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Alright folks, here ya go

I guess I'll join in on the sharing fun (even though most of you have already seen this on Mike's instagram). Progress from my session at Pagoda City Tattoo Fest: About 31 hours total so far. So maybe we are about 1/2 done?

@idyllsend WOW! that is really beautiful. I can't wait to see that finished. Here are a few pics from my last session with Chad K. We are essentially finished but he does want to do one more session in November for some touch ups and stuff. For all intensive purposes though, here is my finished back! I am so stoked!!! It is so vibrant and bold and I think you can read the image from a few miles away :) Chad put in some really neat little details in this last session. Not sure they will be visible in these "just finished" pics, but I will try to remember to post a healed pic. He did some really cool things with the tongue and the teeth that I am pretty pumped with.. LOVE the eyes as well. I am super grateful. rob attaching pics from gallery as that seems to be the only way for me to edit them from being sideways. If they look sideways at first, just click the pic and it should right itself.

Pretty sure the correct answer is HAIL SATAN - - - Updated - - - Finished up a leg with Lehi. First two sessions at Blackheart, final session at Temple. Last year I got tattooed by Stewart Robson at Blackheart and I was saying I wanted to get some big work from Tim. Stewart told me flatly that I had to get a tiger. Turned out Ok I guess, if you're into that sorta thing... This is about 3 weeks healed (photo taken today). From his IG

No pictures until it's healed, but hot off the heels of my Scott Sylvia cobra/roses, I managed to grab a quick appointment from Oliver Peck on his one day trip into Philly. Snagged a little death's head moth. Good times!

Pictures from my second and third sittings. My tattooist thinks we'll have it done in 7. Thank dog. The itchiness is killing me! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So here is the remainder. Kongo Yasha Myo-o in his full glory from Dana Helmuth. This was pretty much the home stretch at this point. Once all the shading was done, the color was only about 1/3 of the remaining time I spent with Dana. I love Dana's snakes. Once mine got colored in, I couldn't stop staring at it, I still can't. Also everyone loves the blue, and so do I. It's bold, and it'll be awesome for a long time. I spent a lot of time at Read Street Tattoo in Baltimore and it was a great shop. The final session was in Dana's tattoo lair at his home in Maryland and it's a true honor to be a member of his back piece club. And the final obligatory baby picture, because I want to be as cool as @hogg.

Well I've always been of the mindset to give the people what they want. It looks like I can only bundle 20 pictures per post, so here you have the first half. Of note in this set of pictures; My back is really only my third tattoo, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I just knew I always had an interest in this type of stuff, and it was something I had to do. The very first lining session reminded me of the pain of my previous tattoos, but the worst part was the hair. I distinctly remember clutching the table as the 5th hour rolled around and it was time to start the hair. 30 minutes later, soaked in sweat, I can say I did what needed to be done. After that session, Dana says that he is notorious for pushing his clients, and that if I really needed to take a break, to just let him know. The guy is a machine and just rolls on forever once he gets started. Once that love handle got hit, I knew I had to turn to chemical relief. The average session was 4-5 hours and I didn't want to let Dana down by tapping out early. That may be frowned upon by those who never turned to relief, but anyone who has turned to pain killers will tell you that it hardly does anything. It just takes the edge off and lets you breath a little. Make no mistake, you definitely still feel it. Kudos to anyone who goes through the ass without any assistance. I don't think I could have managed sessions any longer than 2 hours if so. We did a ton of lines and shading. We both got a little bored with it and decided to color in some fire before finishing the shading. We were both itching to see color and it was a great change of pace. One major thing to note, and I want everyone to take notice about how a tattoo changes and you just roll with what works. At first, Kongo Yasha was going to have a nice yellow aura, and the lines were down to lay the path, but that changed once the fire got started. Since Kongo Yasha is an angry ass dude, we decided a full fire aura would look the best. Dana put some lines down and I think it was a change for the better. You can hardly even tell what was originally intended.

@cltattooing that is incredible. So awesome, and obviously @BrianH's is coming along perfectly. @Cork, thanks for posting that progression. I did somethings similar when I got my whole arm done, but it just doesn't photograph as well as the back to see the progress.

That is the phrase I was looking for. Wow. And @BrianH, I love how dark the background is. I can't wait to see the finished product; the contrast is going to be incredible.

Damn, @MoistTowelette. Is this cosmic let down bad juju for getting tattooed by EVERYONE last year? Ha ha! Bummer though. I was hoping Shige would be there and bringing some of his limited "Barekijin (sp?)" prints. Well, there goes that plan. Yakitori place for sure! If you're not inspired to pre-book with someone @sophistre, once you step in you'll definitely get an urge to get a little something. It's a hard thing to resist. I've only been able to withstand it by spending way too much on prints and books. Ha!

do it! you can start with buying prints, ogling tattoos, and adding to your mental list, but being around it all just makes you want to jump over to the fun/painful side of the tables. ;) i enjoy searching out that perfect little pre-drawn $40-$60 filler piece to scratch the itch and pass the time.

HAIL SATAN indeed....... This was from last Wednesday. Evil filler, shoe horned in by John Hill @ Name Brand. This is my 6th or 7th devil (but not the last).

@cltattooing congratulations on surviving the most challenging part (I dont know about everyone else but for me lining was a terribly challenging experience)

Hello all! Not been on for a little while so thought I better jump on and give a bit of an update. Firstly @Graeme your back is looking great. I'll be that far along soon. Ian reckon's we could be done in 3 or 4 more sessions. In the mean time this is the progress from the last couple of sessions. Reposted from Ian's instsgram.

