slayer9019

Yea any day I get tattooed no matter what time it is (or when it goes to) I generally block that day out from doing anything.

What this guy said. If you know you will be back to LA often you can do multiple sittings over a longer period of time. I know people on this forum that have gotten/get big tattoos from artists that don't live in the same country as them. Just takes a bit more patience!

From a customer perspective, I care 100% about the outcome much less about how long it took. Some artists are fast some are slower.

Since I always rush home to take it off right away anyways I could care less.

Music being played at the shop I frequent is all over the place. From Christian Death, to Biohazard, to Tupac, to some odd electronic music, to someone messing around with youtube playing weird videos. I will say as much as I enjoy some really heavy metal it is not the best to get tattooed to. I feel it is too damn hard to relax.

I've been tattooed with a few different rotaries and regular coils. I think it is more of a mental thing than anything. I did really like when my artist was using a very particular rotary machine because it was deathly silent. I do remember that after 2 hours with the quiet rotary the sound of a coil machine was quite jarring, especially because I generally get tattooed with nobody else in the shop so there are no other noises.

I do remember reading something about the face tattoo (barewire around the forehead) meaning life imprisonment.

I never really did anything about the pain, but I have had two tattooers use some kind of numbing spray twice. Really it doesn't do much but take the hard edge off, still hurt like hell.

Welcome from a fellow New Jersey LSTer.

I had a similar conversation with myself. Also realizing the whole fruity pebbles correlation made me get sick at the idea of eating them.

I agree with @gougetheeyes. I suggest making a thread in random.

There are many routes you can take with this as mentioned above you can look into literal or symbolic tattoos. I personally get tattoos that are less literal and more symbolic. I like the veiled cloth over a ladies face idea, seems like it would make a nice looking tattoo as well as be a bit more "to the point". Porky the big would be more direct as well and be a bit for fun too. I got the idea for my dragon tattoo after certain life events as a sign of power. It makes a killer tattoo, as well as powerful imagery. You can also look into phoenix tattoos as they are about "rising from the ashes". They also make killer tattoos and have some strong symbolism behind them. If I can convince my friend I'll take a picture of his huge phoenix tattoo he got from Regino Gonzalez. In college there was a kid I knew who was dyslexic that got a tattoo in reference to that of a word all misspelled on purpose to show his struggles. While I know he loved it I personally would go the more symbolic route. Also where are you located so we can suggest good artists in your area. Welcome to LST.

I can this starting off, I probably should stop posting while walking half-distracted on my phone in NYC. I also am much worse at wording my thoughts as well as you. (You also do a hell of a good job being clear). Also I did take that paraphrase from you out of context (you were referring to people who act confused/offended when they get heavily tattooed and people treat them different). I can absolutely agree with quite a few points you made. I did not get tattooed to become a part of some group and do not immediately associate myself with modified people just for the sake that we both are modified. That goes for everything (metal, cars, guns, etc). Sometimes a shared interest is a good starting point to a possible good interaction but sometimes yes, it is just one shared interest and nothing more. I can see your point on making assumptions in ones taste by looking at their tattoos, but I've also met some cool people and some good tattoo artists that have some pretty bad tattoos. So I guess it could be a good indicator but not always. I'd prefer if people only got awesome tattoos by great tattooers but I know in my case (my first tattoo) and in other's cases sometimes that doesn't always happen. It's not really about acceptance for me but more of me getting a bit annoyed at the constant negativity I see in most things (tattoos, metal, etc), when people could take the (in my opinion) better approach and try and educate people. This is why I am glad I am a part of LST, we give criticism to those who ask and steer people to get better tattoos. Hell it's how I got tattooed by you, and I am very happy that it happened. I've been on a few other tattoo forums before LST that was all negativity and promotion of bad tattoos. As far as the "back up" thing, it was in reference to someone's post here talking about being able to back up having a certain look.

I do have to say I also find it interesting hearing folks who modify their appearance have so much to say judging others appearances. Really it does crack me up. I could give a shit what other people look like from cookie cutter banana republic folks to those with eyeball tattoos and split tongues. Sometimes the modified commenting on the modified comes off even harsher than the unmodified comments. As to the quote "don't look the part unless you can back it up" I'm pretty sure 95% of this forum can't "back up" our tattoos. Im sure that LSTers that frequent other forums on such topics have picked up on this elitism and judgement. As @Stewart Robson said "we are all tattooed freaks" (I paraphrased that). End rant. OK that being said in my opinion she was a bad tattooer. Also @ShawnPorter I also need to find a way to stop watching this damn train wreck. If you find one please let me know.

Holy..shit. If I was not currently in the middle of getting 2 massive tattoos I would totally be down for a day of intense pain. Sadly my one knee/thigh and calf/foot tattoos will be draining my funds for 2013.

Holy shit these massive one shots are making this thread epic! I guess I gotta step up and get a one shot back piece

Welcome to LST. While I don't have any recommendations off the top of my head I'm sure someone will. In the mean time, introduce yourself.

It is really up to you. I've been contemplating getting my artist a very interesting hard-to-find tattoo book that I know he doesn't have in addition to a normal monetary tip when my leg is done. Just thought it would be more interesting than just money. I stick with gifts: cash is always green, but objects as gifts should really be nail-on-the-head to their tastes. One of the reasons I no longer accept gifts from people (although booze for me is ok)

I have a lot of red on me at this point and have had no ill effects. Honestly I would say it is no different than other colors.

I just take the "always wear black clothing that covers my tattoos" approach. Much easier!

Agreed! I got some leg shots on my instagram. Here's one. Kinda crappy shots for the purpose, I'll throw these up for now till I get home. Here is my two thighs. I like the placement and some of the tweaks done to make it look good when you seem them next to each other. They at least to me compliment each other, while being by 3 different artists (Stewart Robson, Matt Van Cura and Regino Gonzales). This one you can see the "clashing styles" that I seem to think looks pretty good almost touching.

^ This. While my tattoos definitely look "different" after they settled, they look much more natural (and better in my opinion).

I don't know why but yoga seems to be becoming very popular recently.

TapaTalk does it, one of the many reasons I switched from ForumRunner