ThaliaCamille

^Amazing! There's something about back pieces that extend not just over the butt, but to the thighs.

After a brief postponement, today is d-day. Or... sternum-day. Pre-tattoo nerves are at an all-time high. Only half expecting to make it out alive.

That elbow pic is bringing back some painful memories! Welcome, though, you have some lovely work :)

^Ah, but it'll still be in contact with the underwire on the front of my ribs, which is what I'm concerned about.

All good ideas, thanks guys. I don't know if I'll have a chance to buy new bras before then, but that sort of style looks like it'd be a good bet so I'll keep it in mind. I do have one of those stick-on dealies, so I might go with a combo of that and a cami, with a loose t-shirt over the top. I guess it'll depend on the final placement as well, hopefully it should be ok to wear proper bras within a couple of days once the swelling goes down. My job is nice and casual, thankfully, but I didn't want to be... erm... distracted when I'm working :P

If it's a company I'm buying from, it depends what the issue is and whether I can afford to take my business elsewhere. I avoid products that (for example) are tested on animals or made in sweatshops where possible, but I'm not rich so it's not always viable. If it's a company I work for... it probably also depends what the unethical behaviour is. If it was something hugely unethical and illegal (eg. racial discrimination, fraud) I'd report them to the relevant authorities immediately. If it was something I felt uncomfortable with but that wasn't illegal, I'd weigh up how I felt about it and, if it was bad enough, leave. A job is important, but a conscience is moreso. I might feel differently if I had other mouths to feed, but at this point I would definitely jeopardise my own job if the alternative was supporting something I knew was wrong.

Thought this wasn't worth starting a new thread for, and a search didn't yield much, soo... Ladies (and dudes with boobs?): any tips for healing an area usually in contact with a bra? I'm going in on Thursday to get a big-ish piece on my sternum/ribcage (the centre of my chest and under my boobs). For the rest of the day I'll be right to chill at home bra-less, but the next evening I have work. Should I re-wrap to avoid too much rubbing? Go with one of those awkward stick-on whatsits with no band? Any advice would be great.

If so, then we're stupid together. I may be changing my answer to this thread come Thursday >.<

I still get nervous before every appointment, I'm not sure if it ever goes away...

I agree with this. The other concern aside from work is travel. It's bad enough to have to cover up arms or legs in a warm country where tattoos would be unacceptable, but imagine trying to cover up hands/neck/face in that environment. I don't know where I might end up wanting to explore, and although I'm not usually one to fret over what people think, the last thing I want is to threaten or offend people when I'm a tourist in their country.

Ahhh, nay, I'd have only been primary school aged then. QLD cops used to be pretty bad at one stage too, or so I've heard.

...is it like a routine thing for officers to just pull people over and search their shit for no reason there? What the hell...

I made a lightbox :D Woodwork is not something I've really done before, but I thought I'd give it a go. Buying a lightbox is pretty bloody expensive, so I decided to make my own from recycled materials. The top is an old cupboard door that I got from a seconds warehouse ($18) and I used second-hand timber. The cost of buying a drill and other odds and ends probably meant that this ended up almost as expensive as just buying a lightbox, but now I have a drill AND a place to draw so win-win. Still thinking about whether I'll line the inside of the top to disperse the light more evenly. I should point out that I didn't make the desk (just assembled it from a flatpack :P ), only the frame at the top.

I was sure I'd posted this somewhere on this forum before, guess it was another thread. Anywho, here's mine (fresh photo, obviously).

I went leg > foot > arm > (soon to be) torso I doubt it matters that much. I know I'm "saving" my back because it's the biggest area and I want the time and money to get it done by the right person. Other than that, I try to plan things out so they'll look good together, but I don't think there's much difference between getting a tattoo on your calf first vs. on your thigh. The thing about hands/neck/face before you're otherwise "covered" is that a lot of people will get the impression that you didn't give much forethought to it. That's their prerogative, I don't think tattooed hands without tattooed arms look any good but if that's what someone wants to do, they can do it.

It seems kind of unnecessary. Like... it's cool if you can hang out with your dog at work, but if it's gonna make some of your clients uncomfortable (which I'm sure there are a number of people who'll feel that way), why not just leave fido at home? If there's a dog in the front/reception area I probably wouldn't mind, but if it was walking around at people's feet while I was getting tattooed I probably wouldn't be too happy about it.

Just booked in with Rachi (Black Throne) for December 6 to get my sternum/bit of chest at the bottom of my ribcage done. I am both excited and terrified.

Bloody hell, what a start to the month!

@sylvirawr I love Guen's work, that is gorgeous!

^It's another good'un, thanks!

Just dropping in to send best wishes to everyone who might be affected. Our own natural disasters from 2011 are still fresh in my mind, hopefully people there will band together like people here did and everyone will get a nice boost to their faith in humanity. Stay safe :)

Haha, I think it's probably the same in most lines of work - customers will always want something that's either impossible or horrendous.

I never saw this thread before. Currently live in Brisbane, Aus but grew up in a small town about 3 hours away with a population around 5000. I have a partner ("boyfriend" just doesn't sound right) of 5 years, and two awesome housemates who live with us in a big old Queenslander. After highschool I studied and did some work as a photographer for a couple of years, but weddings and kid portraits (your "bread and butter" as a photographer who's starting out) were getting me down. Always liked the event/music stuff, though, which I'm getting back into just recently. For the last 3 years I've been working on a Fine Art degree, learning a lot about web design/dev (fun) and graphic/print (less fun). I started out thinking I'd get into web design because it's a more "realistic" decision, but some of my arty subjects have just cemented in my mind how much I need to be working with my hands. Over the past year, tattooing has become less of a vague distant ambition and more of a cemented goal *dons flamesuit*. I also work part time in a call centre (inbound, I don't have to call and harass people), which is monotonous but cruisey and helps make ends meet. I have a couple of chronic illnesses which can make things difficult, but I avoid letting them define me. I like gaming, crafting, talking politics and veganising non-vegan recipes. That just about sums it up.