Synesthesia

This is my first (and not last!) skull, I guess it's traditional enough to fit in here. By Brian Via at Golden Ages. This was taken by him as soon as we were done, I really need to get some healed pics sometime.

Could be cool in all black and gray realism (sometimes small pieces of color just make it look unfinished). I love that statuesque look. Who's the artist?

I wouldn't get it colored or with UV ink, it's a decent black tattoo as it is. I think at that size it would look muddled with color, which is probably why he didn't want to (and I'm guessing you didn't want to go bigger). Your options for detail expand exponentially the bigger a tattoo gets. As for UV ink, I wouldn't trust that shit in my body. Who knows what long term effects that might have. If you want to gamble, that's on you...but I will be getting no UV tattoos.

Not my tattoo, just something I found through googling. I personally don't really like word tattoos, I think images are a lot stronger and you could evoke the same feelings in a less obvious way. But it's your choice.

Major dick. So sick of someone being decent at drawing and thinking tattoos are just drawing on skin, there's so much more to it than close-minded brats like this guy could even begin to understand. Just remember one of my favorite tattoo phrases: people get the tattoos they deserve.

I don't really do separate washes, I just kind of keep going until it's not slippery anymore. Can't imagine you could do much (within reason) on the first wash that would actually cause damage.

A near and dear tattooer once told me the first wash should begin by sticking the afflicted area under water as hot as you can stand it for a minute or two, supposedly opens the pores to get more of the slimy gunk out. Then you scrub until it's not slippery to the touch anymore. Otherwise all that slimy stuff hardens into nasty yellowish scabs. I wasn't diligent enough with my lower leg tattoos and I guess all the blood pressure from standing pushed out gunk faster than I could wash it, for a while at the beginning they looked really crusty and nasty. That first hot water rinse hurts like hell but I feel way more clean and refreshed after it (possibly a placebo, but whatever).

Gender makes no difference in tattoos. :)

That's a lot of words for a small space, and a picture speaks 1000. You could interpret them creatively into an image. I have no idea what style of tattoo you're looking for, but the first thing that came to mind with those lyrics is a boat at sunrise, you could maybe have the band's name or an abbreviation carved into the side of the boat. I favor traditional style images so this is sort of like what I'm imagining:

^ Most of your cover-up is under the shadowy part of his shield, which is indeed black. In the case of this tattoo, she DEFINITELY needs a lot of black, please don't try to tell this guy it can be covered with color.

I think this could easily be hidden by something with heavy black, and with a couple laser sessions, that opens up her options further.

I had my first experience with a rotary about a week ago. Tough to really compare because this was overall my most painful tattoo to date and done on sensitive skin, so it hurt like fuck no matter what. I did enjoy the quiet though, made it easier to focus on the shop noise, which is part of what distracts me from the pain.

I usually get a little bit of a "I'm different forever!!!" kind of panic after tattoos, which usually turns into a little bit of the blues. The last couple I've gotten have been more of a "I'm different and more awesome forever" excitement. Not sure what the change has been, but I've overall been in a better frame of mind lately and I think it's trickling down to my tattoo experiences. I used to go through a little mourning period for my skin post tattoo, now I just jump straight to the planning stage for my next one. :D

Got my inner bicep area done yesterday and things are rough the next day. Massive bruise all down my tricep, red all over (my brown skull looks pink!), and my upper arm is almost twice the size of my other arm. I have really sensitive skin, so I kind of expected the worst and I'm getting it. I would be concerned if my artist hadn't warned me about how ugly this area can be to heal.

I found it really painful to stand/walk after my calf tattoos. But it only hurt for a couple seconds, after I was up and moving, I didn't have any pain. Something about the blood rushing to that area, it feels like a horrible cramp. Elevating and icing it as much as possible definitely helps with the swelling.

Another one by Brian Via, picked a drawing off his wall of stuff he wanted to do. Inner bicep and it hurt like hell, especially the stuff by the top near my armpit. So happy with it though.

I have a mantra of sorts that I repeat in my head during the tough spots: "Pain is just intense physical sensation." Helps remind my brain I'm not actually in danger and puts everything in perspective. So far, I've only hit a couple really bad spots, most of it was manageable. We'll see how effective it is when I finally hit the notoriously bad spots. :D I've also found lining is like 10 times worse than shading, so sometimes just thinking "Soon we'll be doing the shading and it's smooth sailing from there..." is motivational.

By Brian Via, about 4 hours. Definitely my easiest tattoo thus far, and yet also somehow my most bad ass. :D

Well this is my first time logging on in a while. I've been going through some emotional stuff and needed to take a good long break from tattooing to get things straight again. I have an appointment coming up this Friday to get back into the game with a bang...starting my "sleeve." This is my first above the knee tattoo, and my first traditional tattoo. It's scary, but weirdly liberating to start making progress on more visible stuff (forearms someday!). I'm getting an eagle and rose by Brian Via at Golden Ages. https://www.facebook.com/goldenagestattoo#!/media/set/?set=a.486756928091524.1073741827.486086374825246&type=3

So I'm not exactly the most socially adept person even in the best circumstances, and certainly not when it comes to tattoos or delicate scenarios...looking for feedback on this idea.

