Leaderboard

Many people have seen this all ready I guess. By Jondix, 11 days ago. Had such a great time. Stayed at the shop past midnight, talking and eating after the session. Everybody should get something from him. Super good heart, attitude and knowledge of tattooing and art. Wrathful offering of the five senses by Jonas Nyberg from last year.

Just got this by Marie Sena.Electric Eye Tattoo.

I have very limited experience with the -derm products but I do have a full back's experience with getting a backpiece. All you need to heal a backpiece is soap, water, time, and patience.

I sit here, sore, swollen, in a daze... but I have to share my story. I am an apprentice tattooer and have been in my apprenticeship since September of 2014. I have always had a deep respect for tattooing, but it has now been solidified even deeper. Last year at the Lady Luck Tattoo Convention, my teacher was asked to receive a traditional Samoan tatau by Sulu'ape Si'i Liufau of A-Town Tattoo. My teacher has known Si'i for about 10 years through the convention circle. We were sharing a booth with A-Town, so I was preparing for a pretty close view of the event. As they were preparing, Si'i came to me and told me that he only had his apprentice, Genesis, available to stretch skin for the tatau and they would need my help. I have a previous post describing the experience, so I won't elaborate further on it here, but it became one of the biggest honors of my life to be involved in that tatau on my teacher. Fast forward to this past weekend: We were working the Lady Luck Convention again and had a pretty slow schedule of clients. My teacher intentionally did so, because he wanted to hopefully help stretch on a tatau. It is a huge honor to receive a tatau, but it is an equal honor to assist in one. Saturday night, we are all in the bar, relaxing and having a good time. It was a group of about 20 tattooers from all over the country. Talk of the process of tatau began and I took the opportunity to interject and publicly thank Si'i for asking me to assist on my teacher's tatau. I told him it was one of the biggest honors of my life and I would never forget it. He nodded to me and said, "What are you doing tomorrow?" I said, "No tattoos, just working our booth." He said, "I should give you tatau tomorrow." Without hesitation, I stuck my hand out and said yes. We shook on it and he went over to discuss it with his apprentice. They were making gestures around the lower thigh area and kinda laughing a little. I jokingly said, "You guys are laughing too much! You gonna fuck me up tomorrow?!" Si'i responded, "We're gonna try something new on you, Nate. You're not gonna like it... but you're gonna like it." The next morning, I went over to the A-Town booth and Si'i had me remove my shoes and put on a sarong. Without discussion, he started shaving my knee area, all the way around. He drew on a couple reference lines, where he then called over my teacher and told him he would be assisting his apprentice with stretching of the skin. I've already written a lot, so I will skip along. It took 3 hours of, by far, hands down, the most painful tattooing I've ever received. Almost my entire knee, and all the way around back, through the ditch. At the end, I was congratulated. I didn't move. I didn't squirm. I made no sounds. Inside my head, it felt as though they were cutting my leg off, but I knew I had to show my respect and gratitude by being silent. It was incredible. To be a part of my teacher's tatau and for him to be a part of mine has bonded us even closer. We are both so humbled and blown away by it all. As he did a final cleaning of my leg, I asked Sulu'ape Si'i what I needed to pay him for this (I was actually kind of worried, because I'm a broke apprentice). He said, "Meaalofa. It's a gift for you. You earned my respect when you sat for hours and stretched for your teacher last year." He also said, "Now Nate, this tatau has the ending placement of a traditional Pe'a, so when a Samoan sees it coming out of your shorts, they are going to question you. When they do, you tell them it was a gift from Sulu'ape and if they have any more questions, they can come talk to me." I'm still in awe. I look at my leg now and it is so much more than a tattoo. It is history. It is honor. It is respect. I just wanted to share my story. Thanks to all that read it. Here are some pictures of the whole thing. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Knee zapper from Chad Koeplinger the other day in Denver

