Leaderboard

couple from today...errr...yesterday - stolen from the artist IG traditional pieces by Shannon Pagliarini @ Crown and Anchor Tattoo in Pt. Pleasant, NJ

new lil dude from Hector Fong at Tattoo 13 in Oakland :)

So if you have a bodysuit you're only allowed 1?

Essentially healed tiger head from Tim Lehi. Done at the Summit Convention here in Colorado.

By Trevor Shea in Vancouver BC. Healed and no filer...seriously. Trevor is the Mike Roper of Canada in my opinion. Bodysuits that you will never see online.

The entry here is the knee demon done by Franz Stefanik at The Okey Doke in Toronto. This is the best pic I have of it, so please filter out the surrounding work.

Ha! Yes, that was a good one. Sometimes the pre-offended newbies are fun conversations. Like the piercer from the place in NJ who admitted her Yelp reviews were fake but was still upset about them. It took quite a while for those bannings to occur. +1 to @AverageJer as well. It gets tiring to have these us-versus-them posts. If anyone has a suggestion, there is a thread about asking questions - go over there and suggest how you think this forum could be improved. <---And THIS is a reason this forum format is cool - how many times has someone asked a question, and someone else comes along with the link to a long thread with tons of good information??? This cannot happen if there is a new thread every other microsecond. But like I'm a masochist or something, I'll still continue to step in and offer the bull-in-the-china-shop analogy until I get just as tired of it as the old timers who are mostly ignoring this thread because they're tired of saying it too. If you don't like the format....there are other forums. This kind of stuff is the reason that many of the tattooers aren't contributing to this forum anymore, and unfortunately, back-and-forths like this are one of the reasons why, and new folks have no idea this is happening. And we are losing valuable resources and informative conversations. Soooo, [bIG SARCASM ALERT BOYS AND GIRLS]I guess makes me a mod-wanna-be. - - - Updated - - - And @polliwog - you've built up street cred with your thoughtfulness and interesting conversation. Start threads when you want. NOT BECAUSE I'M BEING ALL MOD_WANNA_BE :)

Mods and rules aside, I agree with what (I think) SeaSee is saying - that the best forums (in terms of the signal to noise ratio) tend to develop a culture that encourages thoughtful posts that add value. It's why some forums are awesome resources and others are spam-fests full of flaming. When non mods complain I think it's often less that they want to be the "mod police" and more that they are invested enough in the community to want a standard of discussion to be maintained. In fairness, we've also had relatively new members do a fair bit of ranting over the years, and no one stopped them... Remember the guy with the wonky star? Is people sticking their oar in about inane or unnecessary posts really inherently unfair ... does it somehow infringe on people's rights? Meh. This is a privately owned forum with public access. Also, The pushing goes both ways and if we're indeed all adults here then no harm done. No one is exactly oppressed here.

Here's the trick to Bactine: get the squirt bottle, NOT the spray bottle (spray can introduce airborne bacteria - if all you can get is the spray bottle then transfer it to a squirt/wash/Nalgene bottle). Now, squirt the tattoo using gloved hands to catch the excess, and rub it into the OPEN tattoo (linework usually isn't enough). Then let it sit on there for a few minutes, and then start tattooing without wiping it off the skin. Lidocaine won't fuck up your tattoo in any way and you won't OD. Note this does NOT apply to other numbing products, especially those with Epinephrine in them. Some people spray a couple squirts on and wipe it off immediately with a paper towel, and surprise, it doesn't work. This isn't a trade secret or technical information, by the way. I learned this as a collector long before I became an apprentice.

Well, I disagree that anyone should post anything they want without fear, and this notion of policing. I'm not interested in a forum where there is random spewing of whatever someone wants without some thought about the atmosphere of the forum. Just because it's the internet doesn't make it the wild wild west - that's why so many other forums suck. And just because it's public doesn't mean it's fair game. And just because it's public doesn't mean that this site doesn't cost someone money to run...and they sorta get a say about how things go. If someone isn't interested in lurking and checking the place out, and getting a feel for the atmosphere and expectations, then move along. Think of it like a big gathering, party, club ... there are always some social "rules" you need to be aware of. Standing in the middle of the room and announcing that you don't like the social rules doesn't endear you to anyone, and you will likely be ignored, given the hint, or escorted to the door. If it's topical news, start a thread. Make sure it goes in the right sub-forum. If it's not interesting or the issue is resolved, the thread will naturally die off. If it's clear the poster hasn't wandered around here and gotten a feel (e.g., "what inks should I be using"), then yes, people will get testy, because the poster didn't read the guidelines. If it's genuine, no one is going to get bent. If you cop an attitude or appear to be coming to the party ready to be offended, then prepare to get "policed." $0.02.

