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Steve byrne Rock of Ages austin tx

Finally got to visit State of Grace and get my Molly Monmon Cat from Horitomo! He did an amazing job. Just spectacular. I sent several pictures of her and some descriptions of her favorite things, her personality and her character. She *loved* shrimp sushi and got an entire order for her 16th birthday, right before we lost her to cancer. Horitomo created a picture of her in heaven with a halo and surrounded by her favorite things - including that she is surrounded by catnip! The face is perfect. I gave him a decent size square footage and told him he could expand beyond the cat and add other elements. Her face is perfect. When he showed me the sketch, my eyes just teared up. It was neat to be tattooed on the platform in the shop. It is a little sanctuary with neat drawings, books and items on shelves. He is a quiet gentle soul. I tried tebori for the whites and I probably would not do it again. For many areas, I didn't even feel the first 4-5 pokes. It just felt like a shoving pressure but there was *no* pain. Then the last several shoves were painful. But around my hip was bad all around. I'm glad I did it, though. Crashing out now holed up in the hotel with mom. <3 <3 <3

Got this wicked draw-on zen spider from Jonny Murdoch from Government Street Tattoo (Victoria) who is in Edmonton for the week. Also this smug lil bumble bee too: the idea of which came to me in a dream 3 nights in a row...then i googled "angry bumble bee" and bam! clipart reference on the first hit. These toonie sized tatts are so much fun. Hooray for "recreational tattooing" lol. Jonny's hanging at Champion Tattoo, Shawn Hedley's new shop in town. Super dope shop, nice hospitality, guess they got a bunch of ringers guest spotting in the future...better leave some space ;) Great tattoo talk yesterday and I got to see a backpiece Filip Leu and Kurt Wiscombe tag teamed up close. Amazzzzzzzing

alright...should i take off from work early this afternoon and try and sneak in another bug tatt or two? there are some cool dudes from Gov Street Victoria tattooing at the Edmonton Comic Con this evening. Gotta get home by 7pm so I'm not late taking my wife out for dinner...hmmm...choices...lol

Welcome! It's better to join here and learn before the tattoo rather than run here lamenting about the bad tattoo!!!

This is what I was able to sit for today with Dave Cummings at PSC tattoo. About 3 hours, and not nearly as intense as my 1 1/2 with Chad on my other side, thank goodness! We stopped there because the next step was colour for the tiger, and I didn't have it in me. Next session next week, healing permitting. So stoked on this!

Hello fellow tattoo enthusiasts! My name is Jamie, but I've been going by Bluewind online for years. My handle was inspired by the painting Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh which is one of my favorite paintings. I'm 30 years old and live in the southern US. I'm considered weird by most people here in my small town, but I know that it's just a synonym for unique. I'm trying to get my first tattoo. Before anyone brings up the fact that an un inked individual is joining a tattoo forum, there's a reason I still don't have my piece. I've wanted the same tattoo since I was 13 years old, but every time I save up the money to get it, life happens. I'm legally disabled, so I get sick a lot. I admire anyone with good ink and enjoy a good collection. I know the tattoo tv shows are all BS, but I use to watch them when I had cable because I enjoy watching the process and envy people with nice results. I wanted to talk to other people who can appreciate good ink and the craft and I thought I could get a lot of good advice to keep me from making rookie mistakes. The piece I will be getting is a wrap around lower leg piece. It's so important to me because she will be a symbol of surviving abuse. I would describe it, but I don't want anyone to think I'm fishing for free art. I put a deposit down on a sketch, but the guy said since it would take me 6 months to save for the tattoo, he was gonna wait to make the sketch. I trusted him, but unfortunately he left town without giving me a sketch and kept my $50 deposit and butterfly biology book, so I'm currently looking for another artist who will be more trustworthy. My best friend will be working on a rough sketch to take with me to the next artist so I'll be able to get an estimate on it. When she gets it done (she said it might take a month for free time to draw it out), I'll gladly share it with everyone. Anyway that's me. Happily waiting on your questions and advice. ^_^ Bluewind

Dont fuck with the wife's time... LOL... I been down that road and leads to no bueno... lol With that said, go get tattooed! :D

Go big or wimp home.:cool: - - - Updated - - - First photo in my gallery, I believe. Copied from my Navy dolphins and patron pin. I actually pinned them on black velvet, photographed them, and emailed her the photo to go from for her sketch and the stencil.

Day three.Healing nicely.Just Aquaphor.

I find the beeping very annoying (particularly when I'm watching on netflix). I wish they'd either not beep it, or have a script which didn't "need" to be beeped.

Took that long to build the obsession, I guess. Not sure. Started with an image of my submarine dolphins and patrol pin (earned in the 70s), and grew from there. I'm not going for coverage, just ones that I feel indicate the marks that I already have on the inside. So I'm not a collector, but still enjoy other's collections. Let us know a state or city, and the folks here can recomend some artists. Southern US is kinda broad.

Congratulations @SeeSea! I dig Horitomo designed it stretching out. My childhood cats loved doing that when they found a nice patch of sunlight to lay in. The face is great cuz it's as happy a cat can be with all of its goodies. Also, yes, the pose accentuates its mer-catness. I wonder how many people now have a monmoncat here on LST? - - - Updated - - - @Scott R, man you get the good stuff for sure. Tough! Need to see that if you ever come back to the Bay Convention

Yeah, keeping Mustache Pete in the house kept Chris' "Team Florida" strong, which is what he wanted/needed. St. Marq would have crushed that little guy like an insect and Chris is actually a really good tactician as well as a damn fine artist. When I saw his Heart/Grenade that sealed his victory in my mind, although he has stumbled a couple times since then. Now that Tyler is gone he is alone and not well-liked, so the rest of the season is going to be interesting. And Craig has more lives than a cat. He isn't going to make the Top 3, but he has survived a lot longer than I expected him too. He is probably a fantastic artist in his home studio, but the House seems to rattle him something fierce.

Trusting people is not a fault. Neither is not having a tattoo. I didn't have any until after age 62. Research on here will help, but so will research on who to trust, not with your money - but with putting permanent art in your skin. Enjoy and study. BTW, you should be able to easily find your state's symbols on the interweb. http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/categories/insect

Rambo with a banner saying "THEY DREW FIRST BLOOD".

Welcome Jaime! You'll find that nobody here minds that you don't have any tattoos yet, and I think it's great that you've found LST because there is a wealth of knowledge here that will help you to be informed about tattoos so that you can get great ones straight out of the gate. I would suggest starting with this thread and watching the artist interview videos.

WoW didnt know that... As far as him leaving to early.. I didnt think so. Homeboy could not think outside the box and was stuck on his own ways/style. By this season players know the game and they are not going to put up with ego maniacs that try to get in peoples head... so the whole team ganged up on him... I am sure that if you would of have asked the second team to also have a pic from the over all team they would have gunned for him. That tactic worked on most seassons but to his luck it did not play out on his advantage this time and the judges had no choice even though they didnt want him out... It was too clear... Very talented artists but tooooooooo stuck to his own ways and people like that are not good for this type of games. Also this was an amazing tactic by Chris.... He played it out well! he knew none of the other team mates could have taken out St. Marq and it was obvious he was going to be the one to be put on the head chopper... So Chris wanted to be put for elimination so he can have the chance to go head to head with him... So one more player with strong reputation and skills out works very well on his favor... Well played Chris... Well played.. Now he has about 3 maybe 4 more to worry about...

21stNow is a username that I use on the forums about cell phones that I participate in. I've had a smartphone since 2007, but didn't feel like I had arrived in the 21st century until I got my iPhone 4. I started on the forums then and picked a shortened version of "I'm in the 21st Century now" as my username.

Fresh one...

That's a good point. Never looked at it from that angle. Everyone always goes on about their permanence, but few take the time to really think about what that means.

Every time I see certain family members and friends, I ALWAYS get asked about how much money I've spent on my tattoos. What I find ironic with this particular question, is not the question itself but the questioner who 9/10 times has some outrageous (in my mind) hobby, collection, or pet project they are dumping heaps of money into - yet, they don't give that a second thought and see it is as something they must do. Luxury (opulent) items/experiences are individual. For one person it might be over the top to spend good money on a good tattoo, for another it might be over the top to spend good money on clothes that they'll wear infrequently (ie that $10k wedding dress) or to buy only local and organic groceries. It's about the energy involved - we get our kicks from tattoos, others from buying shoes or clothes, or dinners out, or jewelry, or property (house, car, etc.), etc, etc. It seems to me that tattoos are still in the place where they are not considered "acceptable" in terms of money spent if one is in the middle class where wealth is seen as something to strive and save for. Thus, spending available funds on a non-necessity item/experience would prevent wealth from accruing and keep said person in the middle class indefinitely. I do agree with @Graeme that they are akin to education (or even exercise or otherwise taking care of your body/soul) where no one but the wearer/student will glean benefit from said tattoo or education. I don't get tattooed nearly as much as I'd like, but when I do get tattooed I'm able to get the exact tattoo I want because it is something that I prioritize with my funds. I've also been one of those people whose life was transformed by getting tattooed. I know several people with tattoos who have not been impacted in the way I imagine many people here have been, and I suppose that's where the luxury/necessity line gets blurred a bit by emotion. Which, let's face it, luxury/opulence/etc is an emotionally charged area. Who needs to eat a burger or ice cream with gold leaf on it? No one.

going to try and hook up some hypercolour mini bug tattoos this week...

My Great Aunt Tudie. She was a good person. I aspire to be like her.

Had to cancel our trip to the montreal convention pretty last minute due to a number of reasons and was pretty bummed to miss out this year. I didn't have any appts lined up but was hoping to score a quick walk up. To make sure the weekend wasn't a total bust, my wife and I spent Friday night in portsmouth, nh (one of my favorite places in new england). I was able to get a walk in with Billy Rocha, at one of Jason Scott's fabulous shops, Hobo's. I was hoping to get either a cross or dagger in the weird spot between my snake and dragon on my left arm. We found a cool piece of higgs flash that was both. Billy added a bit to it and made it really cool. Had a great time getting a nice little small tattoo and Billy is an excellent tattooer and a great dude. I hope to get another from him. First time being tattooed at hobo's which is pretty funny since I've been tattooed at their sister shop, Congress St Tattoo, soooooooooo many times now. They are literally 3 blocks away from each other on the same street. this tattoo covers a really nasty scar, so if the skin looks a bit weird in certain areas in the pic, that is why.

Every username I tried with my name was taken, so in frustration I ended up literally being OutOfIdeas

Hey guys, long time no post. I just realized I never posted my two latest because I wanted to wait until they were both healed. Not the best pics, but you get the idea. Cobra by Scott Sylvia done at Pagoda City Convention. Drawn on in 15 minutes, outlined in about an hour. Scott is the absolute best. We had originally talked about him doing all of the black in Reading then the color in the fall, but he had the time so we just powered through. It was another great experience being tattooed by him, and I can't say enough great things. Death's head moth by Oliver Peck while guesting in Philadelphia at Kadillac Mt. Airy. Another pleasure. Oliver was so down to earth and easy to talk to, just like you'd expect. He only did three or four tattoos that day, and I was lucky it happened to be the last week before school started and I could squeeze in after cross country practice (the only heavily tattooed coach in the world, I think). He checked out a ton of my tattoos and even took his shirt off to show me his stomach from Scott, his side from Rassier, and his back from Trevino. So awesome. Not the best photos, but it's what I have. Also, I was not expecting to have nearly this much pink on my legs, particularly from Scott and Oliver, but here we are.

Decided to post here instead of my intro thread. My first trip to Japan for 10 days. The arm was a coverup and was all done by tebori. Also started on the chest piece. And boy does it hurt! I thought I had a pretty good pain threshold. But the middle of the pecs is a different level altogether! Back to my country and I am already missing the pain though.

A few friends started calling me omelette after a discussion about the umlaut in my last name (which is German and a bit of a pain in the butt spelling-wise because people think they can just leave out the dots above the vowel but that is plain wrong!). Anyway...umlaut...omelette...omeletta....there you go.

I'll add a little something that may be useful but not likely an eye opener. As a former bike racer who has had many nasty roadrash injuries over 3 decades, as well as a retired paramedic, the key to minimal scarring/best healing is to keep the damaged skin moist during the first 4 to 5 days of healing. Tegaderm/Saniderm is always a great bet. Does this sound familiar? A fresh tattoo is similar to roadrash in the way the body reacts to it, just not as traumatic. Protecting it under the moist membrane allows everything to heal without drying out and scabbing, which we should always avoid.

to get back off topic, @sophistre, did you get something at Liberty?! i definitely feel the apprehension and know that i'll have the "here we go again" thoughts when finally decide what to get on my torso. fuckin ribs, chest, and stomach... spots where i know i'll be earning it. you're so right... as wise and wussy as we get, we still overcome it and get tattooed because they're that worth it. it's all part of the wizardry.

Honestly, the little pain involved in healing has been very minor compared to the actual tattooing. The worst for me is that when I brushed against a tender area, it brought back memories of the initial pain. Really, though - it is just bothersome for me (but I've never suffered swelling or bruising yet).

Horitoshi family has you pull your knees up to your chest to really get that stretch and get in there when the time comes. Cannonball style!