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So I healed my lion arm tattoo with tegaderm for 4 days and everything went super smooth, almost done shedding skin now. It was my first tattoo so I babied the shit out of it and stressed out over every tiny detail like a new parent with his kid. I live with 2 heavily tattoo'ed people(wife and her father), neither of which used Tegaderm so I had to deal with plenty of eye rolling everytime I asked dumb questions. Friday: I was originally tattooed on Oct 10th, got home, cleaned up, applied Aquaphor, rewrapped and went to bed. Saturday: Woke up all gunky and juicy, cleaned up, applied a thin layer of Aquaphor and applied tegaderm. Protip: don't do that. The aquaphor prevents it from sticking properly so basically only the outter edges where it was applied to non-tattooed skin stuck, the rest filled up with yummy juices until it just kept leaking out from everywhere due to the Aquaphor acting as an awesome sauce lubricant to make the Tegaderm unstick. Sunday: I decided to take it off in the shower since it was a leakfest and the area was compromised since the seal was broken in a couple spots. Washed it again and reapplied a fresh layer of Tegaderm. Monday: All good, tattoo is warm to the touch, bit of juicyness, pretty irritated and sensitive. Tuesday: Still good, no leaks, a bit less juices, not too sensitive. Wednesday: No longer hot to the touch, feels really tight. Around 9PM, the elbow/ditch is killing me from the Tegaderm sticking to the skin & being tight when bending it and whatnot, can't take it anymore, hop in the shower and begin the removal process. 9:05PM: Wow, that is sticky. 9:20PM: Holy Amaze Balls of sticky awesomeness that shit was fun times. Ugh, lots of soap, lots of water, wOo wee. Oh hai, there's a lion face on this sticky film of doom. Thursday: All good, still a bit tender, starting to peel, I just kept reapplying Aquaphor and wearing my shirt sleeve as a nasty 2nd skin layer. Bleurgh. Friday: Feels much better today, switched to Lubriderm. Today(following Thursday): Been using Lubriderm ever since and it's almost done peeling now, healed like a baws, no scabs, no nasties. Looks just like when I left the studio. It doesn't really itch... I don't know if that's going to come or if somehow the Tegaderm made me skip that stage but I only just get the occasional itch every couple hours, rub it a little and it's done. Honestly I'm going to use Tegaderm again once I go back in on Nov 7th and will update again once I peel it off. I'll definitely skip the whole aquaphor+tegaderm bullshit though, that sucked... made the 2nd application a bit sucky since there were no natural juices in there to keep it moist and prevent it from getting too tight. I have to say too, applying that shit on a joint is no joke... the ditch & area that bulges out when you bend your arm were fun times, after a couple days I felt pretty irritated in those spots. It would definitely be amazing if it was applied to a flat area though, I honestly couldn't feel any of the film on my bicep/triceps area, the elbow is where all the fun was happening. Anyways, hope this helps people who are considering it, I'm sure the old method works just as well, it's tried and true but this process made healing so much easier, I basically didn't really have to worry about it for 4 days, no gunking up shirts, no having to wash/reapply and wake up to nasty bed sheets. As a first time tattooed person, it made the obsessing over everything a bit easier to deal with. Here are fresh and healed pictures, the angle, contrast and quality of the pictures are quite a bit different but hopefully this helps too:

shitty photo but i got my second tattoo from tim pausinger today, turned out great.

Also drove up to Napa to get this lady head/eagle from Chad Koeplinger on Thursday. Super good experience.

Nice little filler tattoo of a bunch of lilacs (my mom's favorite flower). Done by Keith Reed at X-treme Ink in West Chester, PA.

I just got this gar from Mat Welch earlier today. I also got a little beer mug filler from Paul Holland while he was guesting here, but I don't have a picture. I'm pumped on 'em!

