Lochlan

The dates have been announced for State of Grace's tattoo convention for October 21-23, 2011 at the SFO Hyatt Regency. As more info is released please post. Also if you're tattooing there please let us know and how you prefer people to make appointments to get tattooed by you. Here's the LST Link and discussion for the 2010 tattoo convention Horitaka's Link to Tattoo Convention Info

Hot damn, all sorts of great ideas for fun stuff to do in not only SF but Oakland, and Marin/Sausalito.....when it gets closer let us know the dates and a reminder and we'll try to arrange a LST get together. Regardless it'd be good to grab some coffee and meet you. Look forward to seeing a travel blog after the trip on LST?!?

If you post up the mailing address and/or an email that could be helpful and we'll tweet it from our LST twitter account. Oh yeah also when do you need the stuff by?

Thanks for taking the time to join our tattoo forum.....hope you enjoy your time with us!?!

Here is the Last Sparrow Tattoo shirt design Scott did if you haven't seen it......

after starting this game and seeing all the responses there seems to be more tattoo mistakes on this one then I originally thought...haha. Oh what I have learned since first getting this tattoo many years ago.

There seems to be a recurring topic on LST around "tattoo etiquette" that has come up over and over again from tattoo customers to tattooers to tattoo shops to tattoo designs to tattoo websites and the list goes on and on for various ways tattoos play a role in society today. So I though it could be an insightful and helpful platform to start a tattoo etiquette specific thread. For those who want to see other threads and blogs on this tattoo forum and ezine where this theme comes up type it into the search bar and you will find some good stuff LSTers have contributed. Its a theme that I don't think can be discussed enough. The purpose of this is to provide a quick list type thread for people to read and learn about how to best "support" or be a part of tattooing. It comes from an old phrase "Intention VS. Outcome". I think many peoples intentions are good and not hurtful, however, the outcome often times is not what is meant. Multiple perspectives are going to arise regardless and there will never be everyone happy and/or supportive but if a foundation is created or rather discussed then maybe it can provide a more accurate perspective on how to be a positive person in the world of tattooing and maybe life as a whole. This could be from a first and/or only time customer to a long time tattooer or tattoo customer to how the "press" and companies interact with the world/craft of tattooing. When I first started this thread I was going to create a list of questions but now feel it best to just let everyone have at it how you interpret and act on the above or other stuff. Thanks and we look forward to hearing everyones ideas and ways they support tattooing with I dare say the word integrity........

The Hangover 2 seems to be getting so much press through the whole production of this movie. Is it going to be one of those movies with all this hype then it falls flat on its face? And now on to more news regarding the hangover 2 and tattoos.......

Good morning to another bay area resident. Glad to hear the tattoo forum was able to help you.... What tattoo shop did your tattoo? What tattooer? How'd you decide on that shop over other ones as we have some good tattooers and tattoo shops here?

