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OMG. This is the coolest memorial tattoo ever.

My homie Teddy Kardos reworked this leapin' lizard he put on me in 2013

My latest - my grandma was a belly dancer. This is my Sailor Jerry-ish pinup version. Rob Johnson @ All Star Tattoo No idea what happened to Tornado6. It's still me ?

Here frands: Feeling pretty tattoo-flu-y, but I have a steak on the way, and then it's time to drink every water and sleep every sleep. So happy that we finished the areas that were the most painful for me during lining, though. Couldn't be happier.

Finally finished my Chad/Jondix collabo back piece yesterday, after nearly three years! Session 1: 10/25/13 at the Bay Area Convention, SFO Hyatt - tag team Session 2: 11/20/13 at Garage Ink, Napa, CA 11/20/13 - Chad Session 3: 7/10/16 at Yoni Zilber's private studio, Atlantic Highlands, NJ - Jondix Session 4: 10/19/16 at State of Grace, SJ, CA - Chad

@Kracov I know that: "Man mildly inconvenienced due to voluntary, likely to be ostracizing, cosmetic choice" isn't as fun a headline but come on... This is not a civil rights instance. Or at least it shouldn't be. Equating this circumstance to the terrible divisions and hate people faced (and still do in many parts of the world) is "embarrassing". Lumping things like this in with legitimate cases of discrimination trivializes the injustices those people are facing. And, since you side-stepped it in your other response: Who's rights are being violated if you are required by law to provide a service or labor for someone against your will because of a cosmetic life choice they made? Do others have a right to your labor simply because they ask? Rights have to go both ways if they are rights.

Going to see Josh tonight to get a little something. Can't wait!

From everything I've seen and read, definitely can't go wrong with Tattoo Paradise. Depending on where in Maryland, Todd Noble and Right Coast in Fenwick Island (when he's there and not up in Mass) is also killer. I also get a huge kick out of @marley mission's punctuation. Sometimes it's dashes, sometimes it's ellipses, sometimes it's whole new lines. You're like the ee cummings of Last Sparrow!

A bellydancer with a beehive is the coolest thing I will see this week.

Tattooed people are not a protected class under the law. Neither are nudists by the way or any other voluntary lifestyle choice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Really dude??? Employers have to follow civil rights laws and yet still can hire and fire based on tattoos, piercings, hair length, facial hair... don't believe me? Try getting a job a Disneys magic kingdom

heres some photos of it! also curious. i wanted to start a new thread under the advice section but im not able to. im guessing its because im new. do you guys know when ill be able to start a thread?

And here's my tattoo done in the last day of the convention, yesterday, by Florin Orga. My first neo traditional and i love it so much! It's my cat who likes to bite, so we reinforced the theme :D Video also here.

Got work from Todd Noble, same time I picked up his skull reference book, the tattoo rocks, the books rocks and so does Todd Noble.... he is awesome! Recommend him plus 1! There is a video interview with him also on this site.

@marley mission Yeah, that frog you got from him rules so much. I'm the opposite of you. I got tattooed by him down in DE, but would love to travel up to MA.

Do exactly what he said!

you're in maryland - go to tattoo paradise - they have several shops - I've been to the one in wheaton - nice shop - great artists - go there - i'd recommend nikki balls

Haha I think I just like all of the same stuff cause I have a ton of repeat tattoos. 8 roses, 7 snakes, 2 dragons, 6 skulls (5 on one arm), 4 birds, 5 ladies, and 4 moons.

welcome bud well you're obviously in capable hands! nice tattoo! for your other arm I'd suggest going back to the same cat who did your arm. they can make a nice balanced look in terms of length, inner arm cutoff and, foldover onto the chest, background composition. subject could be facing down (opposite to your fish going up). the mythology says the koi fish swims upstream and if he is strong enough to reach the top he transforms into a dragon...symbolic of strength. can't go wrong with a Dragon !! ...although here at LST you will also here us say "can't go wrong with a Panther!" cheers

There is no doubt that this is the 1st time I've ever heard those words uttered, verbally or in writing! Awesome tribute.

