UglyButProud

This! I've also had more than a handful of weirdos say "I'll pray for you" or something similar. This always makes me glad I have several devil tattoos and the wanting for several more.

Nice!.. congrats

The situations when being around kids are the hardest. I was almost always shunned by other parents in every situation involving my kids and social interaction. It always took a while for other parents to get to know me before they stopped rushing in to rescue their kids from the "weird tattooed guy". Although I had tattoos for 10-12 years before my kids were born, it still took me some time to adjust to strong/negative reactions I got from other parents. The strangest thing anyone has ever said to me regarding tattoos was "you must be so sad every day that you ruined your life with all those tattoos"....... my reply was a surly, "yes, I asked our lord and savior to forgive me everyday, please pray for my soul" as she was clearly a religious kook... Even though I'm not from a small town, it was still rough in the late 80's, early 90's having a lot of tattoos. Rough as far as stares/comments and general disdain for "my kind".. I was a delivery driver for a beverage company for many years and my company thought it was a great idea to send the 6'3" long haired tattoo guy to all the worst, inner city stops they had. Their reasoning was "he won't upset the upscale store owners and who will mess with him in the bad areas?" It suited my personality, so it didn't take long to adapt. I think the people in the inner city areas were baffled by my tattoos but pretty quick to accept me as they knew what it was like to be outcast too... At one point, I got so sick of answering the same 3-4 questions I got asked 1000x a day, I had business cards made to give to people instead of having the same exhausting discussion over and over. They said: TATTOOS....YOU BET!!! a: Yes, they're real !!! a:Yes, they're permanent !!! a:Yes, it hurt !!! a: No, I don't regret a single one !!! The back of the card had a rant about "if the card didn't answer all your questions, see a reputable tattoo shop near you" and the quote "the only difference between tattooed people and non- tattooed people is tattooed people don't care if YOU have tattoos or not" Anyway, I don't get as much attention now-a-days now that plenty of younger people have hands/feet/necks/faces tattooed and every pop star and NBA player is fully tattooed!

Exactly! Not every artist works at the same speed/efficiency/quality. Also cracks me up that people are willing to bargain shop for something they will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Like many have hinted at: Tattooing is a service done by a professional. There are not many other "services" you would have done without getting a price or estimate up front. I can't, personally, think of any other instance where I didn't know the price of something before the service was rendered. That's me though and I've never been bashful about talking $$$ with anyone.... That being said, I've had the whole gamut of experiences dealing with tattoo artists. Early on, I went to a "famous" artist that was very strict about her (high) hourly rate, then would take 6 smoke/joint breaks during the session and add at least an hour on to the total time. When I started travelling to get tattooed, almost everyone that I had work done by let me stay with them, and/or cut me a HUGE break when it came to paying them. I was always willing to pay full price but was usually told "you spent money to travel just to get tattooed by me, so...."). Let's just say i bought a lot of drinks for everyone in those days. I've also had a lot of local artists that were doing several sessions/pieces on me, say about prices "we'll see when the session is finished" then when done- look down, mumble mumble and sheepishly give me a price that always seemed too low. I tried to tip well to compensate as I knew I'd be seeing them again and again. I've also asked for a price on a larger, one shot piece with the retort "how much do you have to spend?" by the artist. Trying to not sound cheap, I answered with my max budget. I was told, that would cover the first session and the second session would probably be as much....I said I would "let the artist know" a promptly walked away and never came back. I thought that $300 + an hour was a bit too much... especially for someone whose last name wasn't spelled H A R D Y.

Most artists are confident in there work and thrive on and get inspired by seeing others work. It's almost a friendly rivalry like "oh they did that awesome piece, watch what I can do". I found in my personal experience, It inspires most artists to step up their game. The only time you would be disloyal to an artist is if you commit to have them design/draw an entire sleeve, start the work, then go to someone else to finish or change or add to it. That wouldn't be an issue if you were getting several pieces to make up a sleeve, as the thread is speaking about.

@marley mission That's killer...always loved her stuff!

NERD [nurd] Noun, Slang. An intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: I guess that makes me a TATTOO NERD right now! :) Early life....skateboard/BMX/punk rock. just the right path to get me to today!

@marley mission, @Graeme have some good advice.... My 2 cents would be "pace not race" meaning, don't rush it.... sounds like you waited this long. The cool experience for a lot of folks, including myself, about getting tattooed is the adventure. Wait and see how you feel about the first one. If you dig it and want to commit to a sleeve, see what/who else is out there. Take a road trip or plan part of a vacation around getting tattooed by someone you may have discovered. There is soooo many GREAT artists out there, it won't be hard. I personally think several artists mashed together, especially for traditional imagery, looks cool.... Nothing wrong with sticking with one artists either....just take your time either way!

