David Flores

I feel like this is something you need to discuss with Chad or with the staff of Rock of Ages. Anything is possible, but everyone works differently and sometimes situations will dictate how things go as well. I would shoot them an email and explain the whole situation, it's much easier than trying to have this conversation on the phone while customers around. As far as on your end of being able to take it, you probably know your body better than anyone. I also feel like when people have to get this stuff done they find a way to work through the pain. Me personally would probably shoot for like 2 4-5 hour sessions on the day after I got there and the day before I left type of thing, but like i said it all depends on the design and what the tattooer says.

I basically have the eagle off the mexican flag tattooed on me, but I imagine you could do a lot of fun things with golden eagles and even Hawks. - - - Updated - - - Ashley has a few of these hawks designs drawn up, this one someone is doing on their rib.

There's so much black in the sleeve, some bright colors would really pop.

I still haven't seen this tattoo so I don't know what advice I would really give you, as far as how to fix it, nor can really say if this guy was trying to get fancy with it, or just didn't know what he was doing. Even though a tattooer might tattoo hundreds of people a year, I think most people want to put the best product out there, because it's there name. Listening to the tattooer most of the time is going to get you the best tattoo, giving them more control is going to be better than micromanaging the experience. Not everyone has to connect with a tattooer on a personal level, but I find getting most of my tattoos by the same person has helped, because we are very open with each other about likes and dislikes in tattooing on a daily basis. Feeling comfortable enough to say you're not into something, but at the same time knowing you can trust them to give you a good product is a good feeling to have. I have many other tattoos, I'm not totally stoked on, but I feel like have no one to blame but myself. I didn't know exactly what I wanted and I didn't know the right people to go to, so i got what I got. They are all pretty cool tattoos, but not the tattoos I would get today.

I think 99 percent of the time you come away with what you want as long as you do your research and pick a good shop. In my case a friend just decided he was going to try to tattoo like his boss does, and because I work at a shop and we are friends, he know i'm going to trust him. If was a normal customer I think he would have listened to me more. I have other tattoos by him that are perfect. I think sometimes what you envision a tattoo to be in your head may not envision it in real life and most people these days are hesitant to reproduce stuff brought to them verbatim. I know when people come into the shop with messed up pictures of messed up attempts at traditional, and we try to redraw this stuff to look better, often times they are bummed, cause they saw something in that design they liked. Sometimes we realize that the customer wants exactly what they brought in. Some people have different opinions, but giving the customer what they want trumps our ego most days, as long as its doable.

I was getting excited reading the young tattooers post, but it only takes one Henning piece for me to remember the some of the best advice about getting tattooed. Don't ever get tattooed by people under 40. Obviously not literally, but to see how someone has perfected his craft over decades, it doesn't get much better.

Ill second the healing part seems normal, the white stuff is probably just new skin that is growing back. As far as being satisfied with the tattoo, I think pictures would help us see what you are talking about. Seeing what you brought in vs what you got, there may be some reasons why he did it, we might have some advice on how you could handle it in the future. I find the best advice if you aren't stoked about a tattoo is get more tattoos around it and pretty soon it will blend in. That being said I'm having a tattoo fixed that was done at a very reputable shop a couple years ago.It's not a bad tattoo, he just approached it in a way that I didn't like and I even addressed that beforehand, but getting tattooed by friends can be even tougher than being a client off the street. So you don't always have to love it.

I think certain tattoos fit certain people better, but just because people have been wearing Japanese, along with other asian styles and Maori inspired tattoos longer doesn't make it any less weird at times. White guys with no tattoos getting Japanese sleeves, always a little weird, but I don't blame them, cause it's cool stuff, way better than the first tattoo I got and I'm not japanese, or a biker, or a sailor, so what do I really have to say about it. I think it's more plausible for a white kid from california to associate his life experience with a culture that is really prevelant in his region and happening right now, versus a culture from thousands of miles away and many years ago. People are going to get what's popular, the smart people will find the best imagery in popular styles, the rest will be stuck with crappy lettering tattoos.

It's weird to me that shop would be the one that stood out to you. Honestly next to the stuff people have suggested this stuff looks a little amateur. One of the guys has more of the client in his pictures than the tattoo, and the shading in a lot of these tattoos isn't very smooth and in some cases, not there it's more like black and white than black and grey. All I am saying is if you don't like the suggestions so far I would keep looking.

Scab Vendor is another classic. These signs hang at Atlas Tattoo in Portland

Just so you know I'm still in the game. Ashley Howell did this piece on me a few weeks ago.

That makes a little more sense, it was a coverup and trying to freehand a star, I honestly was just at the park with my son thinking no one would try to free hand a nautical star, that would be ridiculous. That makes things kind of complicated for sure. The argument could be made that she did the best she could or something of that nature. As far as forfeiting the $650 deposit, situations like this are the reason you don't leave $650 tattoo deposits, it's just not a good idea, but it sounds everything is on the up and up and your other tattoos should turn out fine. Worst case you are just going to have to get a bunch of tatoos around it so it blends in.

Those tattoos look fine, I don't think she would want it floating around, I would just say bring it up, you don't have to be a jerk about it just show her your concern. It's not like time is going to affect the symmetry of the tattoo, so I don't think that is an issue. She seems like she can put on a clean tattoo, so I don't really understand the star, unless she pulled a stencil out of the drawer that was drawn badly or something. I understand your hesitance for sure, but she should know and that tattoo is jacked up and she should do something about it, I would leave that up to her whether to cover or fix it.

$650 in tattoos could equal thousands in cover ups or laser treatments. I guess the real question is how did this happen and can this person put on a good tattoo? Was this a freak accident or does this person suck. I know there are a lot of people with very little skill and huge fan clubs out there. I would never take or give that amount to someone, cause it just makes no sense and I don't want to be responsible for holding money for people or giving that much money back if they don't want to get tattooed. I would watch out if they make you less of a priority or start giving you excuses about why you can't get your work done. I have seen more than a few people come in over the years with unfinished tattoos that they pre paid for and suddenly the person was unavailable. It could be innocent but I would just be weary.

I think it goes beyond the price haggling and complaining, you have to size someone up as they walk in the door, how they are dressed, what they drive up in, what kind and how much source material they have with them, what their other tattoos look like and how they conduct themselves as a person. If they act like a cartoon character or try to come off as super cool or do they interact with you like a normal person. My main red flag even if they pass the other tests is when someone says they would never get something off the wall, that means they might be more likely to be difficult when it comes to the drawing. But we try not to turn away business and deal with most people, i would say price haggling is the only real deal breaker and once a number is thrown out there it never goes down. If someone is going to be a pain in the ass, you should at least get paid what you are worth for it and price will weed out a lot of crazy and hopefully avoids the scenario of losing your cool on a customer. But don't be mistaken, some people need to be kicked out of a tattoo shop, but most people don't they are just sensitive yuppies who need a little extra attention.