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so it may be,we burn it everyday here at home.Yes,we are a couple old hippies from the 60's/70's I have been to several shops that burn it and have a mellow gallery vibe.Nice atmosphere IMO.

I think the incense thing may be a holdover from the counter culture days. Plus, there are a lot of men using one bathroom.

Mechanical or steampunk is a theme or subject matter. Good artists rarely limit themselves to one or two special themes, certainly because that would get pretty damn boring year after year. My recommendation is that you learn something about different styles (photorealism, neo-traditional, illustrative, new skool, etc) and then pass your overall idea and subject matter by an artist that excels in the style you want. Aaron Bell specializes in the Japanese style, so he likely wouldn't be such a good target or fit, but there will be many, many artists of each style up in the PNW. Something else to consider - any great artist probably isn't going to have much if any interest in exactly reproducing your friend's artwork. The exception to that "rule" might be artists who specialize in photorealism, but even then you're friend is going to have to be one helluva artist himself. Your inspiration piece should likely be considered only as such - a reference (amongst others) for what the tattoo artist is going to create just for you.

Biomech is so abstract that it's kind of hard to tell, especially in the primary stage it is right now. Alot just depends on how experienced your artist is with coverups, how he/she has handled similar issues in the past.

I like incense but I'm not sure I'd want to be sitting in a room, being tattooed and having it right there. Maybe if it were in the lobby/waiting area of the studio....

ok,sorry,but I'm thinking getting infected from incense smoke is a little out there.that's a stretch IMO. I have never heard of infections from incense smoke.I really don't think that's possible.

Well, that was brutal. Takashi went back over lines to bolden them, and damn that hurt. But the outlines are all done! June for start of tebori!

Very good points, everyone. I may just take elements of the add-on and create a different tattoo later. If I can ever lose the weight I want and maybe get my arms in any decent kind of shape, I would like to do some work around there. Sadly I can't get a partial sleeve like I want.. But anyway, thank you for the advice!!

I went back on Thursday to have it finished off, finally! I was so looking forward to it... I breezed in there and popped myself down on the seat, raring to go, thinking this will be a piece of cake, just an hour or 2's work, compared to the last sitting. OMG... I don't know why, whether the area was still not fully healed from the 1st sitting maybe, but it was SO painful literally from the second he started until the second he finished. I kept waiting to get into my groove like last time (the first 10 minutes were rough but then I settled in) but it just never came. Wonder why? Any ideas? Anyway, some pics below for anyone who is interested. I would appreciate some opinions on the coloured areas from those more knowledgeable than me... I'm not sure if they look (especially the pink ones) like they need more colour? As in, the whole flower to be coloured in? I'm also wondering if I should have gone for a brighter purple for the flower on my shoulder... it just seems a bit duller than the brighter reds and pinks. Obviously I'm going to wait and see how it looks when it's healed; it might be fine and I might love it, but right now... I'm not too sure.

I recently had one of my feet done. My experience was pretty painful but not unbearable while getting tattooed. After my session I applied tegaderm to the entire tattoo. There was quite a bit of swelling as well as seepage under the derm. On the second day during my shower the tagederm was infiltrated by water. At that point I decided to heal it the old fashion way with frequent washing and aquaphor. I guess it a good time to note that I had a total of three days off work after getting tattooed. I had some pretty significant swelling he first day and a half so I iced and elevated. I have the luxury of wearing crocs at work so I took full advantage once I returned to work. The loose fitwas key for me. I also applied aquaphor and covered with telfa (a nonadhesive sterile dressing) to the top of my foot during work hours. Having the telfa as a barrier not only provided me with a piece of mind but also allowed me to keep my tattoo moist during work hours. Once off work I would wash, air dry then apply a thin layer of aquaphor for about 5 days until the peeling started. Once I started peeling I switch over to your standard unscented lotion. Hope this helps.

Thanks...yeah, I'm definitely going to have the conversation with him to see what his thoughts were. I can see how the right color choices may help ease the transition from the darkness and foreground feel of that area.

I am familiar with the Cor Mysterium book and highly recommend it!!

Great advice here - and welcome to the forum!!

Both of the Lost Love books are really neat. The first book focuses on images up to the 1960s, while the second book adds images from the 1970s through the 1980s. Both books are a mix of flash sheets, newspaper articles, photos of peoples' tattoos, and tattoo-related artifacts like acetate stencils and business cards. It's really neat to see that while some images have fallen out of style, others have endured and are still being tattooed today just like they were decades ago. I don't think it would necessarily be bad to buy your friend Book 2 ahead of Book 1, since there isn't a narrative to get confused by - they're both simply collections of images.

There is also a new book called Cor Mysterium put out by Neversleep Publishing. It's all about tattoo symbolism with original works and descriptions for each piece. Excellent quality, too. Good luck!

Right foot nearly superficially healed. Ready for more tattoos, but it'll be a while. Had to replace my vehicle since it was totaled. Oh, surprise life expenses, how I dislike you!

This was done late last night, still needs a little finish work. The reaper is clutching a human heart, homage to my close call last October.

Hello all. New to the forum. Figured I would add my two cents. I have three quarter sleeves on both arms. My first tattoo ever was a half sleeve Kintaro done by Jason Lambert of Black Cat Tattoo in Pittsburgh. The sleeve was finished on the one side and the other side was done by Robert Atkinson here in LA. Robert is an overall awesome guy and a great artist. I consider him a friend and am glad to know him. Granted I just have an n of 2, but Robert IMHO is one the best tattoo artists around. I decided to bite the bullet and Robert just started lining my back. I'm doing one of the Horiyoshi 108 heroes, Kaosho Roshishin. Compared to my arms the discomfort at times was more intense, particularly around the love handles, shoulder blades, and top of the buttock. But nothing too bad. To be honestly I thought my elbows were the worst, so the flank wasn't as bad as that for me. Robert is pretty fast, we lined this in about 3 hours. Will go back to add a snake and some peonies to finish the lines and then move to shading. I'm stoked so far. Robert's sleeve is on the right, and Jason's is on the left. Once we do the background we'll even those out and I'll ask Robert to shade the negative space under my pit on the left