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DOne by Tony Hundahl at Oklahoma tattoo convention. Had a blast all weekend drawn on one shot

Got this ass sucking Kappa when I was out working the Vancouver Tattoo Show from Chad Woodley. Healed beautifully. Great tattooer.

save your money for more tattoos. leave the tattoo machines for the tattooers my $0.02 :)

One thing I've learned at LST, if you aren't sure whether you should ask a question about the industry insofar as how to break into it, buying inks/machines/etc, or any other hair-brained questions that can be thunk up: just don't. Think before you ask, if it revolves around the industry, if you wouldn't ask your tattooer and be met with a reasonable response, you don't ask it here. Period. Don't be a smart ass, or think you're trying to shake things up and break the mold, or turn into a lawyer who minces words and parries with semantics. I am here because I want to share with others my love of getting tattooed, and talk about the history and culture of it. I'm NOT here because I want to talk about how to acquire the tools of the trade without actually being in the trade. It isn't my business to do so, nor do I think it is anyone's who is not a tattooer.

last jar folks! by jamie sawyer @ immortal ink in clinton nj

One I did. The wearer has one sleeve already. Started this one from the bottom up.

I can only speak for myself but I think you'll find the overwhelming majority would agree that if there is such a thing as intruding into our industry (and there is), collecting the tools of our trade is the definition of it.

Matt Arriola pantherized my last big spot yesterday at Spotlight. He couldn't quite get it to fit, so he decided to add flames. Always a good call. I have some inner thigh/tenderloin spots and a few tiny spaces on my legs, but if I said "I'm done" now, I don't think anyone would fault me. But we all know that I'm not done.

How about we let...

Done by Bradley Tompkins at Frith St. Great guy and great shop (borrowed his IG pic)

I grew up in a country whose language, laws, system of government, architecture and God knows what else (see what I did there?) were forged on the anvil of Christianity. I'm atheist to my core but those Christian influences go to my core too. If everything else in my life is influenced by Christianity, why shouldn't my tattoos be? I can't imagine anyone would think me Christian just because I had a panther head wearing a crown of thorns on my arm any more than they'd think me Christian because I said "bless you" when they sneezed.

Hi I'´m Hampus Samuelsson from Sweden. Long interested in cultural tattoos and collected a few as well. It all started in the beginning of the 21th century when I traveled to Samoa for my first time. My girlfriend at the time had her family there. Her father worked at the hospital on Tutuila so we visited them during christmas. They knew this tattoo artist there, Wilson Fitiao, and he did my very first hand tapped tattoo. After that I needed to get back. And so I did in 2007. This time I had to meet up with Petelu Suluape. So the search began about a year before the trip. I talked to Heidi Hay in my home town, she were about to marry Paulo Suluape which tragically ended up in him being murdered :(. But even if she were close to Petelo, she could not help me. So I started calling to the US, tried to get hold of Freewind Suluape but failed, talked to a bunch of artists and customers but nothing. So I searched the internet. There I found I guy on bebo, an australian facebook version at the time. He was family to Petelo Suluape so we started chatting a bit and some phone calls. Eventually I could speak to Petelo himself. His english was not as good as I thought it would be, so I got suspicious. Talked to Heidi again and she also thought it sounded weird, Petelo speaks good english. Turned out I had been speaking with his brother, they shared the same name! The rumour says he was born Alaiva'a but took his brothers place in school and been called Petelo since. Anyway, time was running out and I left for New Zealand with still no contact with Petelo Suluape. Four month went by in NZ and I sat on the plane to Samoa about a year after I started my search, with nothing. But while walking the streets in Apia a saw an american that I recognized from the site couchsurfing. There were only two registered couches in Samoa so I had read both their profiles. This guy, Peter, had his wrists tattoed by Petelo. I called out his name, and he was much surprised that I recognized him. I asked him if he knew where I could find Petelo, -Sure, he's a shop right around the corner, next to Spoons (the ice cream shop)! A whole year of searching and it was this easy? I went straight to the shop where I met, another, Peter. He was the son of Petelo and a very talented artist. I asked him if I could book a time with Petelo. -Petelo? no, he's in Hawaii. *doh* -He'll be back on Thursday. *yay Got his cell number and waited for Thursday, called but no answer, friday nothing. Saturday morning, finally! I described what I wanted and he sounded interested. -Can you come tomorrow, 10 o'clock? -Hell yeah. It was finally happening. Took a taxi down to Faleasiu and we went through my ideas. He grabbed my arm and twisted it around almost to breaking point. Then finally said. -It's a big tattoo........ OK! Six (!) hours later it was done and they smuggled my out of the village in a minivan and dropped me of at the highway where I had to hitch hike back to Apia, manuia le kerisimasi. Why? It was Sunday and he wasn't allowed to tattoo on Sundays or he have to pay a fine to the church. Eight years later and my tattoo still rocks. Solid black and sharp lines. But, that's not the reason I came. I've done some viking reenactment in my days, about ten years, and met a lot of interesting people. Some of them tattoo artist working with hand poking techniques. Peter Walrus, Kai Uwe Faust and Colin Dale to name a few. Being a hobby videographer I ended up doing a short interview with Colin Dale that I'd like to share with you. Hope you like it :) Watch it in full HD here: https://vimeo.com/abacrombie/roots Maybe something for your video section @slayer9019

