Breakme

Excellent!

Colour! Pic pinched from Clare's instagram as I am sore, having a beer and don't have anyone at home to help me take pics yet. Have another appointment in two weeks to add on. We are doing a peony on inner bicep (couldn't resist with all the peony envy going on right now) which will wrap around and fix up the gap in her arm, mallard duck and fox with fruithat. Unsure if we will add on piece by piece or use the next session to get everything else lined.

Just wanted to add that for my last session I took an antihistamine prior to getting tattooed as it's hayfever season at the moment and I have quite a severe allergic reaction if I don't take one every day, and had very minimal swelling and redness, although that was a quick lining session. Will be interesting to see how todays colour session goes with the antihistamine.

Nice one @Mick Weder Drove up to Wadonga last weekend to pick up a Triumph Bonneville the other half had bought. Stopped in at Bright on the way back to check out the hot rod car show. Trying to decide which direction to go for my next bike. Torn between going for a motard or the Triumph Street Triple. The Suzuki DR-Z400SM appeals to me as something I can chuck around and have fun with, however not the most ideal bike for going for a long cruise, although I believe you can change the seat on them for something more suited for long rides. I've loved the Street Triple from the first time I laid eyes on one and is probably my dream bike.

I don't think this is the place for you @hatchettjack. Please leave.

Getting my forest lady coloured in today, can't wait.

Hit the nail on the head right there. Thank you. Dude had been on the boards for long enough to know what type of comments are acceptable around here.

No to painkillers here. I think taking them and having them wear off mid-tattoo would be awful and not a fun way to spend the rest of the session. I'd much rather let my endorphins do what they are supposed to and have a reasonably steady pain level to get my head around and deal with. It's worked for me so far.

No. Go away.

I have had something similar happen to me @Trent Faulkner. In May I had a couple of palm sized roses on my thigh coloured in a lightish blue colour, not as bright as yours. As it's healed it's turned a bit brown and dirty looking. I'm actually thinking it might be the yellow tones in my skin muddying the colour? I don't know, I'm not a tattooer and I'm still very new to this. I'm not too stressed as I'll be seeing the same tattooer in Feb to do the fronts of my thighs. Will get her take on what is going on if it's still an issue that far down the track, and if needs be, blast over with either a darker blue or perhaps purple (if that is an option) Oh and welcome :-)

Gorgeous colours @CShaw. I'm a huge fan of pink and yellow together like that.

Got started on my right arm yesterday with Clare Hampshire

Sailor Jerry spiced rum is awesome, and I don't even like rum.

@Bunny Switchblade you are a gem, and thank you for the words of wisdom. I'll be taking a leaf out of your book if any further tattoo shaming happens and say "fuck 'em!" :D

I've learned that there are a lot of very generous tattooers out there who donate their spare time to making art for charities and causes etc.

Really like this, it's a beautiful way to look at it.

....look, lean in and push. Nothing beats the feeling.

Most definitely this, and always look where you want to go to avoid target fixation.

I think this is probably in reference to what I wrote about being ashamed. I can say that I'm not such a sensitive snowflake that I was all those years ago. Back then I had low self-esteem and another nasty little disorder that made me very critical of myself and sensitive to peoples negativity. I'm still no where near as mentally strong as I want to be, it's a work-in-progress and will be till the day I die, but I'm getting there, hence why it took me 15 years to get another tattoo and start to commit to becoming heavily tattooed, and being prepared to give the middle finger to anyone that stood in my way or made any negative comments. As I've mentioned before, my close girl friends have zero interest in tattoos. I caught up with one last weekend and she asked me if I had any coming up and I almost fell of my chair. She also asked how far I was going to go with it. When I mentioned an idea for a chest piece her face screwed up, she grunted and said "Urgh, don't ever, ever get your chest tattooed! They look disgusting" I said to her "Well thank god you don't have to live with it then! I'll do what I want!" and that was the end of the conversation. Boy did it feel good to say that though.

Welcome. I grew up in Wellington, nice to see another Kiwi here :-)

@Mick Weder I'll have to give that one a go. I love the tart and dry style ciders.

If you can track down a proper perry cider made from pears, they are often more tart than apple ciders and very refreshing.

@SeeSea - it definitely needs to be covered. My tastes have changed drastically since then, and it pains me to say this, but I am no longer a fan of tribal :p

I HATE the term Tramp Stamp. You can probably guess why.... I've yet to share the story of my first tattoo on this forum, but I'd like to now that this topic has come up. * Warning. Long post ahead* I got my first tattoo 16 years ago on my lower back. I remember in the lead up going to around 3-4 shops to check out portfolios, no instagram browsing back then! None of my friends had tattoos or were interested, so it was a very solitary experience, and one which I new absolutely nothing about. I found a shop I liked the look of and booked an appointment for 3 weeks later. On my appointment day I was nervous but so excited. I had been wanting this tattoo for about a year and finally worked up the guts to get it. I remember eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato bagel beforehand from my favourite bagel shop, then it was off to get tattooed. The shop was small. Tiny. No bigger than someones bedroom. One tattooer and an apprentice. Flash covered the walls, lots of tribal which was so popular at the time. We got the stencil on and then down to business. Nothing had prepared me for it, I had no idea what to expect. I remember thinking "What am I doing?!" as the needle hit the skin. The tattooer had just got some new colours in and was very enthused about how the yellow was really popping on my skin. 2 hours later and we were done. I had a brand new tattoo. The tattoo healed with no problems. And I fucking LOVED that tattoo. I was so proud of that tattoo and I rocked it. I didn't care when my top rode up when I bent over, I was eager to show it off. I finally felt like I was me. At the time I was a photographer for a motor vehicle dealers advertising magazine, on a Friday I would load up the company car with magazines and distribute them all over the city. I remember I was bending over and filling up a bin and a random woman came up to me, looked me in the face and told me how much she loved my tattoo. You can imagine how good that made me feel. Fast forward a few years, and the hideous term Tramp Stamp started making its way into people's vocabulary. All of a sudden, it was mainstream. Everyone from celebrities to your neighbour was using it. I went from someone who loved their tattoo to someone who was ashamed of their tattoo. As the years went by, I even stopped mentioning I had a tattoo, or if someone asked to see it, I would tell them no. I hated it. The tattoo is not perfect. It sits slightly higher on one side, there are a couple of blowouts and the small flowers are starting to resemble little blobs. Do I still hate it? Yes and No. Do I love it? No. I love the memory of the experience and that's about it. Am I being too sensitive about the term? Yes, maybe. But I'm not going to suddenly jump up and tell the world that I'm not going to take this anymore, I'm going to reclaim the word Tramp Stamp and turn in into something positive, because I'll just end up looking like a dick. The term is so ingrained and so negative, I don't see how it's ever going to be something positive. As I look at more and more back pieces I'm starting to realise that it is something that holds great appeal to me. I have a solid idea about what I would like, part of it being a black panther, which I think would be perfect to cover up my existing lower back tattoo and have something on my back to be proud of again. But that is a whole other topic.

Having a much deserved 3 day weekend after working 6 days a week for 2.5 months. I'm so glad the overtime has finished and my life can go back to normal.