Hands On

welcome!

i've heard it called the bent back girl or bent back skull. first time i saw it was in this animation called "The Devil in Denim." oldest reference i've seen is from Milton Zeis, Tattooing As You Like It. there are some awesome versions of it. this DETH version tickled my fancy, so i copped it. can't remember the title of this piece at the moment, but i'll track it down.

I got the Gorilla Fudo Myo-o from Marc Nava last Friday at the Bay Area Convention. Definitely a nice addition to my squidpants.

@dcostello sounds brutal! as i mentioned earlier, i'm scheduled with Marc Nava at 6. Hopefully we get done early enough for me to swing by and say hi. I'd also be down a drink up at Knuckle's afterwards.

very nice! who's the artist? welcome to LST!

mmMMmMmMmMmmm... fooOOoOoOooOood. i'm down for a bite on Friday night, but i'm not sure how long my session with Marc will be.

great post overall, but this line cracked me up!

nice! i sent him some pictures of an open spot on my leg and let him go to town. i won't see it til tattoo time next friday!

you're a monster! what are you getting? and what are you getting from Stewart Robson on Saturday? nothing Friday?!!.. you're slackin! ;)

welcome! you seem to have your head on straight. look forward to any gold you might have to share!

howdy!

welcome! can't wait to hear your stories and experiences and see some tattoos!

my initial plan was to wing it, but the convention's IG just posted that they found out Marc Nava was attending 3days ago. took that opportunity to book a 6pm spot for Friday. drop by and say what's up! i'm gonna try to be there when the flood gates open, so i have some time to take it all in and wander around.

Welcome! Just in time to make plans to attend the Bay Area Convention of the Tattoo Arts!

this reminds me of the funniest things i remember Garver saying on Miami Ink (i apologize for being a tattoo TV watcher). anyways, he was tattooing a tiger with cherry blossoms on some 18yr old kid and the kid's mom was there the whole time. as he was coloring it, he said he added the surprise of an all pink cherry blossom for the kid's mom. the mom thought it was cute and they were all laughing it off and Garver slips in, "what's wrong with pink?! some of my favorite things in the world are pink." The mom and kid didn't catch it and Garver just had a sly smile. OK.. back to the topic. i was kinda interested to know when koi swim upstream, so i asked lord google and this was the first link: http://jamesthen.com/the-rules-of-the-japanese-tattoo/ there's a lot of information out there online, but as @Cork mentioned, the right tattoo artist will know these answers. One of the right tattooers just so happens to write books. This is a good start for $20... Bushido: Legacies of Japanese Tattoos: Takahiro Kitamura, Katie M. Kitamura: 9780764312014: Amazon.com: Books when i got my dragon koi from Jill Bonny, she let me know that it is actually a Chinese legend, not Japanese. makes sense, since the legend takes place in the Yellow River in China. mine has maple leaves. you can try to find pics of body suit pics from reputable traditional japanese tattooers and see what kind of themes they stick with and what kind of themes they mix. but again... find the right artist and trust 'em.

that's quite a waiting list. mind if i ask who the artist is? when is your actual consultation? i think every artist throughout history has riffed off someone's work... not just tattooers. it's just a matter of riffing and making it their own. you seem to have chosen this artist based on tattoos she's done... i think it's fair to bring in images of her work and tell her what you like about it. that can easily give her some direction. you mentioned that you know what you like when you see it... with a such a long wait, you have the ability to take your time and do some good research to find stuff you like and think is beautiful. we have no idea what direction you're going in, since everyone's idea of beauty is different (as shown in the video below). you can find beautiful patterns everywhere, if that's your direction... in garments, rugs, architecture, nature, and on and on. if you get a tattoo of this ^... well... you might need a hug.

i think there's an undeniable "we" aspect that's hard to overlook with a piece like that on your ribs. very nice!

i'm starting to get antsy!! saturday just got iffy for me tho... close friend of mine invited us to a little family halloween get together and my wife seems into it. i'll for sure be there Friday and hopefully Sunday as well. ps. Andre Malcolm and Greg Christian both recently posted on IG that they have openings, if anyone's interested.

was in search of my first singing bowl and came across these amazing videos. find 10min, a quiet spot, a good pair of headphones, press play and get some heart chakra healing!...

did you succumb?! i just realized how important emphasizing the right syllable is with that word.

welcome to LST. unique idea... i think it should work fine. looking foward to seeing the progress!

just teasin' us! thanks for the heads up and definitely looking forward to it!

welcome! it does seem like a to fit onto one arm. you got your entire body to work with! as @seasea mentioned, a good artist will be able to help you gather the thoughts and let you know what will work and what won't. getting tattooed is a long journey... no need to rush thru it and get all your thoughts down at once. there's plenty of time and plenty of space. enjoy it! now how 'bout some pics!?

i think the images work fine together, but it depends on what you're going for. rather than just having two tattoos and figuring out how to connect them, think of your entire arm.

welcome! nothing to be anxious or freaked out about here. save that anxiety for when you're about to be under the needle ;) luckily, that will go away too and you'll get thru it in a breeze, yearning for more! you seem to know your way around place, so i'm sure your healing will go fine as well. what's going on in The Great Basin and being so far away from friends and fam?