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Session 2 done yesterday, plenty left to do but its crazy how different it looks from the end of the 1st session. Borrowed this pic from Marius' instagram page. Started with the fine line scales on the snake, then the black in the skull and finally some colour on the snake. All told it was probably 5 - 5.5 hours this time around.

Just got home from a relaxing and respectful 3.5 hours on the Shaolin back w/ TheGangOfOne Finished all the black clouds on the mid-back, did some borders around the ribs on both sides and the R armpit (oof), hit a grapefruit sized chunk across the mid-spine and over the kidneys. The solid blackness of the background is really helping the monk pop forward. Also got the back of my knee filled (praise be to the Buddha, never again!) and shaded the waves and rocks on the back of thigh. We figure another 2 solid sits to get the waves and waterfall across the lower back and fill up the bum. Back on the table next week. So far 3 sessions, 12 hrs total. Today I hit 190hrs total over my 12 years in this silly tattoo thing...gotta keep going ;)

So it's been a couple of months since I last updated the progress on my back. The shading sessions are just so much nicer for me than the outline. I think I May have even fallen asleep at points during the session in January. There was no chance of that this week though as the studio was pretty cold despite the heater just next to the bench. I ended up putting half my jacket back on the side that wasn't getting tattooed. Anyway enough rambling this is how it is looking now: p.s. @SeeSea your back piece has come out great. Congratulations.

Bit of a long break from LST but I am still alive and slowly chipping away at my backpiece. Had a decent break from tattooing over xmas which was great but back to the grind now. The snake has taken quite a while but almost finished now. Each scale of the snake has 3-4 different shades of green so has chewed through some time.

I only have 6 tattoos, but I have 5 birds total. I feel some pressure to not choose birds, but I love bird tattoos in all their variety and might just go with it and get birds everywhere.

I stumbled across this article this morning, about a photojournalist documenting a dying tattoo tradition in Syria. The photos are beautiful and I love learning about traditional tattoo practices in different cultures (I had no idea that there was a Kurdish tattoo culture!). I thought some of you nerds might find it interesting too! The Last Tattooed Women of Kobane | PROOF

I'm moving onto my lady arms! Right before everybody puts up their Friday the 13th stuff, I hit a guest artist coming through town :) Hoping to start a themed collection on my left arm, with Talley Matthews, on Friday. Hubs is coming to the shop with me, but he's got an important shooting match on Saturday, so I know he won't be getting tattooed.

Big reveal in the wild. Diving in the Maldives. On this trip, I saw several of the creatures on my back, which was pretty cool. The response from my dive buddies was overall pretty positive, and it changed a few attitudes towards tattoos. I had been chatting with three of the women before I let them know I had done it, and unrelated to my tattoo, they all spoke down on tattoos, including the "Why would someone do something permanent - your tastes will change over time" and the "What will it look like when you get old?" Sigh. One of these women really liked it and said it was the best she had ever seen, and she is in the medical field and has seen a lot of bare skin. A lovely woman from Austria was just in love with it and gushed about my "sea" that I can take with me. :-)

stumbled across this little gem... Ed Hardy roast. Scott Harrison kills it.

Participated in the Chinese New Year celebrations this past weekend in Edmonton. My buddy and I did a quick feature and demo on the local breakfast news TV broadcast. And then our school did a demo at the big ol West Edmonton Mall. Here are some action shots, En joy! Gung hay fat choy Our Shaolin kung fu demo team Here's an action shot of me doing a flying jump kick and shooting out a chain whip: The pride of our school, the kung fu DRAGON ! with a sneak peak of my backpiece progress thanks for looking, hope the lunar new year is good and full of colour for all the tattooed pals out there :cool:

Just came back to this thread so many nice legs. think we should have all have a update soon

Awesome @suburbanxcore - if you're coming to the convention swing through and say hey.

Good God Do not get the back of your knee tattooed! The tattoo stings...but just awful the day after. Also got tattooed on the armpit border. So I've got a hunched shoulder and a zombie leg for a few days until this skin loosens up YEEOUCH ! - - - Updated - - - Looking forward to next week where I can actually take a care-free shower. Oh wait I'm getting tattooed again next week.