No, one cannot.

@dcostello I was the guy who came in around 2 and found out I got double booked. Your knee looked killer when it was finished, have fun healing that beast. Here's what Chad put on me just a couple hours later:

Done yesterday by Mr. Chad Kopelinger at Rock of Ages... In 1.5 hours... Someone needs to do a study on how he can tattoo so god damn fast. Really awesome experience all around. - - - Updated - - - Such a good tattoo. We both had a nice painful day yesterday.

To balance out Matt Arriola Jesus, I'll throw in my Theo Mindell devil. Finished a few weeks ago at Spider Murphy's in San Rafael Ca. Photo stolen from his instagram

To: @DavidR, @cltattooing, @jen7, @bongsau, and @Abellve. Thank you for all ya'lls reply. I am around. This thread got to me a bit and I just need to sit back drink a beer and relax for bit. Thank you gals/guys. @jen7, Engineering background (By trade) here as well. Metals/Engines/Electronics just fascinate me! The knowing of how it all works.

Originally, maintaining "symmetry" was the mission objective for my tattoos. Now...10+ years and 201 hrs later, on the homestretch to full-blown donburi ! Overall look...live up to my Jamaican street name "Colouring Book" :cool:

like the kid in junior high who built one out of a bic pen tube and a walkman motor ;)

I have no idea if you will find a tattooer willing to let you buy a broken machine but I do know that if you want to get into the dirty of tattooing, the internet isn't the place to look.

If you want to get a phoenix on your arm, go see a reputable tattooer at a reputable shop. If you tell us where you live, there's a good chance someone here can point you in the right direction.

Yeah that is seriously badass. I feel the tattoo jealousy rising within me once more! Edit: Oh god dammit i shouldn't have clicked on the previous page. You people are killing me here!

A new flash sheet I'm working on. I know I still suck but these are for you @Graeme. Baby steps buddy.

Tim sounds like he had a stroke. Vinnie cracks me up. Dude hasn't plugged his guitar in for probably close to 30 years now.

Watching this was enjoyable but I feel like it really strayed from NYHC. Also, would have been much cooler if JJ, Stigma, or Freddy Madball narrated. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Because he's clear and easy to understand?

