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Finally finished this huge thigh piece a few days ago, loosely based on the cover for one of my favorite metal albums! Pictures taken a couple hours after when I was still ridiculously red and swollen. I'll be sure to post better pics once it's done peeling. Done by Sam Warren at Dreams Collide in Lancaster, PA. Pic from the front/side: From the back:

Finished my lower leg with Grez at King's Ave NYC. He added the (bloody and swollen) lighthouse and ROA piece to go along with the clipper ship from Russ Abbott. I couldn't be happier with how he was able to tie it all together. Sorry for the giant pic, I'll post healed shots in a couple of weeks, there's a video on my IG: wedge45.

I'm going to try to head in to a local shop's anniversary party on June 11th. It's all flash drawn specifically for that event so I'm going to go check it out and see if anything catches my eye. It benefits a local animal charity, so I'm telling myself it's my duty to get a new tattoo just a couple weeks after finishing another.

I had a consultation with Yutaro at Seven Doors Tattoo today and put down the deposit for Japanese cranes on my arm! He wants to do another consultation, which includes drawing on me, about 10 days before we start tattooing in two months. I love that he's taking the time to check how the idea works on my body before he draws up the actual stencil. Very excited now!

I watch this show religiously, total guilty pleasure. My thoughts on the finale (if any of you give a shit): - The live format is terrible and needs to go. Awkward pacing and you don't even get to get a good look at the tattoos most of the time. - Christian's chest piece was really nice except for the collar bone area, where he crammed too much stuff in to a small place. Let that shit breathe! Also hated how the tips of the eagle's wings went onto that guy's shoulders. Going to look so weird anytime he lifts his arms at all. - Anthony didn't finish obviously, but his chest piece was pretty nice for what it was. - Cleen's was so bizarre. Putting that guy's nipple right in the middle of that girl's neck/chest. The weird way it trailed off. Just...weird. - Christian's sleeve was okay, but the color was so patchy. Definitely not finale worthy, imo - Anthony again didn't finish (outside sleeve only, lol) but was nice for what it was. - Cleen's sleeve was awful and looked so phoned in. The inside was almost entirely just purple squiggles. Wtf - Another gimmick for next season, oh boy. - I thought Matti's tattoo was better than Sausage's by a long shot, but it's all a popularity contest and people like Sausage more for some reason. Was bummed afterwards to hear of the tracing controversy (https://www.instagram.com/p/BF4Yrc5H0H_/?taken-by=matti_hixson&hl=en). This kind of soured my whole opinion of Matti. - Glad Anthony won. Yes, he didn't finish either piece, but what he did was way better than anyone else up there. Just goes to show the restraints they put on these guys are insane. I'd rather see what they can do with tons of time and have a better tattoo to look at than think "That was pretty good for 24 hours of tattooing"

I guess my biggest one is just seeing some of the shit that pops up on my Facebook news feed from my friends getting tattooed. I have a friend who just got her first and was extremely proud of it. It's a tribal butterfly that isn't even symmetrical. Like, not even close. How do you even screw that up? Just draw half of it and then fold the paper over! It was a bad concept, badly drawn, and badly applied. It blows my mind to see otherwise intelligent people I know just losing their minds when it comes to tattoos. Tattoos don't HAVE to look bad, you know! And in this day and age, when you can look up thousands of tattooers on Facebook, Instagram, etc and get a feel for what can be accomplished. I just legitimately don't understand. Ultimately people can do what they want and good for them for being proud of what they get. I just hope that they'll see the error of their ways soon for my own selfish reasons because I want good tattoos cluttering my news feed, not shitty ones.

I recently got this incredible peacock from Luke Jinks at Cloak and Dagger. The picture I pinched from his instagram page also shows a glimpse of a Bert Grimm sun I got from Nick Mayes when he guested at Frith Street back in March.

Here's the lowdown: this weekend my wife and I are heading to Denver to see The Cure, a band I haven't seen since 1987, and then we are each getting tattoos from Destroy Troy at Til Death. Any advice on how to survive the next three work days is appreciated.

Looks like you and I have signed up for a flake-a-thon @Synesthesia , my heart today was just one big flakey patch .Not itchy though, so I was surprised by just how flakey it was. Will race ya to the end!