Yeah...no boo-hooing about it, I appreciate every minute of those experiences. I had a lot of years after to set up something with Ed again and didn't. In my mind, he was always out of reach, as far as his price/time. Plus, how cool would've have been to get a walk in tattoo from Ed Hardy..... Like Hogg said "I was a young idiot"

duly noted.. thank you kind sir!

I got a "mom" heart tattooed on my wrist as an ode to the woman that gave me life. I also thought at the time, it would stop her from nagging about all the tattoos i was getting. See, I was inspired (sort of) by my dear mom having a small tattoo on her back a being in awe of how many people complemented her on it.... When I showed her the mom tattoo I got on my wrist "for her", she wasn't impressed and said... "I hope that's the last one" Love you mom!!!

Dear Mr. Moderator.... I have uploaded pics to my gallery. When i go to my profile/settings, the images say "awaiting moderation" please advise! :)

Did you ever have the chance to get work done by someone and passed it up for one reason or another? You shake your head in disgust every time you think about it? I don't mean a wishlist, but actual stories of the one that got away. Mine was Ed Hardy around 1992 @ Tattoo City. I had already traveled out to S.F. twice and had work done by Eddy Deutsche, Dan Higgs and guest artist Henk Schiffmacher. Both times I hung around the shop for 2-3 days solid and stayed with Eddy and Alex Herman. Saw my first lungfish show then too.... The third time I went out to get work done by Marcus Pacheco and have Eddy finish my sleeve, Ed was around the shop for a couple days, which i hadn't seen on my previous visits. I asked Eddy to introduce me if possible. He did, and told Ed I was his old (Eddy's) friend from "the mean streets of Detroit" which wasn't really true. Ed was cordial but all business as he looked up for a second, shook my hand, and went back to his business. I mentioned to him "I would love to get some work done" by him and I was travelling to S.F. a couple times a year to get tattooed. Eddy told me "every once in a while, Ed will come in a do a few walk ins and leave. As I was staying with Eddy, I got invited to go to the movies "with a bunch of guys from the shop". That night Eddy and I went and met Corbin, Higgs, Igor Mortis and a few others at the theater to see American Me. As we were hanging around outside bullshitting, Ed Hardy walks up and we all go in and see the movie. The next day, As Eddy was finishing my sleeve, I noticed Ed in the shop again. I went out of my way to say Hi when he came over to see what Eddy was doing. He was polite and hung around for a few minutes,then vanished. Later, when we were done, I saw Ed again. This time he said to me " I have some time later (when he got back from an errand or something) if you wanna get tattooed". I nearly shit myself..... I said, I would talk to him when he got back.... I was simultaneously flustered/excited/nervous. This was my shot to get tattooed by one of the greats and I had almost NO MONEY! I had already withdrawn all the money in my bank account and my 1 credit card was maxed. I asked Eddy if he would give me back the money I just paid him with the promise i would repay him in a week or two with interest..he said No, he needed what I paid him. I called my mom to wire me money and was again told "NO"! When Ed got back to the shop, I had to embarrassingly tell him "thanks. but can't do it this time". I told him I would be out again and would DEFINITELY love to get some work done. He smiled and said "nice meeting you". well, you can guess the rest.......... Share your stories about the one(s) that got away!

I've been experimenting with making hot sauce. Here's the first batch.... hoping for a bumper crop of habanero's this summer in my garden so I can produce enough to give to friends! @CultExciter @gougetheeyes @polliwog this stuff is a sizzling alternative to drinking :)

Agreed.... as my post from earlier stated, I didn't want the same tattoos as my grandfather and uncles who served in the military...mostly because that stuff looked like grease stains on their arms, not cool traditional tattoos. I think tattooing, not matter the style or subject matter, has come a long way since those days. The basic concept or technique didn't change that much, just the appreciation of it as "an ART" and therefore how it's handled. my gramps would've socked someone in the kisser for telling him to stay out of the sun or put some "girly" lotion on to protect it. No matter what style/color/subject matter/line weight is put into the skin these days, the chances of the thought going into it and the energy spent protecting will keep them from looking like "grease stains" for a long, long while. ....and does't the tagline to this website say "get good tattoos"....not get such and such a style ONLY. pretty sure there's room for everyone's style and opinion here! - - - Updated - - - As soon as i can have someone in my family snap some pics of my work, I'll update my profile. I too have a full Eddy Deustche sleeve from 1990 and various work by Marcus Pacheco around the same age. Most of my tattoos are 18-20 plus years old and still look pretty great. Some of the finer detail has faded, depended how exposed to the sun the area was but, overall I still cherish every inch of that stuff.

Welcome!!

Yeah, even though I had good luck using it and thinking it was pretty great, I'd like to use it a few more times.... I could see how using it on an area that bends or moves a ton, or even where you may sweat more, could be annoying. My elbow may be the "true" test.... My next couple sessions will be done while travelling and not having the comforts of home so, I'm relying heavily on it's positive aspects I've already experienced.