With respect to cohesiveness and advance planning, I did a reverse approach to my tattoo suit. I didn't get my first couple tattoos with the intent to do a bodysuit, I just got some tattoos and then continued to balance side-to-side to maintain my symmetry. I had arms, legs, ribs, stomach, chest, neck/shoulders and thighs completed before I started my back, which is an opposite approach. That's just the way it worked out for me as my interest and excitement for tattooing grew. I got tattooed by 14 different guys over the years. I had one session in particular in 2009 (my chest, during my 100th hour) that the shop had a full house of heavyweights. Me working on full size chest piece and 3 other cats working on backs (waist up). Everyone hit the day rate, after 5 hours was no charge, and there was some magic in the shop that day. From that moment seeing backpieces in the flesh in progress, I knew that's where I was headed tattoo-wise but wasn't in a place in my life to commit to the time/money nor had I an idea for a subject I felt strongly enough that I could carry the weight of on my back. I was headed there all along in hindsight, just sometimes in life that direction you're headed does not reveal itself fully to you until you are ready to become aware of it. I've been to China to further my kung fu training 3 times since 2008, the last 2 times (2011 and 2014) to train at Shaolin. The first trip is when I finally knew I wanted a monk on my back, similar to the murals etched in the walls of the temple and the design on the back of the training vest the monks wear. I connected with the tattooer and the correspondence for the back began in 2012. In the meantime I worked on some other spots like the tiger in my belly, some thigh tattoos, collar/neck while I patiently waited for the green-go-light. Because of my existing tattoos though, there were certain spots I wanted to complete first in sequence to frame and layer my works the way I desired. There was some other life-shit that went down in the meantime, namely my Sifu - my kung fu master - passing away suddenly and one of his dying wishes was that we take the students again to Shaolin and continue our relationship with the temple. That's an intense story on it's own and it just heightened the desire, cemented the idea for my Shaolin tribute. It wasn't something I picked out of a comic book and was like yeah that's cool -there's nothing wrong with that!-but I wanted something ~heavy~, you know what I'm sayin? I know what I'm sayin! So ffwd to my first back session. Seeing all the crazy stuff and bright colours I have going on all down the front and arms/legs, my tattooer designed my backpiece to be simple, bold and black (as fuck) to balance it out, align the horizon lines and gravity of the water in my tattoos, really attract the focus, make the tattoo powerful and tie everything together. Because I had my ribs done prior, it made my back canvas a bit narrower to work with, which is why I ended up with 1 monk in a kung fu pose instead of the original idea of 2 monks in combat. It all ties together, maybe not as clean as a bodysuit from japan, but nevertheless ties together my stories and experiences, 14 tattooers and 69(?) sessions. And whether you are tie-ing pieces from one artist or many, a full body tattoo has people mesmerized and going "what in the fuck" because it is not a common sight to see in public. It's going to look cohesive because it's YOU! And I am very happy I waited. It has made the experience more exciting, I'm more tuned into what's going with the tattoo-process and most important of all it has made it all more meaningful to me. so @knucklehead211 to answer your inquiries and add some other points: 1. how to prepare? MANIFEST the idea of tattooing your back. the subject/theme/motif will come to you in time. 2. acne? i can't comment on that, see a dermatologist and deal with your issue now in preparation. 3. Do from shoulders to at least below the belt and onto the bum. No biker backpieces (jokes)! You don't need to do your front either. 4. Don't sweat the cohesiveness, as I wrote about above. 5. Let the tattooer make it fit your body, an experienced tattooer will. 6. Don't rush! See #5, I know a lot of dumb-dumb friends who I pointed in the right direction and vouched for to get proper tattoo, but people these days get very impulsive and gratified, so they rush out and get some half-baked poor tattoo because they can't wait a month or a year. 7. Know what you want and be able to articulate it. Keep it simple. Manifest the idea until the idea is solid enough and you are 101% behind it. 8. Start saving now so when it's go time, you've got money in the bank to keep up with the progress i.e. weeks between sessions not months. 9. Get inspired! And I don't mean scrolling instagram every hour or even LST. I mean get inspired by the real world. Go to the library, research old wood block prints and illustrations, go to the museum when the samurai armour exhibit is in town. Spend time in the mountains and rivers, go to the gardens in your city. Travel. Go to the art gallery. 10. Try and get the piece started in the fall so it will be worked on/healing in the winter, done by summer. 11. Plan long-term, plan in advance and be patient. 12. Have fun and enjoy the whole process. There is a reason why not everybody wears a backpiece and even fewer have finished backpieces. It is a big commitment. It took 2 full years of correspondence to make mine happen. The most rewarding things in life are the things you work for and wait for. cheers

Here's an update on my back piece from my last session with Fill Wood @ Black Crown Tattoo in Leeds. I'm getting close the end- maybe another 2 or 3 sessions to finish Hoichi's gown, the detail in the Biwa and a few other bits. Link- https://instagram.com/p/15lGppmzSi/

I'd like to add Andrea Giulimondi to the list. He works at The Family business in London. I love this girl in particular!

