AverageJer

The only place I'm familiar w/is Omaha. My husband and I get ours at Big Brain in the Old Market part of Omaha. There's a ton of shops down there to browse thru, art and books and music, lots of places to eat and hang out outside. Henry Doorly Zoo is in Omaha and there are plenty of other things to do as well. I guess it depends on how far you want to travel? Chicago is probably closer to you.

interesting one today - took an old friend paddleboarding who i hadnt seen in a long while
he was quick to inform me that he had become pretty conservative and felt strongly and negatively about tattoos and people getting tattoos - we've known each other over 20 years so it was just a conversational blip in a great day of SUP and catching up but...it was a bummer in a way - a reminder i guess of how judgemental folks - even good folks - can be - meh

@jnin really? I've had opposite reaction when my legs are on show. I've had parents stop me and, say stuff like "do you mind stopping and showing my daughter/son your tattoos?" Or sometimes esp in places like shopping centres (you call them malls I believe in the states), where children are running around they stop and talk to me or just stare fascinated. Then parents come up and apologise, I just laugh and, say it's cool. Maybe it's because Belfast (where I get tattooed), really doesn't give a fuck about whether your tattooed or not? I've never had a parent move their child like that.
Have this lovely sweet story, when was on way to get the Giger portrait done, walked through shopping centre. And this 4yr old was running from parents and just stopped dead in front of me. Started at the Oni Mask, he was properly transfixed. His mother asked if I could follow them around all day, because it was the quietest he's ever been :D That made me smile.

@AverageJer, and @Dan This is why I enjoy been at the studios/shops because you can strike conversations with other people and artists about tattoos, I dont hang around those areas (I avoid loitering) but I do go in a few min early to shoot the shit around with the guys...
You are not strange I like the attention and reaction as well. This is why is funny to me :) I never once gave a bad attitude to those people asking me question and when I have it handy I pass business cards around to people who ask me about my specific work. Some like to conversate about it some just want to ask a question and keep going.
I just don't like the stereotyping and shit.... But I guess it comes with been Latino... :confused:

I have a lot of tattoos,both full sleeves on my arms,a neck piece,and most of my legs are tattooed,and I wear shorts and t-shirts 99% of the year.
I have seen a nice trend here for a while now,and that is I have received a lot of positive comments and compliments from non tattooed people of all types,both strangers and my work clients,pretty cool IMO.But then maybe I'm strange but I like the attention & reactions I get and see from people about my tattoos anyway !
and to AverageJer ,I agree,I like to talk to other tattooed people too,I feel like us tattooed people have a camaraderie of sorts IMO,some people are open to that and some apparently don't like it.

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 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.

Yeah the first one who tries to pull up my dress to see my other leg tattoos, will get politely told to fuck off and, a swift left hook (if they're lucky). Have had men joke asking if going all the way up, when say already have gone there, look on faces so funny. But that is not on, people lifting your sleeve. Tell them to fuck off and ask them what the fuck are they doing? Have done that in past, when a top shows some peeking underneath. Yeah, they pull their hand away quite quickly *smiles sweetly*
One comment I got last year made me laugh. This woman in fave pub, as was paying tab, commented on my tattoos. Other regulars (men) where there and, they asked to see what had got done. She said to me "You just get tattooed so men look at you. It's in fashion now and, you only do it to be cool." I burst out laughing and replied "Fuck off! Been getting tattooed for 16 years and, besides you know fuck all about me, so please, kindly fuck off!" That made me laugh... *shakes head*
Also heard of heavily tattooed people moaning at people looking at them and, coming up to them asking questions. Well simple solution, don't walk around with your tattoos on show! I've had loads come up to me to talk about them, if I have time, I'll talk to them. If not, I just say something like "Sorry, can't talk now but can answer quick question if you want."
Manners cost fuck all and that goes same for tattooed people as well. Have heard of some tattooed being rude to people who just asked where they got their work done. We get prejudiced enough, without doing ourselves no favours. Didn't mean this to be a rant! Will stop now.

Dude, it's not cool to out the kinkier aspects of our marriage to the entire internet...

I have 3 daughters (22 yrs old and 14-yr-old twins) and for Mother's Day today they gave me money towards my floral shoulder piece planned for August.
One of the twins is an artist herself and drew this bee for me, since bees are significant in my life, and she knew I was thinking about another bee tattoo (separate from the shoulder piece). She knew I wanted something bold, simple and stylized, and though this is pretty dang tribal, I'm impressed and like the design. She drew it up while killing time after a history test last week. I'll talk to my tattoo artist and decide the best place for it to go.

