iowagirl

I can't imagine they'd spread *that* much. Those of us with large tattooed areas would end up looking ridiculous covered in undecipherable weirdness if the ink spread that much.

Spend some time at the art center in Preschool. Those kids will be in awe of your abilities, I promise! Ha!

those are gorgeous. talent like that boggles my mind.

Husband went back to get more work done Wednesday. His artist is now transitioning to doing mainly nipple tattoos in a medical center for breast cancer survivors. He will not be in the shop full time now, it will be more a part time (sounded *very* part time) side job, so my husband was frantic, wondering how he'd get his leg finished and what he would do for continued work in other areas and the artist was like Nah, now I just get to pick and choose what I want to do-and I want to do this, so you'll never have a problem getting in to see me! The dragon will go on the calf and he's going to run it over the front of his leg, like his knee and bottom of his thigh there...I burst out laughing when he came home and told me that.

@oboogie that's gorgeous! I did two hours on each of my feet in one visit and F*** me running that was awful. I wasn't aware it was possible for feet to swell like that. It was like a Friday, and then I went back to work Monday. Chasing after preschoolers..hobbling. Not one of my smarter moments. (and lucky me-it was a cover up and it's poking thru---so now guess who gets to do a removal session and get it redone?) Are you doing something similar on your other foot?

If you're having feelings already wondering if you'll regret it, then you need to wait. You've got years to decide for sure what you want, if anything. If you're worried about family or whomever, then until you can be comfortable in your own skin and with yourself, the again, I would wait.

Dan Dan Dan Dan Skittles and M&M's mixed in a bag? That hurts my head and my heart so much.

Husband's next is the end of the month. Then we both go back the beginning of May---tho I have no clue what I'm having done. My brother is going to see if he can get an appointment w/another artist there that same day so we can all be there at the same time. Which, I gotta say, I'm totally stoked about-I get to see him so rarely and he makes me so happy. Three crazy artists and three crazy clients...they'll either love us more or they'll ask us to never come together again.

@Devious6 @Gingerninja thanks! My daughter practices as well-she's 13, he's going to be 10. Both of them will be testing for their temporary black belts this June. She's been practicing for a bit longer than my son, but they've both taken time out, she for theater and cross country (her first year, this year, for XC and she lettered in it, and she's only in 7th grade!), and he for football. She's been 1st permanent brown for about a year and he got his a few months ago, so they still come to test but they just help out. It's pretty great. Our instructor started 14+ years ago. Her sons were in it and she thought it would be something great to do w/them..There's three of us parents there w/our kids..well, no, I take that back, four now b/c we had a mom start last month. I'll test for my temporary black next February, and then my 1st Dan I'm guessing December '18. And then we'll see how far I can make it after that! Those Disney parks...I swear I was about ready to cry every time we first got inside a new one...felt like a little kid and just overwhelmed by the magic of it all. Loved it. And some of those rides kicked ass.

Promoted to 2nd Permanent Brown tonight! Learned my new form, Palgwe 6, taught to me by my son, tho he had to do pushups b/c *I* knew the definition of Palgwe and he didn't haha. Didn't break my boards on the first try..second try...third try..frustrating b/c I've never *not* broke first try on a palm strike. Managed to break the two boards on my jump reverse kick-on the fifth try argh! So glad that doesn't count against us at test. Epcot is SO much fun--hands down our favorite park there.

@Devious6 Thanks! We're having a blizzard now, that started a couple hours earlier than predicted so not sure if we'll still have test tonight or not. Haven't heard anything yet so hopefully it won't be rescheduled. Disney rocks! My parents took the four of us last March over spring break and it was SO DAMN FUN!

sweet jesus that's awesome

Testing for my 2nd permanent brown belt in TKD tomorrow. My kids are both done now w/the tests in our dojang under our instructor and will be testing in June for their temporary black belts w/Grand Master Jung. I will test for mine next February. We were able to attend our instructor's test this past December when she tested and achieved 6th Dan, and then a couple weeks ago we attended the temporary black belt test of one of our students, and he promoted Monday so that was exciting. His son will be testing with my kids in June.

If you have someone in mind, maybe stop by the shop and talk to them, bring those pictures along for reference. When we're in getting work done people stop by all the time to ask, and the artists will talk to them for a minute, look at reference material, check out the spot they're wanting to have it done and guesstimate "Ohh around 3-4, four hour sessions give or take" or whatever, and the shop charges 120/hour so then you just go from there.

Have an appt set up for the beginning of May for...something. No clue what yet exactly. Currently we're discussing continuing the wind on the left, water on the right, so I'm thinking a sea turtle above my right knee or a bee or dragonfly for the wind side above my left knee.