The Commonwealth is beautiful this time of year, and there is no finer drink than Kentucky bourbon on the rocks.

Wow wow wow!!! Greg's work is mindblowing. Congrats!!

I mayyyyyy have reached my limit of bird feet / talons on this last go 'round.

Panthers is a great suggestion! Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Spent a long weekend on a trip down to The Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. About 7 years ago we signed up to be Maker's Mark Ambassadors - costs nothing and they send you a present each year at Christmas. They also put your name on a barrel plate and, when the barrel matures - 6 to 7 years later - you get invited to the distillery for a free tour, tasting and you can buy bottles from your batch. They put a special label on the bottle(s) and you get to hand-dip it in the traditional red wax and seal it with the Ambassador's seal. It was a blast - and we hit several other distilleries and great restaurants along the way. The weather was warm and, since we took the Z3, we enjoyed some top-down days. Here are our bottles and Lynn watching while I dipped mine. And Lynn dipping her bottle.

Since I've only been getting tattooed since 2014, I think everybody has seen most of these recently, so it feels a little bit weird to submit them again so soon, haha. But I do have some pieces taken from very classic flash! I'm not sure that I ever posted all of them, anyway. All but the last one were done by Greg Whitehead, but I'm looking forward to getting more one-offs like this soon from other people! The shoulder-area bird was my first tattoo, and it's a Percy Waters design. The snake in a flower pot is based on Dietzel flash, the diving girl is a Jensen piece and was actually sort of a filler, the elbow butterfly/rose is...uhh, actually, I'm not 100% sure. Someone said it was Jensen, but I don't remember if that's true. I remember Greg saying that it came from a whole lot of flash from the early 1900s that used to be attributed to a mystery artist, but was later identified as belonging to someone specific...I just can't for the life of me remember who it was. The lady with a snake is a Cap Coleman design, and I love her to bits. The last one was Christopher Ayalin at Liberty, and I got it when I went on a fun tattoo day trip with @beez. A lot of people do flower/snake/dagger stuff, so I dunno...Jensen-ish? I guess? Aside from the color I guess it's still pretty classic traditional subject matter. And now you have seen like half of my tattoos all at once!

Greg and I have a bad habit of not paying attention to when we start, or when we break for lunch. But I think 4 1/2 hours the first day (we lost power for a little bit because of that storm), and probably 6 on the second day. Something close to that, anyway. edit: If you mean yesterday and today, obviously. I've had three sessions before this and I have noooo idea how long they were anymore, haha.

Thanks! I am pretty proud of powering through the end of tonight, for sure.

I was staring at this when it came up twice today on instagram, and of course it is on an LST member!!! Awesome, you are very much winning today :)

Not entirely true. From my understanding, dragons are neutral, but the majority of the time tend to be good omen. There are many instances in which dragon fight humans. Tamatori the pearl diver running from Ryujin is a good example of a ryu/human conflict. Or Susanoo who slayed the dragon Orochi to save Kushinadahime. Or the dragon that was eating children that the goddess Benzaiten soothed with her beauty, and latter (in some stories) married the dragon. There are other instances in which a witch transforms herself into a dragon as well, and stories of multi-headed evil dragon. Although rare, there are certain instances in which ryu fight swordsman. But as for your tattoo, less is more. If I were you Id just go with a dragon skeeve with nothing else, but thats just me.