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

they still have around 1000 artists to add to the list and it is being done manually so it will take a bit of time.

download "The Brag Art List" on iTunes or Google Store to your mobile device to see all the top notch artists in your area. and no, this isn't spam. the app was created by tattoo enthusiasts for enthusiasts.

Oh sure, I actually meant history in general. I was thinking specifically about the first time I heard about the First Nations people and how similar some of their history is to US Native Americans, and yet theirs is much less known to us below the border. Tattoo history is even more obscure to the general public, though equally important to a select few (including many of us LSTers). Basically: history is cool.

^ Pain is temporary, awesome tattoos are forever.

Dude, there are literally thousands of posts about tattooers in the Bay Area on here. Don't be lazy.

I can't even handle how much I love your back, @cltattoing ! It all fits you so perfectly.

First Session 8hrs. All done. Tony Wayne from Imperial Tattoo Company.

There's nothing you could do to that tattoo that wouldn't completely overwhelm it. Cover it with a real tattoo.

This is comforting to hear. Thanks guys. And I'm down to work out my abs too. I gave Phillips a bunch of ideas and am looking forward to see what he comes up with.

@Graeme is right: a tattoo as a permanent reminder only works if you remember to reference that part of your body before you do the thing you are habituated to do before you do it (which you won't). Or if you have a great movie edited in reverse chronological order where the protagonist can't remember anything for more than a few seconds. What are the odds of that? I tried to link to a badass David Parker tattoo robot ray-gunning some poor sucker as my suggestion for a tattoo, but I suck with the technologies (it's awesome though). That's what I think you should get. - - - Updated - - - Aha, here it is: (my wife gave me a leg-up on the tech) by David Parker who is at Blackheart Tattoo in SF.

@Fala For sure. I've never travelled too much, but there are definite concerns. @polliwog also mentioned ATM/purchase maximums, which my bank has and has put a cramp in my style before. Better to ask and have some ideas than get burnt.

@MrToby that dragon is stunning. @Graeme your tiger looks so casual, like "Yeah, this is a battle but we all know who's gonna win..."

I went around between Instagram, my phone, and the back piece thread and pulled together as many shots of my back progress as I could. Anyone interested in seeing the process? The only reason I ask is it is a lot of gratuitous ass. Like, a lot. Obviously it's all already on the internet, but just seeing it one folder on my hard drive seems excessive as it is so I figure I'd gauge interest here before posting.

Not the latest, but I finally got some decent pictures of my wings and eyes from Erik Von Bartholomaus. Wraps almost all the way around, making it pretty tough to take pictures of. Sorry the first picture is sideways.

Some progression of my nautical sleeve done by Mike Stockings.

got my hand tattooed by mike wilson yesterday @ the pagoda city tattoo convention. soooo stoked on life right now even though my hands the size of a catchers mitt.

Sorry for the huge pic, I don't think I posted this but anyway I got this done a few months ago by Jesse Rix in Keene, N.H.

Pin up & black rose last week by Tim Hendricks, photo from his Instagram :D

My latest, Stephen Kelly from Forevermore in Glasgow. https://instagram.com/p/5-LPXDKydB/?taken-by=fmtglasgow Over the moon with this one, really batted it out of the park.

Prettyyyyyyyyy pumped about this one, not gonna lie. Yesterday: There's a vid too: https://instagram.com/p/5075TDTBNR/?taken-by=greggletron By Greg Whitehead at Scapegoat in Portland, as usual. My thigh feels like a wobbly hot water bottle today, and I don't even care. :o

Today. Pardon my flab!

lol my 13 yr old dtr taught me how to "screenshot" my DM pic that Sheila Marcello sent me after she did this cool amazing Pharaohs Horses piece - even though I have a few pics of this posted already in the lowdown - please allow me to give you the best of the bunch :)

here is a better pic - one that Sheila took - along with some others she did yesterday

Pharaoh's Horses by Sheila Marcello @ Electric Tattoo in Asbury Park they had a traditional flash weekend event @ the shop as I was getting tattooed by Sheila I was a few feet away from Bert Krak and Robert Ryan doing pieces there was many other big names there as well - place was packed seeing Bert up close I couldnt believe how big the guy is - he looks like he could suit up for the NY Giants if he wanted very cool vibe at this shop though I would say I prefer less of a crowd pic is shiny - meh

By Franz Stefanik, Okey Doke Tattoo, Toronto.

This is my latest one, by Marius Meyer (Photo is also taken by Marius Meyer). I am super stoked to get it coloured in later on.

@Wyatt Strange That eagle is great. If I can offer some unsolicited advice, I wouldn't thicken the lines. Time will do that to them anyway.

Had some work done Friday 07-17 :cool: Getting there !!

This is what I did yesterday with Jereme Galloway at Time and Tide in Bloomington, IN.

Got this from Greg Christian at Tattoo Faction about a month ago and these from Tomas Garcia at Old Soul last weekend. all stolen from their IGs @Gregchristian4130 and @tomas_garcia I used to complain about not being in a great tattoo city like NYC, but being a 2 hour drive from cleveland and pittsburgh isn't really too bad.

Something tough as fuck from Lehi. A spider from Arriola. A pin-up from Boltz. Don't steal my ideas, guys.

I got more of a cubist feel than origami honestly. Doesn't make it bad though. if you love it then stop looking for flaws