SeeSea

HA! Almost spat out my tea laughing! You're a couple days ahead of me. Mine's just starting to itchify.

Profile shot!

Strapless plunge bra worn upside down??? Could work by itself, or add some KT-Tape or something to seal in the girls on the underside. I was thinking about using KT-tape as a fake stick-on bra (I'm small). (Edited to add) Actually, the KT tape would probably extend too far, so consider toupee tape instead, used inside the bra around the bottom. It's little strips all the stars use to pull off those plunging necklines! @Zillah, you *must* share this!

So jealous! I have no experience with anything other than this tattoo, although this session was the worse in terms of gooping. @Breakme - shoulder blade area up to shoulder worse than mid/lower back. This one bled a lot more during the session. I read here about people who heal and are peeling in 4-5 days and I wonder, what the heck is wrong with me! No Fair! But everyone is different I suppose. I'm 47, which may have something to do with it? Fair skin? Dunno. Anyway ... bitch bitch moan moan.

Love the kitties peeking out!

Welcome! Pictures!

I haven't seen a side finger tattoo yet that I like.

^^^ I want one of those black drapey things! Thanks for the link.

Touché

How do you delete an attachment? I see the list where all my attachments are, but don't see a way to delete any of them. Thanks.

Ahhh, I see where you are coming from. Yeah, sigh. Thanks for clarifying.

:: warily opens box :: What bugs you about #firstworldproblems to generate deep seated hatred? Yeah, it's a bunch of winey-crap, but sometimes there's some social commentary that could use a second look. (Although it would be nice if those it was directed at actually *got* it.) I'm not calling you out or anything - just curious. Personally, I like the cat version of firstworldproblems. This one rings absolutely true in my house, as I buy cat food by the flat.

That great feeling in the morning when you're not only completely stuck to the back of your shirt, but have gooped up the the bedsheets, and your hair is trapped and dried to the outside of the shirt. Took 15 minutes in the shower to soak off the shirt. I hate this part. Barf.

Facebook has gotten really annoying - filling my feed with inspirational quotes that just HAVE to be rendered as a picture. I think that's because the poster is less interested feeling/enjoying in the actual quote and more interested in having the world think *they* are somehow an embodiment of the quote. I dunno - some are nice but it's just too much. - - - Updated - - - A well-written article and a fun read: The Letter of the Law: Laws for Lettering and Tattoos Many great sections including: Text Tattoos Fight Anatomy Text Tattoos Fight Good Tattooing Text Tattoos Eat Up A Lot Of Skin Text Tattoos Cock Block Other Tattoos And a preview for your reading pleasure:

Looks like she spent more time generating the pseudo-psychology justification than she did thinking about the actual tattoo. If asked she should just repeat this phrase from her article. That should scare off any further questions! @.@

Bring the question on over to The ladies thread (thanks Lance!). I don't think we've talked about being nearly completely naked during the process, so copy your question right on to the end of the thread. There are lots of option for wearing clothes in unintended ways and strategic placement of fabrics. But yeah, I'd be pushing for a screen or curtains, especially to a parking lot! Good topic, and welcome!

Yup, and that's probably why you see many newbies to LST saying, "If I'd only found this place before I'd gotten the tattoo." People who want a good tattoo but don't know who to ask. Like me. I wandered around a convention, not really knowing what to look for when I checked out portfolios. Stuff I realize now to look for. You guys should have "billboards" all over the internet that say, "Oh young grasshoppers, come to LST to learn before leaping." Or, of course there's always Yelp. <g,d,r> Damn near all the folks I will ever hang out with will be nonexperts, so all is well. And thank you my dear! BUT THAT'S WHERE SOME OF THE GREAT STUFF COMES FROM! ;););)

My signed Horitomo cat prints just came in the mail ::happy dance:: Have to get to Michaels for some frames tomorrow. :D

First - I love this thread - thank you for starting it! When I read this, I felt exactly the same way! I have 1 little tattoo (my first and only other one) that has *lots* of personal meaning, but at LST there have been many comments about hipsters, etc., needing to explain all the personal meaning behind the tattoo and that tattooers just don't want to hear out it, blah blah blah. So I never posted that tattoo, even though it means more to me than the full back I am doing. And seeing the work here, I've found myself not saying who my artist is, in case he's not considered up-to-par around here. So, I certainly understand the shame part - but a lot of that is on ME, who is sensitive to being judged as lacking in any way. Thank you for voicing that, @Zillah But ... then @Bunny Switchblade comes along and says this ... Thank you for saying that. I get nervous about being judged by my tattoos because no one in my family has any and I don't share at work or with many friends (yet). I don't want to be the person anyone is standing behind in the grocery line thinking my work is unfortunate. Thank you for saying this as well. Is this why I feel like I need to get a tattoo from one of these "names" in order to feel fully accepted here? My guy has some great stuff out there (in my inexperienced opinion) but jeez I find myself worried that my work wouldn't be considered a quality tattoo. So, I just have to buck up and say fuck it, even if people here don't think I'm getting something "good". Eh, I'm rambling, but like @Zillah, I'm kinda going through the little wondering-if-I-should-be-ashamed thing. But everyone here has been really nice and helpful, and for that I appreciate LST very much. And my post is not directed at anyone. Thank you for listening. It's actually pretty cathartic for me to share this.