Maybe I'll tag along on that trip, lol. I've been wanting that as a tattoo as well. I also gave all my groomsmen Leatherman tools as gifts for my wedding.

Guess you're sleeping on your stomach for a few days, @bongsau. Nice when they jump all over like that.

A scented candle and/or scented lotion.

I see what you did there. Never enough barber tattoos if you truly #respecttradition.

Thanks! Yeah, next session actually! I asked for it to be left blank until I had finished a piece by Jess Yen on the side of the thigh, but we have reached a point where we just have to get all the background done now, so hopefully next week we will get the other cheek and thigh finished (fingers crossed we have the time).

Just wondering - what are some of the frames you all have preferred for a wall of multiple medium-sized prints like the Horitomo ones? I'm close to buying a set of 10 prints of Marie Sena's ladies, which are 4" by 6," but it occurs to me that I have no idea how to display them, being pretty clueless about decorating my living space. I saw @ironchef's BB&B suggestion and may go with that since they look good...

After I had 7 laser sessions I finally could get a cover up I wanted. I booked in with rob Richardson months ago when he opened his books. This is what I came back with after 3 sessions in a row full days :).. I will post healed pics later and if anyone wants to see the before pics let me know! Iphone camera used nothing fancy. hope you like it! adult image sharing

Covering up will do the trick, as long as the clothing you use provides protection. Many T-shirts let light through, and a wet T-shirt is SPF 4! I've been surprised looking at the shirts I own. I wear UV clothing for bright sun situations or when I am outside a long time. In the picture I attached, the ThinkBaby product is a sun block (mineral-Zinc/Titanium based), the other two are sun screens (non-mineral based), to use your terms. I did a significant amount of research to understand the chemicals and minerals and their effects on UVA and UVB, and sometimes I use one versus the other. Block if I don't care if the skin is white/hazy and if I need protection immediately. Non-mineral based requires some time for it to become effective. I started the thread below last year, and around pages 3 and 4 I included research I had done into the chemicals used and why some entities (e.g., Consumer Reports) rate some higher than others. If you'd like to continue chatting about sunscreens, we can take it over to this thread. Thanks for the question! http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/5584-sunscreen-sun-vacation-threads.html

Dragons, snakes, skulls, tigers, vikings, runes. Only one parrot though :) Parrots are cool. Slam another one. I would if I had room left [emoji106]

I have a mix of things that are incorporated in multiple tattoos... 4 tattoos with roses 2 tattoos with an anchor 3 tattoos with an eagle 3 tattoos with a snake then a few tattoos of the same main subject... 3 skull tattoos (+1 with a skull) 2 heart tattoos 2 dagger tattoos 2 monkey tattoos I try to mix it up, but ^these^ things still happen. I kinda want more goldfish. I saw a dude at the SFO convention with legs covered in girl heads by some great artists. anyone know this guy?! I'd love to take a closer look. i'll try to dig up the pic.

so far these are the repeats i have: 2 dragons 2 roses 2 daggers 3 skulls 3 snakes 4 hannyas and will probably end up with more skulls, another dragon, and another snake.

Progress on my skinny ass. Been a long break since last time due to the tattoo studio moving premises - Back to regular sessions now so hopefully some more updates coming! Looking to finish the whole thing by summer. The sessions never get any easier... By Mark Armstrong, Sacred Art tattoo studio, Manchester UK.

When me and @Pugilist went to Electric it was on one of their walk-in Saturdays, and they do everything. It's rad. I got a vajra sword from Tom Yak, the next tattoo he did was a sergeant's chevrons. We lined up before the shop opened to make sure we could get a spot, and it was really cool because the shop gets all kind of people wanting all kinds of stuff, from people who were specifically going to Robert Ryan to get his stuff, to names, flowers, standard walk-in tattoos. I was talking with Tom about it while I was getting tattooed and he was super into tattooing like that and just giving people good tattoos. I got the impression that even though some of the tattooers there are pretty well-known and that people (like us!) will travel to go there, that it's the good local shop and it's just where you go to get tattooed if you live in the area. Instagram really skews things. I've been tattooed at some really fancy big-name shops and even there very few of the tattooers there exclusively do "their style". I've read on here about tattooers who are super hard to book and will only work in their particular style, and then I've seen these same tattooers in the shop doing simple script on the ribs and that kind of stuff. The internet isn't real life.

Here are some recent ones for me... Got this guy from Alan Berg Started this with Mat Welch and snagged this Bert Grimm horse from Miguel Olascuaga

Finally get to post in this thread!! Screen capped right off Instagram. Karl Lark/Bert Grimm? lady head flip by Jason Phillips at FTW in Oakland, CA. Ribs are brutal. But I'm stoked on the end result. Felix by Adrian Sanchez at FTW in Oakland, CA for their 14 Year Anniversary Party. I've always wanted a Felix tattoo. It fit perfectly in the spot.

Aww, this got me right in the heart. So sweet. Great read, @Pugilist.

Welcome .... Pup! Got my first at 61, 2nd and 3rd at 62. No problems. Age might make us a bit more discerning, and perhaps a bit less concerned about our bodies. I'll avoid anything on my legs and feet just because they became so varicose that it would hurt the art. My chest, shoulders, and arms have taken the ink beautifully - and I don't have to worry what they will look like 50 years from now! Luckily, the big multinational I work for has no problems with me having them, 'cause I'd hate to get fired with 3 years until retirement! The wife isn't over-joyed with them, but hasn't complained and seems to becoming attached to them slowly (tracing the one on my chest as we lay in bed last night was quite the turn-on). I personally have no firm plans for any more, but....

It just spells "management material"....

I'm not sure if I ever posted a picture of my back when it was finished. Anyway, here it is. (found a better picture)

Whoa, with all the awesome tattoos posted in the Lowdown thread recently I'm surprised no one's posted here yet. I'll kick it off! Here's my thigh by Seth Wood, started at Temple and finished at Saved.

Oh it gets better than that. I was just informed by my artist on Saturday (prefaced with a "I don't want to scare you, but...") that when we're done my back we're going to have an extra full day session to reline it. Now that I've been through it once, I think full day lining sessions are only a thing because the client really doesn't know any better at that point. I felt like I'd been hit by a cement mixer after the first one, no idea how I'm going to get through the second. The answer may be alcohol.

Oh how my leg has changed in just a few short months. I think my next move will be to cap my other knee. Then I need to work on the back sides. I'm too front-heavy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Can't wait for the next meetup..

Haha. Does that just mean "standing up"?

I realized that besides for instagram photos in the Latest Tattoo Lowdown-thread, I haven't uploaded any proper hi-res healed pictures of any one the tattoos I've gotten since I first registered here 3 years ago. I'll make sure to get to that. Anyway, here's my twiggy pale legs at their current state: Left leg, top to bottom: Rose - Eli Quinters Judas wearing devil mask - Iain Mullen Heart factory-thing - Rudy Fritsch Dietzel masked girl - Joel Albertsson ACE-script - design by my friend, tattoo by Iain Mullen Swampy horned skull - my friend Isabel Crocodile bird - Joel Madberg SOOS Man with birdcage head - my friend Isabel Ancient aliens UFO with wings and bird claw - Iain Mullen Gorilla in tower holding skull - Deno Crossed bones RMA - my friend Isabel Återkomst - some scratcher named Jens (traded for a small photo) Badly healed heel tattoo - Iain Mullen Upside down skull - my design, tattoo by Iain Mullen Right leg, top to bottom: Shaman and hyena - James McKenna Rock of ages, upside down cross - Peter Lagergren Girl sleeping in moon - Jaclyn Réhe Human cuddled in egg shape - my friend Isabel Whispering devil + indian symbol and three moons - Iain Mullen Baboon head - Matty D'Arienzo Saraswati/indian looking head - Adde Ramstedt Behive - Knibbe Pallius Upside down eye of providence and snake - Ville Prinsen Big angry snake head - Deno Cat reaper - Joel Madberg SOOS Funky tiger coming out of flower - Cezilia Hjelt Equaly badly healed heel tattoo - Iain Mullen (both to be redone in a few months) Bum dreaming "C.R.E.A.M." - Frej Lind Hårda Tider-band logo on toe - my friend Isabel Edit: Oh wow, long post. Thought they were thin enough to go side by side in pairs. Well.. enjoy

