PhilB

Digging the negative space rose.

I held that position for hours when working on my squidpants (I called it 'The Yoga Pose'). Thankfully, I'm flexible enough that I could lay down when doing that, or else it would have been much more uncomfortable.

Obviously, some stuff will not get shared. What made things really interesting, is that during the war (no idea what it's like now, I left Montreal over 10 years ago), no one wore colours. So, when talking to someone, you didn't know if he was a member (and if so, of what club), an associate, or just some lawyer/doctor type (remember, this is the mid-late 90s, when H-Ds started getting real popular with the "lifestyle" crowd). Of course, you knew some of the players. There were the occasional tense moments, like when a well-known high-up of one club walked into the big dealership I was working in at the time...Then left...Then 10 minutes later, some high-ups from their rival club came in. Could have gotten ugly by 10 minutes, there! There was also another shop I worked at where a certain club wanted the franchise associated with the name the owners were getting...but the owners who were establishing it were members of...er...let's say an Italian...family. There had to be sit-downs, etc...There were 6 owners for that shop, with names like "Big Joey" and "Little Joey", etc... Then I moved to the Wet Coast, and saw colours everywhere. Went to a swap meet put on by the R&W (they are the only big players here, AFAIK), and saw them all in full colours. Kept looking over my shoulder. My boss was wondering what was wrong with me, then realized I was from Quebec, and looking for bullets to fly! I also had a coworker out here who was also from Quebec, and worked at a known club shop in Montreal back in the day. He saw his business partner get blown away right in front of him. They just walked in the shop, put the gun to his head, and blew him away. After that, he worked with a shotgun under his work bench. Personally, my relationship with all those guys is "Hi, how are you doing." Shake their hand, listen to bike problems, but their business is their business. I prefer to remain friendly without being involved.

Possibly the oldest one is Bikernews: Biker News Network, Out Run By No One,1%er,Outlaw Also, check out: Outlaw Bikers (this one is more of a news aggregator, but does seem to get lots of news from Aussies and Kiwis. This one is definitely more US-centric, but still has good stuff in there: The Aging Rebel*|*The man who dies with the most stories wins. I was in Montreal in the heart of the biker war. What was I doing at the time? I was a Harley-Davidson mechanic (did that professionally for almost a decade, and now only do it for fun and for free for my friends only. I write software professionally now.) Those were....interesting times.

Finally got started on my sleeve of science: Sleeve of Science

I just did. I read one thread and feel I've gotten dumber for it ;)

That looks awesome. How much did it suck getting it done?

@Hogrider look at the "master"'s portfolio, specially that sleeve on his employee that he's so proud of (I strongly suspect the decent work is ripped off). It's currently the 4th and 5th from last picture in the slideshow. You could get worse, but you'd have to work hard at it. I've seen stuff drawn in crayon that looked better.

Me too, on all of the above.

Really digging the knotwork as well.

Well, I go down to Bellingham, WA to get tattooed...But that's a bit of a way from Chi-town!

The sad part is: They're actually better (er...not as bad) at that than tattooing...

Hopefully, this show will finally make tattoo artist look like real artist, and teach the public the difference between shitty tattoos and good tattoos... One can only hope (I haven't seen the first one yet, even though it's supposed to have aired already. Did anyone catch it?)

Damn. We gotta meet IRL one day, because I'd love to talk about that with you.

Well, well, well...Looks like they have a new location. AND, they have challenge for you, my friend! Home - The Mad Tatter (the poster of the challenge, if it ends up off the home page, but still on their server

Intent is everything: ManWoman

Don't worry, I also often suffer from Can'tSeeTheForestForTheTrees-itis...

Then do what I said, but without offering the deal, since you don't plan on tattooing him, period!

"I don't do those kinds of tattoos, they go against my personal moral code." Done. Now, of course, it's too late...You've already quoted him. You can always change your mind. Something like: "I thought long and hard about this, and I cannot, in good conscience, do that tattoo. I realize I've already told you I would, and I would like to apologize for the inconvenience. To make up for it, let me cut you a great deal on that other one I will do for you. Sorry again". Disclaimer: I am not a tattoo artist. I have, however, seen my artist warn people that he simply did not do any racist tattoos.

@nmkcle: At the top of every forum (you have to actually click on a forum and get the full list of threads in it), you should see a large, incredibly obvious, red button labeled "Post new thread".

In the mean time, my artist is drawing up my upcoming "religious" (to me) tattoo: My Sleeve of Science! DNA helixes wrapping around my arm, brain cells, all kinds of cool stuff!

Parts of my squidpants run basically to that afore-mentioned crease. It was definitely the worst part of the back of the leg (I actually didn't mind the crease of the knee...the kneecap, however...). I'm always of the "keep the best for last" mindset. Given a choice, I'd rather do the more painful spots first and be done with it.

My usual routine: Get home and remove wrap about two hours after the tattoo was done. Hot shower, gently clean it with unscented soap (Spectro-Gel up here in Canada, but I once got Hibiclens in the US.) Pat dry, apply very thin later of Aquaphor. Just before bed, rewrap only the first night, mainly to: avoid it sticking to sheets, and stop pet hair from sticking to it. Next morning, wash again, no more wrap, thin layer of Aquaphor again, remove surplus by patting with towel. Repeat a few times a day. After the peeling starts on the 3rd to 5th day or so, switch to unscented Lubriderm. This works for me, but I also appear to be one of those people whose skin sucks in ink, and who heals amazingly well. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks for gracing us with your presence again. Just because you didn't get the advice you wanted, didn't meant it wasn't good advice. Some of us went out of our way to be courteous and helpful when faced with an obviously misguided poster. Here's another piece of advice: Go fuck yourself with a barbed-wire dildo. We still don't work for you.

Staunch atheist, scientist, and skeptic here.