So to continue on with the questions, conversations, and dilemmas on tattoo pictures and tattooers, I have been seeing a few places (tattooers blogs, tattoo shop blogs, and other comparable tattoo related web sites) up in arms and/or upset with the state of how others are using their tattoo images. I/we can see the many points of the argument but feel a little confused and no I am not a tattooer so I will use my "profession" as an example which I believe does translate over and the term plagiarism was coined for it in that realm which I believe would translate to tattooers and this topic but look forward to what others have to say. So the conversation revolves around other sites not those of the original posters of a tattoo picture up in arms and/or upset when other sites post their tattoos. Some say they are upset when no and/or incorrect credit is given while others do not want their tattoo photos posted elsewhere at all. There is no specific term that I could find and/or think of when it comes to picture specific re-usage but here are some related ones; plagiarism, photo plagiarism, and copyrighted. Plagiarism historically has to do with words only then copyrighted is a specific legal action one must take to meet this requirement so a term I saw floating around elsewhere was photo plagiarism and will run with this for the conversation of tattoo pictures. I know I've mentioned in this thread and elsewhere that tattoo pictures are often sent my way and I/we often look at others sites so when I/we find a tattoo, tattooer, and/or tattoo shop I/we like I/we try to post it here on LST forum, ezine, and tattoo gallery. I try to give credit when I can find it but more often than not I/we can not find the tattooers name. It upsets us as we want to give credit where credit is due. So the next question is, do we not post the images when tattooers can't be credited? This would be unfortunate as there are so many terrible tattoos and tattoo sites out there posting and reposting these awful tattoos to the masses and the good ones go uncredited and/or unseen so people continue to get bad tattoos as this is what they are fed. The gap if you will is not disclosed but kept a secret if we don't post them. So as tattooing continues to grow, shops everywhere, tons of new tattooers, and tattoo web sites pop up feeding this foul version of tattoos to the unknowingly what do we do? Do we sit back and stay silent or take part by trying to properly "educate" on what is a good tattoo and what is not? One of the many hopes we had/have when starting this tattoo forum and ezine was to expose this gap and help tattooers and tattoo collectors get better tattoos out to the public so this gap can be exposed and customers can be better informed. Scott and I were hanging out and talking yesterday about this one site that is rather popular with the unknowingly and customers bring in images from these sites as reference more often than not. This site and many others are making a killing off providing a fast food type service that doesn't meet quality one bit. Fast food in any arena can have quality but the consumer must first see and know quality. LST was launched not so much to be a fast food for tattooing but an opportunity for a quality site to be put out there thats easier to be obtained by the general public from conversations to interviews to tattoo pictures to try and help expose this gap so what do we do? We have materialized our conversations on this to the tattoo related blogs, forum, gallery, etc that you now see otherwise known as Last Sparrow Tattoo. LST would not be what it is without every one of you so thank you! So as the platform is set we continue to work to grow and provide a better service for all and continue to need your support. For example, our new referral contest is meant to meet the desire expressed by LSTers for more dialogue from forum threads to blogs to pictures so hope you are enjoying yourself with this one and we appreciate all the spreading of the word about LST so this gap can continue to be exposed. Which then leads to one of the next features which is relevant not only to the site but this thread, a new tattoo gallery that we have been hinting at and Steve wrote a post on. The new feature we hope will provide easier usage for LSTers to post, navigate, share, and comment on pictures. One of the features Steve mentioned in this thread is the ability for LST to watermark images when they are uploaded. We have mixed feelings about this as it sounds many others do as well. We don't want to watermark others images when they post them here as they are not our work but the option is there so if people happen to use images from here the credit can be traced back a little easier and closer to the tattooer. Tattooers and shops upload at insane speeds their tattoo pictures to facebook which mind you has some intense privacy/ownership dilemmas that I often wonder if people know about. This is one of the spots where images are grabbed and shared elsewhere regularly yet people continue to share them yet stay silent elsewhere in other arenas which/where may be more "appropriate" to share. I do not think this is a bad thing but with no watermark how is the tattooer to get credit? Watermarking is a pain in the butt but I know would be appreciated by us so we can give credit when credit is due. Now to wind back to the usage of others tattoo pictures and what to do.......our purpose is to give credit when credit is due and expose this gap of what tattoo customers should expect when they get tattooed. There is no reason to settle for a half assed and/or bad tattoo. I'm not saying become some entitled customer but rather if you goto a good tattooer and shop you will get a good tattoo. (NOTE: we are working on a new feature for this as well that we are excited about and will announce soon) So how do we get the word out about good tattooers and good tattoo shops if we can't trace credit back to the them? Is watermarking the answer? I/we don't know and am/are up in arms about this as we want to provide a better tattoo site than what is out there. We don't want to do photo plagiarism but want to provide a service. This has turned into a huge post that was just meant as a jumping off point form what I've seen here and some of our, LST Teams, conversations so I will end there and we look forward to you sharing your thoughts not only here but through out this whole site as Scott mentioned in his latest blog. Silence and negatively are going to do nothing so hope you'll take part with us........

Have any LST iphone or android users tried this app yet? What do you think? I ask because I own neither of those two phones so haven't been able to give it a try. From my understanding it should work like and be as easy as uploading a tattoo picture to your facebook page with their app. Just curious as we figured it'd be a feature many would enjoy especially the tattooers who regularly upload their tattoo photos every day from their phones so all their "likes", "fans", what-have-yous can see.......

The "Multiple Sessions" thread got me thinking about tattoos and healing plus my own trying to heal my elbow ditch right now. For those who don't know the elbow "ditch" is the inside of your arm where it bends so the tattoo/skin is always rubbing with almost every movement all day even as you sleep as well as I type right now. I wake up to the sheets and pillows having blood spots, god knows how many sheets I've ruined over the years from getting tattooed. I can only imagine back tattoos multiply this sheet process. A constant waking up in the morning pealing the sheets away. Anywho, I'll enjoy that when the time comes... So what are the most difficult spots you've had to deal with in the healing process of getting tattooed. Also for tattooers, what are the spots you notice heal the worst due to their potentially difficult healing process due to location? Do you take the healing process in mind when you lay a stencil on too so the less intricate parts are in these locations? Lastly from me for now, anyone got any tricks they use when healing potentially difficult spots while they sleep or elsewhere? I've been trying to sleep with my arm straight which keeps me waking very often so don't think it's much of a trick, ha.

