joakim urma

Thank you! Yeah I really like color tattoos, I'm not particular in that way. But I think when you start to get many not too large tattoos and they're all in different color schemes you end up looking like a explosion in a paint factory. Not that there is anything wrong with that, some people pull it off , but being of my particular kind I would find it impossible to dress and end up only dressing in black clothes. Also I would probably be like "man.. I really wish this blue was a little bit more teal" after like 10 years. I don't know, I can only speculate on what it would be like. Black and gray on skin looks so nice. To each it's own I guess.

Some crazy lineup for this year indeed. I might have to go even if I'm not getting tattooed this time.

Ok so I finished photography school 4 years ago and have been doing journalism and sociology and a bit of this and that since then. I'm still into photography a lot, in theory, but I haven't been as active as before. It's hard to come up with your own projects and carry through when nobody is forcing you, while also living a life. I've been mainly doing everyday photos, travel photos and a few jobs for magazines since I graduated. But since about a year back I decided to make a photography project consisting of portraits of every tattooer that has and will put ink under my skin. I just made a list and I'm up to 23 names so far, tattooers who has all ready worked on me. Save for some less involved photo sessions I haven't really put any effort in. Until yesterday when I hung out with and took photos of El Carlo who was guesting at Theo Jaks Infamous Tattoo in Stockholm. El Carlo tattooed me at the London Convention last year and it was really cool to meet him again and chat a bit about Spain, politics, tattooing and art in general. Now I feel stoked about continuing the project and putting more energy into it. We'll see where it ends, perhaps in 20 years when I'm covered from head to toe it's going to be a book of portraits. I feel inspired! Bonus: A friend wants a tattoo from me. Now it's time to start a long and glorious career of kitchen scratching, finally. Giddy up!

6 hours I think, side of thigh. It's fascinating how the body works, I found the last half hour almost unbearable but up to that (save for the first 10 minutes when I am always wondering why I am getting tattoos to begin with) it was quite enjoyable. But after 5,5 hours it was like hitting a switch and everything felt horrible, probably my storage of pain sedative hormones just ran out. That's cool to me and part of the tattoo experience, getting to know how pain works

I realized that besides for instagram photos in the Latest Tattoo Lowdown-thread, I haven't uploaded any proper hi-res healed pictures of any one the tattoos I've gotten since I first registered here 3 years ago. I'll make sure to get to that. Anyway, here's my twiggy pale legs at their current state: Left leg, top to bottom: Rose - Eli Quinters Judas wearing devil mask - Iain Mullen Heart factory-thing - Rudy Fritsch Dietzel masked girl - Joel Albertsson ACE-script - design by my friend, tattoo by Iain Mullen Swampy horned skull - my friend Isabel Crocodile bird - Joel Madberg SOOS Man with birdcage head - my friend Isabel Ancient aliens UFO with wings and bird claw - Iain Mullen Gorilla in tower holding skull - Deno Crossed bones RMA - my friend Isabel Återkomst - some scratcher named Jens (traded for a small photo) Badly healed heel tattoo - Iain Mullen Upside down skull - my design, tattoo by Iain Mullen Right leg, top to bottom: Shaman and hyena - James McKenna Rock of ages, upside down cross - Peter Lagergren Girl sleeping in moon - Jaclyn Réhe Human cuddled in egg shape - my friend Isabel Whispering devil + indian symbol and three moons - Iain Mullen Baboon head - Matty D'Arienzo Saraswati/indian looking head - Adde Ramstedt Behive - Knibbe Pallius Upside down eye of providence and snake - Ville Prinsen Big angry snake head - Deno Cat reaper - Joel Madberg SOOS Funky tiger coming out of flower - Cezilia Hjelt Equaly badly healed heel tattoo - Iain Mullen (both to be redone in a few months) Bum dreaming "C.R.E.A.M." - Frej Lind Hårda Tider-band logo on toe - my friend Isabel Edit: Oh wow, long post. Thought they were thin enough to go side by side in pairs. Well.. enjoy

This is a really nice thread, I am happy to find it and see so much cool pieces on people! I shall try to put up photos of my legs tomorrow.

Starting my back on the 14:th of June (!!!) Very stoked and nervous, such a commitment.

Yay! I'm very un-hairy for being a man, also blonde, I'm going to get BOTH my armpits tattooed. Fuck ya'll! Edit: heh… what's the problem, why not the armpits? Pain? Pfff..

This past sunday two of my very best friends moved into my house. Love my life right now!

Thanks! No, honestly these tattoos have been the worst ones I ever had to heal. I recommend getting a pair of sandals and being overly hygienic with the usual healing method. Right now it's been 10 days or so since I had them made and the itchiness is close to unbearable. Also lines look super rugged and swollen, much like I imagine a palm tattoo at this stage. I will have to have severe touch ups on these, saving that until autumn however.

Haha japp, det är en sån!

Fuck yeah, it's so good and interesting! I am reading my copy this week.

Healed whispering devil and fresh heel tattoos (and dirty feet). All by my pal Iain Mullen, Imperial Tattoo Stockholm. I am happy I finally decided to get this devil done, had been looking at the sketch in Iains box for a year all ready. It's actually facing inwards, against common tattoo-logic. If you follow around the leg you can see that it's point towards another tattoo of a sleeping lady head, by Jaclyn Réhe. edit: about the heels, the mouth with yin yang was my idea but made to fit by Iain. The other thing, whatever, was drawn on by him. We think it might be a satellite and/or one of those things alchemist brew their stuff in. Either way I think it's just right.

Starting my back in the beginning of june. Collaborative work of two quite reputable tattooers. It's going to be interesting and probably this is all the info anyone will have until it's done. Teaser + secrecy ya'll!