Of interest, worth a 20 minute watch. Good morning LST!! http://noisey.vice.com/under-the-influence/under-the-influence-new-york-hardcore?utm_source=noiseyfbus

If by that you mean you're done with this forum, I hope you'll reconsider. I think you make a positive contribution and I think the forum would be a poorer place without you. As far as your English is concerned, it had never occurred to me that you were anything other than a native speaker and I am one, and a grammar nazi/language snob to boot. As far as owning tattoo machines is concerned, I see no difference between that and owning any of the other tools you list. If anyone says otherwise, then that's their opinion and they're entitled to it but that doesn't make them right. As far as how to go about that, I would never expect an artist to give you one and I'd be very dubious of an artist that would agree to sell you one. I would certainly advise against ever asking for one or asking to buy one; I think that would permanently sour your relationship with the artist. Of course you could buy one off the internet but I doubt that would mean anything to you. I don't really see a way forward but keep your eyes open and you may one day get lucky. Whatever happens, I do hope you'll stick around.

Before reading this thread I had never even considered whether my or anyone elses tattoos match their clothing. Turns out the tattoo that is level with the bottom of my shirt sleeve clashes with the blue shirt I'm wearing right now.

The only recommendations I will ever make for Canada: 1. Try the fries and gravy. It's really good. 2. Go to the biggest lake you can find and try to catch a Northern Pike. Those are some of the most fun fish to reel in. Last time I went I brought in a 42 incher so tough I thought I'd snagged a sunk tree and couldn't even hold him properly for a good picture.

@hogg @dcostello @Scott R and everyone else getting killer work.. Well done! I've had to hoard money like a crazy person for this move.. can't wait to get to start getting tattooed again, going a little nuts.

"Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically." I am a chaos magician/shamanist and I have Loki tattooed on my leg with a planned half sleeve of the Greek fates. I think a lot of imagery from the bible is really great, in metaphor and art history, but the context of these lies in text. My favorite is jude 1:13 they are wild waves foaming at the mouthes, wandering stars for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever." I have also thought about something like "even God had to rest on the seventh day." Maybe even revelation 3:11 "with justice and judges he makes war." Song of songs 1:2 "kiss me with kisses of the mouth, your love more delightful than wine." I think getting a quote from the bible/relating to Christianity is cool even if you aren't christian. It has permeated cultures for thousands of years, been translated into thousands of languages, just because a use it is not your creed does not mean it has no value as instruction, history, or entertainment. I think with quotation it might be slightly more context restrictive for the heathens though... for example, I wouldn't be getting john 3:16 "for God so loved the world..." Or any of the verses more specifically deifying Jesus, or setting forth the tenants of the religion. Personally I would find that disrespectful if it was not part of the individuals faith (at least at the time of the tattoo) I think religious text is a wellspring of beautiful and meaningful quotes, but perhaps some prudence on how far we are willing to stretch for its beauty, but of course, as others have said, all of this is individual.

I have a couple of "mini-looks" that I am going for. I want the view from the left side of my body to be the "sweet" tattoos (flowers, butterflies, stars, etc.) and the view from the right side of my body to be the "sassy" tattoos (pin-ups and other sexy stuff). My front and my back views won't necessarily have a theme, but I don't want tattoos to be totally different from each other in one glance.

While I think it would be cool if one was given - say, to a lifelong client who had just had a piece done that both parties found phenomenal, broke the mold, or time to retire the machine type good - as a commemoration, I would never ask for one, and would refuse profusely if offered. I mean, it's literally their tools of the trade.

About 10 hours in. By Tim Croke at Second Skin, Derby. Like to hear what everyone thinks of it!

