RoryQ

Just a quick note about this month's Skin Deep .... Their 200th issue I believe. The editorial refers to the re-design the mag appears to have gone through. I'd be curious to hear your opinion of it, Mel. In terms of layout the magazine does seem significantly easier to navigate and read, although they are still employing a weird way of tagging different tattoo pictures (some articles had the tattooist's name written down the side perpendicular to the tattoo, others had it above or below on a bar). Seemed to me though that the magazine might be being pitched towards a slightly different part of the market now though.... There was a multi-page 'beginners guide to getting a tattoo' feature and I got the vibe overall that they were aiming more at newcomers / first-time buyers in terms of the tone of other articles. It reminded me a little of a "Which Car?" magazine in parts.

Chris Smith, Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago. The ship itself was done last year, just finished the background and flowers this time around ... Last Thursday.

Well, homeward bound piece all finished ... About 3.5 hours in the chair yesterday at Deluxe Tattoo with Chris Smith, probably the same amount of time the first sitting was. So it's turned out to be quite a nice-sized piece, filling up the thigh nicely. Thunder and lighting backround, flowers for the border at the base. i'll try and get a pic up next week but for the moment I'm still in Chicago on vacation and logging on in an Apple store :P

Finishing off a 'homeward bound' piece by Chris Smith (Deluxe Tattoo) in Chicago next Thursday....

I agree that Total Tattoo is hands-down the best UK-based magazine. From what else we get here thumbs up also forTattoo Energy and Tattoo Life. I check Bound By Ink to see if there are any good interviews, but that's about it. Inked I am turned off by. I seem to recall Skin Deep used to be a lot better ... But now even the way the photographs are arranged and tattooists' names placed annoys me ... The whole thing feels awkwardly laid-out.

This counts as a thigh piece, I hope! Working on the other side (actually finishing it next week ...), although it's a smaller homeward bound trad piece.

Agreed on the protein! Of all the types of supplement out there, it's the most cost-effective and beneficial one for most people's purposes. Possibly followed by something like a good quality fish oil, IMO (helps with inflammation, joints in general). I try and get at least 1g of protein per LB bodyweight into me per day to support my training, and without having a few tubs of whey at home I don't think I would manage it. There's only so much eggs, steak, fish etc. you can afford or have time to eat. A few scoops of whey per day are fairly easy to fit in, especially if you find one that you don't mind. When it comes to a specific product my only criteria is that I tend to shy away from the more heavily sweetened / flavoured varities which ramp up the carb context. I have enough trouble keeping my carb intake down (the biggest challenge in regulating your diet, I find - far moreso than keeping an eye on fats).

I was CrossFit certified (the Level 1 cert plus a few of the speciality certs- Olympic lifting, Gymnastics) for a few years up until they required you to re-certify. To me it's a potentially very programme for novices who come along in good health and have no major imbalances or injuries. In a short space of time the trainee is exposed to a wide range of barbell work, kettlebell stuff, gymnastics, running, rowing etc. Factor in the volume of work and combine that with an improved diet and most new people experience some pretty good gains in a relatively short space of time. That said, in the medium to long term I think the randomised nature of CrossFit programming means that many people begin to plateau. You will make strength gains, but only to a point on CrossFit programming, for example. Most of the guys I started training with when CrossFit was new to Ireland have now moved on to tailoring their programming to their specific needs rather than shoehorning themselves into a one-size-fits-all randomised approach. The other pitfall, going back to my mention of people being injury-free and carrying no imbalances, is that CrossFit involves quite a lot of high-rep work on movements that can lead to problems. A lot of the same guys I trained with ended up with problems ranging from achilles tendon ruptures linked to box jumps to people developing knee and shoulder problems. You're not guaranteed to get injured doing CrossFit, but I'd argue that if you do it for a long time and with intensity then chances are you are going to need a good physio as if you were doing a contact sport.

I decided I was spending too much time inside the gym with barbells, squat racks etc. instead of freeing myself up and heading outside to enjoy the sunshine (even in Ireland we get at least a couple of nice days for the summer). Been grabbing the kettlebells the past few days and heading outside and doing some conditioning stuff. Lots of sets of swings, clean and jerks, snatches and turkish get-ups. Kettlebells are pretty much in the mainstream now, but if any of you guys are unfamilliar ... - http://www.dragondoor.com/ is one of the bigger kettlebell sites.

I've generally booked full days and travelled over to London to get work done. So I've done a few full days (and two days back to back), but those wouldn't be unbroken... it'd be 3-3.5 hours in the morning, then a half hour break for lunch, and then maybe the same again. I think the longest I sat for unbroken is probably only around the 4 hour mark, which is fine with me - I like a break for coffee and sugar! This September I'm booked in for 2 days with Ching from East Tattoo in Taiwan, since they're visiting Ireland. Plan is to start a back piece in the time allocated. I think that could be a situation where they'll tattoo as long as I can physically manage to sit for. I'd like to get a very good chunk done since they're coming around the world to do a guest spot ... but we'll see :/

I agree that personal responsibility has to factor into it at the top. Who would agree to something like that for $10,000 though - a drug addict? Someone who needs money for a medical procedure?

Is that golden palace tattoo actually a real thing? I was hoping it was a photoshop job.

Another 'hello', your blog is one of the ones I check in on...