Back of heels. Only (reasonable) spot I can think of, and haven't tried (yet), that would be harder is armpit or groin area.

Ran a vegetarian, mostly vegan, restaurant for 5 weeks with a friend of mine. We were the only people cooking and neither of us had any previous experience of working in a professional kitchen. Suddenly the owner decided we were not making enough money (having opened the place a mere 4 weeks before, come on?) and kicked us out. Instead he started to serve meat along with the vegetarian dishes and market the place as "Stockholms only flexitarian restaurant" (Flexitarian being a bogus, pointless term, google it) and now they are making even less money (another 5 weeks down the road). I log on to their card-machine account every now and then to see that they are just losing out even more then when me and my friend did the cooking. Strange story but a fun experience.

Ok so I the back of my heels tattooed 10 days ago. Figured I get them both done at the same time and then have a really odd way of walking. Turned out nice. However, I think due to only using liner and the designs having quite a bit of solid black the lower part (where your shoes usually press and fuck about a lot) that the healing was severely messed up. It is as if the part that usually peels of after a while just stuck in there, and now my skin is really hard and super black still. What's worse is that two about 5 mm in diameter chunks DID come of, taking away the ink and leaving open sores. Now I can't wear shoes until it heals up and also I will have to some serious touch ups. Some of the lines came out a bit wonky to, with blow outs and fades so I think a lot in the end will have to be redone. Twice the pain and discomfort, it's going to make the end result feel so much more precious. The tattooer, that I know well, told me it was one of the weirdest spots he'd tattooed and that I was a sturdy guy for taking it so well :)

Back of heels. Not fun. Good thing the spot isn't large.

I wrote in this thread not too long ago about how balance in which parts of my body were tattooed was important to me. Now I've had one of my feet tattooed and one side of my ribs tattooed, as well as half my knee tattooed, for quite some month without feeling the need to "even out" the balance by getting the respective side tattooed. I kind of like it, looks spontaneous and organic. But I am still planning to get the whole body (almost) done.

Philip Yarnell!

Some really good tattooers in Barcelona: Alvaro Llorar, El Monga, El Carlo, Tomas Garcia (relocating back to Spain soon), Javier Rodriquez are all on my list Deno and the other guys at Circus Tattoo in Madrid. I really like Bueno who works there too. Had a very nice experience getting tattooed by him at this years Inkbash in Stockholm. Also Jondix if you are into that. I like his older, less abstract/dot work-y, stuff a lot

I think this is your call in the end. I've had a one or two pieces done on me by tattooers that I didn't really like as persons and that came off as uninterested/rude/arrogant and to me that puts a bad layer over the tattoo and I think it is something I will always think of when I look at them. Hopefully it the bad memories will fade faster than the tattoos. If you think that you won't feel too uneasy about the memories, have been looking at his work for a long time and will love the art enough then just go for it. But as someone pointed out, maybe get a smaller piece first to "try him out". Maybe he eases up. It's quite a commitment to start something big with someone that you don't get that connection with. A tattooer I know told me about how he nowadays mainly get tattooed by friends, instead of seeking out the best tattooers. This guy is really a nerd and knows so many names. He got a visible spot done by one of the top names in the culture and this tattooer was apparently very unpleasant and kind of ruined my friends whole experience of getting the tattoo. I have a feeling that some tattooers, especially those who travel a lot, are older, go to the conventions, and are in high demand have a more "clinical" approach to new clients. They simply can't be bothered to become friends with all their clients, it takes a lot of energy. You will have to prove your self a bit in order to make it worth it for them. Sometimes having some good work by reputable tattooers can help. They can still make a wonderful tattoo which you will love, but that personal involvement might not be there. It can also be some cultural thing or you being too sensitive in this nervous setting ;) I wish you all the luck with your decision and the tattoo!

Marius Meyer is awesome! What are you getting?

Yeah it's really good for impressing 5 year olds

After my tattoo bonanza recently at the London Convention I was really worried about two tattoos I'd gotten. They're both around my right knee so when the second tattoo was done the tattooer creamed in both the new tattoo and the tattoo from yesterday and wrapped it in cling film. I've heard you shouldn't use any cream when you do re-wraps so I was a bit worried there all ready. When I got home that evening the cling film had fallen off, leaving my two tattoos rubbing against my unwashed and well used 5 month old jeans. I jumped into the shower and got cleaned as thoroughly as I could, no soap, no hot water. I didn't have any additional cling film so I slept in the bed without (usually always keep the wrap on until the next morning) and then got cleaned again. Proceeded with my usual after care method: bephanten and cold water cleaning 4-5 times a day. For the coming 10 days these two tattoos looked like SHIT. The first 5 days I had been eating aspirin as to not get an infection or something that would make it worse. Yet I had super thick scabs, lines underneath that seemed to be blurred, the solid black was all spotty with grays. I said to myself that I will need severe touch ups on these two. Even a week after these first 10 days my skin was so dry and scaly it felt like I was becoming a lizard. But they both came out nice. Might have to do a small touch up on one of them, but nothing major. And I thought they were both f.u.c.k.e.d. Moral to the story: keep it simple, hygiene routine above everything, don't panic, don't get tricked into buying some Tatz Magick Kream 2000, eat well, sleep well, don't get sick. I think there is a lot more contributing to how well/fast you heal than if your cream has this and that in it. If your tattooer made a solid tattoo, it's going to stick. Just think of it as an open wound for the first 4 days, add some bephanten and you're safe. Some times the process takes longer, don't sweat it. /healing guru with only black n gray tattoos, signing out :cool: