9Years

YES! Was this at Eli's a few weekends ago? If so, I was there too. Pallbearer rules.

@bobo9175 Yes, I had serious "river-bed" wrinkles and lines on mine after removing the dressing. It went away after some hours. No biggie.

Yes, definitely waaay too many tattoos. Living beings should never be marked by the ravages of time, their environment, circumstance or human intervention! Won't somebody PLEASE think of The Children!

I wish I was going...looks pretty outstanding!

Hi and Welcome! I don't think handwriting is inherently masculine or feminine and ultimately you should get what you want. However, My personal opinion is that with a reaper that big, you're already stating pretty clearly what the text is trying to. Let us know how it turns out!

Ha ha, excellent! @KBeee and I were just discussing this as a full body suit idea: you could have a whole suit of battles but stage it like a bracketed elimination tournament....eagle VS snake on the arm, Panther VS Dragon on the leg etc etc etc with the winners of each battle reoccurring in more prominent spots, culminating in a no holds barred battle royal center stage (on the back, of course) with the best of the best from several bouts.... TOTAL WAR!!!!111!!!

Got a consultation with El Monga Monday at Tattoo City. Go back the next Monday to get the work done. STOKED. Not sure how it's going to play out exactly yet...I plan on tossing out the following and seeing what sticks: SKULL CANDLE WINGS LIGHTENING BOLTS

Yeah, @Cork I hate to say it, but I agree with what @Killercook76 said. In my limited experience (healed 2 tattoo sessions this way now) the adhesive can be pretty tacky when you're removing the dressing. It definitely has some pull. If I were in your shoes I would keep the 'derm on as long as possible to make sure the scabs are ready to flake off before removing. Good luck!

First Tattoo Story: I was 19. My college room-mate and friend-to-this-day from the Yukon had just gotten a tattoo of Yoda on his upper arm after a bunch of us put up $20 each and dared him to do it. It was/still is pretty killer. After several weeks of us enduring his "hey guys, check it out, I'm drinking for two" jokes, we were sitting around the house one day. He was, as usual, admiring his new companion when he asked: "Hey man, if you were to get an impulsive tattoo, what would you get?". I hadn't really thought about it much, but as I was pondering my eyes rested on the massive pirate flag hanging in our living room. "I would totally do a skull and bones!" I said, to which he replied "......me too". Our third roommate came into the room around this time and asked us what was going on. We filled her in and she was way into the idea too. We made a blood-pact (or high-fived or something, it was a long time ago) and set out for the local shop. We got to the shop right before closing. It was a Sunday night and only one artist was still there (it was a smaller shop). We told him we all wanted tattoos together. He asked what do you want? We all said "Skull and Bones". He was quiet for a minute and said, "well I'm about to lock up, but since you want something cool let me close down the shop and let's do it...if you woulda said something lame I woulda told you to come back later!". So he locked up and we got tattoos! I went first and got a pretty straight forward skull n bones on my shoulder. Yukon went second and got a goofy looking skull and bones missing some teef on his biceps (his request: "can you make it look, y'know, shittier?"). Our third roomie got a mechanical/riveted skull n bones on the back of her neck. Pretty sure she was/is tougher than the rest of us! While the other two were going, I went across the lot to the pub and ordered a bunch of food for everyone and brought it back to the shop. After we were all wrapped up and giddy we had a meal with our tattooer, bullshitted for a bit then went home. All in all, it was pretty much the best thing ever. Man, I love that tattoo and those people! So I guess my first tattoo was a bro-tatty? Ha! What do you call it when one of your bros is a lady? Lessons learned that day: 1) Tattoos are fun. The experience is a huge part of it. 2) Trying to cram literal meaning in tattoos is for the birds. Or at least not for me. SKULL N BONES now reminds me of great times and great people. And Fun (remember fun?). 3) Impulsive tattoos are really really great. Don't let anyone tell you different. Thanks for listening...

Man....this thread is a total drool-fest lately. REALLY makes me want to start a big ol' backpiece like yesterday.

Here's my opinion: 1) It's been stated pretty explicitly that cost is not something to be discussed publicly here. If you're unsure, check out some other shops in your area and get a feel for what the hourly rates are. 2) Take the quote out: it's on the middle of your back (if I'm interpreting your sketch correctly) which you WILL regret later if you get into the whole tattoo-thing long term. That is prime real-estate. Also, the images you've chosen probably represent what you are trying to say anyway and the words will ultimately fall-flat in time (my opinion). For what it's worth, I agree with the author of this article regarding text on the body (you might not!): The Letter of the Law: Laws for Lettering and Tattoos | Occult Vibrations 2) I think both of the images could be stronger if placed elsewhere. I would put one on each upper arm. I think the kite-girl could be really cool in the right artist's hands, but I don't think the image is big enough to be a side-piece. Again, that's prime real-estate if you decide to get something larger in the long term. 3) Instead of feathers, why not something like a phoenix or bird-of-paradise or peacock? I think those animals tend to make for a stronger image. Good luck!

