Graeme

For what it's worth, I rewrapped and dry healed my elbow and it healed up really well. On my other elbow I only have one tattoo that goes into the elbow area but not on the elbow directly (it's about an inch away from the elbow so is still on a boney, moving part) and I also dry healed that one with no rewrapping and it healed up really well also. I usually heal really dry anyway though. I've started using some moisturizer while healing now that I'm working on my back because dry healing is way too uncomfortable on that large an area, but even then I'm moisturizing once a day after my shower when it gets to that really tight part of healing. It looks like whatever you're doing for aftercare is working for you so I wouldn't mess with that too much. Worst case, you get it touched up.

What went wrong is that instead of getting a tattoo you got some dumb nonsense that I'm sure holds plenty of personal significance to you but was never going to work as a tattoo.

It HAD tattoo artists, but not many of them wanted to stick around when people came around acting rudely because they didn't like the very good answers they were given.

Phil Sparrow contributed a lot not just to tattooing, but also to the understanding of sexuality thanks to his work with Alfred Kinsey, so I would hardly call the recorded anatomical details in his Stud File to be "gross".

Makes me think of the tattoo Phil Sparrow had on his forearm of inch marks so he could measure dong length.

I would treat everything @Ain Hallap says above about laser removal with a healthy dose of skepticism, as he'd previously been run off the board when his introduction about DIY at-home laser tattoo removal didn't go over as well as he hoped.

Welcome to LST. Honestly, and I mean this in the kindest way possible, I don't like the idea you have there and don't think anything about it would work as a tattoo. This is often the danger of a tattoo that is crammed full of "meaning": the design suffers as a consequence. If you want to get a tattoo that uses geometry, take a look at the tattoos made by people like Xed Le Head, Tomas Tomas, Thomas Hooper, Jondix, Maxime Buchi, Maud Dardeau, to just name a few people who come immediately to mind, because they use geometric forms in a way that works for tattoos. I also think that design aside, if you really want something along these lines, you really need to go large because a big part of what makes these tattoos visually powerful is the way they fit and move with your body. Anyway, that's just like my opinion, man.

Just remember when you're getting your rips drilled that a rough tattoo session is still better than a good day at work.

Learn about colour theory, get a colour wheel, consider the other colours in the tattoo and do the oni in whatever colour works best given all that. Or trust your artist's judgement because that's how he's deciding on colours.

Valerie Vargas? Aaron Coleman? Lady heads and lots of roses? Never heard of 'em! Welcome!

I finished teaching my course on beer tasting and appreciation last night and it went well! People seemed to have fun and enjoy themselves, they learned a little bit about beer, had their horizons broadened a bit, and drank some good beers. Getting up in front of people and talking for three hours is tough though and I don't know how the teachers and professors here do it, especially since feeding people alcohol isn't generally part of the lesson. I'm going to be doing the same course in the new year, as well as a couple of one-off courses, one about stouts in the lead up to St Patrick's day, and another in May about summer beer, so those should be fun as well.

@SStu Excellent.

@hogg The worst thing about the asscrack waves was the feeling that I was getting my anus tattooed. He didn't actually go that deep but it felt like he did. I guess this is what that spot feels like and I thought I was mentally prepared for it, but nothing can get you ready for what it actually feels like. The full ass tattoo certainly falls into the category of "questionable behavior".

Only thing better than two animals fighting is three animals fighting.

I haven't posted this on here yet. Session four on my back, we shaded my butt and thigh.

I'd say not only is it cool, but that you're more likely to get a good tattoo if you want something primarily because you appreciate it as art and not for how many convoluted symbols you cram into a design. Like @OutOfIdeas said, go to shops and look through portfolios, look on the Latest Tattoo Lowdown thread here and on instagram to see what artists are doing, find one who is doing tattoos that really speak to you, and get tattooed by that person. Is there anything you've seen that you're particularly thinking of?

You guys are making me jealous with all these great tattoos.

@hogg It's funny because when I saw Diamond Club post a Brian Kaneko peony on their instagram yesterday I mentioned to Anna that you got a really beautiful one, then she told me that you hadn't had your appointment yet. Of course it was on @Iwar. His botans are so gorgeous.

@BrianH, if @ironchef can do it so can you. Also it is still hilarious to me that you got peer pressured into this. It will be worth it.

Thanks homie.

Sure, though there's a world of difference between somebody who has received cancer treatments asking for advice in getting tattooed (answer: consult with your doctor and an experienced tattooer) and a tattooer asking about the specifics if tattooing somebody who has received cancer treatments. And honestly, I don't like the OP and I think we've been far too kind to him. A ton of scratchers read these forums, some have created accounts, I'm sure that far, far more are lurking and glean whatever shreds of information they can get from here, and whatever, everything here is in public and that's the way it goes and why people should be conscious of what they put on here. Here we have a dude who comes on here and says that he supposedly had an apprenticeship where he didn't actually do any tattoos, and he currently puts on shitty tattoos out of his house, and we should treat him any differently than we do any other scratcher? And who, not for the first time here either, wants to talk technical stuff about tattooing. If you're going to come here and be disrespectful, you can't expect respect in return. So I revise my original answer: this friend of a friend should go to a reputable tattooer because they've been through enough as it is and don't need a shitty tattoo on top of it all.

So have you decided whether it's a good idea or the best idea yet?

Nah, those are still safe on the cloud. Too soon?

Ask your mentor or a more experienced tattooer at your shop. See also the bit in the FAQ about trade secrets.

To be honest, I like your tattoos more than I like that Cripwell body suit. Your arms are fantastic, there are so many good pieces on them from great artists, everything sits really well, the stars and dots filler is great, and they're these perfect traditional arms that don't feel forced or overly deliberate. Maybe part of it is because I've seen your arms mainly through spending time with you instead of seeing pictures of them on the Internet, but I feel that I get a sense of you from them. I guess it all comes down to different ways of getting tattooed and people wanting different thing out of tattoos. For me, how I get tattooed has been this fairly gradual process of learning through experience. What I wanted before I first got tattooed is very different than what I want now both in terms of extent of coverage, and what styles and designs I want, and I think that while this inevitably means that I'm going to reach a point where I'll wish that I did things differently, left more spaces open, got fewer little things until I'd gotten more large pieces down, or the thousand other ways I might have done things if only I had the knowledge or foresight, I think there's something cool about tattoos being this record of a process of learning and understanding, even if the results are sometimes less than something that looks incredible in a photo. Japanese tattooing aside, I guess I don't really understand the motivation of somebody who goes from no tattoos to a deliberately planned out (and kind of anachronistic) bodysuit, it almost seems like a fashion statement. Anyway, different strokes and all.