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Never get confident! Always imagine that the next tattoo you get will be the worst pain you've ever felt! This way, if it's anything less you'll be pleasantly surprised. The worst thing is starting to think it won't be bad and then finding that it hurts more than you had imagined.

As a male, I need to apologize to all the ladies here. Allow me to explain. Until a couple of years ago, all my tattoos were hidden unless I wanted to show them, as they were placed above the elbow, below the collarbone, etc. But in 2013 I decided that I wasn't getting any younger and it was time to get sleeved. And I find that now, there are A LOT of people who no longer make eye contact until after they sneak a peek, and even then, their eyes keep drifting downward. Which is hilarious as I always thought for all these years when I was ogling cleavage, there was no way I was going to get caught. HEY! My eyes are up here! :cool:

another new sensation to add: back of the neck...especially as you get behind the ear. i had to actively keep my teeth clenched to prevent the jaw bone from rattling around. back of the head was heavy sharp pressure. overall back of the neck/head felt more like getting cut open with a steak knife rather than getting scraped with a fork. gnarly shit. so far healing has been easy, a pea drop of lubriderm each morning after healing dry and raw for 72 hours.

@Pete tattoo freak - I appreciate your explanation and clarification, and respect your point of view. - thanks. I want to be clear that I did not intend to call you a rude tattoo hater. If my selection of wording or phrasing conveyed that, then I sincerely apologize, because it was not my intent to say that. My point was that your comment sounded similar to statements we often hear from untattooed folks who are just offering their uninvited negative point of view on tattooing. I checked your profile because it seemed like a surprising statement to find on this website. I wondered if you were trolling, or if you were new, or if you had made many previous posts. Now you have clarified your statement and I appreciate that you did that. I salute you for your IDGAF attitude, and admire your passion for tattoos. And in that area we may find some common ground. It is not a fad for me either, and it is a lifestyle thing for me, too, but on a more private level than for you, and not with the level of confidence that you have. We are all different. Some of us do give a f---.

Thought I would also upload and share this dope action shot. Plus you can catch a peak at my backpiece that's about 5 months settled in as well as Len's great hair lol ;) Another reminder that it is the tattoo experience as whole - that truly makes the tattoo. that's what matters. Tattooing is a very powerful, deliberate and permanent act and series of events. Last Wednesday was an incredible day. My work in the morning. Popping into the tattoo shop to just to say what's up and casually flipping through Len's book - I have 3 tattoos from Len now and each one was a spontaneous act with permanent results. Going and getting a dope haircut so I didn't get a cheap $25cent razor fade (found a new barber, an older black gentleman, he shared his cool snake tattoo on his dark skin, he got in 1967!). My tai chi practice in the park. An encouraging doctor's appointment. The boys keeping the shop open into the evening to accommodate me (shout out to Champion Tattoo Edmonton). The stencil and re-stencil to get the placement just right. The first 30 seconds when I thought holy shit man, this is brutal have I gone too far? Bishops Green on the stereo. Tattoo talk with the boys. Sweating through the table. Feeling my nose about to get crushed sideways on the table. the post-tattoo newport smoke, the vulnerability and the satisfaction with the end result. The morning after when the shower water hit the back of my raw tattooed skin. Even today walking down the street, walking proud and tall with this new tattoo. Hearing the lady behind me in the crosswalk whispering out loud 'damn that's a nice tattoo' to herself. Seriously, I am really buzzing off how this one turned out. The butterfly symbolism is pretty obvious. But also this: I dreamed I was a butterfly, fluttering about, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly. Soon I awakened, and there I was, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. -Master Zhuang I became aware of this taoist quote the morning after receiving my tattoo, and I too had the butterfly dream leading up to this spontaneous tattoo. I found it very fitting, not just in the context of the rest of my tattoos, but in terms of some personal growth I have been making over the last few months. And here comes this profound tattoo experience from a simple design that carries some complex symbolism to me, providing enlightenment when I needed it the most. Thank you LST for providing a medium to share the tattoo experience together !

WOW! That skull tune-up is amazing!! Really like what he was able to do with that, congrats.

LOL @ mtlsam......great advice there man, and I was only talking the confidence to go in and sit down! Have no idea what it will really be like but will be well rested and fed, and have been reading about this technique and that - definitely will focus on breathing like The Tig mentioned too. I'm flying from Juneau, Alaska to Las Vegas to have the art done.....so I did purchase an additional ticket for January in case I can't get it done all at once, a little 'reverse-murphy' action.....LOL.

Having had about 10 hours total on my calves, I can attest that they were not extra sensitive unless you get to the backside of the knee. I wouldn't worry much. Each person is different and will have more sensitivity in places that others have no problem with. No matter where, you'll need to find your own way of managing any pain you go through. If you tighten up and fight it, you'll suffer more and will be more likely to move around when you need to be still, etc. For me, I can mentally put/project my pain and consciousness outside my body by focusing on an object in the room and placing "myself" there. I strive to be as relaxed as possible, breathing smoothly and slowly. As soon as I feel any part of my body tighten up, I focus on relaxing it.

@Dan.....That is a killer piece! Great layout and very nice color, I like that a lot.

Recently my mum has found out I am heavily tattooed, she was a lot cooler than thought. she doesn't want to see them or know what they are but she saw my hip twin Celtic dragon one, well part of it and said, "You're covered!" I replied, "Yeah, pretty much" she should shook her head wondering why her little girl would do such a thing to herself. No other family members know but <shrugs> Suppose, recently she's changed her mind about tattoos, which is a good thing.

I competed in first powerlifting competition and posted a 1000 lb total, which was my goal. Stoked to accomplish just what I set out to do!

Fuck, I missed Tatu Baby on Redemption. Goddammit, I am so sick of seeing her. I would rate the backpieces thusly: Kruseman > Matt > Chris. Chris's girl was orange and her face was butt ugly. And he put so much detail into the road instead of doing something good with the background. I thought Matt's was okay, needed more black and just overall some more intensity. Kruseman's was one of my favorite things I've seen on the show. Yeah, it's exactly what I expected from him, but it's solid as hell. I thought it was bullshit the way they had people vote for the live tattoo before you even saw them. You didn't even see them until like a minute before the polls closed. You know everyone was just voting for their favorite. And the way they did it, Chris had a time advantage over everyone else because they introduced the hashtag to vote for him before everyone else! I felt bad Matt was out of the running from the get go because of that stupidity, they didn't even get to judge his final piece.

Second session this month. Scales are now all done and every little thing we do is just making the whole thing pop a little bit more. Super happy.

Agreed! And I'm a Chuang Tzu fan myself.

Here's my latest, courtesy of Karrie Arthurs: https://instagram.com/p/9NAjS4Iwu-/

"Yknow what's awesome about this budd?...you have a whole bodysuit of tattoo and MY tattoo is going to be the one everyone is gonna ask about haha" Keepin' it real w/ King Len, guest spot at Champion Tattoo in Edmonton, AB Deadly placement, deadly evening, deadly tattoo. But holy fack did this one sizzle and rattle.

ok to clear this up once and for all. my comment was a blanket statement. it wasn't directed at any one person. basically imo if you make the decision to get tattooed you will be judged by others period. so if being judged by others bothers you then imo you shouldn't get tattooed...simple. I personally dgaf how others feel about my tattoo's. stare all you want, make all the comments you want. I didn't get tattooed to get others approval. I got tattooed because its my passion. my house is filled with tattoo related stuff. paintings and prints etc. being tattooed to me is a lifestyle not a fad or fashion statement. so being called a rude tattoo hater was absolute comedy to me. especially after that person looked at my profile and seen that I am heavily tattooed. so if my comment bothered some my bad. but I meant what I said and stand by it 100 percent.

I think it's safe to say EVERYONE has a different reason for getting tattooed and ALL are absolutely valid. I've come from a different era of tattooing..... one where it was still pretty underground and unknown unless you were in the military or some type of deviant (prison/biker/punk/etc.). Unless you lived in a major population center on the east or west coast, most straight people didn't have a clue about tattoo culture other than the occasional Geraldo Rivera news report about gang violence or bikers. The general population treated tattoos with nervous stares or clutched their children/purses and mostly avoided you. It was rare to get ANY comments from people and if they did muster the courage, it was usually a derogatory remark like "were you in prison?" I don't want to make this a "back in my day" rant but, things are certainly different these days, especially for women with tattoos. That is not to say that everything is A-OK and the general population doesn't still act foolish/rude. I completely understood what @Pete tattoo freak said as I've lived 30 years being heavily tattooed and it has been somewhat of a mantra for me. Everyone who gets into tattoos has their own journey..... Maybe a better, more forum friendly, way to say it would've been: Do what you do - for YOU.... Don't worry about what ANYONE else thinks. If your "thing" makes you happy/confident/proud etc, that's what matters the most. Remember-YOU are the only person that lives in your skin.