Retailer wise, Gomineko is a book seller that focusses on tattoo references. She's an excellent resource for purchasing books but depending on where you are at, it can take several months for books to arrive and there are no notifications of shipping/tracking. Also she is more expensive than other resources. Some people love her due to her inventory, while others not so much due to the price, lag or non-delivery. If you are fortunate enough live near a Kinokuniya book store, their books in their tattoo/woodblock section can range from decent to pretty good. They're a Japanese book retailer and have a few shops across the US. They sell the same books as Gomineko but are cheaper. They can also order books for you if you know exactly what you are looking for. That said, actual material wise, for general symbolism,"Bushido" and "Tattoos of the Floating World" by Takahiro Kitamura are excellent resources. I don't know the name of it but it looks like Horibenny just came out with a new book that at glance appears to be decent for introductory info on motifs too. Check out Amazon for all. For myths, study the source material. Read books on Japanese mythology and books on Woodblock print artists. There will often be descriptions about the scenes in woodblock prints. That can often give you enough information to research further about a subject on your own. Regarding mythology, read the "Kojiki" and the "Taiheiki". Both are translated in english and chronicle stories of the origin of/early Japan and medieval Japan. Another book I've found is called "Japanese Mythology" by Michael Ashkenazi. These books tell stories about deities and ancient heroes that are often subjects in Japanese motifs. I wish I had read the "Kojiki" sooner. Not regretting what I have but I feel I may have chosen different subjects if I had. Things I had written off earlier, I gained new appreciation for after reading more about them. There are tons of information out there. I feel it's much easier to learn about now, than it was even a few years ago. Hope this helps.

I've got lots of repeats. Skulls, animals, roses, lady heads, and probably more. Hard to keep track. I think repetition done well looks great.

fish

I haven't been getting tattooed much lately because I've been focused on one big piece for the past several months. I expect more traditional one shots in my near future! But here's what I've got so far when it comes to traditional style tattoos, and a little background on each: Eagle and rose by Brian Via at Golden Ages in Lancaster, PA. I wanted something to represent my parents (still alive, not a memorial!). Brian is super laid back and the whole shop is really talented. Also done by Brian, picked off his wall of things he wanted to tattoo. My first skull and not the last. Butterfly done by Antonio Roque in Frederick, MD. Really cool guy especially considering he's kind of "Instagram famous" with over 50k followers...easy to book with, charged me actually way less than he should have (and got a big tip as a result), and no ego at all. Panther and rose by Chad Koeplinger when he came through DC. He's one of my artistic idols and I was kind of star struck to meet him. Fun guy to talk to and I was amazed at his speed (this took less than 2 hours, including all the time we spent talking about movies). But wow does he hurt like no one's business! I wanted him to do this spot (inner bicep) to get it over with as quick as possible, but he's pretty brutal! Anyway, I asked him for a panther and rose and said he could do whatever he wanted with those subjects, so I got my whole inner arm blasted with this.

@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."

Just get Henna if you just want temporary decorations.

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.

Except that you have said that at least three times, because apparently it wasn't enough to express your opinion once. If you don't know enough about something, maybe it's best to keep quiet and learn something before giving your ill-informed opinion over and over.

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 think the essence of tattooing is that it is permanent. It think that when you strip away all of the other motivations for tattooing: to symbolize something, memorialize someone, mark life's important moments, births, deaths, transitions... the the bottom line is that we choose a tattoo for those things because it will be there forever. In my thinking, if it is not permanent, it is not a tattoo.

This is where we are at present. Even getting close to the nipple sucked so I can't imagine what it feels like on it. My thoughts are it isn't as stark not being done as I expected as it flows with the clouds etc. Comments?

This thread makes me want to cry. Haha. Better you than me, sir.

@Cork thanks for that, I love Kian's style much to my bank balances disgust. A few days ago I committed to continuing to both ankles, so bodysuit here we come. :) As for everyone else thanks for the input, I like when the nipples are incorporated into a design and not necessarily tattooed, however at least for my RHS nipple it happens to be right in the middle of background clouds so my guess is we will be tattooing it. :( And if I do RHS then LHS will be done. On the bright side though my front will include the Munewari so at least we don't have to have another conversation about including something else sensitive. :) :)

He should sue their asses. Discriminating against COLORED people... they are not aware of the Civil Rights Act of 1964????

The only thing that upsets me about this is that the restaurant apologized. Their place, their rules.