Cork

Great video @Graeme thanks for sharing. Filip is almost like a myth for me at this point. A unicorn. A great white buffalo.

Ha nah I wish. My tattoo budget for the next year or so is already on allocation.

@Gingerninja @marley mission @polliwog Wait, what the hell? Todd is at Redemption full time? I live 10 minutes from there.

It's not uncommon to show up on the day of and not know what you're getting.

Good review, but all I really got out of it is I want a schnauzer now. But seriously, good job in keeping your arm covered and protecting that investment!

@Lance I'm late to the party, but that is so good. Everyone else, you guys have had some great tattoos in the last few weeks.

@Lance I'll elaborate on the story a bit, it was a fun trip after all. I show up at the shop around 12. Like I said, I came expecting the worst, but I wanted to exceed the expectation and knock this thing out in one day. Johan shows me the drawing, and in my head all I can hear is Gob from Arrested Development, "I've made a huge mistake." So much hair and little lines, fuck me. So we spend the next 45 minutes or so with general setup and talking about placement as I reconsider my goals for the day after seeing all those lines. All laid out, I assume the position. He starts low at the hip and works the way up in sections. The hip bone made my body vibrate, and the nerves radiated at certain times where I swear he put a line down my shaft, or up higher it felt like he ran over my nipple. Nothing worse than expected though. Nothing that made me break out in an instant cold sweat like when my lower back got hit. Just general "this sucks." so I was able to make it. @hogg recommended a focused breathing technique, and pretend to blow out candles from far away, well I blew out the equivalent of a forest fire over the course of the day. My lips were chapped and my throat was dry. Anyhow, after almost 4 hours of lines, I was again reassessing goals for the day. This was about the point when I was feeling the worst. I was almost ready to call it a day, but I was actually looking forward to pretending to be tough in front of @ironchef, so I pushed on. Johan and I had to be realistic about what was left, and what we thought we could finish that day. We opted for coloring the low hanging fruit; the horns, the belly, and the fire. Especially because we couldn't settle on body/hair colors. So after the first strip of fire, Johan can tell I'm close to the end and I might not make it. He offers some vasocaine spray. At first I'm a little reluctant, but after some time to consider it, I take him up on the offer. He assures me that for most people, it takes away ~50% of the pain. Well goddamn if it didn't work for me. At this point, ironchef shows up, and who knows what he thought of meeting me as I'm able to hold a conversation getting my ribs worked on. A second wind combined with relief from the spray, I felt really good at this point. We all talked and had a good time while Johan wrapped things up, and ironchef and I took obligatory nude pics together. I was out of the shop around 8 and on my way home for a shower and very restless sleep.

Would have taken a nap if it weren't for that annoying buzzing. Honestly though, I was prepared for the worst. I was going in thinking it would all feel like the lower back, which is still by far the worst spot I've ever experienced.

Pushed as long as I could with Johan Svahn to get this far. Will finish on Johan's return to the States. Had a great time at the Kings Ave in Manhattan, very cool shop. It was great to see @ironchef and his incredible tattoos in person. I know you guys want to see more, slightly blurry, ass.

Great story and what an honor.

Yes @sophistre, that's you?! Awesome!

@Intomyskin You'll never be able to do it yourself. It's like saran wrap. One wrong twist and it tangles in itself and that strip is done. Do what @Graeme said, soap, water, time, patience.

I'll be there all day.

Johan Svahn appointment getting so close. @ironchef You busy on April 11th?

@MrToby Congrats, it's great to see it finished and I'm glad you shared the progress!! It looks fantastic, welcome to the club. However I'm most impressed you only ruined 1 set of bed sheets.