if you're already considering it now, you'll only consider it more once you have two half sleeves. elbow is bearable. gender doesn't matter. light blonde hair doesn't matter. do it! (you're talking to LSTers here). it's a big jump to the forearms, if you don't have any visible tattoos. there are other threads about this that you can find with a quick search. if you get a full sleeve now, the artist can make it more cohesive and have a fuller vision rather than moving down to a full sleeve later and tying it together.

Got this on Tuesday, and I love it! On the upper shoulder/collarbone area. I'll post a better picture once it has healed.

A heavy Chad Koeplinger cover-up/blastover from two weeks ago, photo from today: Tony Hundahl eye/flames filler on my elbow. Works great together with the Lehi tattoo I think. Never too much flames, hehe.. Tattoo from Saturday last week, photo from today:

Healed tattoos from earlier this year - Rose on shoulder by Chris Garver, Dagger by Oliver Macintosh Both artists were awesome, can't wait to get more.

Round 1 by Chris Garver Invisible NYC

I can't really handle how amazing this is.

D'aww. Come on over and get some tattoos! :) Edit: Oh hey, @cltattooing put up a picture of what we got up to today.

Holy damn @sophistre that came out so beautifully!!

https://instagram.com/p/3P_YuSTBGZ/ All done. :o We stuck with flowers for fillers in the end, even though we did talk about a frog. He took some shots from other angles, but didn't put them up. Maybe he will later. I'm a little sad about it being finished, so I can't imagine how you backpiece people felt when it was over! ...but I might get to find out, because we may have chatted about it a bit today. We'll seeeeeeeeee. :cool: I get a day to bang around Powell's Books tomorrow and cap off the night with Mad Max, and then I get to be tattooed by @cltattooing the day after that! Definitely a great mini-vacation.

I would say it was traditional, but just a certain distinct style of traditional that this artist has. To me it has a certain folk-art quality to it.

part 2 of of my Marvel Avengers themed tattoos by Clint Cummings. Still a bit swollen, but decent quality pic

Here are shots of my right leg. Marie is going to do something on the back of my thigh and I'm hoping to have Greg Christian do something at some point on the inner thigh. My left leg is mostly in progress and I'll post that one when Kore finishes it. Lady head by Marie Sena Star/cross/wings by Steve Byrne Day of dead groom on back of leg by Kore Flatmo

In the spirit of "fuck-it" I present my left leg. @gougetheeyes now we can feel weird together. Snake/torch by El Monga last summer at spider Murphy's Candle/Skull by El Monga March of this year at tattoo city Cattle Head by Stefan Johnsson Jan of last year at California electric Planning a panther on the knee at some point but it'll have to wait a bit. The other leg has some odds n ends on the thigh, but not enough coverage for me to feel it can hang in this thread yet!

I have a tattoo that is probably fairly similar to what you're thinking of: This is Seth Wood's interpretation of the Necronomicon and it goes from my shoulder to about an inch or so above my elbow. He initially did it without the illustrations in the book, but when I was at the shop at a later date he saw it and said that it needed that little bit extra so we booked that and he put those in. I wanted the 20-sided die, the other things were his idea and freehanded in. I am especially stoked on the tiny little Baphomet. It could be covered by a quarter, total fine line madness there. Because they're so detailed, I'm not sure how well the book illustrations will age, but they're a little bonus and even when they fade and blur together they aren't going to greatly change the integrity of the tattoo. So yeah, it can be totally workable though I think you'd need to find the right artist to be able to pull it off properly.

Hold it. Are you trying to tell me that you don't want to hear about how their faded tribal koi fish riding a unicorn the size of a dime on their shoulder blade reminds them of the frog that ran away when they were three years old????? You probably don't want to hear about their plans to get "tatted up" with a full body suit that they are planning to get done by the guy that does their brother-in-laws next door neighbor's scratching in his basement weekends when he's out of prison on work release. What kind of heartless person are you? :-)