gougetheeyes

Fuck yes! I know @ShawnPorter is stoked.

Nice! Dates?

Update: Had to push it back to March since December is just too soon for me to do it right, get commitments, get the website up, etc. Website will be up hopefully next week and we'll take it from there!

Hope your budget isn't tapped out for the rest of the year after that one tattoo..

Ok, I know it's not happening now and @ironchef just put everyone to shame but found this one of @Scott Sylvia getting all in my side-knee from a few years back. Got a few more I can probably find! Also @Mick Weder your day sounds incredible. And @Bunny Switchblade we may need a whole new thread dedicated to only your photos!

Had the honor of snagging Davee Blows for a fun Q+A for the Swallows&Daggers blog the other week and it's up! Have your coffee and read about a poor graffiti kid in Poland who hustled and turned tattooing into a career. Davee is one of the happiest most positive dudes ever! I only wish I had a little more time with him to really beef it up. Still a fun one though, haven't done any kind of tattoo-related writing in years! Read up. Swallows&Daggers | Interviews | Davee Interview On a related note, Cian, who runs the Swallows&Daggers blog, is making a bigger push to get some quality interviews up and going. There are a lot of great ones that Amelia Martin's done recently. So drink more coffee and read those, too, and put off doing real work.

Welcome, dig the design, could certainly be made into a tattoo. Where in Germany are you/where do you get tattooed?

Welcome! What took you so long?

Go on Ink Master, be a "difficult canvas," throw a fit and walk out without getting tattooed at all. Get tattooed by Oliver, maybe do some karaoke. (Basically because @MrsGougeTheEyes would not be stoked about the shunga..)

@ironchef that is one meaty thigh and sexy tattoo.. and such an Asian photo :D @sophistre awesome! Always amazed when people start off with such a bang. @camusllionaire great filler, looking to get a scorpion in a weird spot soon.

Welcome dude!

Best story on the internet.

Your tattooer will have infinitely better font references than the internet. Or at least, he should... If he reaches for the computer instead of one of the many lettering books out there, BJ Betts will appear like a genie and smack him in the face.

Oh man @hogg who did that GYM REAPER sheet?!

A big ass panther. Totally not joking, by the way.. Images > words.

Names or simple initials are always a crowd pleaser. I've got my mom's initials in a banner over an anchor, as well as a heart with "Ma" in it. I'm sure I'll end up with another one at some point.

@Cork @Fala you can donate money directly to the school here Home Or if you check out Friends of Pine Ridge, Chris does donation drives as well http://friendsofpineridgereservation.org/ I've sent some stuff through Amazon, seems to work pretty well, even though Amazon is the devil. No website yet, no facebook, no instagram, still in the super early stages. It's possible that I may have announced this prematurely.

Welcome, Ammar. Sounds like you don't need any advice and that you're on the right track! Can't wait to see the finished product. What made you wanna get your first? Is it all the incredible shows on television?

..so how DO YOU really feel about them?

I feel like LST is the perfect place to get this started, so here goes. It looks like I'm going to put together a fundraiser in early December for the Wounded Knee School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I've been talking with Chris who runs the Friends of Pine Ridge website and I've talked to Principal Alice Phelps from the school who is totally behind the idea. Some of you may know about the levels of poverty, unemployment, and suicide, some of you may not. Some of you may remember the name being associated with Russell Means and the American Indian Movement in the 60s and 70s. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about. What I don't want to do is get on a soapbox and go on a tirade about our government's systematic failure and attempt at extermination (woops, just did it), but instead I just want to get these kids fed. The Wounded Knee School needs help. All of the students qualify for free meals in school but the problem is when they get home. Principal Phelps has made arrangements with Feeding America in Rapid City to come out once a month and do a food distribution for all of the families but the need is more than they can fill. Because there is only a single convenience store on the reservation and the nearest grocery store is 60 miles away in Rapid City, Alice has started a food pantry that she operates out of the school. That's what we're looking to fill. My good friend Dave Wallin has agreed to use his shop, Eight of Swords Tattoo, here in Williamsburg for the event. You might remember the name from last year's Ladies! Ladies! art show, or other shows and events he's had there before. We're still in the early planning stages, still trying to lock down a date and a timeline, but I wanted to post this up here first to start to get the word out. I've reached out to a couple people initially to sort of gauge interest and everyone seems eager to help. The idea is pretty simple: get a bunch of rad tattoo artists to donate pieces, do a silent auction, and then send that money to pack the food pantry at the school. We're looking at early December, possibly the first Friday or Saturday. I haven't even sent out real emails or made phone calls yet but I'm meeting with Dave on Monday to iron out some of the details. So expect me to bother everyone even more! Feel free to pass along the info. to anyone that might be interested and in the meantime, I'll try not to fuck this up. Also, MSNBC did a pretty decent three-part article on Pine Ridge a few months ago. Worth a read: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/failing-americas-most-forgotten-children Thanks everyone!

Whoa -- my wife grew up in Totowa, go figure. Where @MrsGougeTheEyes at?

Same thing @Mick Weder said, people ask how long or how much, I just tell 'em I tried to tally it up once years ago and couldn't do it. If I started my back, however, I think I would probably keep track of hours.

Welcome! Where in NJ are you?

Got a totally legit one from Burlington Coat Factory years ago. Works fine if you're all layered up, I actually remember being surprised how warm it was when I first wore it out. (Although I was 25 and it was my first real 'winter' coat in probably 10 years..)

Welcome, what direction are you thinking of going? Gordon Toi does some great work out of House of Natives in Aotearoa, NZ.