I was working on a leg sleeve with Jason Reeder, when he unexpectedly passed away before its completion. Because he's the only guy I ever had in mind to do it for me (and I had so many more things I wanted him to do for me), I feel like it would be disrespectful to have someone else finish it, so I'm stopping it where it is. Maybe someday I'll have it finished, but for now, it's just too hard to think of anyone else working on what I considered "his," I gave him a lot of freedom with it. I'm pretty bummed about the whole thing and have taken myself out of the tattoo game for a while so I can get my head straight. The saddest thing about all this is Jason's wife recently started piercing at the same shop he worked in, and I always intended on seeing her to get some work done also. I still would someday when I'm in a better state of mind, and part of me thinks it might be a nice gesture to be like "Hey, Jason did this for me, I thought you might like to see it in person" and show her my tattoos. He was really proud of what he had done for me and talked about how his wife thought it was a great project too. I think it might bring her some joy to see his work in person and know how much I appreciated what he had done for me. But I also don't know this woman at all, and I'm afraid it might come off creepy at best and painful at worst. Honestly, I want a little bit of closure myself and I'm worried this is a selfish way to go about it.

:(

I never said the shop or artist was bad (could have been better, but I picked what I picked). But the guy barely spoke to me before, during, or after my tattoo. I'm pretty sure the only things he said to me when I sat down in the chair were "Keep your leg like this" and "Check it out" when he was done. And it's not that he doesn't talk while he works...he talked to everyone else in the shop but me. He was laughing and joking with every other artist and client in there, but just seemed to ignore me. I'm sure they all were judging me for being an 18 year old girl getting a foot tattoo, but that doesn't mean he should get to be a dick without even talking to me first.

I've been fortunate enough to have pretty good experiences with all tattooers/piercers I've been to. The only time I felt uncomfortable was during my first tattoo. It was only about 20 minutes, but the guy I went to didn't say anything to me during the entire procedure and I just felt like he was rushing through it all. I made an appointment with him, but he treated the whole thing like a walk-in...quick and rushed stencil, just powered through the tattoo. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had more tattoo experience, but I was nervous enough getting my first one, and then the stuff he was doing made me feel like I was annoying him or doing something wrong. It was a weird experience.

My dog always wants to lick my fresh tattoos, I spend most of my healing time just shooing him away.

I'm not heavily tattooed at all, but I do have more "coverage" than most people I know who might just have a few little wrist or ankle tattoos. Plus I've been getting most of my work done since last winter and it's still not really warm enough to wear shorts and expose most of it. So I haven't had too many stares, but my co-workers are always interested in my progress and asking to see anything new. It doesn't bother me at all (granted, I don't have anything highly visible and I'm not covered...yet :) ). I like looking at and discussing tattoos, even if they aren't so great, so it usually sparks a conversation with people when they see mine. I like the thought of someone seeing my tattoos and maybe getting inspired or having their perceptions changed of what a tattoo can be, so many people were amazed my artist drew my tattoos and didn't just print them off the internet...that's kind of sad that they think tattoos can only be traced existing designs. It's not necessarily my duty to educate anyone and I'm sure there comes a point when it's annoying, but I don't mind it at this point and I hope maybe I can do my small part to help out the tattoo industry.

I agree lower leg tattoos bring swolleness and pain, but sitting at home with them would be overkill, IMO. Save those sick days for when you want to go surfing on the sly, or drinking beer.

I should clarify my job gives a ton of PTO and I do not surf/drink beer, so I pretty much only use all those hours for tattoos. ;)

if it gets the slightest bit dry, I have to walk to my toes, so it doesn't stretch out the skin

Ha, I thought I was the only one who did that. When I do finally get moving, that's the only way I can walk, putting my foot all the way down creates a whole new world of pain.

Sooo, wait a sec, just how long does this agony stage with the lower leg last? A day? A week? Weeks? What are we talkin' here?

For me personally, I was mostly pain free by about day 5. For the first 2 or 3 days, every time you go to stand up, it feels like your leg has the worst bruise imaginable and someone is squeezing it as tight as they possibly can. My artist warned me this would happen when we did my first lower leg one, but I didn't really know what he meant. So I kind of hopped out of bed the next morning and was instantly crippled by the pain and had to sit down again. For those first couple days, it takes me a good few minutes to stand up and get moving and then I'm limping everywhere. It seems to be the longer your leg stays elevated, the worse it gets when you do stand up...but if you don't elevate your leg, it swells up like a balloon. Kind of a lose-lose outcome.

I usually only give myself about a day to recover and head back to work when I'm still in the hobbling stages. Luckily my job is mostly sitting, so I can tough it out. I wouldn't dream of going back to work so soon on a job that's primarily standing...

^ The whole lower leg is agony. I'm doing a sort of leg sleeve thing from the knee down, and I still need to fill in two little areas: the shin and the back of the calf. I'm actually dreading the calf a lot more. I am SO looking forward to getting work done above the knees for a change...

Speaking of which, finally pain free on my lower leg tattoo. Now just super itchy and skin is flaking off left and right. :eek: