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Snake sleeve in progress by Yoni Zilber @ NY Adorned

Got this panther from Steve Byrne when he was guesting at invictus in Oslo.

@JBluewind Are these tattoos you've seen in real life or in pictures on the Internet? I did a google image search on "ear tattoos" and nothing that came up is what I would consider good tattooing. From what I've seen in real life, if you're going to tattoo the inside of the ear you're best sticking with bold and heavy blackwork/tribal. And if you're going to do that you have to be pretty much fully covered unless you want to look completely ridiculous. All those delicate flowers and other complicated and intricate designs are not going to hold up to the kind of sun exposure that your ears will get. Don't get me started on how many obvious photoshop jobs show up when you do that search either. if you want something to memorialize somebody who you loved and who meant a lot to you, you owe it to her memory to get something nice that is going to last a lifetime.

Hi all! My name is Matt and I've been lurking on here for a while. Reading this forum has really helped me figure out what makes a good tattoo. I love seeing the variety of work everyone has and it's great to connect with such a like-minded community, especially when you're one of the only tattooed people amongst your friends! I'm excited to finally contribute! I got my first tattoo in 2014 and became hooked as soon as the first line was put on my skin. All of my tattoos with the exception of a few small handmade ones have been done by Yoni Zilber at New York Adorned. We started with a shoulder piece on my left arm, then did a 3/4 sleeve on my right arm, and are currently in the process of extending my left arm into a full sleeve. The addiction is strong! My first tattoo - Tibetan Skull by Yoni Zilber @ NY Adorned Bodhisattva style Virgin Mary, done @ Diamond Club Tattoo and True Nature Tattoo Snake full-sleeve extension in progress, done yesterday @ NY Adorned Filipino tribal snake scales and tongue design, hand-tapped by the legendary Kalinga tattooer Whang-od in Buscalan, Philippines

i think my mentality on ear tattoos is you should 'earn' your way onto your face - like - you should be pretty covered if youre at your face / head anyway - that just an opinion - if a person wants to start on the head / hands / whatever then go for it - dont listen to me

My first tattoo was behind my ear...of...(drum roll) a sailor jerry anchor! it looks like absolute crap now but I still have affection for it. For a first tattoo though, it killed. Thought my head was going to explode. Honestly @JBluewind I wouldn't advise getting your first on your head. It ages badly, hurts like hell and can't be hidden too easily. I would urge you to reconsider placement and even getting the tattoo as it's not a decision you want to make when you're in an emotional place - wait until you level out, lurk here more, then reconsider. Take care.

Got something fun booked for next weekend and I'm trying to sort out something for the Quebec City convention. I'm getting close to the point where I miss getting tattooed enough that I'm almost ready to tackle my torso.

Bump! Long time listener , first time caller, I'm Sinclair89 but feel free to call me Nathan First image is of me..not a pin up a haha! My Tattoo artist was drawing a thin line along the leg and it was a bit pain train 2nd image is the outline completed 3rd and 4th are fresh on on (under?) The skin shots 5th shot is it now after about 6 months with complementary batman slipper So basically I have always wanted a tattoo of a Pin Up girl but could never really decide what design I wanted. So why not design it on my wife? She's Scottish (I'm from Liverpool, England) so we went with the tartan mini skirt and bra, we had a sword at our wedding to cut the cake which my parents got engraved so the sword is based on that, and the long golden hair and big...ahem...are basically her, also comes with her little star tattoo. It's nice to have her with me whilst I'm out trucking up and down the UK all week ? This was all designed by Holly at "The Painted Ladies" in Liverpool.

off topic ... a bodysuit of tattoos isn't about whether you can afford it or not. You either choose to go the all-in route or you don't (which is totally fine too!). If you truly want something, you find a way to achieve your goal. Tattooing isn't any different.

@JBluewind hey didn't mean to pick on you, I was making more generalized comments about the state of tattooing in the mainstream these days. Nothing is sacred anymore so some of us get a little protective. You are right, to each there own. And I've always 100% supported this aspect of tattooing that you can get whatever you want (provided you find an agreeable tattooist), whatever makes you happy, whatever wild idea you dream up - and you don't need to answer shit to anybody. Good or bad. LST leans heavy on making sure you find the way to the good stuff... So with that in mind, I don't think tattooing inside/on the ear is wise idea. The skin is is really weird there and the first thing that comes to mind is high potential for blowouts. Intricate and colourful designs will not hold up and the ones you see in google searches look gimmicky. But hey that's my unsolicited opinion. Stick behind the ear if that's what is speaking to you. It is a good spot. When/if I eventually get mine I'll recall this thread...but technically it's a head tat ;) (ps sorry to hear about your mum. Mother's Day was difficult for me as well - the dragonfly in my avatar is my memorial tattoo so I get to see my mom tattoo all the time. So I feel ya. Cry as much and as often as you need. I still do.) But remember - no cry babies in tattooing :) cheers

I have some tattoos that I would not want children to see. I made sure to get them in hidden places but if something were remotely questionable on my arm and I was going to a kid-heavy environment, I would cover it. Even though someone can figure out that it's a tattoo, the person still wouldn't be exposed to the actual image. It's similar to covers blocking the adult magazines in stores; you know what it is but aren't exposed to the image.

A while ago (in 'upcoming tattoos', I think) I posted about how I was going to take my dad for his first tattoo - something that he had wanted for a long time but had never done. The first time we planned to go, he backed out because he looked online at the risks of getting tattooed as a diabetic (which for someone with well controlled diabetes are negligible, but he still didn't do it. Cold feet.) Then last summer at our family reunion our cousin Amy, who has several tattoos, basically called him out because she got her most recent one while she was on chemo for her stage 4 cancer - making his arguments clearly invalid. Unfortunately, Amy lost her battle with cancer late last year. A few weeks ago my dad and I finally went to get his tattoo. The simple anchor reflects his 40+ years of working on Great Lakes ships, but I believe it serves as a reminder of his cousin also. We went to Hand of Doom Tattoo in Buffalo, NY and he got his tattoo from Chris Lombardi. Same shop and artist where I got my first tattoo (also an anchor!) in 2012. Overall amazing experience, Chris is a great guy and an excellent tattooer.

Hey guys. Just wanted to do a product review because I've looked online and aside from one video on YouTube, I haven't really found any product reviews for this item. I have nothing at all to do with the company and profit in no way from you liking this review or not. I think that would be pretty obvious, but I wanted to put the disclaimer up front. Okay, a little back story -- two weeks ago today I had the linework done on my arm for a 7/10-length Japanese dragon sleeve. You can read more about that in the Initiation forum. I am an avid golfer, so let me tell you - the idea of completely staying out of the sun for more than a month was a real killer. I have definitely kept the new tattoo out of the sun completely until all the peel has gone away (between day 9-10)... but at two weeks, I wasn't sure I really wanted to lather it up in sunscreen yet since the skin is so new and the Texas sun can be brutal - but I needed to play golf! My wife often wears a set of removable sleeves when she golfs, and she suggested I try these out. First I went to Dick's sporting goods, and they actually have a lot of these in stock from a variety of brands. They are really popular now because a lot of NBA players wear them on the court, and a lot of women on the LPGA wear them. I checked them all out. The baketball ones, while not super tight, were snug on my arm (and are really designed to be that way). And while they probably provide some protection as fabric, they are not specifically SPF rated. UnderArmour is a brand that has really jumped into this market, and they have a number of styles and patterns. NOT all of theirs have SPF ratings, so you have to be cautious if this is important to you, but some do. If you're a UA fan you really need to try these on in person, as different versions they make have different seam patterns, and not all of them felt comfortable to me. But mostly, I just didn't like the way they clung to my arm. They were kinda pinchy over the top of the bicep - not enough to hurt but just enough to be annoying. I ended up passing on all of these. So I kept looking online and I found two companies that make coverup sleeves in varous sizes, primarily for the workplace. One is called TatJacket, and the other is called Ink Armor. They seem like very similar products, but on the InkArmor website, they made a big deal about how they sewed the product with flat seems so it wouldn't irritate you when wearing them. They are rated 50+ SPF and they claim to be made of 80% nylon and 20% spandex. The UnderArmour brand was 80% polyester and 20% some proprietary names fabric that sounds similar to spandex, so I figured the Ink Armour was a good bet. And the UnderArmour were only rated 30 SPF. I have a 3/4 length sleeve, and they actually sell a 3/4 length sleeve size, so I went with that instead of the full sleeve style like the major brands. One big criticism is that they don't have great photos of the colors they offer online. The photos they have are sort of photoshopped onto the models and/or just color squares to choose from. They have two white-guy flesh tones, and I went with "Suntan." Here it is out of the packaging: One more selling point that they mention on the website is probably my favorite thing about this product. The top of the sleeve, which fits above the bicep, doesn't pinch or grip your arm to stay up. The Ink Armor people have ingeniously sewn a ring of a tacky elastic (but not sticky) that just doesn't want to run down your arm. It is awesome. I measured my arm at the point it is supposed to fit and my arm was 14.5 inches around. The sizing on their website says that I should buy the size "XL2X" which has a top range of 13.5-15.75 inches. I'm right in the middle so I wasn't sure how this would work out. Here is a photo of the inseam I'm talking about. This is so cool! My 14.5-inch arm fit right in, and the top of the product just sits nicely around my arm (not snugly) and the grippy nature of that inseam keeps it from slipping down. It's only a matter of time before the major brands figure this out and steal the idea. Okay, a couple of photos. First, before: And with the 3/4 sleeve on - perfect fit!! Okay, so today was the day to put it to the test. I just played a 4.5-hour round of golf on a bright sunny day in Austin, Texas. Early in the morning I sprayed a very very fine layer of aerosol sunscreen onto my tattoo. It is only two weeks old and just wasn't sure it is ready yet to be lathered up. I barely put any of this on at all and I let it air dry before getting dressed. The rest of my body I liberally sprayed with this suntan spray, and repeated this three times throughout the round. Even with this spraying, I still caught a tiny touch of sunburn on my wrist.... but the tattoo that was under the Ink Armor was not burned at all! (I have vitiligo so the tan/white you see under the tattoo linework is "normal.") Cameo from Fritz the Schnauzer!! I totally give this product five stars, or a thumbs up, or whatever is the superlative in your universe. The main focus of the brand is to make coverups so you can effectively hide your tattoos in the workplace (they make the for legs, forearms only, ankles, and leg/arm sleeves of various sizes)... but really the sun protection factor is majorly overlooked and is probably something they should promote more. Especially to protect newer tattoos that are past the initial heal when they need air but still need protection from the sun. Here is one more shot of me wearing it - a great way to coverup when you need to:

