Ben87

By coincidence, I have just moved cities to Canberra and realised that I am now living around the corner - literally 2 streets away - from the site where I started collecting my very first proper tattoos in 1996. So I've always travelled to get tattoos.
Back in '96 I travelled from Sydney to Canberra (280km) to get tattooed by a dear friend who was apprenticing with a really great artist called Ex de Medici who's now pretty much stopped tattooing and I think is working on her amazing paintings.
For the last few years I've been travelling from Aus to Switzerland to get tattooed by Filip Leu & Sabine Gaffron, an incredible experience. Filip is starting my backpiece this year and even though it's super stressful getting all this money together to do it, once I am there and we start working it all feels worth it. The advantage also is that he tattoos faster than lightning, and has a very unique approach to large scale work. I've given him a few key elements I'd like and the coverage and I don't think he'll plan & draw the design until our first outlining session! And that's usually with visiting tattooers watching, asking him questions and hanging off his every word. Don't ask me how he does it but it really is watching genius in action.
That said though, the first time I took a regular train and then a little 2 car mountain electric "train" up to the tiny mountain village where the Leu Family studio now is, I was laughing all the way up at where I was travelling to to get a damn tattoo!

I keep popping in and out of this website, but I do love that you guys keep at it! Anyway, here are a couple of photos of my front piece from Filip Leu & Sabine Gaffron, in progress. I'm adding a selfie taken close up while lying on my couch because it cracks me up how I look like a piece of fabric :))

I thought that it might be helpful to update my experiences with rewrapping tattoos. I've had mixed luck with healing my tattoos and need some touchups (I suspect my problem was likely that I babied my tattoos too much), but rewrapping plus a dry heal seems to give me great results. The first picture I attached here is of my elbow, healed about three and a half months after rewrapping, and I think it held the pigment really well. There was some light scabbing there that lasted a couple of weeks, but it kept the black and the greys healed, in Hooper's estimation, "beautifully". I'm also including a couple of pictures of my arm as it looks now, at three days after being tattooed, and four days, just to show the rate at which it's healing. Again, no scabbing, just that light flaky peeling.

4th session with Filip :cool:

4th session with Filip :cool:

Haha thank you. Sessions have been around the 5 hour mark total tattoo time, the last session was more like 7 hours, so just over 20 hours so far, can't really complain ;)
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Thank you mate, the next session will focus on the skull, haven't really touched it since the first session. Still deciding on colours and stuff then its just putting the colour in the dragon act, booked in for 3 more sessions but might only take 2
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Thanks man, yeah I still think his are the best going.
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Hahaha thanks mate, I try :p

Latest addition to my collection of lady-heads! :o Photo's are stolen from Xam's IG account, will post some healed photos on my gallery later :) The shop is amazing, and the people who work there are amazing! A very good tattoo- experience! Happy :)
By Xam at The Family Business, London :)

Haha thank you. Sessions have been around the 5 hour mark total tattoo time, the last session was more like 7 hours, so just over 20 hours so far, can't really complain ;)
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Thank you mate, the next session will focus on the skull, haven't really touched it since the first session. Still deciding on colours and stuff then its just putting the colour in the dragon act, booked in for 3 more sessions but might only take 2
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Thanks man, yeah I still think his are the best going.
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Hahaha thanks mate, I try :p

Haha thank you. Sessions have been around the 5 hour mark total tattoo time, the last session was more like 7 hours, so just over 20 hours so far, can't really complain ;)
- - - Updated - - -
Thank you mate, the next session will focus on the skull, haven't really touched it since the first session. Still deciding on colours and stuff then its just putting the colour in the dragon act, booked in for 3 more sessions but might only take 2
- - - Updated - - -
Thanks man, yeah I still think his are the best going.
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Hahaha thanks mate, I try :p

4th session with Filip :cool:

Haha thank you. Sessions have been around the 5 hour mark total tattoo time, the last session was more like 7 hours, so just over 20 hours so far, can't really complain ;)
- - - Updated - - -
Thank you mate, the next session will focus on the skull, haven't really touched it since the first session. Still deciding on colours and stuff then its just putting the colour in the dragon act, booked in for 3 more sessions but might only take 2
- - - Updated - - -
Thanks man, yeah I still think his are the best going.
- - - Updated - - -
Hahaha thanks mate, I try :p

4th session with Filip :cool:

Haha thank you. Sessions have been around the 5 hour mark total tattoo time, the last session was more like 7 hours, so just over 20 hours so far, can't really complain ;)
- - - Updated - - -
Thank you mate, the next session will focus on the skull, haven't really touched it since the first session. Still deciding on colours and stuff then its just putting the colour in the dragon act, booked in for 3 more sessions but might only take 2
- - - Updated - - -
Thanks man, yeah I still think his are the best going.
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Hahaha thanks mate, I try :p

4th session with Filip :cool:

So damn good man that is perfect composition and I always say this but you can't beat his water, those finger waves are rad!!

Super cool, @MGblues! I laughed at the woodchuck. Nice twist on the classic Jerry rattler.
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Jesus fucking shitballs. That's amazing! What's left to do? Looks damn near complete. Actually, you could stop now and still be awesome.

@Ben87 wins the game of life.

This today. Tattooed by Jimmie Skuse, Les Skuses' grandson. Amazing shop. So much history there. Had a great time chewing the fat with Jimmie. He showed me a load of flash thats been submitted for a book he's working on.
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That is truly beautiful.

Amazing...but FOUR SESSIONS? I mean, I have heard that he is extremely fast and his use of negative space is absolutely incredible, but still...FOUR SESSIONS?

@Ben87 AMAZING!!!!

4th session with Filip :cool:

4th session with Filip :cool:

4th session with Filip :cool:

4th session with Filip :cool:

4th session with Filip :cool: