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buffalo by bh robinson. good dude~ pic is sideways bc i like to be as horizontal as possible

Finally lost my cherry today. A great experience and I love my new tattoo. By Bradley Tompkins at Frith Street.

very nice - he is also on my short list - definetly makes some cool tattoos

welcome!

Been working on this piece now am about 9hrs in with a local artist Jason Leeser. I came up with a few ideas of what I wanted and he did the rest. Can't wait to start color next week!

Been meditating every day for the past two weeks. Feels really good to get back to my old practice after I had to stop due to turbulent life and a messed up back late this spring. It's amazing the effect, even now when I feel very "out of it" and have a hard time concentrating and sucessfully being in the mind frame where I try to go. I've slept really good these past two weeks and I usually have problem sleeping. Also I feel much calmer and centered throughout the day, I worry less. While I sit, trying to meditate, I come up with solutions to problems spontaneusly, just from sitting down and turning away from distractions and inputs. Now I just started to add extra minutes, hopefully I'll be back to sitting for 30 min within 2 months or so. Mental fitness Also I've been reading Paul Wades book Convict Conditioning, on body weight exercising, and will make time today to write a training regime for myself to follow. Each of the 6 main exercises has 10 steps where you start from the bottom and work your way up over time as you gain strenght in muscles and joints. So it's going to be a schedule of 6 exercises and once I can do about 3 sets of 20-30 reps on each exercise I'll make a new one with step 2. Hopefully this will be good for me, I never liked going to the gym and have tried training at home but never commited to a regime.

According to a post on Instagram, yes. Tattooing at Studio 1 Tattoo.

i might have to wear my FTW shirt tomorrow!

@soraya Yeah, I know what you mean. I was confused at the previous comment about skin breaks versus wall-to-wall color. Mine is wall-to-wall with no skin breaks and it makes no sense to me why a skin break would make things "hold up" better. I think the example you showed is beautiful, but I haven't seen examples like that that have aged. I'd be curious to see that.

Added to the top of the to-read pile. :)

Dave Fox is coming back back to Philly Philly.

Meet "Odie", AKA: Odie Capote AKA: Poh-poh Odie was found as a puppy with his sister in a trash bag in a dumpster by my step daughter. He's mostly a terrier mix and was born with only a nub of a tail. He's super affectionate and loves Ziggy dog like a brother. He's on the left awaiting some turkey scraps: On hind legs: The other curly white dog is Maggie the poodle. She was a confiscated puppy mill breeder that we adopted from the city pound. We knew that no one else would pick her so we took a chance. She's turned out to be a very sweet dog who adores me. She's quite a hunter that loves to wrestle with the other dogs. Here's the before photo when we got her home. It took several hours of hand clipping to clean her up. Beast! After, with a new toy. And "Lucky Pete" the parakeet that landed in our back yard to eat the seeds we put out for the wild birds. He's lucky I was there to prevent the dogs from eating him since he was not afraid. He obviously got out or was released. I put my hand down and he jumped up on it! We looked in the local CL and for signs, but no one was looking for him.

Our youngest and the "granddog" Rocky at church Wednesday evening. Yes, Rocky goes to Bible study and pays close attention!

Find an artist. Discuss your ideas. Get a tattoo. Then more. Oh, and start an intro thread of your own. We like pictures!

Unfortunately, I'm missing the opening... I won't be in town until tomorrow a bit before noon (then leaving just after midnight... life in the fast lane). My parents are there on their first trip further than Oklahoma or Missouri, having the honeymoon they never had, so if you see a lady with red hair with a long haired fellow with a wolf on his throat, he will definitely be happy to talk your ear off about getting tattooed by Charlie Cartwright 30 years ago!

I'll be there Saturday :)

Official notice that I will be attending Saturday only and will probably be hanging out most of the day. Super down to meet up with folks for food/drinks. If knowing what I look like makes things easier, there is a picture on instagram @handoftheforge

just passing through. thanks for looking second one down is part of a split set in progress with my mentor curtis. apparently this weeks colours are silver grey and salmon pink

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 !

"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.

Last weekend... I recorded 8 songs by Arrabio and Adictox in my Canadian basement, two incredible punk bands from Cuba! They are putting out an Eskoria tribute LP with the help of Solidarity Rock it was an insanely hectic day trying to keep 12 people speaking spanish focused and keep the day on schedule, keep things moving. we had to get it done, it was the only opportunity. 8 songs...by 2 bands...3 drummers...4 line-ups...microphonic guitars, amps on the fritz, gang vocals in spanish, 3 x 26oz of rum and a couple cases of beer, someone with really stinky feet, a drunk bassplayer, and my wifes 6 saltwater fishies almost died in the process. But we did it! we had one shot to this, as Adictox and Arrabio spent the past couple weeks touring Canada east coast to the west coast. They played with the legendary DOA in Edmonton last weekend. I split my head holding down the pit, it was awesome (how old am I again? not too old to slam!). My old band Slates played with the legendary Eskoria in Santa Clara when we toured Cuba in 2010.. William Fabian was the og punk icon for the punkies cubanos. He was killed 4 days after we said goodbye and left for home. So this project hits close to home for both myself and my Cuban hermanos. download the old Eskoria demo here it is a piece of history and with consideration of the conditions, climate and context this old recording was made in, it is one of the punkest things you will hear. Eskoria - Al Fin Por Fin