Hogg, your snake may or may not have ended up in my reference pile ;). I'm flattered! Polliwog - I have no idea how in the HELL he did that in four hours. Even though I was there for it I can barely believe it. He said that since he had drawn and colored the snake completely already on a picture of my back, and then he drew it again on me in marker before we started, that because he had drawn it and colored it in he knew exactly where to go and that's why it was so fast. <throws up hands> he's a mad genius! I have never been tattooed by anybody who is particularly slow, either! But the other half of my back definitely took multiple sessions of AT LEAST 4 hours each, so this was soo fast! The one thing that may have helped was that he used bactine after the first 1.5 hours, and the lidocaine in bactine kept me nice and numb. But once I was numb he went for it and started digging in there - I could DEFINITELY tell I was being worked on. I don't know if I could have handled it without the numbing. On numbing: I used to be sort of anti-numbing, but I got numbed for the last 90 min of the eagle/dragon thigh piece and then for this, and I don't feel like I really missed out on the tattoo experience. I was definitely there for all of it! And the numbing may have removed the "hot fire" element of it, but not the continuously working over chopped up skin feeling. So that's it! @cltattooing that hector fong piece is sick!

With the full understanding that this is glaringly hypocritical since I'm starting a new thread about it (though I couldn't really find one that addressed this issue), I have sort of a use-of-LST question for you all. I really hope it doesn't come across as jerky or out of line! One of the things I liked about this forum when I joined was that there were relatively few threads considering the amount of content on here, in contrast to others forums I've used. A lot of the longest-running threads on this board contain a ton of fascinating knowledge and first-hand experience from members, collectors and tattooers alike, who've come and gone, and when an old thread gets dug up and bumped to the top, to my mind it's a welcome chance to read through the archives. Trawling through pages of the Latest Tattoo Lowdown thread, the What Makes A Good Tattoo thread, etc etc blew my mind as a newbie. So, from there I'm wondering: when is it appropriate to start a new thread? What makes the board the most navigable for everybody? I guess I've already revealed my bias, but it seems like a discussion worth having. Also: I'm not saying that new discussion doesn't add anything, more that it's maybe easier to forget what a wealth of information already exists here if it gets buried many pages back. Obviously all bets are off in the random stuff area...

I flew across the country twice for my thigh tattoo. Both times I was pretty wiped out the day of the appointment, kept it low key that evening, but the next day I was good to walk around and sight-see and such. And I'm not so tough :) so I'm sure you'll be fine!!

Andre Malcom the summer (confirmed interest just shelling out flights with the lady) freakin stoke. Getting entire right thigh done.

I wish people would stop starting new threads to show off their new tattoos. That's what Latest Tattoo Lowdown is for. Otherwise you're just cluttering the feed. If someone wants to ask an actual question that's okay with me even if it's been asked before.

Let's all take a deep breath and look at this picture of a sparrow drinking nectar from a cherry blossom: It's A Damn Good Time To Be A Sparrow In Japan (unless you have a phobia of birds, I guess)

Here's my $.02, and I mean no disrespect to the OP here. I can't stand it when people play tattle tale and/or get off on enforcing rules in online forums. I've seen people get banned in other groups (non tattoo related) for breaking trivial rules (often out of ignorance) and in all cases it was due to overzealous mods and tattle tales who get off on having some amount of control on an online forum (probably because they lack control of anything important in their real life). Tattooing has never been about blind obedience and following rules. Let people post what they want - within reason of course.

If you've started more threads than you have tattoos, it's too much.

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." -Voltaire

Here goes. Head tattoo by Jesse Roberts. 3 sessions about 3-4 hours each, then one quick touchup session. Completed in about 2 months.

I saw Chad Koeplinger while he was in town the other day for rose #4. Done at Rock of Ages in Austin.

Appropriately posting this one on Easter. I got this one from Matt Arriola a few weeks ago at Spotlight. Photo stolen from his IG: For reference, it's on the back of my thigh:

By popular request here's the grapefruit thread. I'll post my atrocity first so nobody has to be shy about theirs sucking. This is actually my second one...the first one was a a bunch of freehand garbage and penises just for the sake of learning the machine. This one I drew a design, stenciled it on, and tried to do a good job.

In Progress by Matt Dinovo. BLACK SQUIRREL TATTOO.

Yeah, @SeeSea the hobbling is worse than the actual tattoo. I don't feel pain getting tattooed, but do feel pain afterwards. I did laugh getting it done, during a few times when was awake, but did sleep for most of it. To be honest, I think it's worse this time around the hobbling, (more like limping lol) 'cause lightly sprained ankle before hand. Was bad today, cause had no sport tape left. And so had none on my ankle. Once got home from town, strapped ankle up again with sport tape and, it's getting there. Yeah probably wasn't the best of ideas to get tattooed on same leg that managed to sprain my ankle on, but fuck it! At the end of the day, it was my choice and, am not complaining. Ah well, all part of the fun right? :)

@CShaw - and what a relief!!! My last one was like that too - hopscotching everywhere. Can't wait to see the pics! "Whoof". Never seen it spelled that way. Very cool. Whoof.

That tattoo above is gorgeous. Pretty sure I'm the only one on here who likes word tattoos..I'd not go for multiple lines/paragraph style or anything, but a few words looks nice to me. Sometimes words are the only way to convey something. I see a picture of a guy in black running across the sand and a guy in a cowboy hat behind him, but reading "the man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed" puts a specific picture in my head that is only mine, and everyone else reading it gets a different picture in their head. A picture doesn't change according to the viewer. That's my mind on it anyway.

got 2 tattoos yesterday and... they didnt hurt at all:p:cool: haha

Meant non-snarkily, but here it is: Last Sparrow Tattoo - Forum Rules The search function is a little unwieldy, but I've had great luck with the advanced search options. This thread certainly wasn't born out of a desire to tattle on anyone. It's really more about how to get information to people who are looking for it, since the answers to many questions already exist here. As a non-moderator and a relative newcomer, perhaps it isn't my place to start this discussion, though! It took a little while to grow accustomed to some of the rules here, but I'm glad they exist.

This may be a derail, but I got some Bactine for one of my leg tattoos...it was a weird experience; it was completely numb in certain areas, but then elsewhere it was like three times as painful. Has anyone else dealt with this? Edit: I saw that @dari mentioned this in the painkillers thread. Maybe going to request no topical numbing agents in the future unless I'm doing love handles one day...

+1 This! ^^ To much of this happens around here...

@SeeSea i spend a lot of time in coffee shops and parks when traveling for tattoos (in SF)!! the only thing i would caution is to make sure you know exactly where you're going when the tattoo is done. My post-tattoo brain gets spacier and spacier each tattoo it seems - and I have a helluva time getting anywhere. So if I don't have a set point of where I am going next, I'm in all sorts of trouble.

I had my first session (outlining the sleeve) yesterday. I was sure that I had made a good choice with Chris and now I'm even more sure. Great guy, great work. I've only had one tattoo before and nothing at all like this size, so I was a little apprehensive but I thought it went well. Even the worst part for me, the elbow ditch, wasn't all that bad. I also had a nice surprise. Several people on here suggested I have Mike Dorsey do the work. I didn't ignore that advice, but for various reasons it didn't work out. So I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in to the shop and who was there? Mike Dorsey. Very nice guy - he stuck around while the stencil was applied and everyone looked at the placement. Anyway, here's the first result. Back in three weeks for shading.

so here is my input,this is a "discussion" forum,as long as the thread is put in the appropriate forum or sub forum IMO it should be ok,but unfortunately some people think they are mods when they are not,and feel they need to police the boards,if a rule is broken then a "moderator' will let you know,otherwise,as adults in a public discussion group we should be able to post ANY questions or thoughts without fear.Threads don't take up much server space and if anyone doesn't like a topic then they shouldn't look at it.

@CultExiter. Nice one! Better than my shit show!

I believe I do. This was...jeez, a year and a half ago.

All right, you guys are awesome as always, @Graeme, @polliwog, @marley mission, @RoryQ, @AverageJer, @BrianH and @Breakme! Sounds like I won't die ;-) Just keep moving, not too much, dresses or loose pants, don't plan big exciting things for the morning after, and have a great time! My trip started out as, "Fly out for a tattoo, spend a couple days with Mom." Now it's turned into, "Mom and I fly in and have a nice vacation in SF and I happen to be blasting down to SJ to get a tattoo while I am there." ! Yes, planning on getting the tattoo on a Wednesday and flying back on Friday, so we'll probably fly there the Saturday before. This would be a perfect situation to use Saniderm, but since I've never tried it before, I don't want to start with this one.

One of the rare occasions I got to lay down during this piece.

When I was young, my mom used to always sing while she curled her hair in the morning. Que Sera Sera was one of her go to songs and it stuck in my memory... now it's stuck in my leg. The Sly and the Family Stone version is way more my style than Doris Day though... https://youtu.be/v7G5MIpFui4 Tattoo is by Jill Bonny. It's not a portrait or likeness of my mom... i just asked for a gypsy with a bandana, curly hair, roses, the song title and let her do her thing.

Hello friends. It's been a while since I've posted, as it had been a while since I've been tattooed. That ended today with the first sit on my back piece. Overall, I'd say it wasn't as awful as I expected, but certain areas were downright painful. Notably the bum. Next sit isn't for 9 weeks, so I've got time to mentally prepare myself for more pain. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Progress shot....pretty much finished the top half.

I think it would look nicer, more complete, if I did the armpit too but yeeeeeeeahhhhhhno. I don't like to take breaks b/c then it feels worse to me when we start again. I'll just have to be incomplete I guess cuz there shall be no armpit tattoos. I agree, those people have to be on a whole new level for sure!

The underside of my arm, the closer to the armpit the worse it felt. I'd like to be a big girl and do it up right but um..not gonna happen. All the places suck but ugh Sunday when he was working on my peony was tender!

Welcome David, hope everything works out great for ya. I think that's wonderful that you are the age you are and saying hell yeah, it's time to finally get the tattoo you've always wanted. Life's too short and you're never to old to start something! No regrets bud.

This is my thigh tattoo I got done

I can highly recomend these. Had one of these 50 minutes before my tattoo today. Worked a treat. :)

This counts as a thigh piece, I hope! Working on the other side (actually finishing it next week ...), although it's a smaller homeward bound trad piece.

Here is a pic of mine right thigh. This was about two years ago and I have since pretty much filled this leg with other animals . Not sure what to do on the other side thinking of dragon.