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Actually it won't be really circular.

Don't let your friends decide for you. 😉

Update - awesome time in Belgium and France ! Got to meet my LST penpal danceswithferrets in-person. Him and his wife showed me a wonderful time in Leuven and we had a really awesome tattoo exchange, including this photo op: I enjoyed Belgian sites and people (and beer!) so much that I headed back to Bruxelles after the Southern France wedding for my remaining days. Met some cool people by chance (one of which was a tattooist) within 5 minutes of leaving my airbnb...got this gothic skull blastover made by my new pal Taul Tattoo at his Atome22 Studio: And spent my last day in Bruxelles at the world class Purple Sun Tattoo: Hand poked finger dangler by Indy Voet and this incredibly powerful tattoo from Jean-Philippe Burton As an added bonus I got to see the Wim Delvoye exhibit at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium and see Jamie the tattooed pig from Art Farm and the Cloaca shit machine ! Very grateful for the experiences the universe and tattoo-karma provided me throughout this trip. It was a spiritual awakening of sorts. Highly recommend Bruxelles and Belgium, I can't wait to go back 🙂

I've seen some really nice white ornamental or geometric over black-out, too.

For me, exactly no on the eyeball tattoos. Blackout tattoos, if done well, are cool. Not for me but I can certainly appreciate (almost) any well done tattoo.

The Ed Hardy show at the de Young museum is INCREDIBLE. I'm going back ASAP. Absolutely incredible. The exhibition catalog is on sale in the gift shop along with a bunch of other books like Beyond Skin and Kahlil's volume of Drawings for Tattoos. Bring your whole paycheck.

Thank you all for your comments. It is really long process to decide what to have tattooed. I've choosen The Vegvisir symbol for both style and meaning. My friends told me to place it to back of my leg but I am not sure about it. At the other hand I want some minimal and meaningful tattoo on my left arm. I will let you know if I decide anything else.

Hey. Glad you're back. Look forward to seeing your Koeplinger work!

After taking the wrapping and bandages off. It’s complete, however you can tell the areas that have healed versus fresh ink. Looking forward to it completely healing and settling in. Hard to get the whole thing in one picture. I’ll get better ones once healed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Best post I've seen on LST yet.

Robert Ryan flash

This is a really interesting topic! It was touched on from a bit of a different perspective here. For me, it is not an either/or thing: I’m buying both product and experience. When decided to get my first tattoo I thought I was buying a thing, and it never occurred to me that it might be an experience, except that I was going to experience pain. But after the first one, I realized that I could take the pain, and was actually glad that it was painful, and I had defeated the pain. I liked being in this weird shop where everybody there had, or was getting artwork on their body, and I liked being in the middle of that, and becoming part of that. It made me feel very alive. And even though healing was annoying, I actually liked that I had to take care of it, to be careful with it, go through the itching. I viewed it as part of the process of accepting the tattoo into my body. As I got more, I began to see it more as an experience rather than a thing. I came to like the planning, the anticipation, the preparation. Every time I decided to get a tattoo it was like deciding to run a marathon, where you make a commitment months in advance to prepare and train for the event. You go through the process, culminating in the event, and even have a aftercare process. Like a marathon, a tattoo is really a total body and mind experience for me, and I love all of it. I also think that the tattoo experience goes beyond the event. There is also the experience of being a tattooed person. I got tattooed later in life, and I am otherwise pretty mainstream, so I’m something of an oddity in my world. I’m different, people notice me. But I like that experience of living just a little differently. I feel like that is part of what I bought too: a different daily experience of living with tattoos. So I would give the nod to the experience part, but only by a hair. But fortunately we are in a world filled with really fantastic tattoo artists, and we really don’t have to chose between good tattoos and good experiences. I think we can get both.

Love that, @Hands On,

Got a little Robert Ryan 2012 flash today when Josh had a cancellation. I need to take a photo when I unwrap. Forgot to take one before he wrapped it up. Elbow on my left arm is next (later in August unless he has another cancellation before then), and we're adding some filler. Then my arms will be complete!

I always think it's best to get a simple tattoo as your first and save the large/special meaning one for later. Take it slow, learn the ropes and make sure you know about the process before jumping into a big one. Just my 2 cents.

hi there. Thanks for the compliment. I'm seriously glad to say that the regret is gone. It took some time and it was a bumpy ride but I really came to love my tattoo and I'm proud of it :-). I had to let it become part of me but the support of this group is amazing!

I take it this is your first big piece? The mind can go weird with the first big piece lol

first of all that tattoo is fuckin awesome. sorry you are experiencing that though. while not having full blown panic attacks, I’ve had similar experiences with bigger pieces. i’ve never been one of those people that gets a tattoo and is immediately so psyched and wow’d by it, it takes me some time to love it, hate it, and get used to it. i think the risk, feelings, and change process is part of the art in a lot of ways. i would try to give it some time. everything in life is impermanent, including our bodies, minds, feelings, and thoughts. hang in there. and again that tattoo rocks.