polliwog

The description of the stereotypical woman getting tattooed is pretty contemptuous, regardless of whether or not it applies to anyone. (Incidentally, I've been a lot better about making tattoo appointments over the last 6 months than about getting my hair cut...)

Well, I don't know if I'm ready for another tattoo yet, BUT I have something specific in mind that I would like to get from Mr. Koeplinger and it looks like he still has time available in New Hampshire in June. I don't think I'm going to change my mind about what I want, just feeling like healing the last tattoo took a lot out of me. (It's been over a month and it's still healing.) If anyone else here's been in this situation - do you go for it, or is it smarter to wait? I can't see myself being able to travel to Texas any time soon...

Good on him for being that into his high school graduation gift.

Wait a minute, hasn't EVERYONE done #27? Unless you don't drink, heated drunk conversations with friends are one of life's little joys.

That's a beautiful gorilla, and the colors are so smooth that they're almost creamy...but it's also hard for me not to wince inwardly, thinking about how that must've felt. :p I would be drinking All The Beers. It's also crazy that there are so many amazing tattoos here that something like that doesn't win automatically. Every month seems to be surpassing the last.

It was once "somewhat common" to bind books with human skin If you're enterprising, narcissistic and not averse to being thought of as crazy, you could bind a book of photographs of your tattoos with your backpiece.

@TrixieFaux - your experiences reminded me of this: so far, the least judgmental person at work to have seen my tattoos has been a very cool, take-no-bullshit older woman who I was expecting to have a strongly unfavorable opinion about them. Instead, she thought they were pretty and said, "I imagine you just forget they're there most of the time." She just got it, right away. (Meanwhile, a couple people who I thought wouldn't bat an eye have told me I was an idiot when I got the first one.) A good reminder that age often has nothing to do with open-mindedness, and that assumptions are usually about what's going on in my head, rather than the person in front of me.

In my limited experience, the third day was a lot worse than the second. I read similar comments elsewhere on this forum. Swelling didn't really set in until the evening of the second day, but I kept my leg tightly wrapped the night before, so maybe that helped? I was sitting in a chair on the train with my feet in a position similar to driving on day 3 for 15 hours, and I was fine except for the standing up/walking business... I am team "go home as soon as you can"

It's still healing because it's on my calf. Oof.

Beauty on the last few pages of this thread. Thank you for sharing, everyone. I don't have anything coming up - that has to be fixed.

Thank goodness. I know we're all perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves, but that is creepy/predatory as hell. Brr. I feel lucky that the only unsolicited touching I've dealt with so far has been from my curious 3-year-old pal. (She's now taken to wearing temporary tattoos an awful lot...) It's quite sweet.

I hope you don't have to stay there for much longer. That sounds very uncomfortable, to say the least.

Greg Christian does beautiful swallows. There's a newer one on there in a different style that's equally beautiful.

I think you're right. This has been a good reminder to spend less time online, though.

Animal Architecture I was looking through the book today and highly recommend it. This could just as well go in the art thread.

By "take responsibility" I mean "be mindful" or something to that effect. Like, don't get a potentially controversial tattoo (yes, I know that all tattoos are controversial to some people) if you're not ready to deal with the fallout. I'm not, so I won't. Some people are, so they can. "Too bad if people are offended" sounds good in theory, but it's really hard in practice. Just trying not to be a douchebag/stupid.

I don't think it's a relationship-ender for him, honestly...he has known that I'm pretty much going to do what I want to for a while now :rolleyes:

One other thing I've noticed is that tattooing over KP bumps seems to have kept it somewhat at bay. It's like the best exfoliation ever.

Here is an encouraging picture of a full back tattoo over acne scarring. I'm a little reluctant to post it, since it's not an uncontroversial style of tattooing here, but I'm mostly posting because it's a pretty extreme example of tattooing over acne scar tissue. It all seems to be older and lighter-colored, though. I have some (pretty minor in comparison) back scarring from compulsive picking and can't wait to cover it up.

I understand this and feel like I'm willing to make concessions for tattooing iconography that I wouldn't make for anything else. The problem becomes that people who haven't spent much time looking at tattoos, which is most people, wouldn't necessarily understand that they're a nod to a style of tattoo. I think it's mostly down to taking responsibility for what you choose to get tattooed on you.

It's cool - I'm in an interracial relationship so I try not to do that, too. :)

We're getting far from tattooing here, but I think the issue is that white men who "prefer" Asian women can risk depersonalizing the actual women they become involved with, even if it's in the guise of a compliment ("they're all so beautiful," etc). Not all, but some. And, not to be glib, that plenty of Asian women find it creepy. The power imbalance issue is what's offensive to me about sexualized Native American imagery. I don't presume to speak for all Native Americans, just saying that I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing it, particularly as someone who descends from folks who had an early hand in said exploitation. - - - Updated - - - Honestly, I probably shouldn't be speaking about tattooing in this thread, but it's hard not to comment because this issue is one that I care about in any other context. I was thinking about this thread earlier, and you could probably argue that I'm appropriating someone else's culture by getting tattooed at all.

Went to the bottom of Heartbreak Hill and wandered around a bit. Police everywhere, from everywhere, but I thought they were doing a decent job of keeping the open spirit of the event.

I live about a mile from the Boston Marathon route...about to go down and check it out. I'm fearing it'll feel pretty different this year, but hoping otherwise.

I got some thick scabbing on my calf, and the new skin looked pretty puffy growing in. It's settled down now, though, and yours probably will too.