Got this sweet tengu mask done by Stewart Robson at the Scottish Tattoo convention last weekend. Sorry for the crappy phone picture. I am well chuffed with it. Edit: the picture quality is worse than I thought. I will switch it when I get a sharper one. This doesn't do it justice at all. Sorry.

i dont know the right section for this, so just posting this to see if anyone knowns but does anyone know what this print is called?

Just got a cool little bat from Austin Maples. Idle Hand, SF.

Not exactly new, but I finally snapped a couple (poor quality) photos of my sleeves now that my Kore Flatmo piece is fully healed. I can't believe it's already been a year since it was done, and over 5 since I got my Kurt Wiscombe sleeve! Time flies! Thanks for looking! I wish I had some better lighting for the photos! One day I'll get some nice ones taken!

Frank William from when i was in chicago last week.

Nipple is gone, 14 hours planned for today:)

Jason Ochoa - GreenPoint Tattoo, Brooklyn. Straight off the wall, great guy!

not the best photo but i got this from j adams today

Got this from Scott Sylvia over the weekend, very happy with it (stole the pic from blackhearts IG). Gonna go back to Blackheart for their walk in day in a couple weeks too.

Sorry for the poor phone shot but there is the progress...super stoked background finished up this past weekend. Added photo to full back piece thread as well. Mike

Did this one yesterday, 5.5 hour one shot. Tough girl! @Wilhell I know I've already said it, but I really love your backpiece. The powder blue with the orangey reds looks real slick. :cool:

got this little one today from frank william

Wow @RScott that sleeve is amazing!!! And @Synesthesia that rabbit is looking so nice! Here's the fox I got yesterday from Ron Wells, tough to get a good photo. Was supposed to fly in, get the tattoo, and fly back out last night but due to the snow storm I'm now stuck in NYC until tomorrow. So getting this little guy has turned into an unexpected vacation / adventure / chance to hang out with old friends.

Blue tiger/dragon by Danny Rossiter of Rain City, Manchester, UK. Fell in love with the painting when he posted it on Instagram so had to snaffle it up :) pleased and sore.

Some recent stuff: this was my end of the trade with Olivia. We decided to use her birthmark as a nipple. :cool: And then this was a medical illustration of a humerus bone. This is actually on a dude who is from the same town that I apprenticed in. It was pretty nuts actually, he told me that he had gotten work done at the shop I was at, and turns out he had a tattoo that I had drawn for my mentor to use. Small world..

Second session just finished on my thigh. 6 and a half hours in. Swollen, bloody and inky but here is a pic. Tried to get some details in on the right side pics.

Apologies for the janky-ass picture, I had to take it myself. It's on the back of my arm so it took a lot longer than it should've to actually get the fucking thing in the shot. :p

fun one from a couple of days ago

Got these two pieces at the London convention, Fudo-she-o by Claudia De Sabe (Black Garden Tattoo), Panther-reaper by Bart Bingham (New York Adorned) As you can see I'm very happy with the trip to the convention this year! :D

Got this off Chad K at the London convention yeasterday, back of forearm, swollen and sore :D

Got this yesterday from Alex Graham @ Lucky Drive

I managed to get tattooed by Capilli when he was at Captured Tattoo. I actually contacted him a few weeks after he announced his U.S. visit, and he was completely booked up. He emailed me back a month or two later and let me know he had a cancellation. I jumped right on the opportunity. After a near cancellation, due to some booking confusion, he managed to get me in at the time we had originally planned. I would have to say that getting tattooed by Capilli was probably the best Tattoo experience I ever had. He is genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met. He shared some cool and funny stories, and had a long conversation about Type O Negative and Alice In Chains. It was hands down, the least painful tattoo I've ever gotten. He says he's going to start making regular visits throughout the year, so I would highly suggest getting tattooed by him if any one in the United States has the chance. That was the best photo I could get, being that it's on my Tricep and pretty gooey at the moment. PS-It's totally ridiculous how he has been tattooing for only 5 years.