My friend Céline Aieta interviewed me about collecting tattoos and my photography project tied to that, when we both got tattooed by Guy Le Tatooer in Toulouse this March. She is running the new, all year 'round-blog for the Paris convention, Mondial Du Tatouage.
Have a look:
Joakim Mathiasson – Le tatouage intégral | Le Blog du Mondial du Tatouage
It's all in french, but try google translate and it converts it to english pretty well.
Was fun to be a part of this!

This. My brother got an owl tattoo towards the end of their trendiness, and just got a mandala. He isn't the kind of person to follow trends, I'm guessing he was just exposed to those images because they were trendy. Both are awesome tattoos and will age well. Trendy things don't always have to be bad.

I think people without tattoos might assume getting tattooed these days is simply a trend, as a way to explain its popularity, but I definitely am not a follower of trends and have simply come to a point in my life (middle age) where tattoos are more meaningful to me and I love the art of them, and the way I can express myself through them, plus I'm less concerned about public perception (getting employed, looking "professional", etc). Also it is easier now to find amazing artists than it used to be because of social media and the internet.
As for parenting, I'm realizing now, after having my own kids, what kinds of things affected my parents and how I was raised, and I'm cutting them a bit more slack! I can see how hard it is to relax and allow kids to become who they are, and how anxious you can get over your kids not making the same mistakes you did, etc. My mother and I will never be on the same page, but now I realize she can't help it, lol, and she's learned to just accept me for me.

i'm buckling my seatbelt for this thread...
ok - i'm ready...

Ha! Yes, that was a good one. Sometimes the pre-offended newbies are fun conversations. Like the piercer from the place in NJ who admitted her Yelp reviews were fake but was still upset about them. It took quite a while for those bannings to occur.
+1 to @AverageJer as well. It gets tiring to have these us-versus-them posts. If anyone has a suggestion, there is a thread about asking questions - go over there and suggest how you think this forum could be improved. <---And THIS is a reason this forum format is cool - how many times has someone asked a question, and someone else comes along with the link to a long thread with tons of good information??? This cannot happen if there is a new thread every other microsecond.
But like I'm a masochist or something, I'll still continue to step in and offer the bull-in-the-china-shop analogy until I get just as tired of it as the old timers who are mostly ignoring this thread because they're tired of saying it too. If you don't like the format....there are other forums.
This kind of stuff is the reason that many of the tattooers aren't contributing to this forum anymore, and unfortunately, back-and-forths like this are one of the reasons why, and new folks have no idea this is happening. And we are losing valuable resources and informative conversations.
Soooo, [bIG SARCASM ALERT BOYS AND GIRLS]I guess makes me a mod-wanna-be.
- - - Updated - - -
And @polliwog - you've built up street cred with your thoughtfulness and interesting conversation. Start threads when you want. NOT BECAUSE I'M BEING ALL MOD_WANNA_BE :)

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...

Let's all take a deep breath and look at this picture of a sparrow drinking nectar from a cherry blossom: It's A Damn Good Time To Be A Sparrow In Japan
(unless you have a phobia of birds, I guess)

All right, you guys are awesome as always, @Graeme, @polliwog, @marley mission, @RoryQ, @AverageJer, @BrianH and @Breakme!
Sounds like I won't die ;-) Just keep moving, not too much, dresses or loose pants, don't plan big exciting things for the morning after, and have a great time!
My trip started out as, "Fly out for a tattoo, spend a couple days with Mom." Now it's turned into, "Mom and I fly in and have a nice vacation in SF and I happen to be blasting down to SJ to get a tattoo while I am there." !
Yes, planning on getting the tattoo on a Wednesday and flying back on Friday, so we'll probably fly there the Saturday before. This would be a perfect situation to use Saniderm, but since I've never tried it before, I don't want to start with this one.

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.

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.

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.

You don't have to have the artistic skill as the one receiving the tattoo, that's the amazing thing about tattoos! Have you shown this picture to the artist who you're interested in? I'm sure they can come up with some good ideas.
You seem to have an eye for traditional, cltattooing gave a great list.

Hello! I'm tattoo artist from Ukraine. I made tattoos about 2,5 years.
My favorite styles of traditional and neotraditional..:)








and my first tattoo work

I will be glad to new acquaintances:D

Thank you. "Humble" is definitely the word. We have a lot of clients that are social workers; that's a whole different type of intensity. That must have been really eye opening to handle your first case.