Cookiehound

I would love to be able to do this. However, living in a town with no even half decent studios kinda stops that from happening :(

My favourite tattoo was picked something like 5 hours before actually going ahead and getting it done. There is a lot to be said for just going with gut instinct rather than over-thinking whether or not you might still like a piece in 20 years time. Having said that, it took me four big pieces before I reached that level of spontaneity!

I've had almost all my work done at the same studio, by the same artist. We get on really well, and I love going up there. As silly as it sounds, it feels a bit like visiting really good friends you don't get to see very often, rather than a tattoo studio. It does make me quite dull in that I don't have lots of different artist stories though! Its always really interesting if I go just after one of the big conventions (Paradise etc), as he'll tell me all about it from an artist perspective - its like a little view into a complete different world, and he's a way of describing events and people that make you feel like you were there, even though I've only ever read about most of the people he mentions. It's fascinating. I feel quite priviledged anyway as I get to be a very small part in the minture world of the studio - as well as the people who work there, there are the other "regular" clients and the "friends" of the studio who come in to pass the time, and kinda make the studio the place it is. I feel like part of it, and having someone you haven't seen for a while come over and have a chat really can take your mind off a particularly painful spot! The only problem is, I fear I'm spoilt now. I'm actually braving another studio in October and I'm actually really nervous about going somewhere else where I'm just going to be a one off customer who doesn't know anyone etc etc. But he's one of the few artists whose work I really really want on me, so I'll go and hopefully it won't be that bad...

I've got two band / song tattoos. The first one is just the word "Shine", in a calligraphy style. Its not actually immediately obvious what it says as it's all swirly, which is how I wanted it. It's the title of my favorite Rollins Band song, and in a moment of geeky fandom, I collared poor Henry Rollins at one of his spoken word shows and inisted on showing him. I don't even have the excuse of alcohol for that. The second one I've got is a catalogue number. Theres a band over here in the UK whose music I love. I really wanted a tattoo based on the band, but I didn't fancy another lyric and there wasn't any obvious artwork that sprang to mind. They used to have their own record label with their own unique catalogue numbers on that all followed the same pattern ("BLUEnnn") until they got merged with a larger company, and then their catalogue numbers became long dull strings of numbers and letters. So I got in touch with the band and asked if I could "have" what would have been the next number if they've have kept their own label. They were more than happy to say yes, so I merged it into the piece I was having done. Its not at all obvious, and even another fan of the band probably wouldn't catch what it means, but in a way, that's what I like about it.

Couldn't agree more - I just feel a bit silly looking back, you know?

Nope, I wouldn't, because it's not what I want on me. It took me quite a while to get my head around the fact that I can like or even love some artists work, but not actually want to wear it myself. For instance, I can look at a Lu's Lips piece and just be blown away by the size and scale and shading, but it just doesn't "fit" who I am. It kinda matters to me whether or not the artist is a nice person, because it's such a personal matter, having a big chunk of work done, but I wouldn't get a piece in a style that doesn't fit me, just because they were lovely. Oh dear, I feel I'm dragging this thread terribly off topic! I'd mention the artist I normally go to, but he's probably got enough recognition and therefore doesn't fit the criteria here....

Many more and it's gonna need it's own thread - Smoking animal tattoos with pictures!

I kinda more meant that it was a piece someone else - a non-tattoo artist at that - had designed, if you see what I mean?

He's also a genuinely nice bloke, I had some work done at Into You and he's lovely.

Someone else with a smoking animal tattoo! I've never seen anyone else with one (although to be fair, I don't exactly live in a high-quality-tattoo area). I have a cat in a crown with a cigarette (from a Donald Roller Wilson painting) on the back of one leg, with plans for a similar-but-different cat with cigarette on the other leg sometime next year...

Your missus is too late, I'm afraid. Valerie had a page up on her blog for about 10 days where you could submit an idea for a "one shot" tattoo to be done at London, and she'd pick who to tattoo from the ideas submitted. That closed last week, and according to the update on her blog, the people with the chosen ideas have already been notified. I don't suppose it would do any harm to try getting in touch or whatever, but it's likely to be a no-go based on that.

It's been really interesting reading the comments on here. I'm female and don't count myself as heavily tattooed (I have one full sleeve, one full sleeve-in-progress...about 3/4 done, and one pretty much covered calf), but in my backwater of Eastern England, people do stare. My husband isn't tattooed at all...people will stare when we're together but they don't come up and talk to me when he's there, only when I'm by myself. I think staring is rude, but I mostly don't notice it (I'm generally too busy doing my own thing, and it gets pointed out by the people I'm with). Very rarely will I get people ask, and as long as I'm not in a rush I really don't mind talking. The only thing that annoys me is when people try to touch me (looking with their hands rather than their eyes), but I keep enough of a distance so that people don't bother on the whole. Oh, and when some muppet tried to take my picture without asking - at the time I walked away so he couldn't, but I wish now I'd gone over and yelled.