I think they spelled Shige's name wrong in one of those issues too? Hard to tell whether it was a typo or not. There's a magazine we get here which is translated from another language and sometimes reading the interviews is a matter of puzzling out what they mean. There was an interview with the guys from East Tattoo in Taiwan and one of them, Ching, explained that before tattooing he had been a "soldier tart". Good luck figuring that one out! In 'Bound By Ink''s favour, I do think they have some of the best photography of any of the magazines - really big shots, mutli-page spreads on whatever artist they're looking at. And like I said, some of the interviews are really good. Tim Hendricks talked a lot about tattooing and ethics - it felt like a more in-depth interview than the usual "Who are your influences", "What was your first tattoo?" type of thing. Plus if you do an article for them I'm sure we'll all buy it ...

I bought two issues. The first was pretty good - I bought it because it had a multi-page feature on Chris Crooks of White Dragon Tattoo in Belfast. The same issue had a good interview with Tim Hendricks. The second issue I got seemed to be more about interviewing alternative models... ? Not really for me.

My GF has no tattoos, and thinks she probably wouldn't have pulled the trigger or acted on a latent interest in them without having met me. As is she's booked in for a consultation for a fairly large piece later this year. I do think she had to be open to a 'slow creep' of more tattoos on me, as I was relatively lightly tattooed when we met and added chest, legs and plans for my back in the time we've been together. There's no point where she's drawn a line and said "no more" or "not there" thusfar - whereas a lot of friends have partners who would or have. I think, actually, one of the only times someone could really legitimately object as part of a couple is that if you have kids/debts/bills and the tattooing is a luxury you can't afford.

Just regarding Shige - My girlfriend began trying to book a piece by him in February of this year (she sent a Japanese language e-mail). She followed up with a phone call to the studio three weeks later, and - bingo... consultation organised for September (when we are over there anyway). The impression she got was that, as some posters have described in relation to other 'hard to book' tattooists, if you are serious and can follow through and travel then he will probably try to do something for you.

Although I like yoga, and have done some sessions of bikram I think my main issue is that I just don't have the 1.5 hours to spare on each class. I'm already training maybe 7.5 hours a week, and factoring in work and other committments I can't see myself taking up yoga too. So for the past couple of years I've tried to incorporate a lot more mobility work into the training I do (weightlifting, some strongman type conditioning). Before workouts, after workouts and in the mornings when I get out of bed (inevitably feeling like I'm about 90). Couple of things I would recommend for anyone who is looking to address their joint health and general physical creakiness- 1. Consider a strength programme if you aren't doing one already. Strengthening you back, in particular, can make a huge difference if you're experiencing particular types of pain or discomfort in that area. 2. Foam roll. Foam rolling has been described as self-massage / soft tissue work for the masses. Basically you roll problem areas of your body on a cyclindrical bit of foam or even PVC. It sounds strange but basically done correctly it is like having someone do some form of active release therapy on you. I mainly foam roll to mobilise my thoracic spine, hard to otherwise do with most joint mobility programmes... Which brings me to... 3. ...Joint mobility programmes. There are a bunch of them out there, but one of the oldest (and most basic) is Pavel Tsatsouline's super joints (his super stretching is also worth checking out). Pavel is best known as a russian kettlebell instructor, and although his marketing is heavy duty and he has a touch of the snake oil salesman about him, this is a very straightforward joint mobility programme you can get through quickly and on a daily basis. 4. If you've got a dysfunctional joint or are carrying a proper injury then the above may not be appropriate - you probably need a specific programme and should get one from a professional. 5. Glucosamine and fish oil are great supplements. Some sites worth checking out- Pavel Tsatsouline super joints video Pavel Tsatsouline - Super Joints Mobility WOD (workout of the day) MobilityWOD -This is a blog by a physical therapist, Kelly Starrett. A lot of good specific (if masochistic) material in there. Introduction to foam rolling Foam Rolling

Cool. I'm in Toronto for three days at the end of July (no time to get tattooed this time though, maybe another time).

Aaron- I don't really see myself as someone who gets tattooed according to what is the current fad, or on a whim. Although I agree with you that presumably there are people out there who do fit that description.

Luca- I gather there is an Italian called Andrea Pellegrino who has a shop by that name (Andrea Pellegrino on Wicked Skin - Tattoos in Ireland). I can't say I've been out there though!

Interesting, thanks guys. I guess I am a little neurotic at times when it comes to mixing and matching :p

I suspect that there is no 'correct' answer to the question I'm going to pose, but here goes... Recently while browsing Thomas Hooper's blog I was blown away by his geometric black work. As it stands all of the coverage I have is either traditional japanese colour or traditional. I'm not sure that I could insert a large-scale black work piece, along the lines of something by Hooper like a Mandala, without achieving a sort of 'jarring' effect. Is it important to you that you collect work which has an overall cohesion, visually and thematically, or do you please yourself and not worry about this so much. Would you (or do you) see a problem with having a black work back piece, japanese sleeves and traditional leg pieces ... Or is that variety part of the spice of life?

There's a feature on Thomas Hooper in this month's 'Total Tattoo' ... Some really nice black and grey backpieces in there. Skulls and geometric / tribal / black work.

A shop opened up in Dublin a couple of years ago called 'Dublin Ink'. At the time there was a mini-blizzard of threads online in Irish forums about a reality TV show that was going to coincide (of the same name, obviously). Far as I know it came to nothing... I wonder whether it was a ploy to drum up publicity?