@embers GODDAMN!! I stood and stared by the darkhorse/blackheart booth at the SFO convention for a looong time watching part of this thing go down. So cool to see the finished product. That is one righteous, badass snake!

Got this super-awesome psychedelic-multi-eyed-alien-tiger colored in and finished up yesterday (black is healed). Flash and Tattoo by Theo Mindell at Spider Murphy's. Pretty stoked on this lil' guy!! You can check the pretty colors on his instagram: Instagram Or check out a crappy-hotel-room shot attached! What's that saying someone said around here about Tattoos being tough to photo because there ain't no lens that can capture the magic? Totally true in my experience....

I'll echo the others: really cool video! Thanks for sharing!

Goddam...

@MadeIndelible Ah, cool! Really looking forward to the release of this!

@MadeIndelible @Shaun1105 Where/how did you watch it?

Finishing up some a piece with Theo Mindell at Spider Murphy's tomorrow...I'll post up in the lowdown later. Just laid my money on the barrel-head at Tattoo City for an all-day El Monga bonanza when he comes to guest in Feb/March. We're going to finish out my shin/lower leg, but haven't finalized the design yet. Can't wait!

I used the 'derm to heal a tattoo on my forearm right before xmas. It was just the outline/shading and I plan to use it again to heal the color I'll be getting tomorrow. I really loved the 'fire-and-forget' approach it allowed! I travel a lot for work and it was nice to not have to pack saran-wrap and medical tape (I've had the best luck when I re-wrap for a few days). The tattoo healed up really nicely with a very minimal 'sun-burn' style flake. As other have mentioned, although the heal was easy and light, it seemed like it took a few days longer than normal to heal completely. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and advice.

Man, I'm a little late to the party, but here you go anyway. Some of it might be from 2012? I can't keep up...what year is it? In no particular order: Windhand - Soma Kadavar - Abra Kadavar Goat - World Music Fuzz - S/T The Shrine - Primitive Blast Lee Fields and The Expressions - Faithful Man Eagle Twin - Feather Tipped the Serpents Scale Everything else I kept coming back to is waaaay old...

Your post is, in the words of Nathan Explosion, brutal. On so many levels.... Spambots be like:

Hi Dano! I've been tattooed by Uncle Allan at their new spot in Berlin and he is great! You can see some progress pics in my gallery if you're interested - we've got one more session to go for details/touch-up. I don't think he makes it state-side too often, but I would highly recommend the trip to Berlin to visit him if you can swing it. Conspiracy Inc. is a really cool private studio set-up, Allan and Amalie are totally awesome and Berlin is a great city for hanging out and wandering around. Every time I've gone the whole experience has been a total blast! Truth be told, I'm kind of dreading my final session because it means I won't be going back for awhile... As always, the best thing to do is just reach out and contact the shop. Send them an email and see what comes back! Good luck!

I don't respond "But, it's MY toilet!" when the professional (plumber, obviously) I have hired for the job gives me a suggestion based on his/her hard-earned experience....I might ask why they think that is the better plan, but ultimately that's why I'm paying them for the job: to make sure it gets done right.

First, I think there's a lot of truth in @JAllen and @10PieceNuggets suggestions. But, if you do find someone's work appealing that's out of town, why not travel? You might have to save up a little longer for the tattoo you really want, but isn't that part of the deal anyway? It's been my experience that you can usually get places on-the-cheap if you are smart about it and plan ahead. Most places are more accessible than you think... Here's a 'for-instance' for you: you live in LA which is EASY striking distance from San Diego and San Francisco/Oakland/Berkely/San Jose. LA to the Bay is 6ish hours, depending on where you're going/coming from. LA to San Diego is even easier. Between those three major metropolitan areas, it would be surprising if you couldn't find an artist to give you a killer tattoo in the style you want. Worst case scenario (going to SF or Oakland), you could leave early, be there in time for an early afternoon session, get a cheap hotel and be back in time for lunch the next day...not even a weekend trip! Hell, if you check around for flights and don't plan your trip during a major holiday, the entire west-coast can be accessible for a few hundred bucks. An early flight in and a late flight back makes a day trip for places like Portland, Seattle, anywhere in Arizona, Nevada etc etc etc. Hope that helps!

Man, I love me some Krampus. Coolest Christmas character ever. I had a bet with a friend of mine last year and the terms were for a Krampus tattoo...still haven't collected on that. I might send one of those sweaters to him as a reminder! Check out Herb Auerbach's really great Krampuses (Krampii?)/Krampus-inspired devil-heads. All from his instagram. I'm pretty crappy at the whole computer thing, so you'll have to follow the links. Instagram Instagram Instagram