Lance

Still bored @beez? In honor of the "Willow Ufgood", I mean "Warwick Davis", okay fine, just plain "Warwick" Hotel in Seattle.

Cool @Zillah! General question. I've always been curious what the sparkle/fuzzy circle is that some artists draw on koi heads. This may be a first I've seen it on the body as well come to think of it. Do you (or anyone else) know what it's supposed to be? I'm curious because after seeing it drawn often I once saw someone sketch a swastika on the koi head (possibly in it's place?) but the Client opted not to have it done for obvious reasons.

Taki posted this TV segment today regarding the Perseverance Exhibit. It features Onizuka Tattoo's LA Horitaka (of the Horitoshi Family). His client does most of the talking though. There are cameos by Horitaka, and Jiro Yaguchi too. Tattoo Art Embodies Proud Japanese Tradition | NBC Southern California

I'm so bummed to hear about you being sick @Fala. Such bad timing. And it sounded pretty on point for what you wanted too. Hopefully you'll be able to re-schedule soon and get it before next year. It was perfect coordination w/ your conference but hopefully you can find cheap tickets back here. I can imagine how excited you were about it, being able to get a monmon cat myself, so I feel your pain for sure. On a "Horitomo" note, I noticed today, SOG posted that Horitomo's taking on new clients for larger work, I can't remember if you have a backpiece or not but given the extra time you now have to reschedule and save perhaps you can super size it :-) Actually, for anyone else interested in him, I'd email the shop quick!!! Cuz. Damn! Just damn!!! Oh and get well soon Fala! Hopefully nature's tricks are done messing with you cuz this was enough.

Woohoo! Monmon cats, a must love. Okay, I can't say I've driven back to LA after having my lower leg or feet tattooed but I did fly. Not much fun. I feel I'm not so good with lower limbs though. When I had one of my lower legs tattooed and when I got both of my feet tattooed they swelled a lot. Did you ever see the first Star Trek re-boot, where Captain Kirk's hands swelled into balloons? Yeah my feet were like that. I kind of regretted not taking the first flight back into LA where I could immediately go home and just prop my legs up and not do anything. After the session my feet were sore but not too swollen so that would have been good. Instead I stayed in SF and flew home the next day. When I woke up in the hotel the next morning , I almost laughed it was so comical. Even though I had my feet propped up, and iced, over night, the swelling had increased significantly. Running to catch a flight home later that afternoon sucked. Perhaps driving won't be as bad because you won't be putting weight on your leg. You're just sitting there. Or is the leg you're getting tattooed your right side? I will say this though. One of the guys at the shop recommended "white willow bark". After taking it in the morning the swelling did reduce a lot. It was still swollen after but helped reduce the swelling noticeably. I recommend looking into it before you go though. Having to stop off at 3 different locations looking for it on the way back into SF, probably did not help my cause.

Planning your SOG monmon trip? ;-)

Ha ha @TrixieFaux, you beat me to it. I was just about to post a comment about it. @Eilin, you win again. It's soooo soooooo good. Cheers to your awesome new tattoo! I definitely think I will have to get another one of these

Oh, um thank you but I think I'll pass this time around. I remember a friend of mine and I, who we both love SF dearly, but at times refer to it as "Never Never Land", where you don't ever have to grow up. Well, enjoy your time there. And, not judging, if you get convinced into the freaky stuff, don't forget to come up with a "safe word". ;-)

I'm a Silver Lake-ster myself. So are you a Capitol Hill Dweller? Or Ballard? I miss Seattle. Better weather. Public nudity is legal in SF btw. Watch where you're walking. Wouldn't want you to have a heart attack if you wandered into somebody by accident. Ha ha! A friend of mine was at Union Square once, reading a book while waiting to meet her husband. A guy sat down next to her. It took her a while to look up from her book to realize he was masturbating next to her... SF is interesting for sure. I love it!

@beez. Ha ha ha! Your expression = greatest example of über tattoo high.

The sound of my head exploding and dripping grey matter from my ears. I dig the frog! The frog seals it! Yup. Birthday present to self win!!!

Does that apply to the Ladies? @Zillah, you'll just have to see the cover of the Perseverance catalogue when you receive it! :-) Actually for women, in older photographs in my personal experience I've seen women with and without the chest panel. Where as in older photos it's much more common that men have the chest panels. When women have had it done, it's typically been smaller and doesn't extend onto the chest as much. Similarly, back pieces didn't extend as far down the thigh as much as men's designs. I think Horitomo's "Immovable" book delved into this too. I know his seminar at the Bay Area Convention did a few years back.

@BigTex, what @irezumi says. It's got great photos which show the variety of possibilities one can get and nice images describing traditional tattoo types regarding half sleeves, 7/10 sleeves, munewari, donburi, etc that's also in the Perseverance catalogue too, but if my memory serves me right, it doesn't explain stories, or what a dragon may mean or a tiger or whatever. That's where the second book, tattoos of the floating world fits in. If you didn't already know the motifs when browsing Bushido, after browsing the floating world book, you'll have a much better understanding of the images in Bushido. They're both nice books to have.

@BigTex, I feel "Bushido" and "Tattoos of the Floating World" by Taki are always required readings when it comes to Japanese tattoos. Some very cool photos in them with descriptions. Bushido: Legacies of the Japanese Tattoo:Amazon:Books Tattoos of the Floating World: Ukiyo-e Motifs in the Japanese Tattoo:Amazon:Books

Must be an American made up thing. Forget I brought it up. It's stupid. Reeeeal stupid. It's been brought up on this forum before and I should not have mentioned it because it doesn't deserve it. Point I was trying to make was that I find it ridiculous when imagery that has been tattooed for a while, enough to be considered "classic", are redefined by people to have what I consider outrageous meanings. Sometimes a swallow is just a swallow, a pin-up is just a pin-up, a story is just a story, a fish is just a fish. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth just used (perhaps poorly) the idea of imagery and assuming Asian fetish as a leaping point.

So someone with a Jigoku Dayu tattoo now sybolizes that they have yellow fever? Okay there. That's about as ridiculous as that thing about koi fish and being gay. Where do people get this stuff? So in regards to appropriating, my 2 cents. I can get what the nay sayers are trying to get at. Especially if the thing is a bastardization of their culture. I get that they may feel insulted. I may agree with them. Or I may not agree with everything somone may say but I have to respect their feelings to a degree so I can see where they're potentially coming from. Kind of like, say Japanese tattoos. "Hey you f'ed up by mixing seasons, and coloring water blue, and the subject doesn't follow the story properly. You have no respect for tradition. You can't be bothered to learn and depict a culture's myth accurately. Thus you're spitting on my culture. You're spitting on me.". People can have strong feelings about things. Then again appropriation and modification can lead to a potentially positive thing depending on how you look at it. Say when the Japanese "appropriated" the Chinese stories of the Suikoden, added elaborate tattoos onto the subject imagery, and started popularizing it among the people and getting it tattooed on themselves. If I understand correctly (correct me if I'm wrong too) I thought I read somewhere that the Japanese translation makes no sense from the original material. "Appropriation" was also positive when Caucasian foreigners had a desire to be tattooed with Japanese and other Asian motifs when Japan had banned its own citizens from being tattooed. Something to think about. What would have happened if appropriation hadn't occurred in these cases? Whatever your opinion, can we all just agree we're happy Chris Brand is "appropriating" from the Japanese, what they "appropriated" from the Chinese, and putting his western spin on the tales?

Sorry, completely off topic but... Then there was this article. Beards and tattoos: Why are modern men trying to look like gay bears? | P.H. Davies I laughed. I cried. I rolled my eyes.

Chuco. He past away a few years ago.

I wouldn't bother with that article. It also states that beards on men are the biggest turn-off for women. 33% from a group of only 500. And it doesn't say where that 500 comes from. Beards are cool on men. Tattoos are cool on women.

@beez, I'm really curious to see it all coming together with the flowers, fish, water, shishi, then you're adding a snake collaboration from Junii & Shad too right? I miss getting a new tattoo. Have fun!

Happy Birthday @beez! How'd you celebrate? I ask because I swear I read somewhere you were in SF recently but have seen no photo posts (Hint! Hint!).

Wait! What? Hold on, 45? No I distinctly remember meeting you and @DJDeepFried at the Perseverance exhibit and you both were in your very early 30's, mid-30's on a bad day, at most. I'm not calling you a liar, but well yeah, I don't believe that at all. Happy Birthday! - - - Updated - - - At worst, get the board graphic tattooed on you. It's pretty cool.

Yes. He has my respect. Usugrow too.

Thanks for the links all. Just out of curiosity is it typical to have to register when you click on a link? I've always avoided sites like these in the past because when you click to play one of the links, the link will ask you to register and verify you via credit card. Very very sketchy. Or has things changed?

@cltattooing, oh stop please! you're killing me! I saw a web article earlier about last night. I barely resisted. I must resist scrolling over your post! I musssst! The agonizing thing is I don't have cable TV, so will have to wait 6 months or however how long it takes to come out on itunes, to see this season. I'm just barely watching season 3 now. Please people, don't tell me someone pivotal dies in season 3! Ssssigh... On the other hand it's episode 2, so how climactic can it be? As long as they don't kill Arya, I think I'm okay. If they do, it's over for me. I'm waiting for her to turn into a super ninja face changing assassin or one f'ed up nut job covered in gore, holding everyone's heads. I'm good with either. I'm so tempted to see what you posted, cltattooing. Damn you!!! Ha ha! ;-)