Where: FTW Tattoo Who: Jay Watkins Wanted a tattoo to show my love for the city that I love. Oakland is an amazingly misunderstood place. FTW was an amazing shop. Jason, Sean, Alex Matus, Jay Watkins...All were so cool and fun to be around. Can't speak highly enough. Came here after Temple had no way to get my friend in for an appointment in the next two weekends. Glad I did! Thanks to cltattooing for referencing them on here!

forgot to post this one.. my girlfriend got this little girl head from Amelia Martin yesterday @ the convention.. which made my mind up on getting that tattooed from hyde on the previous page.

Not the best picture but I got this from Justin Hyde today @ the Meeting Of The Marked convention today.

Alright, image heavy post incoming! So at @BrianH 's suggestion, I posted a scabby piece, here are some more pictures of the heal and a couple of tattoos I've gotten since. (healed) by Sean Perkinson at FTW in Oakland By Rempe, also at FTW during a guest spot. and then this one is from a couple weeks ago by Casey O who is new at Chicago Tattoo Co. and spent a week guesting at our shop. One of my favorites so far I think.

Got my anchor today :D loving it! Can't remember which thread we talked about these posters but here's Ray's 80 something of 250

Matt Howse did this on me yesterday at Fortune Tattoo here in Portland and yes it is right up in my business.

I got my third piece from Ron Wells Friday, and I LOVE HER: & if anyone wants the link to my Grez back piece progress, PM me. I don't want my butt all over the internet before its finished--after that, I of course give zero fucks.

Done by Neil England. 8.5 hours at the Seattle tattoo expo. He was a machine!

@BrianH that's a great idea! Looking like shit exactly as it should look like shit :)

Apologies for the crappy picture, I screenshotted this from IG. I'll post a better picture tomorrow, but check it out! By Sean Perkinson at FTW in Oakland. Steve Boltz flash.

got a nice souvenir from stuart cripwell a few days ago...its my favourite shop in the whole world now!

welp heres a few filler pieces i got yesterday from lowercase j.. i had no idea what i wanted to do when i got there i just showed him the spot and we went through some books of smaller flash and made some shit work. sorry if the pictures are big. my girlfriend is way tougher than i and got this big fuckin eagle on her chest by timmy tatts. took about 2 hours.

I just got this clipper ship and "finger waves" from Russ Abbott. He had an idea and I let him run with it to put a different spin on a classic design. What do you think?

And now for something completely different. I had this piece done on Saturday. It's a tribute to my pet Sun Conure. Done by Papa Joe Dawson. His lines can be a little quirky sometimes, but that's partly why I like his work.

I can't sing her praises enough, and I am so, so, soooooooo stoked on this piece, so here is my finished leg by Stephanie Tamez. Such an awesome person, and I'm gonna miss spending so much time at Saved! Except for a couple details, everything here is healed. Definitely one of my favorite tattoos.

Healed photo of a tattoo Marie Sena made on me before she moved to Denver. Colorado people, get tattooed by her!

Got this a few weeks ago at Electric 13 in Austin from Zach Taylor, who was gracious enough to come in on his day off to accomodate my schedule. Really cool shop, great experience all around. p.s. I apologize for the photo size, but people here like to see detailed photos of tattoos, right??

This was the first ever 'Traditional' tattoo I got, late last year, and I think I got a good one! By Frank Carter, Frith Street, London.

New one from Valerie Vargas at Frith St on my calf. Taking pictures of your own calf is a bit of nightmare!

Alex Knierer

This was done last month by Eric Jones at Port City Tattoo. It's finally all healed up. Sorry for the minor glare near the front of her crown.

While in New Orleans it was Southern Decadence and these gentleman showed up definitely unwanted. I approached this latino gentleman with a throat rocker and hand tattoos and asked him how can he discriminate individuals while I'm sure he's experienced discrimination for the above mentioned two reasons. He had nothing to say. So I let him know people like him give people with tattoos a bad reputation. He still had nothing to say. Enjoy the lack of spell check on their signs because I know many of us did!