Kurgana

@Tiresius I totally get what you're saying. It's a difficult decision when you are trying to make all your tattoos work together. Lots of people succeed, but I ended where I'm now when I realised I didn't want to be limited by a specific style or theme. Still not sure how it's going to work out for the single body parts though - my current tattoos are set apart from each other, but my probable next one (actually it'll be three separate tattoos in the same area) will have to somehow fit on my arm where I already have a really girly little scrollwork tattoo (one of the earliest) and a large blackwork piece taking up pretty much all of my inner forearm.

@Tiresius I live in Sicily, Italy. Living on an island is sometimes a little frustrating. I'd love to collect tattoos from artists all over the world, but at least at this stage of my life it seems a little complicated. This is not to say that there are no talented local artists, but I guess I tend to gravitate towards styles that are not that well represented here. I totally see myself as pretty much covered in the future. Hopefully with work by multiple artists. It's probably not going to end up looking very cohesive, especially because I'm all for mixing different styles... But at least it will be interesting :)

@Tiresius I know! I'm trying to be mindful of not wasting any precious space for things that are not "important" to me though. I guess what is holding me back potentially even more than the budget is the relative lack of access to artists I like, it seems like you'll have no such problems. I really like the work of most artists from the studio you linked, and yes, I also find La's work beautiful! I am not really qualified to judge technical aspects or how this sort of work will age, but I'd personally love to have a tattoo done by her. There are some great examples of tattoos that flow very nicely with the body in her portfolio (love, love, love the back tattoo with the lady's head where her hair morphs into a wolf). Please post us some pics when you end up getting tattooed so that I can die of envy ;).

My first two were also flash, the third one was a mash-up of several elements from a band logo, the fourth was basically a design by me which was improved upon by the artist. At this point, I had found someone whose artistic talent I really admire and who clearly knows what he's doing. The last two tattoos were totally designed by the artists (the previous one and a new-to-me artist). As you see, there's a clear progression there. What was the key to letting go and letting them do their thing was realizing that I liked (all or most of) their previous work, and that I would hate it if my micro-managing compromised the end result. IMO, a good artist will know what he/she is doing, and their artwork will very rarely benefit from overly strict requirements by the client. This is not to say that you shouldn't tell them exactly what you want, just be ready to listen to their suggestions and keep an open mind. Maybe don't bring a sketch with you ;). Also, I've noticed that it really helps with the "fit" on your body if you can be fairly flexible with the exact position and let them go as big as they deem necessary. The "bad" thing is that once you learn to just get along with it, it just gets easier and easier and the indecisions tend to disappear. Personally, this is a bad thing mainly for my bank account ;). I have lots of free space left, a ton of ideas (now that I don't need to have the finished tattoo perfectly planned out before approaching the artist), and a fairly flexible schedule so without any budget restraints I'd probably live in the tattoo studio... As it is, I've gotten "just" three 3-5 hour tattoos over the past six months...

Lol. You've just described me. The good news is that tattoos might just cure you from that, once you find artist(s) whose work you are comfortable with. Or else you'll be spending the rest of your life second guessing yourself and/or in laser removal I guess :D. I'm actually looking forward to my future tattoos since I'm now at a point where I'm starting to feel comfortable with just picking a loose subject matter/style and letting the artist run wild with that, rather than having to have the whole tattoo planned inside my head (or on paper) by the millimeter.

Hey, my Ipad does the same, only thing is that it actually HASN'T logged off like it would seem on the main page; as soon as I click on anything (typically "forum", any thread or "unread content") it shows me as logged in. No idea what's going on, but it's probably just another one of the joys of Apple ownership. The weirdest thing that has happened a couple of times is that instead of showing me as logged out initially, it appears as if I'm actually logged in as another user (different user names both times). Again it gets resolved by moving to another section of the page.

Sounds like fun, @sophistre! I also had some serious bug that eventually landed me in the hospital with a drip a few days after getting my much smaller forearm tattoo, but I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must be with a huge one like yours. Hope you'll feel better soon and the tattoo doesn't mind the soaking.

Hey there and welcome to the forum! I'm also very, very pale, and so far on 6 tattoos no blowouts (knocking wood). Also, what Dan says above about pale skin being the best to tattoo is spot on. Some of my artists have actually commented on how nice it is to tattoo very pale skin like mine (I live in southern Italy so the local artists don't tend to see much of it). I'm just happy to have found one positive aspect of being pasty! Apart from what everyone else have already said, my number one advice for getting tattooed would be not to stress about it, be sure to go to your appointment well rested and hydrated, and above all, be sure you eat something! I once witnessed someone faint after getting a 10-minute tattoo due to being nervous about their first tattoo and not having eaten anything that day (and this happened in the early afternoon).

Yeah I was just watching that right now, very cool! I wish I could spend a week or two getting tattooed in Finland, lots of really interesting artists there. Then again the rest of the family would probably hate having to spend their time in Finland waiting for me to get tattooed (plus my italian salary would not really stretch to many tattoos with a finnish price tag :))

Tervetuloa! Whereabout in Finland are you from? I'm also finnish but I live in Italy at the moment. Any pics of your tattoos?

An allergic reaction to the ink won't necessarily give you any other symptoms initially apart from the itch, but that's probably not the case here since the whole tattoo is affected. Antihistamine won't help if it's not allergic, but I'd be tempted to try it just in case, especially since at least where I'm from you can get them very cheaply and over-the-counter. The only problem is that the new generation non-drowsy antihistamines don't usually work for itchiness so you have to factor in that; ideal if you have a day or two off really, at least for me since I have a really low tolerance for the older ones and WILL fall asleep randomly (so absolutely cannot drive or do anything that requires much attention).