OK, I'll play. These show most of my legs. I won't bore you with the sides of my knees or ankles. And I'm too lazy to type out who did what, but I'm happy to answer any questions.

diggin' this thread. dreading the knee ditch and inner thighs. here's what and who, so far... Upper left - three wise monkeys: my brother - tribal knife: myself - gypsy head: jill bonny Upper mid - third eye skull: my brother - sun, moon, web knees: trevor taylor - hardy bulldog: myself - butterfly: myself - daruma and candle: myself - umbrella eye guy: trevor taylor - green flame/symbols: myself - doll head: shawn barber - BnG snake: myself - flower: beppe strambini - fox & stars: hideki kobayashi - horse head: myself - bird: myself - cherry blossoms: my brother - 408: my brother Upper right - snake and kewpie: christopher ayalin - lucky 13 cat: matt arriola - eagle and clipper: mike Wilson - hippie snail: my brother Bottom right - horse head/ring of flames: myself - shark: myself - BnG pattern: myself Bottom mid - naismith: cris cleen - fu manchu snake: jeff rassier Bottom left - holey heart: myself

Laziness is dictating I will post up some instagram shots. Maybe I'll get a full "squid pic" later. Hanya - Stewart Robson Dragon/Raijin - Regino Gonzales Dante's Inferno - Paul ?? Devil - Matt Van Cura

Just posted my twigs on Instagram this morning, but figured I'd repost 'em here too. Many of them are hard to see / are on the other side of my legs, but of what's visible... Right Leg: - Foo Dog by Mike Rubendall - Punk Rock Girl Head by Nick Oaks - Pyramid by Eli Quinters - Dragon Head (peeking out) by Steve Boltz - Rose Girl Head (peeking out) by Kirk Sheppard - Snake Head by Nick Oaks - Wacky Ankle Tribal Band by Paul Samplonius Left Leg: - Hindu Demon Goddess by Freddy Corbin - Devil Woman by Hillary Fisher White - Skull Mosque by Chris Stiles - Pyramid Palm Hand (peeking out) by Jason McAfee - Wolf Head and Snake by Bailey Hunter Robinson - Hammer by Nick Oaks - Dr. Teeth by Cody Zeek Not visible: - Oni Head by Dave Cummings - Dagger through Tiger Head by Jeff Rassier - Mom Heart by Steve Boltz - Higgs Druid by Nick Rodin - Demon Head by Todd Noble - Panther by Matt Arriola - Wacky Husker Du Mandala by Keith Stewart I think that's all of 'em for now, but I'm wearing pants so I can't double-check. :)

Credit should go where credit is due, this idea actually came from @BrianH Anyway, here's my legs, or the start of them anyway. You can't actually see most of what I have on them. The panther rose was done by Chad Koeplinger, the ship is by Ron Henry Wells, you can see a bit of a swallow done by Bert (I don't know his last name but he goes as "Bert Monster") who worked at Tattoomania in Montreal when I got that tattoo, but now works out of a private studio, I believe. You can also see tiny bits of a rose and a snake done by Tony D'Annessa, and a tiger-faced hannya done by Danny at Tatouage Artistique. More towards the back of my right leg, and totally out of view is a piece of Doc Forbes flash done by Chris Hold who tattoos at Sacred Heart in Vancouver. Not everything on them goes together, but I like my legs because it's been a lot of fun getting those tattoos. I'm waiting to hear on some time off I requested from work to go to Barcelona, so hopefully I'll manage to add something else to my legs from El Monga or another one of those Aloha guys in July.

In the spirit of "fuck-it" I present my left leg. @gougetheeyes now we can feel weird together. Snake/torch by El Monga last summer at spider Murphy's Candle/Skull by El Monga March of this year at tattoo city Cattle Head by Stefan Johnsson Jan of last year at California electric Planning a panther on the knee at some point but it'll have to wait a bit. The other leg has some odds n ends on the thigh, but not enough coverage for me to feel it can hang in this thread yet!

This is not mine, but I wish it was! From Morten Transeth at Blue Arms Tattoo in Oslo, Norway. Morten's Instagram