sophistre

I think it's more like a medical procedure -- particularly cosmetic surgery, which is why I quoted both of you. Cosmetic surgery isn't often viewed as 'necessary' (though in some heinous cases of disfigurement, that point is certainly arguable), but it has the potential to add immeasurable quality of life to someone's existence. Sure, there are cosmetic procedures that the majority of the population would consider 'frivolous,' but at the end of the day, the only person who can put a value on it is the person wearing the results. People spend GOBS of money of veneers, facelifts, breast implants, etc., but those also have no exchange rate (and few people these days consider that outré, barring extreme examples). Both cosmetic procedures and tattoos are tied to our self-ideation heavily. Tattoos differ -- quite possibly from any other comparable material purchase -- because there's a whole amazing culture, with a history that feels rich, full of fascinating characters, and the time we spend actually being tattooed is as much a part of the process as anything. I know fuck-all about the history of plastic surgery, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't consider any pre-op time with the doc to be an integral and cherished part of the experience, lol. In that sense, there's probably just no comparison!

Ughhhhhhhhhhh. I want to go! It looks amazing! I have absolutely no idea how to attend a tattoo convention. (Right, buy ticket, go to convention, I know, I know. You know what I mean, though!)

This thread never fails to amaze me. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to have the backside of your body be that intricately covered from neck to thighs. All that color. I think it'll always seem crazy and unreal to me.

@cltattooing Yep! Everything is fine. It was just sort of puffy/tender for a few days after the tegaderm came off. Nothing any worse than usual, just very different. It's healing beautifully. I have a feeling without it, some of the heavier spots in the wing would definitely have scabbed and been harder to heal well.

Introducing Mass Effect: Andromeda *tiny high-pitched screaming*

rofl. I love this thread. You guys have had some horrrrrifying experiences, though. I must just be lucky. Maybe it's because I live in the PNW, where people are either a) pretty laid back and progressive or b) too pass-agg to tell you what they think directly...? The other week I did have someone grab me without asking to look at my arm. It was a little old Japanese man working at the post office. I went in to buy stamps and reached out to pay him, and he grabbed my wrist and said 'let's see what you've got.' First time for everything, I guess. Mostly, I just get people telling me they really like my tattoos, and asking me where I got them. Sometimes I get asked if they mean anything. The cutest was this weekend at my family reunion, when my cousin reached out to touch the one on my forearm (second one I got, well healed by now) and then yanked her hand back quickly with big eyes and said, 'Oh sorry, does it hurt?' She is 30. haha. I told her they all cause me perpetual agony and she hit me with her napkin. ...I wasn't sure how my extended family would react to the tattoos -- they are all Talbots people. Boat shoes and sweaters around the neck. It all went better than expected, though! Most of them were just curious. It was kind of nice.

I got to use tegaderm for the first time to heal the harpy on my thigh. I told @cltattooing I would let her know what I thought, so I might as well put my experience in here. I think having it on for the first few days was amazingly convenient. I slept better, I showered/dressed more easily...it just made everything easier, really, and I felt that it was more protected than it would have been the usual way I do things (wrap/nostick pads on overnight, hot shower and thorough rinse in the morning, then just dry healing with occasional washes every day over the next several days). I think there was a tipping point in there somewhere for me, though, where it didn't actually offer any more benefits to keep on, and may have contributed to everything feeling a bit weird after I took it off on day 5 -- probably around the time the skin started to reabsorb the small amount of inky liquid in there. Next time, I'd probably want to take it off around that point, since I think it might be the sweet spot to hit. I have a feeling the tattoo was past the point where it would scab by then, and it might have felt better/less 'suffocated' with the tegaderm off at that point. I didn't have any trouble taking the film off in the shower (just very very slooooowly), but the tattoo just felt weird for a few days. A little swollen and, I dunno, sticky? Tacky? With a weird haze over it. (Mind you, this is my only all-black tattoo, so I guess that could be part of it). Still, it was undeniably great not to have to worry about getting ink on hotel sheets/my own clothes or spend a night feeling uncomfortable with saran wrap and bandaging on. Definitely made the drive back home easier, too.

Haha, highfive! I have quite a few giclees from that guy. Siddartha, Luminous B, and I think the Annunaki trio. I missed out on the collaborative piece he did with MARS1, which is sad, because I've got a bunch of MARS1 giclee/litho/prints, too. :cool:

Mashing the like button so hard right now.

I started to click 'like' on the posts in this thread but I had to stop, because I could probably click 'like' on all of them. Greg and I started talking about backpieces the last time I was in there. We tend to be on the same page about stuff and I feel really comfortable with his choices, so I think it's a good way to go. I just don't want to rush into it until I know for sure what I want. We decided to go with Tibetan imagery (the panther-shell on the inside of my arm was inspired by the makaras in right-turning shells in the totally amazing Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, by Robert Beer). We just keep coming back to that book every time I'm in the shop. It's just SO rich that I hardly know where to start! I'm pretty sure I want an azure dragon...and a makara. So that's sky, and water, and what in between...? I am leaning toward a dakini, though. I'm very partial to them. Completely unrelated, but the style of that right-hand illustration's red beasties totally reminds me of the figures in some of doze green's work. Very cool.

For once, reading the comment section on an irritating link actually made me feel better instead of worse. rofl.

The itching may finally be ending. Oh my god, 7 tattoos is too many to heal at once, even if 6 of them are pretty small. x.x Question though, for anybody who might know: once my tattoo is in the post-flakey 'dry/shiny/healing' phase, can I put coconut oil on it safely..? The lotions I use are not doin' the job, but I don't wanna inadvertently introduce something problematic.

Oh no! That's terrible. :( I hope whatever it is does not come to pass, for health reasons and otherwise!

@polliwog, gross! I have not had the misfortune to live next to an actual lab, but I've definitely lived next to tweakers before. :/ A quick google says that the odors can be like nail polish or cat urine, which I suppose makes sense given the stuff involved. Probably a horribly chemical smell. They might just be smoking the stuff in there and not producing it, but I don't think there's any easy way to tell, aside from seeing them behave a certain way. If you DO suspect it's a lab, I mean...I personally would call the cops. Being around the byproducts of meth production can be seriously, seriously bad for your health. It makes people crazy. (In a post Breaking Bad world, I feel like everybody probably knows this now, but I haven't watched it yet, soooooo!) Feels weird telling anyone to call the cops on somebody, since I definitely had a few delinquent years in there, somewhere. Oh well. Bring me my cane and rocker on the porch, I'm ready to yell at kids to get their meth labs offa my lawn.

D'aww. Come on over and get some tattoos! :) Edit: Oh hey, @cltattooing put up a picture of what we got up to today.

https://instagram.com/p/3P_YuSTBGZ/ All done. :o We stuck with flowers for fillers in the end, even though we did talk about a frog. He took some shots from other angles, but didn't put them up. Maybe he will later. I'm a little sad about it being finished, so I can't imagine how you backpiece people felt when it was over! ...but I might get to find out, because we may have chatted about it a bit today. We'll seeeeeeeeee. :cool: I get a day to bang around Powell's Books tomorrow and cap off the night with Mad Max, and then I get to be tattooed by @cltattooing the day after that! Definitely a great mini-vacation.

Oh no...! Of course I just opened this thread to bitch and moan about my hip, and didn't even see @pidjones' news. Now I feel like a jerk, too. Sorry to hear about your family loss. And your kid's arm, @xcom. That kind of stuff really puts my own problems in perspective.

In my happy place, about to finish this arm(!!!!). Sorry in advance if this is huge, I have no idea how tapatalk deals with images from phone cam.

Scheduling an MRA to find out if I do in fact have a torn labrum in my right hip. ...which would mean giving up any chance of standing on the summit of Rainier at the end of August. Sucks. I have hundreds of training hours into this endeavor (and I don't even know how many dollars), and there's nothing I can do to make this go away. It doesn't heal on its own, it requires surgery to correct, and more work will only exacerbate the issue. Blehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I know the mountain will still be there next year, but damn. :mad:

I forget what happened to inspire the remark, but at some point I cracked a joke about my arms being ripped off, and my friend said 'hopefully not the expensive one.' It was the first time I realized that one of my arms is actually worth more than the other one. What a strange thought.

Also one about art and censorship from me. In the more recent 'clothes for tattoos and the workplace' vein, somebody reminded me about eshakti recently. I ordered some shirts from them for a family reunion coming up. You can get stuff made to your personal measurements, which is cool in the first place just on its own (a little over $7 to do so), and you can also specify on most garments what kind of sleeve you want. Useful!

I like people. In spite of myself. ...And in spite of 'people,' probably. Everybody has an interesting story, though. Fun little vid.

It is an unexpected expense, but all I can think about is Powell's. I still haven't been to Powell's, even though I've been in Portland to see Greg repeatedly. It's a travesty.

So Greg had to reschedule my appointment for this Wednesday, and that gave me time to book with @cltattooing while she's in Portland. I shifted my hotel stay over to the 29th-31st: YAY BUT, then I get a message today from Greg's assistant that he had a cancellation, so now he can get me in on the 27th. Now, I have to ask myself if I want to take a mini-vacation to Portland and get two tattoos, driving down the morning after we hike Mt. Walker, or just tell Greg I can't make it and do the sane thing instead. I never use hashtags...but in this case I think one is probably warranted. #tattooproblems

I don't think I'm going to get much else done after 4pm launch.