Graeme

That many incredible tattooers under one roof AND fine ales? I need to go to this one day.

From what I've read about de Vita (the Tattoo Artist Magazine piece about him and the things in the book Hardy Marks just put out) those episodes should be ridiculous, not to mention a near-miracle that they even did them in the first place. Can't wait (then I'll be sad when they're over).

That kitsune sleeve you posted is really great, looking forward to seeing your other and future tattoos. Welcome to the board!

Neutral attitude would be great! I'm not asking for her to like my tattoos or to understand why I get them or anything like that and I intend on covering them up out of respect when we go over to their place for dinner (as I do now), but they are going to start a huge fight that unfortunately my wife is going to bear the brunt of. Part of getting tattooed is knowing that a lot of people are potentially going to have adverse reactions to them and make snap judgements on my character because of them, and that's part of the deal.

I'm going onto my forearms in less than a month and I feel pretty good about it. I'm 33, I'm well established in my job in a field where tattoos are not a problem, and if things change, I'll deal with it and wear long sleeves if I have to. The only stress I have about getting my forearms tattooed is how my mother-in-law is going to react since I don't think she knows that either me or my wife have any tattoos. Really not looking forward to that.

It all made sense when I was clicking through Alan's gallery and saw the juggalo tattoo.

Yeah this is great, though when I looked at the list of threads on my phone this came up as "Amazing Documentary on Sailor Jerry that sucked" and that seemed a little bit odd.

One of my favorites from the past couple of years: Necros Christos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU650Yc3590

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST: - - - Updated - - - Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

Thank you to everybody for making this site such an excellent resource and community.

@RoryQ There is literally a point of "diminishing returns" because only so many BUs are soluble in boiling wort...anything beyond that is wasted. I think it's something like a maximum of about 100 BUs in a standard gravity wort, more BUs in a higher density one. Granted I can't think of many commercial examples that are overhopped like that...BrewDog's "Nanny State" comes to mind, though that seemed more like a marketing gimmick than an actual beer, which is my problem with that brewery. Didn't actually try it though. @David Flores There are plenty of really hoppy beers that are well-balanced and I don't want to come across as anti-hops because given a choice of styles I would drink IPA more often than not (trying to get out of that habit though). I do think, though, that a beer that is overly focused on packing in the BU and aroma can sometimes be a little bit one-dimensional for my tastes. I really like the Six Points Bengali Tiger IPA because it has a really solid malty backbone underneath the hops.

@McNeil It looks awesome if that's any consolation? You look like you've just been through a war though.

@RoryQ I'm glad to hear you say that. It may be that their beer doesn't travel well (and I xan't speak as to their standards on flavored stability and oxygen control) but what I've had from BrewDog on this side of the Atlantic has been underwhelming. Doesn't help things for me that their write up on the Punk IPA label is basically stolen from Stone's Arrogant Bastard. I appreciate that they're brewing American styles of beer in the UK, but I think if you compare it to the beers they're trying to emulate, they're mediocre at best. Marketing doesn't make up for that. Overhopping is a problem generally, in my opinion. I love hoppy beers, but there needs to be a balance there. - - - Updated - - - Please excuse the autocorrect typos.

Wow. I'm sure you have a lot of great stories and I look forward to hearing some of them. Welcome to the board!

@Dan S A guy at work with a 16 year old son is going through the same right now. This guy has a bunch of good tattoos and appreciates good tattooing and his son wants to get tattooed but he has the sorts of ideas that a 16 year old would tend to have. He's hoping that his son waits and goes with him to a good artist at a good shop when he turns 18...

Just looked and it's going to be November 19 at Il Motore. Tickets on sale through the Blue Skies Turn Black website. I really hope I can swing that show.

Hahaha, that is how I remember their shows. Saw them many times in the late 90s. Shiftwork means that I usually can't go to the shows I want to go to, but some things that are coming up that I would ideally like to go to include SWANS at the end of October, the rescheduled OM/DAN HIGGS show I think in November, and the Messe Des Morts festival (a bunch of bestial black/death like RAGNAROK, REVENGE, BLACK WITCHERY over three nights) is also in late November and I'd like to go to at least one night of that.

Yeah, that's me. The tattoo you got from Ron was awesome. Ron is one of those guys when you see the tattoos he's doing, you're like...I would happily get any of those.

Got one of these in the mail today, looks great! Thanks Kev!

I called my parents when I got my first one because I was over 30, married, in a stable job, living on the other side of the country from them, and Facebook and what not being what it is and that this tattoo can't quite be covered by a short-sleeved shirt that they would likely end up seeing it in pictures before they saw me in person anyway, I figured that it was best to just straight-up tell them about it. My dad was okay with it in a "it's your body, you're an adult" kind of way, but my mom was really upset and said that she was going to cry once she got off the phone with me. I've since heard from my sister that my mom was more upset than I realised and that she questioned herself about what she did wrong as a mother and there was also usual sort of thing about the kind of people who have tattoos (one of her best friends got one for beating cancer, but that's something different entirely, apparently) and all of that. That said, she has seemingly accepted that they're my choice even if she doesn't personally approve of them and doesn't say anything about them. Funnily enough, my granny likes my tattoos I think mostly because they're colourful. My in-laws don't know about them yet (either on me or my wife) and I'm really not looking forward to them finding out. Starting a full sleeve soon so it's really only a matter of time...

Needles and Sins posted a video about eyeball tattooing here. I don't get it.

From a shop in Montreal. This one makes my stomach lurch.

I don't know how realistic you want to go, or how possible travel is for you, but I LOVE Virginia Elwood's pet portraits. Examples here: Instagram photo by @virginiaelwood (Virginia Elwood) | Statigram Instagram photo by @virginiaelwood (Virginia Elwood) | Statigram

Is Himsa the band with Aaron Edge? I played a show with them in 98 or 99. That is a long assed time ago when I think about it.

It isn't flash but Raking Lights sells a lot of originals and prints by a lot of amazing tattoo artists so they're worth looking at. It almost bums me out when I see their releases that all my money right now is earmarked for tattoos. Raking Light Projects - Original art and collectible prints created by skilled tattoo artists