HettyKet

Could you not just add on around the panther to make a full back piece? That would work really nicely. Bloody love a good panther.

You mean a Death's Head Hawmoth? They are cool little creatures, for sure. Plenty online about references to them in literature and art. 7 inches sounds pretty small for a stand alone chest piece unless you have a teeny, petite build or you'll be adding other elements around it.

Check this

@Tiresius getting tattooed has cured me of a lot of that too, like @Kurgana says. Well, helped a lot anyway. It's not really my cup of tea, but this guy does a lot of stuff along the lines of the style you like. He uses what many people here would probably consider 'enough' black but it's absolutely not traditional https://www.instagram.com/thedavidcote/

@rufio @ChrisvK ha. ik ook. Well, more or less.

Exactly. Is amazing stuff. No wonder we've been using it for healing for centuries eh ;) Belly (and the rest) are by this most excellent chap: https://www.instagram.com/willem666/

Oh, but I actually came over here because I'd linked to the thread and wanted to add my post pregnancy belly tattoo. Here

@polliwog I wish I'd seen this last year, have you had any of the areas tattooed now? I hope so. I found exposing my scars really very hard, even though I'd been 'out' with them for years. Same with my knackered belly skin. It'd been years since I'd done any damage but the urge did pop up now and again. I've had not a whiff of an urge since the tattoos. Nada. The actual tattooing, the process, seemed to really help somehow.

@Musashi yes, do go for it. I've made a good start on my belly and it looks so, so much better. The damage on the untattooed skin is less noticeable and I feel much better for it too. After two comedy-bellied pregnancies the skin was fucked. Crepey in places, stretch marks, weird stuff with the navel. I almost did't dare to get it out to see if it was tattoo-able but the women on the Ladies Thread helped me grow some ovaries and crack on with it. I think it was pretty hard work to tattoo, it'd probably have been quicker and easier if i'd been a bit heavier (like I am at the moment, the photo is older) but the colour saturation is even and consistent throughout. The textural differences are still apparent but much less obvious. This is a great thread and here's my belly

Oh, yes, welcome! Sorry. Have you got photos of any of your tattoos? We love those here.

Was part of the design drawn on, or was it all stencil? I've heard it said that sometimes skin reacts like this for some people when they're tattooed over sharpie.

It breaks the itch / inflammation / over reactive cycle. If it's that itchy and ice doesn't work you're almost certainly having a reaction. Most likely not to the ink mind, just to something in your environment (or several things even). Sensitive skin that's 'upset' for whatever reason will often react to things that would normally be fine. Skin that's already reacting is even more susceptible to reactions, and so on until it reaches hysteria.

If it's that bad I'd just take an antihistamine. I'm an itchy person (eczema, highly reactive skin, random dryness) and in my overly varied experience it's very rare for ice not to kill an itch. When it doesn't antihistamine always will.

Thank you @Devious6, very kind!

@Gingerninja That's sweet, but no. Just fancied stabbing stuff ;)

Certainly in the small dagger category here.

Got to love daggers. I've got a couple too, if we're having photos. The honeycomb one isn't settled yet, just a couple of weeks old. They wrap quit a bit.

Yeah, you need to go bigger than 7cm. Whatever size works best with the proportions of your body is what you need. On me that'd be maybe 15 or 20 cm, I think. But larger and smaller framed humans ave available. A sort of diagonal placement could be great on the ribs, less jarring with the flow of the body than a straight placement. Jarring can be good though, so, yeah.

Maybe it'd help things along, invigorate things a bit. Possibly. It could always be stopped again.

She's just perfect!

@marley mission love that!

Ooh look, there's this from this article. Titled: "Sweetheart-and-spiderweb" back piece popular with English officers during the Boer War. From Portland Sunday Oregonian, January 7, 1900, p. 16

I'm in the Netherlands too, finding a good artist shouldn't be a problem. Not at all. Where are you based? Not that anywhere is far from anywhere else here! But, no, that's not a good tattoo. Which element(s) of it do you like best? The theme could be pretty interesting. I'm sure you've seen Rihanna's Egyptian under-boob tattoo (was done by Valerie Vargas)

Tattoos can take a bit of getting used to! I was kind shocked after my first few, loved them but, well it's a big change and it can take a while to catch up. It's surely quite sore too. That's never pleasant. Try to relax and don't obsess. If you really, really hate after significant time has passed then there are plenty of options. You'll probably love it by the time it's healed

The classic girl head / web images were surely inspired by the circus sideshow spider ladies? Here. I don't know who drew the first flash though, or when. It's often not possible to track these things right back. But, you can see ladies / cherubs (not sure which) on web, although not enclosed by it, on the feet and ankles of Stella Grassman. All her work was done by her husband Deafy. Photo is from the 1920s. If you're after something a little less 'dark' than variations on the classic design often are, and are wanting to add flowers too, you might want to consider something along the lines of this lovely by Virginia Elwood. Ladyroses are a classic in themselves, of course, the combination of the two works really well, I think. That said. I prefer to hand over a bit of reference and let my tattooer get on with the drawing, rather than give too much specific direction about composition though. Am not a fan of giving other tattooers work as reference, but I can see why you want to. Have you had your consultation yet? Never had drawings in advance of the day myself either, BTW. He'd be happy to make changes if it wasn't 'right', for sure. Hasn't be necessary yet mind. In other news, this, is image absolutely dying to be turned into a tattoo. (from either Punch, or the London Charivari, November 1867) Edit - Agree that it's not a stupid question, @jadore. Not at all.