sophistre

I have a tattoo that I still don't love, but I don't hate it anymore, because someone here gave me the best possible advice. If you live with it for a while and your feelings never change (because sometimes it takes a while to get used to them, I suppose), then: Get more tattoos. I surrounded it with something by another tattooer that I love. He made his framing of it work with what it was, and now I don't hate it. I still wish I'd gotten something else there and listened to my gut instincts when I saw the stencil on, but I also learned a whole lot about a whole lot of things as a result of getting a tattoo I didn't like, so I guess it's as much a part of the experience as any of my other tattoos now. Maybe more. (Weirdly, a lot of people tell me it's their favorite of my tattoos. I cannot fathom why, but it just goes to show you -- you never know.) FWIW, I think it's nice!

This page is getting too good.

True story: last time I went to have my back worked on, I brought diazepam (valium) that my doctor prescribed for that purpose (I told him what was goin' on). It does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for pain, but I was having muscle contractions in my back so severe that it was causing huge problems with our ability to keep tattooing. I did three appointments before I finally caved and admitted that I could not zen mind-control myself into a state of immobility. It was just completely involuntary, even when I was expecting it and telling myself I had to stay still. I wrestled with that a lot. I don't like the idea of using a crutch to get through it. But the truth is, everybody involved is happier. I know that's a little different than your issue, because yours is crying brought on by pain, and I'm not sure how to fix that. But having finally conceded to using something to help me with an issue I had on the table, I think you just have to figure out what the safest, healthiest, most effective thing is for you to do, and then not feel bad about it!

“A dog can never tell you what she knows from thesmells of the world, but you know, watching her,that you knowalmost nothing.” ― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs With all of the craziness going on in the world right now, I swear this tiny fat is all that keeps me sane sometimes.

THIS :O I mean...they're ALL great. But this one is killer to me!

There is so much in there that is interesting to look at that I can barely take it in. I keep seeing things I didn't see earlier every time I look at it. And getting your nips done makes you a hero in my book.

I am pretty new around here, by comparison with some other people. So, take my opinion with a grain of salt. But: A lot of the subforums are dead because a lot of the people who came here and made this place what it was don't come here anymore. A lot of them were tattooers, even. Good ones. Great ones! There are some threads on this forum that I imagine could literally be considered valuable parts of tattoo history because they have stories that came from people who got those stories from other people who tattooed back when the internet wasn't even a thing. There are threads with tattooers in them who are, nowadays, kinda leading the charge with contemporary tattooing, too. And it's kind of hard to improve on that. I guess most people don't wanna shitpost over it. I once knew a quote about some similar situation, about the wisdom of not bothering to say what someone else has already said if they said it better than you can, but I couldn't find it. I did find a Twain quote that is reminiscent, though: "The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. 'tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." I mean...don't get me wrong, there's a lot of awesome talk here about tattoos that crops up, and now and again there's a thread that takes off, and it's always fun to read. And I think fresh content is good, so I'm not saying that there should never be any. But it's sort of a quality over quantity thing, you know? If you've spent any time lurking at all and checking the older pages...there's just so much there already, and a lot of it is important. There's a lot of wariness here too, because a lot of people do show up who don't lurk, don't learn anything from what's already here (and it's a LOT of stuff to learn). They shitpost constantly and give bad advice, they get mad when people tell them the advice is bad, and then everybody gets tired of trying. Yesterday I caught myself quoting/starting to respond to something in the 'What makes a good tattoo' thread and then I realized it probably wasn't worth it. That kind of thing is what chased off a lot of the people who used to post here...and that was before I got here 3 years ago, even. I lurked for quite a while before I finally posted, just before my first tattoo. I learned so much here that helped me to make a good decision, and in the process I kinda figured out what this place is like. ...-ish. It, like tattooing, seems to have its own culture. It is not like other forums I am on. But since it's about tattooing, that really seems pretty fitting, eh? People like good content. They value substance over the level of activity. We all like to ogle tattoos in the Latest Tattoo Lowdown -- as @marley mission said not long ago, we could probably have just that thread alone, because I think that's what keeps most people coming back, haha. And it's nice to be amongst people who love something that you love. It's pretty low-key, especially now, but I think people like that. They don't want to reinvent the wheel, they just wanna hang out, and look at/talk about great tattoos.

I hope so too!

Here is some more tattoo news, though it's not very happy news. :( Art Work Rebels in Portland burned to the ground due to a gas line leak. 100% of what was in the shop was lost. Nobody who works there was hurt, but apparently the girl who was living upstairs from them is in the hospital and a bunch of firefighters also got hurt trying to get to her. Jeff Croci has set up a gofundme to help them get back on their feet. If you're feeling like you have a spare buck, I imagine every little bit helps.

@Dan I suppose that's true about the inks. All of my tattoos are very recent! And I've only been tattooed by five people. Not a very large sample size!

Thanks! I must be blessed with happy skin, because I rarely ever seem to scab as long as I wash everything well enough that first time. I think the only place I really did was the upper inside of my arm. We actually had to do a few touch-ups.

Mystique maybe? I am not as cool as Mystique though. I think this pic says it all. Good times. Good......times......... :( so itchy send help

A bellydancer with a beehive is the coolest thing I will see this week.

....whoops. Guess the towel I was sleeping on didn't stay where it was supposed to. I wonder what the hotel will make of all of those blue scales..?

Since I've only been getting tattooed since 2014, I think everybody has seen most of these recently, so it feels a little bit weird to submit them again so soon, haha. But I do have some pieces taken from very classic flash! I'm not sure that I ever posted all of them, anyway. All but the last one were done by Greg Whitehead, but I'm looking forward to getting more one-offs like this soon from other people! The shoulder-area bird was my first tattoo, and it's a Percy Waters design. The snake in a flower pot is based on Dietzel flash, the diving girl is a Jensen piece and was actually sort of a filler, the elbow butterfly/rose is...uhh, actually, I'm not 100% sure. Someone said it was Jensen, but I don't remember if that's true. I remember Greg saying that it came from a whole lot of flash from the early 1900s that used to be attributed to a mystery artist, but was later identified as belonging to someone specific...I just can't for the life of me remember who it was. The lady with a snake is a Cap Coleman design, and I love her to bits. The last one was Christopher Ayalin at Liberty, and I got it when I went on a fun tattoo day trip with @beez. A lot of people do flower/snake/dagger stuff, so I dunno...Jensen-ish? I guess? Aside from the color I guess it's still pretty classic traditional subject matter. And now you have seen like half of my tattoos all at once!

I identify with this post today, haha. I think the most brutal session for me was when we lined my back, since we did the whole thing in one shot. I've discovered that my endorphins tend to fail on me at about four hours in, and everything after that is a test of will. Somehow, we wound up lining the worst spot on back last that day (up between the shoulder blades and just below the nape of the neck) and I was basically biting leather and hiding my face in my bunched up hoodie because I didn't want my tattooer to feel bad. Something about that spot made me burst into tears. Not like 'oh, this hurts, I'm so sad' -- almost like a nervous system response, like shock. Poor guy asked 'you sure you don't want me to stop?' and I'm like 'YES I'M SURE BLOOOOOO' because at that point the only thing in the entire world that sounded worse than what was happening was having to do it again later.

Greg and I have a bad habit of not paying attention to when we start, or when we break for lunch. But I think 4 1/2 hours the first day (we lost power for a little bit because of that storm), and probably 6 on the second day. Something close to that, anyway. edit: If you mean yesterday and today, obviously. I've had three sessions before this and I have noooo idea how long they were anymore, haha.

Thanks! I am pretty proud of powering through the end of tonight, for sure.

Here frands: Feeling pretty tattoo-flu-y, but I have a steak on the way, and then it's time to drink every water and sleep every sleep. So happy that we finished the areas that were the most painful for me during lining, though. Couldn't be happier.

Thank you!! We actually just finished an unplanned second day of color. I would've posted something yesterday, but I figured I'd wait for today. Suppose I oughta crosspost it to the Lowdown, but here you go: To be honest, the pictures just don't do the actual colors any justice at all...they get yellowed out. The blue with the red/orange is so amazingly vibrant. Personally, even though I'm totally wrecked right now, I'm so glad that we powered through it, because the absolute worst spots for me have been the upper back between my shoulderblades, and also just below the nape of my neck. And now they're done! Probably worth the shocky-tattoo-flu feeling I'll have for a few hours tonight. I'll be right as rain again tomorrow, though. :)

Depends on the tattoo, I guess. A skirt would not have worked for me at any of my sessions. When we're working the upper body (waist up) it's alright to wear pants and then roll them down, but anything below that means ditching the pants and undies. And the day we lined my back (neck to knees), I had to be completely naked ALL DAY. Eventually I stopped being able to have feelings about it because I was having too many feelings about the lining going on (mostly 'ow ow ow ow, okay that's better, that's actually not so b--OH MY GOD WHAT FRESH HELL' etc.) for there to be room for anything else. Hahaha. Most shops have screens as far as I can tell, anyway.

Dunno if this has been mentioned anywhere yet, but Greggletron/Greg Whitehead relocated to Atlas (also in Portland). Tim Lehi is apparently also there now. I guess anyone watching those instagrams would already know, but anywho, there ya go.

I should really remember to check in more often. There are so many good things in this thread. The fudo meow cat KILLS ME. And the bamboo tiger is also fantastic. Every time I come back after getting busy with RL there are pages of awesomeness for me to look at. I love it.

Hey guys! I have a question for the experts. I have a friend in North Carolina who wants a tattoo. It's likely just to be lines, which you'd think would be easy, but most of the shops she's sent me the links for are not strong in the linework department. :/ I have terrible knowledge of which shops are where. Any suggestions for her? It definitely needs to be extra-good because she's in IT and wants something related to circuit boards, and obviously that is not in the least bit organic. (I don't editorialize what my friends wanna get, I just try to point them at somebody who will make it look as good as possible!)

This page is amazing. That Grez stuff is so pretty it hurts, and that Shaun Martinson tiger is also killing me. You guys are champions.