Fifth (final) session on my back, the long story. Photo Link to my other post in this thread. And here's picture from and what I wrote after the lining session ------ Last session - booked for Sunday, March 29:th, at the Scottish Convention On the friday I was supposed to take the night bus from London to Edinburgh where Iain Mullen and Rudy Fritsch were working the Scottish Convention and ready to finish my back on the Sunday. To make a long story short, I ended up not going on the bus due to having booked the wrong month (Second time this happens to me, damn you Victoria Coach Station!) and instead I found myself after a sleepless night (spent in a night open café in Soho) on the first train to Edinburgh in the morning. Finally I can sleep I thought. Wrong. Turns out scottish people likes to talk a lot and there is no silent compartment. After a few hours of trying, I get perhaps 20 minutes of sleep. When I wake up I have a text from Iain saying "Let's do the session today instead!" (Other clients could only get tattooed tomorrow) This makes sleeping again very difficult due to being severely excited and also scared/psychologically unprepared of a brutal session that I thought I'd get tomorrow. Stupid as I am, I convince myself that it's going to be all right. I sleep maybe 20 more minutes before I arrive to Edinburgh, where the wind is blowing so hard people almost fall of the streets. I've all ready been practically awake for more than 24 hours. By text, me and Iain try to arrange someplace where I can at least get some sleeping hours before the session. His hotel room turns out not to be a good idea. But there is a emergency room at the venue where I could get some peace and quiet. Great. I make my way over to the convention, after having bought pre- and post-tattoo food stuff. Choosing carefully to get a lot of nutrition and powerful stuff that will fend of the tattoo sickness I can all ready feel breathing down my neck. I've now been on a trip for 6 days, from Barcelona to Toulouse (where I got my lower belly/pubic area tattooed by Guy Le Tatooer, another wonderful horrible experience), a 32 hour bus ride from Toulouse to London, one much needed night in a proper bed, staying awake the night before in the café and now I am here. Last destination of the tattoo pilgrimage. Iain tells me to go to the big stage and look for a guy in a short mohawk named Tom/Tim and say "I'm the guy who's been travelling". This code phrase opens up the gate to my quiet sanctuary. Actually, it turns out to be a very small, cold, brightly lit, room where a big scottish man (emergency crew) is hanging out waiting for the emergencies to happen. There is neither a shower, as I had thought, or a proper bed. There is just sort of a portable emergency bed, barely wide enough for one person. I explain who I am and he lets me lie on the bed. I am too tired to fall asleep. This whole situation seems absurd. I pull my jacket and a hoodie from my backpack over my body and turn my face towards the wall. I try to relax, to breath calmly and slow down everything. The anticipation of the last session, and the pain that goes along, is very distracting. Over the com-radio there are sparse messages, barely intelligible in scottish. After a while two giggling girls come in. One of them has fainted ("This happened last year too!") and they are giving a routine check up and some good advice to eat and drink water. Meanwhile I'm this strange traveling, greasy haired, bum sleeping under jackets in the emergency room. After two hours or so I give up on trying to sleep and decide to go out, eat something and have a look around. Everything is like in a haze. I can not be bothered with all these people. I do not want to see the burlesque dancers doing whatever it is that they're doing. I sit outside and eat the big, ready chopped, stir fry with kale and edamame beans that I bought from the store. I eat some nuts, I drink some superberry juice. Must not get sick. I hang out in the both with Iain and Rudy. Rudy is tattooing both of Joe Ellis' feet in some strange tribal architectural freehand style and we talk about him doing something similar on my left elbow since Iain did the right one. After a while I go to the handicap bathroom to have what few people would have called a shower. After cleaning myself up with the water from the sink and slipping into clean clothes I feel a bit more civilized again. It is time for finishing the back piece. I would have much rather liked if the circumstances would have been different but after being awake for now nearly 34 hours I am lying face down at the Scottish convention, with my half covered ass pointing towards the small crowd that is starting to form, and one tattoo machine being tuned on either side of me. Memory of a lifetime moment, right there. Considering probably being in the worst shape ever before getting tattooed, it was not as bad as I had braced myself for. It was certainly bad. Somewhere between terrible and outright nasty, if I had to specify. In the start they added on some liner details that I was not expecting. Then they added some very thick dots that felt like evil torture to my ribs. Then they went on with the shading and I could settle in to the groove of it somewhat. Knowing how bad the first two machine session was, when we did the lines in June, this was almost bearable. It never got worse than the lining session. When it's your back being worked on and two machines are moving from spot to spot, you have no way of anticipating where the pain is going to be and for how long. You just have to take it, so I did. About 30 minutes before we were done I had to go to the bathroom. I was totally in my zone, something like what I imagine marathon runners go into to keep pushing, and was not ready to face a bunch of people watching me. Somebody said "hero" as I passed. I felt weird. The whole non-privacy of the event was strange. Both mind and body was in turmoil. As with the pain I can be amazed by states like this, the things you can experience when pushing hard. How it makes your head feel from the inside. I returned, back on the table, and we did the last bit. When I sat up in the end to have some more straight lines just below my neck I was trembling from exhaustion and emotionally shaken. It had been a profound journey. /// After the tattoo I hung around while the guys packed their stuff, we went with some other people by taxi to a pub but realized they had just stopped serving food at ten in the evening. We split up and I went with Iain and Rudy to have fish and chips at some hole in the wall. Veggie burger in dry bun for me. Finally the couchsurfer I was supposed to stay with showed up and we walked back to his apartment. We had a really good conversation on the way there. I chucked half of the burger in a trash bin. The apartment he shared with three other people felt very much like Trainspotting, except no visible drug related objects scattered around. I feel asleep in a windowless room and had no dreams, just blacked out for 12 hours. Two days later I flew home to Stockholm, had take away-dinner with my girlfriend and took the night train towards the very north end of Sweden. I felt it really bad all ready and for the coming four days I was bedridden with a massive fever and accompanying headaches and cold. At least I could watch the whole second season of The Wire from start to finish. /// I had planned to start my backpiece when I had turned 30. Now I am 28 and it's all ready finished. It's been a fantastic experience and left very warm memories. I am so happy that I asked them both to collaborate, that it worked out, and that I trusted them completely with the design. Since we started in June my personal life, a big portion of the things that happened, have been so good, enriching and developing that that whole time in my life feels very beautiful. Turns out that the biggest part of my body carries a piece of which I didn't even see the design until the hour when we started, yet now it holds so much significance and meaning. I really like the thought of tattoos like amulets imbued with qualities and forces. I'll always have power on my back. That's how I see it.