So a follow-on to my concern re: background versus blowout on the fish. It was a fair amount of blowout. He said his goal was cover a large amount of space and since the outline of the fish wasn't intended to be a clean perfect outline and he knew there would be shading and darker sea/coral blending in up to it, he just drove a hard line and moved on. On ribs below my armpit on my lily-white middle-aged thin skin ouch. He said if that fish was to have no background with a perfect outline, he would have had me laying down on a table (instead of sitting in a massage chair) and taken a lot more time with it. So that makes sense - with the quality of work he did on the fine details of the snake and clownfish and especially the snake outline, I was surprised at this fish outline. But time/detail tradeoff detail makes sense to me, being a clueless client and all. Thanks for your encouragement, suggestions, virtual hand-holding, eye-rolling, etc. And the sea panther will always be a "go to" in case things get ugly :-) And now back to your regularly-scheduled program.

Added 2 jellyfish and some coral background, but we had to stop early when my tattooer got sick. Sometimes it's hard to tell allergies from a cold until you crash, and he did, pretty hard right in the middle of the session. Ugh. Chewing Airbourne tabs now. Got a hotel I don't need now, although he was a good guy and offered to pay for the hotel. I didn't let him - it was a nice offer but I think stuff will shake out in the end. But I'm still using the room - can't let all those nice fluffy pillows and king bed to myself go to waste!

Ok, I got the patience pants on. Thanks for the feedback. Pain, oh yeah. Was just worse near the ribs. Just couldn't roll with it last time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's my JOB to freak out - I'm a woman and this is my first big tattoo, LOL! I know, I can hear it in my voice, and I can feel you all rolling your collective virtual eyes. No, not healed - 2 weeks old. Still no reply from my tattooer. I'm having trouble fitting into my patience pants. And why hasn't anyone told me to just blast it over with a panther yet? ;) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, it looked immediately like this after the session. Yes, he is planning background - underwater sea scene. He said I was already bruising and I assumed that this was the bruise. I did have a smaller area of very light bruising, maybe that's what he meant. I don't know. He is saving many parts of the background for later and concentrating on the critters to get their placement right, although in many places he's started the background of whatever is next to the fish as a transition. It very well could be background and I wondered about, but the texture looks like a tough bruise. It doesn't look intentional, but kind of mottled. Yes, it does look close in color, but he mixes colors all the time. The fish is slightly more slate colored in one spot, and a lighter blue in another. Ugh @ironchef, is your "like" your belief this is a mistake? O_O Be honest with me folks. I can take it. Ugh I feel all newbie now. If this is blowout or not intentional due to my delicate skin or whatever, this can easily be covered with background water. So I'm not freaked out in that sense. But if this is the artist, then I have a bigger problem. - - - Updated - - - Here is a close-up on the fish's mouth. (Good lord, the scabbing was bad this time!) There is an orange outline there which I think is a placeholder for an orange sponge. He has a few of those elsewhere. But the shadow extends into that area, which makes me think this was not intentional if he planned to make that a sponge. Although, the shadow also goes right through the skinny black outline for a branching coral and that's NOT right next to the outline. The shadow here makes it seem more compelling to me that this is a mistake.

I've got a bad feeling. This is 2 weeks post. The fish isn't done yet. The halo is around nearly the entire fish, even the nose. It looked just the same now as it did right after the session. I was a little bruised in that area but it was a normal looking bruise that has faded - this is on the side of my back extending under my arm. This session hurt like hell and I was a little fidgey. The rest of the stuff on my back looks great - this looks like a different person did these two fish It's still scabbing so don't judge the chunky-looking parts. I took Advil this time, and never had before. Is this a big blow-out? I sent a pic to the tattooer and he hasn't gotten back. I have a session on Friday and I'm considering cancelling it. If it's a tenacious bruise, it needs to heal. If it's not, maybe I need a new artist. I read online, and I am the stereotype of pale skin, older, thin skin.