They just don't know... A nurse was measuring my blood pressure, touched my skin and asked: would that wash off? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hello All! I've been reading this site for some time to get information, and it has been really valuable in that way, so I decided to join and share. I'm a 60 something married male, an architect by profession, who got a very small, very hidden tattoo in the early 1970s, added a little to it several years later...and then stopped. However I became totally enamored with the art of tattooing, but couldn't bring myself to get what I really wanted until only the last few years. So, I'm about to embark on a full Japanese back piece, extending to my upper thighs, and quarter or half sleeves, extending partially onto my chest. How I got to this point is a long story, wrought with the angst of doubt, fear, and perhaps way too much self-analysis. But I love to write (even though I am a bit long-winded), so I started a blog. You can read my tattoo story here. This is a huge step for me. I exist in a world where I have no tattooed friends or colleagues – Zero (Well, actually one friend, a lady with two tiny tattoos on her wrists). But basically no one around me except my wife has any interest in tattoos, and generally everyone around me views tattooing negatively. I feel pretty alone in this interest. I'm hoping that here I can find a community, support, and some "tattoo friends" with whom I can share my love of the art. I view tattooing with great reverence. I think that the ability to transform your skin into a work of art that will be part of you forever is a pretty powerful concept. I could never say that to my friends without them thinking I'm insane, but I hope there are people here who feel similarly. Looking forward to communing with you all!

For me, the best thing I found to do after a session on my back was to just hop in the shower and clean the area tattooed with a new bar of soap. Make sure the water is luke warm and set the shower head to a mist setting so there is barely any water pressure. If you find any clothing sticking to you just shower with your clothes on and once it's wet it will be easy to remove. Once you see the water going into the drain is clear it's time to hop out and gently pat yourself dry. From there you can follow whatever after care method you find best suited for you.

Marie Sena

Can I just say that I love seeing badass torso tattoos on thicker ladies? Makes me feel fired up to eventually put something on that part of my body. Especially in aplace like Instagram, it's a real relief when pictures not only show the tattoo in the context of the whole body, but also show a variety of body types.

i suppose you could but I think good use of negative space will make the tattoo look better here are some examples of that illustrative style using gradient and stipple shading from a local bud Casper (dude who runs blackworkers IG): ps i think you should just get a tat of your sweet lego-person mspaint sketch lol ! pps look up Gustav Dore (if you haven't heard of him already) for some inspiration in the artistic style you are asking

Hm, do you mean you wouldn't want any of your original skin tone in the tattoo? Not sure this would look good TBH. But your image examples are rather extreme as they really only use lines. If you look at Susanne Koenig's stuff for instance, you can see that she uses different lines, dots as well as shading which makes it looking much more interesting IMO. Also, Morg Armeni's tattoos seem woodwork inspired to me and they are filled with colour and are very cool: Maybe one of these are closer to what you're looking for?

less than a week and i'll be in maryland getting something cool from chad :)

Welcome..But the most important question is do you have a really good tattooer doing your bodysuit.

Freddy is my fav. Temple is the best. I am looking to get another done there this year... Eddie is #1 on my bucket list.

I got a 3 hour Samoan tatau all the way around my knee this past weekend. The knee cap, the sides, the ditch... all of it. As I walked back to my convention booth, a lady stopped me to look at it. My knee looked like a bloody watermelon. She actually said, "Did you feel it?" I said, "What?" She replied, "I know some tattoos hurt, but could you even feel this kind of tattoo?" I told her that it felt like they were trying to cut my leg off... and hobbled away. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Seeing Eddy Deutsche in a couple weeks. Really fucking excited.

@Lance Hey buddy! nothing planned at the moment for my torso. Not sure if I can stand the pain and I kinda like the front as a bit of blank slate for the moment. I'm sure I'll get tired of it and have the itch again to get it tattooed. We'll see.

I've been lazy as all hell and haven't posted any new bangers in a while....... Right BUTT cheek - Alex Boyko - December MOM Cover up on the wrist AND LEMMY tribute- Jon Larson - January ©Ankle - Jon Larson - February Wrist banger - Jon Larson - March Left SWELLbow - Chad Koeplinger - March