No way dude! I saw him post that on Instagram. Such a solid piece! LST dude/dudettes need some sort of a general LST tattoo to we all recognize each other! And thanks. It feels horrible right now.

Wifey got hers from Joey Ortega finished up this week . . .

I haven't been around the forum for a long time. My computer went all haywire on me. Also, I had not got a tattoo in a really long time, until yesterday. And so naturally, I wanted to put it here to see what everyone thinks... :) I got this Ed inspired Tex Avery wolf/Panther/water mix up from Steve Byrne at Rock of Ages in Austin. Photo stolen from his Instagram.

I can say a little more about this now. So far all of my tattoos have a similar style, meaning they are all rather minimalistic silhouette tattoos with just black ink. The reason for this is also because I worry about the tattoos harmonizing with each other. I don't think I could bear a watercolor style tattoo next to something old school for example ;). I have shyed away from colors so far because I wear a wide variety of colors and styles....all black one day and then florals and pink the next day. I do want something with color but I am thinking long and hard about what colors will match most looks. I also want colors that harmonize with my skin color ^^ which is probably a weird thing to consider? But I can go on and on about these things. They need to be perfect for me. I'm the type of person that if I wear mismatched colors or outfits, my day is ruined hahaha...I can not even handle wearing mismatched lounge clothing at home. I will change into something else... And I do know I will always try to balance out how many tattoos I have where...I am planning it like an architect. I did a fairly good job with my piercings. I was able to fit 5 on my face in one area ( nose, mouth ) and it still looks balanced...imho :D

I'll also point out that legs, at least for me, heal slower than my arms becuase they have worse circulation. It took about three weeks for mine to go through the peel-flake cycle, compared to a few days to a week for my arm. I extended my aftercare expectations, let it dry heal with twice daily washings for most of the first week, very light a&d at the end of that week, and lotion around the middle of the second week on. Just what's worked for me personally.

Well, some of you pals already know, but it's relevant, so I'll tell you all. I put in my resignation at my day job so that I could be at the tattoo shop more often. It's a big scary step, but you gotta start somewhere. Also, I quit drinking after being a lush for the last 10 years. Onwards and upwards folks.

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

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.

Can I suggest finding a tattooer who does really nice script and just getting their names done simply and beautifully? I don't really understand all the posts above suggesting the necessity of finding a representative image here: it's your child's name, it has way more potent symbolism on its own than any design you could think of.

I have a lady head in the ditch of my right arm, and it's really well designed so that there is minimal distress in the hot spots.