I was sent a link to a video recently of some "underground" boxing that is going down in New York City recently where Frank 151 among some other press from that arena covered. I've been a fan of "underground" boxing for some time and these days there is less "underground" events as so many people are pursuing boxing, mma, etc as legitimate professions as the paychecks are more regular with the increased popularity over the years. I used quotations as many of the ones deemed "underground" these days are not truly underground as there is a level of legitimacy. As well as some of the fighters doing these don't want to risk their legit fighting cards being revoked. So I've noticed many of the boxers/fighters at these events are a mix of guys training at different gyms looking to get some fights under their belts as well as people just giving it a shot. Regardless I think these events are a blast as you can get right up to the ring and watch. I know many local tattooers goto these plus when they have friends in town and one is happening they are a must see so thought this could be a fun thread for the tattoo forum...... In Oakland there were some true underground fights years ago which other cities had as well. But for us over here these days the closes thing happening are the fights/parties the East Bay Rats MC put on. Their fights have been featured on the Discovery Channel among other avenues. They do them semi regularly at their clubhouse and sometimes do larger ones in a local warehouse which are just a blast often going til the sunrises! I'm only putting out there the ones that are already getting press and "known" so the less "popular" ones can remain that way. With that, does anyone goto these? Has anyone been to the NY ones? I love getting right up front and getting pictures which I may share later...... The girl fights seem to be the best as it takes a little while for them to get going but once they do they last way longer. The guys seem to come out swinging for the fences and shot their loads in less than a minute. Here's the video that was sent my way:

cool tattoo design but can't see image?

Made safron mac n cheese with bacon last night. It didn't get the safron flavor I was looking for. Anyone out there have good ideas/ways you've used safron?

I've been enjoying seeing the tattoos Ross Nagle has been doing with the "outline" around some of his tattoos which I think makes it really stand out also with the little amounts of color.

Working for me....let me know if anyone else is having difficulties...

It has come to the point where there are several areas where I need to get filler space tattooed for various locations on my body so though it would be fun to start a thread around creative filler tattoos. Though don't know if creative is the word as I'm sure several if not hundreds at some point have gotten and/or tattooed the design idea(s) at some point in tattooing history or present. Some open spaces are bigger than others so small objects can be tattooed but also want to do more than just the "normal" filler. Normal being stars and dots, waves, windbars, and what else? I woke up yesterday and decided I wanted to get tattooed so went to Blackheart and had Cody Miller tattoo some of the blank areas on one of my arms. For awhile now I've flipped through the magazine Craphound and some other clip art magazines, books, etc gathering ideas so told Cody a few then let him have at it with what he felt fit as well as what he wanted to do. I ended up getting a hourglass, cross, arrow, heart, eye, stars, dots, and he finished a tattoo he started some months back. So what do you have tattooed and/or want for filler tattoos? Is there a place you gather your ideas from? For tattooers, what's the most creative ideas you've tattooed for filler? Above I mentioned the magazine Craphound and thought I'd put some links up for those interested in these badass magazines. Each issue is a different theme of tons and tons of clip art that is hilarious and a hurricane of awesomeness. They tend to be pricey and hard to find but worth the purchase. The cheaper ones are second prints. So here's some I've found on Amazon for sale for those interested: Crap Hound Zine #4 Clowns, Devils, & Bait Crap Hound Zine #5 Hands, Hearts, & Eyes Crap Hound Zine #6 Death, Telephones, & Scissors Crap Hound Zine #7 Church & State Part One

So you won't do my forehead tattoo the next time I see you? So unfortunate....

Thanks for joining LST......see you in the forums.

Here are some funny tattoo pictures I recently found that are questionable forehead tattoos. It seems like I am seeing more and more of these lately with only a few good and majority of them being just ridiculous. Also here's a good article on a father-son forehead tattoo combo I found:

A new level of tattoo stupidity may have been reached. This falls under terrible tattoos, bad tattoos, what not to tattoo, tattoo regrets, funny tattoo pictures and many many more.....

Thanks for introducing yourself and joining the forum.

I have found a large portion of those actively in psychosis have a better sense of humor than the average person, haha. They seem to see true personalities clearer.

Welcome to LST. The Bay Area is very rich with tattoo shops and tattooers to get tattooed by plus we seem to get a lot of high quality traveling tattooers coming through pretty often to guest spot. You'll have to join us at our next LST Bay Area get together.....