If the itch is that bad, it's possible you could be having some sort of reaction to the ink - I think I read in a past thread of that you were getting your first coloured tattoo (apologies if I've got the wrong person)? Does it itch all over the tattoo or just in a certain area? I definitely don't want to worry you (there's not much one can do in those cases anyway, just have to wait it out), just something to be aware of. I also would avoid using sun screen on a tattoo that fresh due to the chemicals they use to obtain the protective effect. I find that applying ice seems to help with the itching, and obviously the good old slapping.

Wow guys, and I've been complaining about the heat here over the past couple of weeks (no beach/swimming either 'cause I got tattooed a month ago and the husband is going in next week - kids are not very pleased with us at the moment). I don't "do" over 35 c (95 f) and that's pretty much what we are likely to see till the end of August at least. Now I'm kind of happy I'm not where you live though! We do get some days each year at 105ish but happily not that many, it's certainly bad enough for me (it's humid here as well so not a nice feeling at all).

I also agree that going bigger is always the right solution :). The only thing I personally regret about my oldest tattoos is that they are tiny!

Thanks guys! I'm obviously going to discuss it all with the artist, I was just looking to clear my own mind a little since I'm having some trouble visualizing it all so I'll be more certain about what we'll be aiming for before bringing my half baked ideas to him :). In fact, this is probably going to be the tattoo(s) where I'll just tell him these are the elements and style I want included, you have the space from here to there, please go wild with it. (And yes, the existing tattoo is around 16 years old and hasn't seen much sun protection, so it's definitely due some retouching)

@Synesthesia I just got to say that I find contrasting styles/subject matters in tattoos on the same person amazing. And it certainly doesn't get more contrasting than a horse skeleton in armor and lovebirds, love it! So interesting and cool, I hope I'll be able to pull off something similar in the future!

I'm starting to plan what to get on my upper arm where I already have an older, small and not-really-the-sort-of-style-I'd-go-for-today type tattoo that I don't want to cover up or remove, and I was hoping to bounce some ideas off you guys and maybe see if some of you have done something similar (please share a pic or two if you can!). The existing tattoo is a delicate-looking small (8x3 cms or so) scrollwork piece with a tiny blue rose and my husband's name (cringe away if you like, I don't mind :D) picked from the cheapest category of wall flash due to our equally small and delicate student budget at the time. So regardless of the artistic quality etc, it's obviously very important to me. Unfortunately, it's bang on in the middle of the top half of my upper arm that is badly in need of some tattoos in the near future... My plans include three separate pieces for each member of my family, possibly tied together with some sort of filler, shoulder-to-elbow coverage wise. I'll be getting a hawk (at the moment I'm leaning towards the head only), a blossom (have to decide which flower, definitely won't be a rose, possibly a peony?) and a crescent moon (possibly filled with some sort of pattern/design). These will be in full colour, looking at a neo traditional/traditional style. The composition is going to be awkward at best with the old tattoo in the middle, and while I haven't discussed this with the artist I have in mind yet, I think the only way to make it work would be to tattoo the moon "around" the old tattoo, with the blossom in front of the shoulder and the hawk underneath the moon or on the inner bicep (or vice versa).

Love your tattoos! Welcome back!

My must haves are a bottle of Powerade or something similar and a packet of mints or tic tacs. I don't usually drink tons during the tattoo (but I do drink like a sponge for 2-3 days prior) to avoid having to take frequent toilet breaks, but sip on the Powerade every time I get the chance. I also bring a chocolate bar for emergency use, although the only time it's actually been eaten during or shortly after the tattoo was when following a 4 hr session on my forearm my friend came in for her first (10-minute) tattoo and promptly fainted :D. She had not eaten anything all day and this was at about 2 pm, so yeah, be sure you eat well before a tattoo!

Thanks everyone! Just to clarify, there's no way I'm going to try waxing the tattooed area for a few weeks at least, I definitely don't feel comfortable with subjecting a fresh tattoo to that amount of trauma!

I guess this is not strictly limited to us girls, but how do those of you with leg tattoos handle hair removal? I've always been a (lazy) shaver because I mainly wear jeans or other long trousers, but since getting my calf tattoo I seem to like wearing skirts more (love seeing the tattoo rather than wanting to show it off), but my skin hates shaving and I hate seeing stubble on my light coloured portrait tattoo's face... According to most sources it seems like waxing should be safe on healed tattoos, so I was thinking to try it. I'm not sure when exactly would the tattoo be considered healed enough for waxing though - I've carefully shaved the tattooed area twice already at ~3 weeks but it's obviously still very fresh... Any ideas of how long I should wait/any other tips for me?

I hope my grandma (who is otherwise very open minded & has always supported me and any decisions I've made) comes around like your mom @Synesthesia. I've gotten three relatively large visible tattoos over the past year after being "tattooed" to a lesser extent for over 17 years, and after each one she goes like "but you don't really NEED to get any more now, do you?". Actually, I still haven't dared to tell her about the latest one :D (we live in different countries so we don't see each other often apart from Skyping). I joke with the hubby&kids about getting a tattoo of her telling me I don't need any more tattoos lol. It will be a fun visit back home for my brother's wedding in August I guess :D.