sarahmohawk

I am pro nipple obliteration. I have a blank front at the moment but am trying to brainstorm up the best way to do a full front piece that works for women. This is my favourite. Full front in progress by Rafel Delalande. RIP nipples.

I think this is the right place to post this thought. Someone I know got into a tattoo apprenticeship at a local shop. Very nice exteriors and they definitely benefit from the street exposure, some of the tattooers are alright but not hugely exciting that I would prefer their work over others. The apprentice in question has only one palm sized tattoo in a hidden spot, and 100% sure they decided to tattoo because 'I can draw and I want money so I guess I'll just do this'. No experience drawing flash or knowledge of tattoo history et cetera. To get to the point this makes me lose all respect for that tattoo shop. Pumping out lots of apprentices who clearly didn't start with 100% love and dedication to the craft, well, why would I want to trust my own skin to that kind of organisation? Bad karma all around. That's my pet peeve.

When I got the full left side of my calf done in a 3hr session 2 years ago I found I coped much better than a palm sized one that I recently got on the right side in the same place. I think my most recent tattoos are always the most painful because the more I get, the more blasé I am about it and forget that it's something that hurts me until we've actually started. Whereas back in the day I aimed to be mentally prepared.

Think this one deserves to be posted here. Not my favourite style but the ass/boob conversion is fantastic. :P Best back winner from the 2015 NZ Tattoo & art festival by Matt Jordan (not on me of course!).

Agree that it looks awesome and as far as tattoo styles go it's bold and solid. Definitely don't go with your family's opinions, since their opinions will be skewed on seeing you change in general and how they feel about that, rather that the aesthetics of it.

My skin still has a slight peeling effect on the back on the thigh - from a tattoo I got on the 30th June. I think it's just a problematic area because the same person tattooed my calf a week later and it's healed well. Pretty weird.

Research the tattooer you like and ask them to do a subject matter you know they like. As others have said this might not be the most prominent thing in the portfolio but on instagram a lot of tattooers do point out what they like, and want to do more of. When I'm not getting flash I usually like to have a lot of control over how it's going to look (usually in the terms of a small sketch that the artist can adapt to their style) but I still target an artist that I know is going to love the idea more than any other tattooer I could have pitched it to. Because if they dig it, you're going to get a much better and more lively end product.

As a female I always show my tattoos - barring a couple of occasions. Too cold, parents around, or job interview. Otherwise, if I was asked to cover up, I'd probably not belong there in the first place anyway. I've even had compliments from people in a rest home. I guess I would feel differently if I were based somewhere tattoos are more frowned upon. Though it's also kind of funny how butthurt people can get about such a trivial thing.. I think I don't get that many judgemental reactions based upon clothes, hair, age etc as well. Quite a low perceived 'civic responsibility' haha. Otherwise known as a lost cause. :P

Like a few others, my first tattoo was a big forearm piece. At the time I'd done my research, I knew what artist I wanted and sketched out vaguely how I wanted the design to look. I did consider that placing my first tattoo in a conspicuous place might be a bad idea..but coming from a (non-tattoo) art background, I thought that I wouldn't compromise on a canvas that would suit the work better, and it was a perfect fit on the forearm in my mind, so I went with it. I didn't consider a few things I would think about now, like how the tattoo would look with sleeves but the artist really nailed the placement. I think out of my 7 current tattoos the forearm one is the one that's really part of my identity. Big confidence booster when I first got it. Whenever possible I'd be rolling up my sleeves...which is now just an ingrained habit from doing it for so long. Haha. So yeah, I guess it was life changing for me. In some ways, I'm sure my family would have preferred if I started off with a less visible piece, so that they could ease into the idea of it. Workplace has never been an issue for me, though it's probably since I work in a relatively 'young' field in my office job - and inner city.

Got the back of my thigh done a week ago and inside calf done today. I usually get tattoos timed pretty far apart..having the sunburn feeling on one leg and itch on the other is interesting. So far back of thigh bled a lot more in the first 3hrs, and got a nice yellow bruise halo over the weekend. I guess I can compare the progress.

Nice! Even runs ok on my crappy android. :) Should be awesome for travelling. The address for Sacred Tattoo in Auckland NZ is an old address, they moved to a new studio a while ago. A submit corrections feature might be helpful to manage the data.

Tattoos are a luxury good, but they are also in a way the anti-luxury good. I hate having a lot of possessions, and I hate how society encourages us to buy new, not reduce the amount of things being put into production. Tattoos are anti-production because they are a luxury we can have, that go with us to die, and leave no additional lasting fingerprint afterwards (anyone who's had to deal with what to do with a loved one's possessions after they have passed will understand the struggle!). I like the idea of them being a statement against physical goods and against wastefulness.

I'm aiming to get all B&G traditional. I'll admit that in part this came about because of internet hype/attention toward the style. I do like the overall look though. I'm extremely white so the black looks super bold and feels like a laser is hitting you when you go out in the sun. Blonde arm hair does look a bit odd on my tattoo. I've noticed with B&G is that the general public are more likely to relate them to being a criminal style. I've had multiple comments where people imply that color tattoos are 'nicer'/for 'nice people'... this may be based on my location. I guess some of the benefits are that people think you are 'not nice' :P

A crazy old dude came up to me in the street a few weeks ago, he was pointing out his wrist to me. He had a tattoo on the top of his arm and so do I, so I started showing mine thinking he was looking to talk tattoos. Turns out he was just trying to do the universal signifier for 'do you have the time'. I guess Decoratedskins say the darndest things too. Haha.

I've been worried about this stuff recently since I'm 20 and booking in for tattoo number 6.. I like the idea of getting things patchwork, everything's been spread out thus far, but I can't shake the feeling that it will amount to nothing if I blast though and have it all patched together within a couple of years. Opportunities to get work from guest artists definitely sabotage the slow and steady plans.