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A crazy old dude came up to me in the street a few weeks ago, he was pointing out his wrist to me. He had a tattoo on the top of his arm and so do I, so I started showing mine thinking he was looking to talk tattoos. Turns out he was just trying to do the universal signifier for 'do you have the time'. I guess Decoratedskins say the darndest things too. Haha.

Healed photo of my back that was finished last year in September, and a fresh one to the left. Both by Marius Meyer

@seasea @Cork @bongsau here is picture to make you guys even more jealous :)

After 7 years of hustling, freelancing, not having my shit together, and then getting my shit together - I GOT A FUCKING JOB YO!!! AND A REALLY COOL GOOD ONE!! AND I'M A GOOD GUY/ WHITE HAT!! Because it's for a large corporation I don't think I should say much more here in a public forum, but guys: I work remotely, full time, full benefits, and a 401fuckingk. I have not had these in my adult life!!! I AM STOKED!!!! You know what this means, right? More money for more tattoos. :D

get both! :)

Stop thinking, get tattooed instead.

@Cork I sit all day at work. and i sit for fun after work. then i lay down to sleep. pretty much a professional sitter.

rofl. I love this thread. You guys have had some horrrrrifying experiences, though. I must just be lucky. Maybe it's because I live in the PNW, where people are either a) pretty laid back and progressive or b) too pass-agg to tell you what they think directly...? The other week I did have someone grab me without asking to look at my arm. It was a little old Japanese man working at the post office. I went in to buy stamps and reached out to pay him, and he grabbed my wrist and said 'let's see what you've got.' First time for everything, I guess. Mostly, I just get people telling me they really like my tattoos, and asking me where I got them. Sometimes I get asked if they mean anything. The cutest was this weekend at my family reunion, when my cousin reached out to touch the one on my forearm (second one I got, well healed by now) and then yanked her hand back quickly with big eyes and said, 'Oh sorry, does it hurt?' She is 30. haha. I told her they all cause me perpetual agony and she hit me with her napkin. ...I wasn't sure how my extended family would react to the tattoos -- they are all Talbots people. Boat shoes and sweaters around the neck. It all went better than expected, though! Most of them were just curious. It was kind of nice.

I've been charged with finding an artist (preferably in the NYC metro area) who can do killer orchids. This, for me, is a difficult request because I've yet to see an orchid tattoo that doesn't look overly flat. Orchids are tough to paint, photograph and draw, let alone tattoo! They do not seem to translate to tattoos well for me, at least not for my aesthetic. I would love some recommendations: realistic, Japanese... it doesn't matter. Any help/guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, posted earlier in this thread....type 1 diabetic now for 28 years (now 39 years old ). Have now got two full arm sleeves both around 20 hours each. Also have added a large chest plate. In four weeks I'm starting a full back piece tattoo. We are booked in for 8 sessions two weeks apart. I can honestly say I've never had any healing issues. Your Dad's onto it though by trying to lower his A1c...the tighter the control the better obviously....but he shouldn't be put off by Internet stories....it is easily do able with common sense and good control ! To your Dad I say go for it !

Congratulations @beez!!!

Spine healed fine for me. The sides up near the armpit scabbed every session on both sides and on ribs all the way down to my hips. I lost a little bit of color in several places but the final touch-up session took care of that. I took such good care of it but I couldn't avoid the scabs. I'm not sure if it was movement during healing or the area was a little more chewed up since as a girl I've got a little more fatty tissue there to grind through. Or because I'm older and the wounds just don't heal as easily as they used to. I sit at work but try to move around a lot, and resumed running half way through healing, although the scabs had already formed by then. Excellent on the healing @BrianH!

did you or your friend get it tattooed? we'd love to see a pic, if you're willing to share. and who was the artist?

congrats @beez! I try to find any reason to get a celebratory tattoo. ;) we're trained to high five since we're toddlers so it's almost built into our systems! if you put up a hand for a high five, i think 95% of the people in this world will give it to you without even realizing what they're doing. it's awesome!! i'd still like to bring back the high ten... but if you approach someone with a high ten, you often get confused reactions until you actually say the words "high ten!" how can we improve this high ten stigma?! i think the % might be a bit higher with volleyball players. maybe i'll just start with my dog and see where it goes from there.

I'm very surprised at how easy and fast the healing has been with my back overall and especially with this most recent session. I was worried that the area closest to my armpit would have some trouble healing because it twists and stretches a lot with almost ever movement. 4 days after the session that section has been the first to fully flake/peal. Still red and sore but overall a pretty comfortable healing experience.

@jimmyirish There's not really any getting around how daunting a full back is. I knew that getting one would be a huge commitment but I don't think I actually understood how much of a commitment that was until I started it. I think without that dedication it would be as easy to abandon a back done locally as it would one you travel for because it still takes a lot of time, pain, healing, money, and so on. It is nice though that I don't have travel costs, paying for hotels, having to take time off work in addition to the tattoo. I don't have to worry about the exchange rate. There have been sessions where I haven't been able to take the whole day off because my workload can be super heavy but I start work early so I can work a half day and then go to my appointment. I don't especially miss driving home eight hours with a fresh tattoo, and I think that would be especially uncomfortable with a back session. If I had to travel to get the tattoo I wanted I wouldn't hesitate to do that, though I would get tattooed at a slower pace and would probably sit longer sessions than I'd like to, so it is great to have Dave in the same city.

@Rob I Thanks! We're going to have to get a group LST backpiece photo at the Montreal convention this year. - - - Updated - - - @jimmyirish Thanks! I am so stoked with how it's coming together and I'm lucky to have such a good tattooer working locally.

I too, would like someone to pay for my tattoos. Any takers? Big fan of Workharder by the way. Kickstarter is internet hobo'ing at it's finest.

You people are feckin crazy!

...I just want to know what you were doing at a tattoo party and whose kitchen it was in.

@hogg haha thx mon WHA GWAN COL-O-RING BOOK ! "Mi skin a run outta space / But mi have plenty more fi go a-ha a-ha" LOL this is the funnest time though in my tattoo journey...got some plans for small tattoos and tattoos-over-tattoos to make everything even more dense haha

Nah, I wouldn't call it interference, I would call it a design variable. Think of it like framing the top of the backpiece. Or you can tile the background underneath the neck-dagger or whatever. The tattooer has to fit/cut the tattoos on your body and that fit/cut will depend on your body type, the look you're going for and the other existing tattoos in the area. I got my neck / tops of shoulder pieces completed before I started my back. Check out the pic in my gallery, you can kind of see it what I mean by framing. My blackground doesn't pop out of my shirt and now I've got this sweet gap (or maybe two?) on the back of my neck that I will fill in...now to chip away at my wife about how high that gap tattoo is going to travel up into my hairline hehehe...

Lucky Strike Tattoo in Edmonton, AB hosted their annual summer slam party this weekend !! It was a super fun time. Lots of tattoo show n tell, good tattoo talks with fellow collectors, jello shooters, moonshine, parking lot burnouts, picture machine flash jokes and got drunk with some new buds. I hadn't even cracked my first beer (4pm) and Scotty's like "it's a friggin tattoo shop take your shirts off". Got to check out some wicked tattoos in the flesh...Lucas Ford fudo backpiece, Steve Moore backpiece, a bunch of Steve Batt tattoos, a Steve Byrne ROA in progress backpiece (!), Bailey Robinson, Koeplinger, OllieXXX, Smilin' Dave and of course lots of fresh and aged tattoos from the Lucky Strike cats of new and old (Sam Sheinin, Bobby Tripp, Miles Kanne, Scott Rusnak, Brent Smith, Chris Iwaniuk, Myke, Julie). Anyway, got this super dope photo of Scott Rusnak and some fellow clients in the bodysuit club. from L-R ... Steve(?), Scott Rusnak, Derek, myself. Too bad we didn't get a backside shot... IG @ scottrusnak one of the most underrated young tattooers in Western Canada...he does really bright and vivid Trevino-esque Japanese style tattoos with attention to the details. Highly recommend him. IG @ lucky_strike_tattoo great local shop, quality artists and a really fun place to hang. some bongsau facts...30% of my tattoos have been completed at Lucky Strike, 40% if you include the Electric Tattoo days from 10 years ago!

It's in the skin now, too late to second guess the placement! But you've expressed you are more or less happy with it so don't overthink it (which is totally natural, but stop yourself). There is no such thing as a perfect tattoo... Don't cover it, get tattoos around the fox and adjacent area on the forearm.

Got this about a month ago from Jeff Zuck of Name Brand in Ann Arbor. Definitely going back!

I would fund that over this.

This was last Saturday's progress on my back. We're getting close. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please don't take this the wrong way--or take it the wrong way, if you'd like--but you are barking up the wrong tree here. No one is going to fund you, and my reply will likely be the most polite you'll receive. And if you have to ask why, well....

The other day I went to my favorite Chinese restaurant (I'm kind of a regular, the workers usually make small talk with me). I was wearing a dress, and the lady at the front counter approached me and touched on her arm where my butterfly tattoo is and said "Beautifur! Butterfry?" We had a broken English conversation where she asked where it was done and implied a lot of the tattoos she's seen come into the restaurant are pretty bad. Tattoos transcend all languages. :)

I just had an apple turnover and a chocolate milkshake. It was glorious. But I'm lactose intolerant, so I may be posting an update in the "Post shitty things you have been doing recently" thread LOL.

My parents, within the process of moving across the country (MI to CA) stopped by on their little pre-move road trip. Had a real nice day hanging out with them and doing fun little touristy stuff around town. Been about a year since I'd seen them last so it was really good to be together and just spend some time as a family. Also they're going to be living near San Jose so I'm selfishly getting excited about all the new tattoo opportunities I'll have available without having to worry about booking hotel rooms.