After 20 years without a new tattoo due to being a single broke mom, both kids are heading to college and I'm starting permanent travel right as I turn 40. So what's a gal to do? Tattoos of course! So hi, I've always loved tattoo's and planned to get a full back and sleeves once I could devote the finances to it. I had my sleeve started on Friday. I was going to just do the forearm and have other artists do it in pieces, but omg, I love it too much! I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone and add to my list of artists to visit as I travel.

It isn't her first. She has one other one. But yes, I agree she should wait. I can't figure out why mine didn't hurt. But yeah. It didn't. I just felt my skull vibrating.

I don't believe you ! haha

What a beauty!!! Congratulations on your new fur baby!!

I lost my black lab to a stroke a couple of months ago. I finally felt up to adopting a new rescue. Meet Brontë. She's a St. Bernard/possible Blue Tuck Coon Hound mix. She's going to be a big girl!

You are not required to believe me. Hahaha!

I still don't believe you ! haha

I don't believe you !

It doesn't hurt at all to get behind your ear tattooed. There's no need to cry. Just don't spout off about things and try to sound like an expert when you are so new to tattooing. OK? OK.

I do like the idea of a future behind the ear tattoo though for myself, like silver dollar sized. Tattooing in/on the ear though makes as much sense as writing "serenity" or some shit on the sides of your finger. Why? To be edgy? It will look silly unless you have a lot of other tattoos going on. That's where the put ID tattoos on animals. A tattoo on the head will still show through when the hair grows in. You may not be able to fully make out the tattoo once the hair grows in, but there will be something fuzzy showing which will draw more attention to it and people will be curious and ask you. If you want a secret tattoo, make a proper tattoo on the torso or the thighs and keep it concealed by wearing clothes. If you are worried about going to the beach or pool and people seeing your tattoo...well, maybe tattoo is not for you. It's not for everyone. Don't be a tat-tourist.

Usually, it's a work requirement. But beyond that, I really don't think that people without tattoos assume it's a tattoo. I wore the sleeve again this weekend to an outdoor restaurant at Mother's Day, and the two people who did ask about it didn't even think tattoo.

Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro?

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!

I don't think I've posted this here--Todd Noble made this lady in a rose a couple months ago. I really enjoyed getting this tattoo; he has a good bedside manner and just seems like an all-around good human. I can't get an un-distorted photo of this but you get the idea.

Had a final touch-up on my left harm half sleeve. Another enjoyable session with Sarah Hurst @ Vivid Tattoo in Knoxville. No plans for future work.

A few that I've dealt with: 1) "Does it hurt?" Not as much as when I watched friends bored in the shop tattoo each other's toes. 2) People poking my tattoos. Seriously, fucking stop. I just met you and I'm not poking you. Don't poke me. Usually, I just poke them back in the same place. It gets weird. 3) "What does your mother think?" She loves them and thinks I'm wonderful. 4) "What about when you get old?" I'll be more badass looking than you with the rest of the badasses in the old folks home. 5) "You can't get a good job with that" I'm a web developer (and decently well known in my niche). Nobody gives a shit what I look like, and most never see me. They also make these shirts with sleeves that go to your wrist. They're called long sleeved shirts. Pretty cool, eh? Just to name a few. I'm sure many of you get the same. Also, the strange looks when you do general things like hold the door open for people; like tattoos immediately mean I'm an asshole.

don't underestimate the awesome-ness of a classic crawling panther

This cant be true right? its got to be a troll

First session on this ROA tattoo done by Grez at King's Ave in NYC, still red and swollen. More pics next month after it's finished.

Nice!! Love that classic design!!

Richard Stell, this Friday at the Oklahoma Tattoo Convention.

Just got published for the second time. This time a 70 page chapter on Fluid Power in this http://www.amazon.com/Machinerys-Handbook-30th-Large-Print/dp/083113092X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461191643&sr=1-2&keywords=machinery%27s+handbook