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And then the following Friday, i headed over to Leeds in England for a pre-planned trip with a mate who was getting his first piece from Lukasz Christopher. I was booked in with Tom Flanagan - both in Oddfellows. I got a trad ship on my shin and a mandala on my foot (a Tom Flanagan staple). I have to sat, the foot was horrendously sore and not gonna go through it again any time soon! We had a great time in Oddfellows, Tom is a great guy and the other lads in the shop made us feel right at home. And the next morning. Swelling on the foot wasn't actually too bad Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

The next weekend I was in Boston and in a very hungover and jet lagged state, I landed into Redemption in Cambridge to get a little piece done to fill in an awkward gap on my left sleeve. Very luckily, Todd Noble (who I love) had a free spot to take the walk in. After some deliberation he drew on this little snake head. Again, not a great snap... Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

awesome time with Shannon Pagliarini @ Crown and Anchor in Pt. Pleasant NJ little collarbone action

Session 2 on Monday with Philip Szlosek at Kings Avenue Tattoo for my Gustave Dore inspired sleeve. Loving the way it's coming out so far!

Here's the result - a little snake head done by Todd Noble on a walk in to Redemption [emoji2] Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

Not a bad first day. Next sitting will be January 10.

So, I've had a busy couple of weeks tattoo-wise. First, Paul Aherne in Dublin started extending me 3/4 sleeve on my right arm down to the wrist. Got the lining of the koi, water and peony done as well as the wind bars in. Paul is guesting in Salon Serpent in Amsterdam coming up to Christmas so will get the bottom portion finished in early Jan. Then we'll look at relining the old sleeve, touching up the wind bars and just general tidying up the shitty parts (of which there are plebty!). Apologies for the bad pics... Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

hey bud, I think it's really nice your friends really want to include you and have your input into their desired marriage tattoo. If your to-be-married friends really want you to design a tattoo for you to give it obvious meaning, by all means go for it, nobody is going to stop you...but would you have a bicycle hobbyist tell the mechanic how to tune up your sports car? The last thing you want is to design a tattoo with good intentions for D&K, have it turn out poorly and then they laser or cover their marriage tattoo in a few years. That would suck for them and you will feel shitty. We don't want that to happen bud. I think there is this notion that tattoos have to carry some profound deep meaning to justify a permanent mark on the body. I was that way when I first started. So people tend to overdesign, complicate, and cram too many ideas into a tattoo design to carry some profound meaning of what they are all about. A good tattooer is going to burst your bubble, simplify to one subject (and they won't tattoo your finger unless your a cheesy instagram celebrity or have full arms of worn tattoos). The meaning in tattoo is the conception of the idea, experience getting it, healing it, and then wearing it until your dead. You could give this marriage tattoo some meaning by helping D&K come up with the general concept idea and pointing them in the direction of a good shop/tattooer. My wife and I...we got eagle tattoos. Yeah eagles, big deal, every biker, hardcore and hipster kid has an eagle tattoo. Probably 80% of the people on LST do! Sure. Why eagles? It just came up as a joke in one of the best, purest, magical moments we had as newlyweds. And then driving to the City to scope out the tattoo shop we took a random detour and ended up at a bird of prey sanctuary. Where we saw an eagle the size of a German Shepherd, majestically perched. We were mesmerized. And then we learned that eagles find their partner and mate for life. Done. Sold. We had an awesome day in the tattoo shop and a beautiful evening to follow. And her tattoo gets more compliments than mine ;) That is how tattoos hold meaning. It just happens. Life. Search the "Claddagh". This is the first image that comes to mind when I think marriage symbols. If you google Claddagh tattoo you will find an assortment of terrible tattoos and a few clean ones. Or the Hercules Knot. The nice clean tattoos all have the same thing in common...simplicity. Timeless designs. If your buds want something super detailed and intricate for their finger, find a jeweller and get rings. A shoulder tattoo can go much bigger and the skin is different (and takes less abuse) than the skin on the finger. The shoulder is a good starting spot for tattoo-virgins. Or maybe the wrist (not upsidedown!). But still, keep it simple and obvious. And sure, if your DK buds are into skulls, swap the Claddagh heart out for a simple skull. If D & K are into punk... go for the obvious and hand-poke them a Dead Kennedy's logo on your living room coffee table(jokes), give the tattoo meaning and infection! good luck

