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And you've paid a deposit and you've got an appointment date. Go ahead, but if they cancel again, I'd ask for the deposit back and make a stink if they don't give it. Not having time to draw the tattoo is a bullshit excuse for cancelling since they had 3 month's notice.

Yeah, if they're cancelling on you and then can't match up a suitable date (especially after you burned up a vacation day) then you should be offered your deposit back. The "no time to draw" excuse doesn't sound too professional.

I've been using Lubriderm, but maybe I'll give Aveeno a try for the next bottle.

IMO Aveeno is hands down the best, I used to use and think Lubriderm was the best, but Aveeno blows it away for an everyday moisturizer,Aveeno lasts all day. Lubriderm lasts about 25 minutes. I use Aveeno "daily Fragrance Free". (green label)

My understanding is that the anchor shape evolved purely from functional needs.

I hate this stuff. Part of the experience is the vibe. I get that artists are human, too but the not having time to draw is a red flag. WHO SAYS THAT OUT LOUD? Can you drop by the shop? Explain that the situation made you uncomfortable? If not, then if you really were excited to have this person make something for you, do it. Me, I would tend towards the latter.

Yeah at the moment I'm considering if I should go back to this artist or not. The whole thing left a bitter taste in my mouth. I do like the artist, their work is really good and fits what I want to tattoo; but like I said, the whole situation left me reconsidering.

Minimum of 20%. Small gifts that are personal are good too. Good service for a meal. Fine Ink I am going to enjoy for 20-25 years. Priceless

Thanks everyone! Here are a few of the more recent tattoos I've gotten.

Most or all of the perspectives you're going to get at this forum will only be from other collectors (me, too). My opinion is that strategy for approaching potential tutors and how you present your history is going to be as varied as the general public is itself. It all boils down to personalities, so if you want to be happy with your situation then be honest and look for honesty. If the chemistry isn't right you could easily end up getting screwed and/or wasting time.

Monji on Thursday. Unless I see something in his book that is too good to pass up I'll get a Daruma.

Welcome to the forum! The key will be to find an artist who can transform your ideas into reality. There are lots of ways to go in finishing a sleeve using the mythology theme - since your upper arm will have the Heavens at the top and Atlas in between, perhaps the lower arm could be an earth-bound reference? As a retired Army officer, for me the warrior theme is always part of my thought process. What else captures your interest in mythology? If you indicate where you're from, or willing to travel to, there are some great folks here who might offer suggestions on artists. Scan through the photos and video archives, troll Instagram and you'll find some great ideas.

I pretty much disagree entirely with this. First, it presumes that you understand the reasons why people get the tattoos they get. I read recently, it was either on here or on IG, a tattooer (I think for some reason that it was David Bruehl, but I'm not certain about that) talking about how there was a point in their career where they were tattooing a lot of yin yangs. The tattooer asked those clients what religion or philosophical belief that the yin and yang belonged to and none of them could give an even close to accurate answer, but that regardless of this, they were seeking to achieve a kind of balance in their lives. Horiyoshi III says in an interview in the book JBxH3 that a lot of people who get tattoos of Buddhist deities don't even know what they mean. They like the appearance or the name of the god, and maybe they learn more about it after. So even within what you describe as a "culture" people are getting tattoos that are outside of their realm of familiarity. Second, it's useless to talk about culture as this monolithic thing. If you want to talk narrowly about western traditional tattoos, a lot of those are sailor tattoos or military tattoos, or are deeply rooted in those cultures and traditions, and if you want to talk about people "staying within their own culture" a lot of us wouldn't have the tattoos we have. Third, at this point in time there are very few tattoo traditions that are "untouched" so to speak and aren't influenced by tattoo traditions from elsewhere, and I don't see this as in any way a bad thing. Shit, this isn't even a new thing. I read or heard somewhere...maybe it was from an interview with Horiyoshi III again?...that Japanese tattooing and this whole body compositions were originally influenced by Polynesian tattoos. You look at classic Western tattoos and you'll see all kinds of Asian influence there with dragons and what not--George Burchett went to Japan and observed the masters at work--not to mention that way that Sailor Jerry took that Japanese influence and brought it into Western tattooing with those incredible backpieces he did which have been so influential on the way we get tattooed now. What about Ed Hardy, who synthesised so many things into his tattooing? What about Thomas Hooper who does very European tattoos but is very open about how much he's influenced by Polynesian tattoos? I'm going to say that most of the exciting things that have happened in tattooing have happened precisely because people didn't "stay within their own culture".