want tough tattoos you can't be a wimp about it.

From your back straight to your torso??? I dunnon if you're tough, or crazy!

Thank you - that's the trouble with back pieces - hard to share in person! I end up pulling out my phone when people ask how it's progressing ;) It was really good to meet you and @Pugilist at the last meetup. We'll see each other again sometime I hope. (And anniversary congrats to you both!) Yes, I see it and can't help but smile giddily. :cool: Yeah, he mentions "saturation" over and over. But awesomeness prevails over pain. My jaw and my stomach dropped when I realized most everything was going to take more than one pass. Like the square footage of one back isn't good enough. O.O Yup, although finding out the "last session" gets put out again ... I'm like, wft? Really?!? ::laughs:: We'll be wetting the fins in January. @OutOfIdeas had a great suggestion to get a pic of me underwater and I want to try that, although that means free diving or having a buddy hanging out of frame to share air. Sadly, my great photographer buddy will not be joining us. I'll try to rope someone into the attempt. It would be a cool photo credit. You know, I should offer to pay someone on the dive boat if there is a good photographer willing. I will have to learn to do that effortless breath-holding mermaid pose you see in pictures! Thank you! It has been a journey. Even though I still have 2 sessions left, I can feel us pulling into the station. I am looking forward to how it settles. Some parts of it are already a year old like that little clownfish on the bottom (Session #1) and it's holding tight. The scratching has been strange - some sessions I am absolutely beside myself and rubbing against the back of a pole like a bear. Other sessions like the last two below my waist, almost no itching at all. Odd. If I could figure out how to put up that thumbs-up icon, I would here! I love that my back piece is actually a collaboration between me and my tattoo artist - my photography and his design from the references. Double awesome, indeed! Thanks, all. It's been a real journey, and I have few friends with tattoos and really no one to talk to about this journey who can relate. So having my LST family has been tremendous support. You all rock.

I know this is an old post, but I like the subject of this thread because it resonates with me. @Breakme: I know what you mean about wanting someone to share with. My husband is tattooed, and he loves my tattoos, but he stopped getting ink several years ago. So at least I have someone who appreciates mine and supports me. Although I like being the more heavily tattooed one in our relationship, I wish he would continue getting tattooed. I find them attractive on him, and it also would be nice if we could share the journey, both as active participants. I try to be pretty private with my tattoos, and like you, none of my friends are tattooed, or even remotely interested. I do wish I had some "tattoo friends" besides my husband. You know…support group…shared interests and experiences, etc. Someone you can go to and say, "Hey! look what I got last week!"

Quoting this post for the next page. Awesome to hear about this, Chris.

My super cool new filler piece from Paul O'Rourke at Love Hate in Cork, Ireland. First time at the shop and was blown away by how good it is - also helped that Paul is a seriously nice guy. I definitely will be back. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

tears in eyes... by matt dunn rabbits den milltown nj crappy pic 1 week into heal still some peeling going on

welp just got another appointment with robert ryan for january 2nd but down at electric in NJ this time. getting my hand tattooed 4 days later by max kuhn. starting the year off right, i'd say ;)

@SeeSea just thought this one came out the best? Here's the one with the flash so you can all our lovely faces!

Amazing! I love the choice of subject matter. You're tough as nails.

Last night's meet up after @Pugilist's session at NY Adorned with Brian Kaneko. Great meeting you and @Graeme in person!

That's where it lays. I got some old mates, who have been around, who are also into tattoos, but none of them can fathom the heavy suit approach like punching the armpits solid, in through the groin area solid. It's the attitude that gets you to the stage of firstly making the decision, committing to it then finally sitting through it. There's so much more to that statement than meets the eye as the attitude forms years beforehand. It's the attitude that separates the wishers from the doers.

I'm hanging in there. Little over 6 hours in. Damn spine work. Watching Harry Potter movies. That's about the speed of my brain right now!

This is my tiger done be Mr @byranburk back in october. Done in one sitting. He's very good.