Holy shit I can't imagine waiting that long to get a session. One place in Omaha I called when I was looking for a new place opens their artists books like three times a year- and that's the only time you can make the appt. You have to wait outside in line and when they open the door, you get in and get what you can. We would've had to drive 2.5 hours each way, get a hotel, and take a day off work. They won't do appts over email or phone, in person only. Sooo we went elsewhere. The guy I go to is the hardest to get with in the shop but so worth it. Depending on how our schedules mesh up it's 2-4 months, so they let us make a couple two or three visits out at a time. My husbands artist is now working at becoming the second nipple/areola tattoo artist in the Midwest to specifically work w/breast cancer patients, so that will become his full time gig and the shop will only be part time, so he'll be really hard to get in to now.

Went last night to have a peony recolored. It was done by a different artist a few years ago and everything else sort of grew up around it. Now it feels more like a part of the whole shebang and I love the purple. Husband had more work done on his tiger. We were supposed to go before Christmas and ended up w/another blizzard so we had to reschedule..just like last winter argh! Also spent some discussion time w/my artist about continuing the wind/water theme elsewhere so I'm kinda excited about that.

So interesting, thanks everyone! Next time we head down there (recoloring my peony on my upper arm so it flows better w/my big piece) I'm going to talk w/my artist about fixing my feet, and what can be done w/my ankles. My dragon is just a flash dragon, no attachment there..but my Tigger..I dunno if I could mess w/him. Buuut then I don't know how things will work w/the plan I have in my head for future pieces.

Oh boy isn't that such an awesome feeling? When you can finally look at your piece and just be like ahhhh yeah this is fucking awesome! I want to wear strapless tops all the time and walk around w/my arms out so the undersides are visible. I feel complete now w/the underside done there. I like to look down and not see bare skin there.

Our shop has a $200 down payment, and we just leave it there b/c we keep going back, so it stays on the books so we don't have to mess w/it each time we call for an appointment. My husband's new artist is right next to mine, so that was nice last time. The other times we've been tattooed "together" he's been a lot farther away. When I initially contacted them about an appointment, I emailed and got the details on how they handle them w/people who live a ways away before calling. They asked for pictures to be emailed first, so they could look and see what ideas I had and pictures of the area, since it was for a cover up. The idea for the cover up actually came from a poster here, who I don't think posts anymore. I sent them all the pictures, told them the idea and what I like, and asked who they thought would be the best fit. Worked out great b/c the artist they suggested is the one I liked the best off the website portfolios. He is booked around 3 months out, so that's been hard at times but holy hannah it's so worth it. And it started as a "cover up and maybe can you incorporate this peony I already have into it" to..ummm can you extend it to go around my frog? to, wellll maybe can you just extend it across my back and down the other arm? ha. The general idea came from here--Japanese/water. I asked for another peony and could it be darker shades of purple and then pretty much the entire thing has been whatever he feels like doing, colors too. That "laid back" thing is something I started working on from comments here, and it's been *incredible*. "listen to your artist" "trust your artist" yeah. it's amazing what you can get when you take that to heart.

Thanks for the tip! We still have Ivory so I'm ok for a while. Just used it a couple times now and wow the difference is amazing-it feels like it should've felt last Friday. Finally. Whew. Will be interested to see how the birds eye looks once all the flaking is done. I'm worried some of the color came out but can't tell for sure yet.

OMeffingG this tattoo is thwarting me. I don't know that I've had this hard a heal since starting this method. I thought I maybe had too much cocoa butter on it or that I was reacting to the cocoa butter-even tho I've been using that for the last 5 years but ok..so i quit using it and thought I'd let it dry. That didn't help. It ended up cracking in two spots, not horribly, but still. So tonight I looked at the ingredients in the "free" soap I am using this time. Different than the Ivory we've been using for the last 5 years. So I wondered if I was sensitive to something in it, even if it's a "free of everything soap", who knows? Was telling husband and he said the first few days every time he washed w/it he got immediately itchier than crazy. I put some coconut oil on it this morning b/c where it cracked hurt. So, getting ready for bed just now, I used the Ivory. We'll see. It feels better already. Before, it felt "prickly" all the time, like that piercing stabbing pain toward the end of the tattoo when everything's raw. My poor bird. Everybody's been freaking out to see him and a peeling/not wanting to heal tattoo just isn't as purty to admire.

Thanks for the reply-I just was curious is all, wondering if the same equipment can be used for different things. And after having experienced lasers on my face, for instance if that same piece of equipment was used to break up tattoo ink w/out harming the skin..it's just fascinating the things we can do now. Or maybe that's my dorky side.

Congrats on the weight loss! It's hard.

You guys are way tougher'n me. Mine's not going down my back any farther than it is..I'm kinda bummed about that but fuck me running I don't know that I could deal w/it for four hours.