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Congrats on your appointment with Chris! You win for the longest flight for a tattoo. Why don't you like Tegaderm/Saniderm? As long as you healed well when you used it before, this is the perfect use case scenario.

When I began looking for my first - have had it about 4 months now - I searched for images that appealed to me and reflected my personality. As it turned out, the one I chose had some tribal lines along with the wolf head. I had not idea that tribal was "out" and, honestly, even when someone commented on it when I first posted a picture in a tattoo forum, I don't care if others find it outdated. I'm not trying to please anyone else - I selected it and got it for me. So, from my perspective, what is trendy or fashionable is unimportant to me. If you like it - go for it.

Got this awesome piece this week on the spur of the moment/walk-in from Tommy Stegall at Baldy's Tattoo in Radcliff, KY (near Fort Knox). It's my first American Traditional tattoo and I am in love :) Wildcat

so if you are staying the night before you fly,then just wash it several times (like you said you do) and use something on it(I use Palmers cocoa butter)and keep saran(cling) wrap taped on for the after and that night,will you have time to go back in the morning to the shop and have someone there help with the derm ? that's how I do it anyway,for the first 10 to 12 hours after the tattoo I wash it good several times with a anti-microbial soap and apply a very light coat of cocoa butter and cling wrap,let all the liquid ooze out then I put on the derm,I do this often as I go to Hawaii every year and get a tattoo on the last day.

Bring it with you to the shop and have the artist apply it before you leave . . .

i usually just bring the body part thats getting tattooed

Traditional woman-head in a spider web - by Dane Soos

Thank you for your great responses, At the end I got this woman by Dane Soos, I took the hanging spider off in order to have more space for a future tattoo:

Amy Winehouse as traditional pin-up

by Chris Smith - Neptune Tattoo in Neptune NJ

Let me suggest that if you feel that you really must wash on the plane, ask for bottled water (or in a pinch, club soda) as the tanks on them are not the best for low microbial content. I'll also suggest to protect the 'derm with a sleeve like used to keep sun off of golfers or even a fake tattoo sleeve.

Haha..... Yes but my flight is not direct , changing planes in Dubai too zzzzzzzzzz welll I used to live in the UK and booked in with Chris who had a 2 year waiting list at the time, was only a short 40 mins flight to see him, I then moved to SA and thought after waiting so long I might as well follow it through......zero even half decent artists out here unfortunately, But it's also a good excuse to go catch up with friends again so will nip over to the uk first and everyone's happy.... Apart from my bank account, still only going to be a week in total. i wish my artist was based in Hawaii though instead, would be much better than rainy Ireland :)

Your goal is to get home... make it work (and make a new friend)! Looking forward to seeing photos.

yep I overlapped last time, ..... I still don't think its the easiest to do by yourself though trying to put it on nicely with one hand..... its probably going to be the easiest option though for my flight so might give it another shot.

yay, what do i win? :) I used Tegaderm the last time, number one it is really hard to cover a full sleeve, cutting it to the correct length and wrapping it around your arm, especially when your by yourself, i imagine it would work better for smaller pieces..... and number two i got a small infection near my wrist, maybe i left it on for too long, around 4 - 5 days which is what i was told to do, i washed it really well before putting it on and avoided touching it but somehow that germ got in there somehow..... I also thought my other arm healed better with just using bepanthol, maybe i'll have to use Tegaderm again just for the flight then take it off. thanks :)

Hey there, it depends the style your after? i am sitting with Chris Crooks at white dragon Belfast, the other one i would recommend is Remis in Dublin, hope that helps :)

LOL

You got 2 arms :D

Going to hang with the Stells tomorrow. Might get a little something from Richard if he's game. Mostly looking forward to seeing Jen and Richard — two of the coolest, funniest people I know.

@Dan A mix of Skittles and M&Ms?! You, sir, are a true psychopath.

Coming through airport security yesterday one of the security guards had a long (favourable) chat about my tattoos. He said he had a couple but was too afraid of the pain to get more. Then he explained that he got the tattoos after he got paralysed in a car accident and then beat the doctor's diagnosis that he probably would never walk again (!!!). I was like "dude, I think you could handle it" (He laughed). Sent from my G7-L01 using Tapatalk

Finishing up my knee with Grez on Friday.

Old Guy At Home Depot: Hey, those tattoos look expensive. How much you pay for those? Me: Well, you know what they say, "Good tattoos aren't cheap and cheap tattoos aren't good." Old Guy's Wife: His were cheap.

Me too. My 6.5 hour session required someone bring me a sip of sumpthin, but otherwise there is chat and mental relaxation techniques, and time is up before you know it. I discovered early on that when I tried to look at my phone or listen to music I had a harder time than just laying back and zoning out/accepting the sensation.

Alice by Jennifer Lawes at Pearl Harbor - this may have been my easiest tattoo ever.

well he will be my artist. thanks!

I think it should come back when this place is a tattoo forum again and not a tattoo advice forum.

My thigh pieces (more side of thigh for them both). first one by Sam Smith when she was visiting the UK. I think about 5.5hrs one hit. Healed perfectly in 3 days despite being in a car crash where I rolled my car 3x and wrote it off on my way home from the shop. Second one, my beautiful big red kitty from Stu Pagdin. One hit - 6hrs. I took the train. This one was more of a tricky heal, got some lovely scabs but I think he's got a heavier hand. I love to collect but I'd be covered in Stu's work if he lived in the UK. I just love it!

look no further than Tommy Lee's first tattoo ...Mighty Mouse bustin through a snare drum haha !! edit: above is a fan tattoo here is Tommy Lee's actuall mighty mouse tatt:

Don't you love it when people in your life who initially oppose the idea of you getting tattoos "come around," then engage with you on the subject and can see it from a new perspective? I can't really blame them - you are changing your appearance in a somewhat drastic way, and for people who are used to seeing you frequently, especially parents and siblings, who have been looking at your your whole life, to have your looks changed overnight is startling. I am going through this with my teenagers. When my daughter wanted to buzz her head, not to the skin but close, I was resistant initially (on the inside) because this is my daughter, and I'm used to seeing her with her hair, the hair that I love, and I'm her mama, blah blah blah.... but when she did it, it looks FAN-effing-TASTIC and now I can see her beautiful face and there's no hair blocking her bone structure, blah blah blah, lol. Same with tattoos. The people in our lives have to adjust to seeing us looking different, like if we got plastic surgery, cut our hair off, dyed our hair, etc. Just like we have to get used to looking at ourselves in the mirror. When I get a new tattoo it takes a while to not do a bit of a double-take when I catch myself in the mirror, so we need to cut people some slack, lol

Some updates on my sleeve from today. Here's the Jizu and Kannon from a month ago: And the green on the dragon from today - underbelly and flames in July.

Ooh look, there's this from this article. Titled: "Sweetheart-and-spiderweb" back piece popular with English officers during the Boer War. From Portland Sunday Oregonian, January 7, 1900, p. 16

The classic girl head / web images were surely inspired by the circus sideshow spider ladies? Here. I don't know who drew the first flash though, or when. It's often not possible to track these things right back. But, you can see ladies / cherubs (not sure which) on web, although not enclosed by it, on the feet and ankles of Stella Grassman. All her work was done by her husband Deafy. Photo is from the 1920s. If you're after something a little less 'dark' than variations on the classic design often are, and are wanting to add flowers too, you might want to consider something along the lines of this lovely by Virginia Elwood. Ladyroses are a classic in themselves, of course, the combination of the two works really well, I think. That said. I prefer to hand over a bit of reference and let my tattooer get on with the drawing, rather than give too much specific direction about composition though. Am not a fan of giving other tattooers work as reference, but I can see why you want to. Have you had your consultation yet? Never had drawings in advance of the day myself either, BTW. He'd be happy to make changes if it wasn't 'right', for sure. Hasn't be necessary yet mind. In other news, this, is image absolutely dying to be turned into a tattoo. (from either Punch, or the London Charivari, November 1867) Edit - Agree that it's not a stupid question, @jadore. Not at all.