I'm finally taking the plunge, giving in to the art and getting my back piece. Face it, I will never see this art. I will see reflections, photos and glimpses over my shoulder, but I will never see the whole piece as it was intended to be viewed. Ever. Based on some old Huck Spaulding flash, I need this winged tiger. I have given my artist (Iambillyhill.com) free reign to do as he wishes. "Alan, we'll use this as a starting point and then I'm going to Billy Hill the fuck out of it!" We do the outline today. T minus two hours and counting.

This happened Saturday: Went to see Delphine and Laurent in London, it was intense but completely amazing at the same time, those guys are the best! 12h in the shop, around 7h of actual tattooing simultaneously on both knees, ill admit it was rough. It was such a great experience though so we decided im just going to let them have the rest of my lower legs at least. Pic is from Laurent's instagram (https://www.instagram.com/darkbabamaina/) and theres a bunch more on Delphine's https://www.instagram.com/delphinenoiztoy/

damn @marley mission quit making me jealz with your wild style dig on the hypercolour gradients

congrats @spacellama on your popping your tattoo cherry, welcome to the club (it's all down hill from here maan)

white ink tattoos are generally a bad idea IMO,the ink usually turns brownish down the road.

@KRod so awesome !! nice to hear/see the Gustav Dore inspiration

I think your designs are pretty cool, and a solution that could work is to use a medium that holds better than ink in skin. Have you looked into having them made into rings? I think that would be really neat. Even neater if you could include the couple in casting the rings. You could also have the original art framed for them. There are lots of things you can do with your art that aren't specifically finger tattoos. We just use our fingers a lot, and they don't hold intricate designs as well as other parts of the body would. Check out some "new vs. old" finger tattoos to see what we mean - they spread and fade quicker than almost any other body part.

2 weeks from now getting 3 sessions on my torso piece. Stoked

haven't been on here in a while. I enjoyed seeing all the great work everyone has gotten recently! Had an appt with Chad Koeplinger on 11/14. I thought I was in for one more painful, albeit short, back appt for some touch ups in case he felt they were needed. After taking a look at my healed back, he said some very wonderful words "rob, I think we are done". I emphatically replied back, "thank GOD!" So, I had him do some filler on my wrist. He tattooed a flail and a fly and I am absolutely loving them both. I really enjoyed getting these, but I will admit, the ball of the flail, on the inside of my wrist was a bit more painful than I would have thought. Felt like it was sending electric shocks into my hand! Still, easier than the back for sure! Included a pic of my healed back, and a photo off of Chad's instagram of myself and a seemingly GIANT Andrew Stortz . Andrew's back piece is insanely good.

Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right.

Got this little beauty at the NB HubCity Tattoo con one week ago. A little hotstuff by Sailor Jerry Swallow, Canada's oldest tattooer. He was taught by Charlie Snow, who was taught by F.A Baldwin, who is arguably one of the first tattooers in Canada. He has the title of Hori from Horihide (Yes, that Horihide) and has been tattooing for over 50 years. He knew all the greats personally. Worked with Malone, Zeke, Jack, Irons, Huck, and all the others. Said Norman Collins was an asshole and Hardy was disrespectful. haha Funny thing is, the lady who wanted to get a tattoo before me didn't even know who he was and wanted to get a tribal design out of a magazine. haha

this picture reminds me of the scene in Home Alone when Joe Pesci grabs the door knob that Macaulay Culkin rigged to be burning hot and is left with a scar of the door knob's decorative pattern.

That looks like the worst case of ringworm I've ever seen.