Oops. Forgot the pics lol Big fan of traditinal Japanese. Love the look and idea of traditional Americana but would like to take the concept and have a traditinal Canadian piece done. I always find Religious themed pieces to be outstanding and may be my favorite. Looking at finishing the upper arm of my forearm. At a crossroads with my oni mask, got it done roughly 18 years ago. My Kids find it scary lol theres no way to cover it up but maybe make some adjustments to make more family appealing... Maybe a future thread.. Cheers

Ended up dry healing my thigh tattoo mostly just because it was so painful and swollen the first couple days that I couldn't stand to touch it besides a quick clean in the shower. Was not about to rub Aquaphor into that! After the first two days, I just let it be. Rinsing in the shower and letting the scabs and dryness do its thing. It's been a surprisingly pleasant healing so far, although now I'm getting the dreaded itch, which is exacerbated by no lotion. Took some gnarly pictures of the scabbing yesterday. The worst spot of peeling, all along the top/inside of my thigh: Some more peeling along the outside of my thigh, and some of the thicker scabs in he darkest black areas:

I've been busy recently! First up I got this really cute cat and umbrella from Wendy Pham at Brighton Tattoo convention. I've been after this piece of flash for years so happy he's now mine! Next up (and also at Brighton), I got the side of my knee done by Jody Dawber. This was the most painful tattoo I have ever got. I was whimpering like a baby (and I usually never make a fuss). I had to dig deep to get through it! Thank god she's fast. And last but not least, my latest addition (again on the side of the knee) from my super talented co-worker Lucy O Connell. Had my eye on this babe for well over a year, so happy to finally give her a home.

How do you navigate from your profile to your gallery images? There was an easy way to do that before the migration to the new site...is it possible to add a shortcut button on the user profiles? Maybe I'm missing something obvious... ?

Wisdom...me? Personally I like that guy a little more. His lines look smoother and straighter to me, and his blacks are darker. If you want to go more the geometric route, I think he might be a better choice. But either way, I think you would walk out with a solid tattoo from either artist you would be happy with. Just from a critical perspective, I think that guy is a tiny bit better overall.

@jdberetta, dude, you're being a dick. Just stop. You feel very strongly about this product (for some weird reason) and other people feel very strongly in the other direction. Such is the nature of forums. No need for sarcasm or petulance. I agree with the majority that this product is stupid. Tattoos have always been permanent. If you can't handle the idea of it being permanent, maybe you shouldn't even be entertaining the notion of tattoos. This idea just exudes entitlement. You want to be able to say you're tattooed without living with it. It's spitting in the face of everyone who suffered for their tattoos (being judged, ostracized, etc) and everyone who grew old with their tattoos and lived in them. It's disrespecting the entire history of tattooing. I firmly believe that everyone who gets tattooed should suffer in some way throughout their lives because of it. You suffer to get it, and you deal with the negative consequences that come with being tattooed. I'm not saying non-tattooed people should be spitting on us everyday or anything, I like how the population has warmed up to them some and made it at least a little more acceptable. But you SHOULD encounter at least a handful of people in your life that negatively judge you for being tattooed or hate you for how you look: those are learning opportunities everyone in life should know how to deal with, it teaches you about the concept of sacrifice, and they give you a chance to learn to love yourself in spite of what others might say. There's absolutely nothing to be gained from this Ephemeral crap on that nearly spiritual level because there are no consequences. And jdberetta mentioned people getting tattoos lasered off as being similar to this: it really isn't. That costs time and money and is (allegedly) more painful than getting the tattoo done. Most of the time, the best you can get with lasering is just getting it light enough to get covered. It's not an easy way out like temporary tattoos are. I hope most artists (and people getting tattooed) laugh people out of the building coming to get this done. It's just so wimpy, WAY more wimpy than just saying "Hey, tattoos aren't my thing, I don't ever want to get one."

Moving your new question down here ... you have to have a certain number of posts to start a new thread. Hence the Initiation board. :-)

art (and the appreciation of) is subjective. so is love . . .

Nice!!! Listen to music and dream!! https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+cure&view=detail&mid=52B04F4650DEB1E19E8452B04F4650DEB1E19E84&FORM=VIRE

hahaha @Dan turns out I'm not either :D

I went to one of those last year and had a great time! I was talking to the guys a week later and they said they put on 50+ tattoos that day! Missed it this year but it was fun. Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

I called this out on the night. It shows just had shit Dave is at improvising. He CANNOT go off script for any reason. He certainly isn't a natural TV presenter.

I've posted a lot in this thread throughout its existence, I can't remember where my relationship was the last time I posted. But here's the latest. My boyfriend has no tattoos and hated tattoos when we first met. He still has no tattoos, but he appreciates them a lot more than he used to. He's getting into more blackwork/geometry type stuff and says now he's considering getting one along those lines after he buys himself a new car. Pretty crazy to see how much things have changed. I'm just happy that he appreciates tattoos as art now, and he no longer gives me a hard time at all about any of mine or my ideas for future ones.

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@Devious6 , I will try and update soon :) @Soraya , Oh I would love to see what you have ! And your plans sound great! It sucks that work gets in the way for some. I work at a school so I just adjust my clothes to suit, My pipes stick out a bit but nobody is fussed. Though as I get more on my arms I will just adjust my wardrobe.

What the fuck is that?

Added colour last friday. Unfortenately i got sick and had some train delays. Got home at 00:00. Couldnt be bothered too shower or change plastic. I went straight to bed. Next day i was fine and showered. Got rid of all the plasma and put on new plastic. Didnt put any ointment or lub on it. Saturday now, we added some white to the hair. Had only plastic covering the hair and the head. I was to lazy to shower so i didnt. Now its sunday. I only slept with plastic on the head and hair. Now dry healing the shit out of it. No itch yet or shredding. Its just abit wrinkly.

Ok I have one. Bad advice basically. But specifically, I was told on friday by a local how I should definitely go and get some numbing cream. Firstly , fuck off. Secondly , why the fuck?? Thirdly - *buries head in hands* no.

Nice work!!!!! I like the new digs. Looks like you pulled over the old user accounts and posts. Great job. Go give yourselves a big pat on the back.

Just get Henna if you just want temporary decorations.

Down with my demons Done at Electric City Tattoo, NJ by Caz

Inside of my right upper arm. Adding more floral elements to connect the inside and outside at my appointment next month. We both got tired, and the shop was closing. :-) Hurt like a fucker. That unexposed baby skin inside my arm (as you can see, I'm very, very pale) was excruciating.

DAMN!!! that's really cool!

Here's a couple I've gotten recently: Dagger/rose by Charlie Roberts Greg Irons SNCL skulls by Candi Kinyobi Three wishes by Chuco Moreno Lady head/peacock/rose/name by Freddy Corbin Surfing Mahakala by Eddy Deutsche

Did some shading with Greggles today. Not even in the same league as lining, though anytime he gets close to that one area on either scapula I have to bite leather. That will probably always suck. But hey - since we focused on the upper body this time, I didn't have to be completely naked in public for a whole day! Bonus. I am finding that 4 hours is about the time that I consistently have my pain response start to fail. Tattoo flu every time.

no self-respecting tattooer would use this shit. it's a product designed by interlopers to fail. it cheapens and trivializes the art,craft and tradition of tattooing but moreso is offensive to the spirit of tattooing.

I don't know how things are where you're from, but where I live, the tattooers who do the best as artists and as business people are the ones who have built a solid clientele over years of hard work and good tattooing. They're giving people great tattoos that age well, they're giving people great experiences while getting those tattoos, those people come back for more tattoos, tell their friends about their tattooer, and with that comes the more artistically interesting tattoos, the sleeves, the backs. Pandering to a fad like this might make a tattooer some money in the short term, but it's unlikely to lead to a long-term viable career. Not such a good "business opportunity" after all, is it?

This is so strange. Do people not realize that you are changing the texture/appearance of your actual skin when you get a tattoo...? Even if you didn't care about tattooing tradition, I mean...it's not like your skin is a whiteboard that you can just erase and re-tattoo over and over again. Unrelated, but I have a plugin for chrome that replaces millennial/millennials with snake person/snake people respectively, and it never fails to entertain me.

What a steaming pile of bullshit. If you can't handle tattoos being permanent, go get one of those fake skull n dice sleeves from the dollar store, get your temporary I'm-so-cool fix and fuck right off. Tattoos aren't for everyone.

This ONLY works as a start-up, because there are no photos of what it looks like when it works. Because it's not like you get to have your tattoo for three years and then one day it is gone. No, you get to have your tattoo for a short period of time and it takes three years until you can't see it anymore. Which means halfway through, when it is 50% faded, it's going to look like garbage and the last year and a half, you'll be counting the days until it's gone.

To me it is indicative of the many people in our country who are unable to commit to anything long-term. Fast, easy solutions to everything and if they aren't happy with something just get rid of it. Crap, I'm sounding like my father!

IMO it's a freakin stupid idea,the hipster crowd should love this one though. LOL

I love the new site, particularly the "mobile" version. What, exactly, is "community reputation" though? It seems hilariously unrelated to anything yet...but I'm glad we're all "excellent!"

My best friend has this awesome chest piece, could help inspire yours.