Thought I'd posted these the other morning - probably forgot to hit the submit button. This is the time of the year that I love our place the most - affectionately referred to as Mighty Mortgage Manor. We spend a lot of time working on fences, the garden, Lynn's plot of fresh flowers, cutting grass...and even find some time to spend in our pool (we filled in an old one and built a new one last year). But, the mornings are so peaceful - sitting on the back porch with a cup of coffee is so tranquil. Here's my view from the back porch, looking over our small lake. Sunrise from the front porch: The pool from the back porch (still growing some grass to cover where they dug up the yard for the water and electrical lines): The front of the house: And the back of the house: All four seasons are wonderful here in the Northeast, but I just thrive in the Spring and Summer months.

Finding the balance between work, fun, and musical tastes. Thursday night was Reagan Youth. Friday morning in a shirt and tie working in a client office, Friday night a house show with Austin Lucas and Adam Faucett. And today I'm cleaning the apartment listening to rockabilly radio. 16 year old me would be so confused.

so these are some cool salt & pepper shakers my wife bought for me when we were on Maui. We travel a lot and always stop by the tattoo shops and check them out,one in Lahaina had these for sale. http://midpacifictattoo.com/

Vic Ruggiero (from the Slackers NYC) played a solo show last nite in a living room in east Edmonton. It was super dope, we love Vic here. That's me on the left playing the red wurlitzer, the show turned into an amazing ska/rocksteady jam sesh with some cool cats (and close friends) from the Canadian ska scene. Pretty awesome to get to play alongside one of your musical icons. Pretty jazzed. Life is full circle.

when I recently got tattooed by chad the guy ahead of me was getting his first by chad talk about doing it right

c'mon what about smallest tattoos? LOL

I don't like small tattoos. I don't like tattoos that are self-consciously tasteful. Tattoos should be large, bold, and at least somewhat obnoxious.

haha yup. but when you have buds who are like this...and then they FINALLY get that tattoo they keep yapping about it. it is pretty exciting to watch them be excited. one of my favourite things in the tattoo shop is watching somebody get their first tattoo. wait - this is pet peeve thread, i'm supposed to be complaining, not posting about my favourite things haha cheers

You find experts in anything you do. People generally get excited about what they like and want to appear very knowledgeable. And with tattoos they also want to appear tough - "like I sat for 10hrs straight", I hear this brag statement so often for the most unsubstantial tattoos it is nauseating. I'm like, good for you that must have hurt! But when it's obvious they got grey lined, then lined, then re-lined again and then delicately grey shaded I'm like suuuure bud that must. have. hurt (your pocket) ! But whatever, I know what's up with my tattoos and my tattooists and what it really takes to go the distance, so good for them. I guess my peeve is people asking about your tattoos. They don't sincerely ask about your tattoos. Nobody gives a shit about your tattoos. Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic...but 90% of the time being asked about your tattoos is simply the unsolicited invitation for people to just talk and show off their own. It is a penis-measuring contest. People love to talk. And love hearing themselves talk. And perhaps I'm no different. I mean really I post here at LST often because this is one of the very few outlets I have (aside from the tattoo shop) where I can wax about tattoos and my experience with honesty (and feel like I have an audience haha). So peace to the LST cats for reading my words, whether you reply or care. Or you can just scroll past, who cares! There is a lot of ego and attitude in the tattoo scene. So perhaps the lesson for me here is to ask people about their tattoos (in person) more often when i do see something cool or fresh. Everybody has their own story to tell. It's all good though. Just keep getting tattooed because you enjoy it. Enjoy it for yourself. The people who truly are ass-deep (literally) into tattoos no what's up and will keep the culture thriving, pet peeves or not.

no real pet peeves i think - i really dont care what other people do with regards to their tattoos maybe people expecting their tattoos to be perfect and obsessing about minor imperfections oh - and people who constantly talk about getting tattooed but never do guess i do have pet peeves :)

BAM

Caught this one from Greg Christian while he was in NYC last weekend!