AverageJer

Aloha Monkey is about 20 minutes from home. My wife has gotten tattooed there. It's a fine shop with a great reputation. Maybe I go there someday. There are a lot of local shops I have interest in and I always have a great time at Levitcus.

Hmm, interesting suggestion. MI could be a nice place to drive to in the fall. Thanks.

Actually, Omaha and Chicago are pretty similar drives, hour wise. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hi all, my wife and I decided to reward ourselves for continuing to exist in our, and your, favorite way: getting tattoos. We've decided to target this fall because of time, money, and summer being a bad time to get tattoos considering that someone (usually our six year old daughter) always wants us to go swimming. Anyway, the question we have to ask ourselves is if we should take a long weekend and travel for tattoos or get one in our home town of Minneapolis, MN. If we decide to stay home we will go to our usual shop, Leviticus, where there are several artists we enjoy, or would enjoy, getting tattoos from. This option saves money on travel which could potentially lead to more , um... aggressive tattoos. The alternative is to travel but then we have to decide where to go. Long childless weekends are probably the only thing we like better than tattoos so this option is attractive for obvious reasons- although money concerns could compromise the tattoo. This doesn't actually bother me because it just saves more skin for future tattoos but it is at least worth mentioning. My question for LST is where should we go if we do decide to leave town? Mostly likely we would be driving so both coasts are out. Chicago is always fun and we would love to head back to Great Lakes Tattoo where we went while on a similar misadventure a few summer back. The criteria for other destinations would be that it would be a fun place to spend a few nights, that we could get good quality tattoos (traditional or Neo-traditional would work best), and that it is within striking distance of Minneapolis. I look forward to your suggestions.

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I live in Minneapolis and to honest no one ever notices or comments one way or another on my tattoos. I have very visible leg tattoos and it's a complete non issue. I sometimes will tell people I like their tattoos or ask them where they got them and generally people are polite but nobody every seems to want to talk about it which is weird to me because I mostly want to spend all of my time talking about tattoos, music, or NBA basketball.

I love thunderstorms too. Plenty of them here in Minnesota but maybe not as much as Florida. I've seen some tattoos on instagram with clouds and lightning around a lighthouse recently. My first thought when I read your post was that something like this would look best around another image such as a ship or a lighthouse- whatever you like. Some cool examples shared above. No you've got me thinking...

It's a fun thread- thanks for the stories. I have nothing comparable to contribute. We went to Brooklyn once so my wife could get a walk in tattoo at Three Kings where she ended up getting tattoed by Andy Perez. We both had a good time and in retrospect I wish I had gotten one too. The closest I can come is in another category- when I was in 10th grade (1988) I was offered a ticket to see the Replacements and I turned it down because I had practice for some school play I was in. I've always been into honoring commitments, still am, but I have always regretted this one time I didn't blow it off.

It probably depends on where you live. One barrier I had when getting my first tattoo was that where I live, Minneapolis, I was some what worried that I would just be another guy with a tattoo. It seems like more people than not under 40 (which I am not) have them. I'm over it of course and love my tattoos but I do have to accept that some people figure I'm just another hipster.

This isn't the conversation I expected to be witness to as I poured my morning coffee. Thanks for the, um.... images.

Middle ground, always middle ground. Have rules, make them flexible and enforce when necessary. The long threads can be too much at times which makes it nice to hop into an new discussion but whatever, both make up this site and the conversations seems mostly on topic and respectful. That being said, who wants to talk about cooking or their favorite Cure or Dylan song because I'm always up for talking about that...

I've done this three different ways - although all on a smaller scope than what you are talking about. I got a baseball sized thigh tattoo the first night in Las Vegas and then proceeded to walk for miles several days afterwards. This was only my second tattoo and was the roughest heal I've had. I't hard though to know if it would have been different if I'd of taken better care of it / been more thoughtful. Also, in the end it healed fine. I got a larger shin/calf tattoo in Chicago and flew home the next day. Walked all night with a bandage that night though. No problems. Last I got a (smallerish) tattoo in Tokyo and flew home that night. It was a long flight but I kept it wrapped in bandages aside from one cleaning session in a family (cleaner/private) bathroom right before the flight. Flying the same day worked well actually and is worth considering at least depending on how long the session is and flight availability. Happy traveling. I can't wait for another tattoo travel adventure- although it could be a while actually.

If they use tape on a bandage the tape glue (thankfully never on the tattoo) seems to linger for weeks. Probably in part due to being so close to an area I'm not really looking to scrub very hard.

I think that for many people tattoos occupy more "lifestyle" cultural space than "artistic" cultural space. Not sure if I am making sense but my guess is that that is what a comment like this is born from. Obviously your advice was good and the person will either take it or not.

A little soap, hot water, and try not to touch it too much. I do this minimalist approach 3-4 times daily the first few days and have had good luck. A little slimy goo never hurt anyone....

Nice story about becoming a professional and the humbling feelings that are a part of that. I had similar feelings when I became a "real" licensed social worker.

Good suggestions here already. Google old maps and sea drawings. Also, ask a good artist/shop what reference materials they have. I got some "wind" filler on my arm based on old French etchings and I think it turned out pretty good. Here's one photo I found just using google:

Good discussion. My six year old likes to go to our tattoo shop. They let her feed the fish and give her press ons. It's fun all around. She's pretty young so she will say she wants to wait until she is 30 to get a real tattoo. I guess we will see. My wife and I will talk to her more about this as she gets older and our plan is to start saving money for her (if she is interested in tattoos) and let that money grow. The longer she waits the better tattoo she will get. It will probably backfire though when she waits until she is 20 and gets a full back infinity sign. So it goes.

Interesting post. I had a similar reaction in that initially I thought "cool" but then was a little unsure. My guess is that in the end it won't matter much one way or the other.

Aquifer for a few days and the Aveno unscented.

Jessie Lawson at Leviticus in Minneapolis isn't strictly Japanese style but she's excellent and very cool to get tattooed by. I recommend at least talking to her about what you have in mind. Jessi Lawson | Leviticus Tattoo

I only have one dragon. This seems insufficient. I only have one parrot which will probably be enough for me but it sounds like it would not be enough for you. Get another parrot if you want.

This seems like great advice. If the situation is really that one of their artists is struggling to get back into the country they are probably stressed about it too. Talk to them and show compassion for their situation while also standing up for your rights/needs. Maybe you can work out a mutually agreed upon resolution. Something like: if the artist isn't back and able to schedule an appointment by (reasonable date in the future) you will get a refund and go to another shop or, perhaps, another artist at the same shop if that is an option you are open to.

Mostly I watch Timberwolves basketball- which is a horror story in it's own right. Seasons two and three of AHS were the best in my opinion. I also have been watching a lot of Bob's Burgers lately because it's my six year old daughters favorite show for some reason and I could watch Arrested Development on a continuous loop.

Welcome and have fun. I will be interested to hear if anyone has any thoughts on your 50 year old skin but my uneducated thought/hope is that it won't be a problem. My wife and I had a really nice experience at Great Lakes Tattoo and Chicago is always a good time. There is no doubt you can get a great tattoo at Aloha Monkey in Minnesota. I also love Leviticus Tattoo in Minneapolis which has multiple quality artists and a huge indoor Koi pond which is pretty cool. Go to wherever you believe you will have the most fun and get the tattoo you want. Have a great experience and then take advantage of all the wonderful food and drink options near these shops- hopefully you can at least get your wife on board for that part.