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gf got this by michael bennett at 2 spirit. one of the nicest shops ever.

Tattoos are pretty much the coolest thing in the world! I'm also pretty much constantly amazed by the quality of work people here have. I have this joke about Instagram how if you see amazing work it's either on a tattooer or on an LST member (which, I know, are sometimes one and the same). Instagram in particular is insane. I know that so much is lost by seeing tattoos on a tiny phone screen, but the amount of mind-bogglingly awesome tattoos that are being done every single day in insane. Like how crazy is it that Horiyoshi 3 has an instagram?!? I hope this board is able to show people that having really good, like jaw-droppingly good, tattoos is something anyone can have as long as they're willing to put the time and money--and when you compare it to collecting other kinds of art, it's really not much money at all--into it.

I'm amazed at the incredible art work that is able to be put on skin! I'm amazed at the ingenuity, the skill, and the obvious talent of so many, many, many tattoo artists out there. Until I started coming here and following a bunch of tattooers on Instagram I had NO IDEA that so many spectacular tattoos are being done in the world. I remember looking at old tattoo magazines at my uncle's house when I was a teenager and thinking that they were amazing - but it was so unreal to me - stuff in a magazine y'know. And then tattooing was illegal in Oklahoma until not too many years ago - not to say that there weren't tattoos happening, but it was all fairly hush hush (and most of them weren't very good) and I never thought to look to see what else was out there. And now my mind is blown every. single. day. Perhaps the most amazing thing of all - great tattoos are accessible to just about everybody. You don't have to be famous, or wealthy, or otherwise connected to be able to get an awesome tattoo. It takes just a little bit of research and attention to what is going on out there. AMAZING!! It's one of the coolest things ever. I regret that I have been missing out on all this for so long.

Well just finished my Raijin. Seriously love the little extra touches Regino Gonzalez

I decided to group together all the threads currently about old tattoos, and tattooing in the past. He is a list of links to all the threads I found relevant. If I missed any please post up a link in the following and I can see if I can get it edited into the original post. The interviews posted here by @Scott Sylvia, which are located in the blog section. Here is a selection below: LST Interviews Erik Gillespie Stewart Robson Valerie Vargas Danny Reed Chad Koeplinger Henk Shiffmacher Hanky Panky Beppe Strambini Phil Kyle Oliver Peck Katie Sellergren Jeff Cribb Dan Dringenberg Kore Flatmo Tim Hendricks Bryan Burk Freddy Corbin Nick Colella Josh Arment Juan Puente Books books tattoos tattoo culture hanky pankys awesome new book milton zeis tattoo boooks traditional-american-tattooing-books ed hardy tattoo world tatoo history books shops tattoo books tattoo book review world compromise i dont bob roberts Videos/Documentaries old tattoo documentaries marcus kuhns new project who else has seen true love documentary video three tattooers one tattoo white dragon belfast henk schiffmacher art tattoo essence amsterdam video ed hardy tattoo world documentary ppv tattoo documentary john samson tattoo age vbs video asian art museum shige horitomo horiyuki horitaka horiyoshi 3 related Misc old tattoo photos acetate stencils legends tattoo history museum exhibit local tattoos sailors exhibit Old ink archive tattoo discoveries found sale horiyoshi iii exhibition london's somerset house If you would like something added to this list please add a comment and mention @slayer9019

J. Madberg, Stockhol unfortunately not mine

wtf! howd i get sucked into reading all this??? haha.

Just got home from a surfing trip in the Philippines, last night I booked another surfing trip in the Philippines for march 2013 so happy, I love it over there. To top it off this is my 100th post!

William Yoneyama

5 weeks until I set out for San Francisco to get tattooed by Grime :D

This is a benefit for the Red Hook Neighborhood in Brooklyn,on December 16th,2-8pm. Needles and Sins Tattoo Blog https://www.facebook.com/events/413333132065658/

My name is Michael Bennett, I tattoo out of 2Spirit Tattoo in San Francisco. I.ve been tattooing for a little over 10 years and am grateful for all it's given me. Hope you're all having a lovely day.

i read it too. sigh. i need a more enjoyable job.

Rad!

Since @Gregor 's post of Joey Ortega's alternative entry has expired, I'm taking the liberty of re-posting it:

I think the visual effectiveness of tribal tattoos comes from their size and they way they work with the body, and I really don't see that with your design. Same with phoenix tattoos. I think what makes them great visually is that there are a lot of elements there with the wings and the tail that you can get a lot of movement and make the tattoo really work with the body in interesting ways. Look at the one @Dan S just posted. It's small and it's simple, but there's a lot of movement in there and it looks like it sits well on the body and so it's a great little tattoo. If you really like way that tribal tattoos look and sit on the body, that's great, but find somebody who specialises in them and talk to them and get them to do something custom for you instead of finding an image you like on the internet. It will be more effort but it will be completely worth it in the end.

Sid's rules, always wanted to get something from him -- and now Tomas Garcia is working there, who also rules.

don't know how far you are from spider murphy's, but that shop is amazing.

thanks dude!

Start with Bushido by Taki. It's great. Schiffer Books.

Part 4 "Is that a collaboration " ..... deVita " All tattoos are a collaboration "

Had from my shoulders all the way down to my ankles outlined in one go, i'd say the hamstring was worse than arse, but the worst was back of knee *shudder*, and its still all gotta be shaded....

I thought "rockabilly" was very helpful, because before I saw it tattooed on his face, I thought "Now, this guy is ALL about the Gangster Rap!"

Excuse the picture, I think I was standing crooked and my modesty-preserving stick-on bra cups were all askew :P Anyway, tattoo is by Rachi at Black Throne. So far that's about 2 and a half hours, with around 1 hour to go. The bottle is going to be gold, and some little highlights will be added on the wings. It's a Resurrection Phial from the game Fable (one of my all time favourites). I used numbing cream, but it wore off pretty fast :/

fun little walk-in with mark cross yesterday. been wanting this dude for a while.

So I was poking around on Instagram and saw that Henry Lewis was posting a bunch of funny pics of people as Futurama characters, low and behold I found the app for Iphone and started making some of my own. I did my close friends, family, guys at the shop, then the thought occurred me to make some of my favorite tattooers into Futurama characters. So I will start with the attached guys from Chicago Tattoo Company. I know that some of them aren't the best, but it is an app so there are only so many choices, but thought it would be fun to see how many of these we could do. I would advise that any one of these I make is for pure fun, and I would never create something that I wouldn't be willing to show the person in question in person. Let the games begin.

Wow. I missed this. Mr. Bennett is one of my favorite tattooers . Glad to see you here, fella! And this reminds me to say happy birthday to Corey.

Just started this tiger belly last week. Going to be wild and psychedelic in colour. 2.5 hrs in OllieXXX @ Lucky Strike Tattoo (Edmonton, AB, Canada)

So many cool shops and tattooers in San Fran. I'm partial to FTW because of Eric Saner, who is from Rochester, Aidan Monahan (who also tattooed in Rochester) and Jason Phillips, both of which I've interviewed and are really awesome and nice dudes.

State of Grace. That is all you need to know. Just go to State of Grace.

let me laser my neck cause i think i actually want this tattoo on my forehead

HAILS LUCIFER! And you dude! Stoked to have your skills here. if I ever want a Norwegian Church Burning scene...which I may, I know where to go!

Hails!

The ass tattoo: a deep and searing pain that lasts for days, a memory that lasts a lifetime.

Curious if anyone else in here collects old acetate stencils? I would really like to have a peek at other peoples collections. For some reason I almost enjoy collecting stencils more than flash. I just like holding an old acetate in my hand and imagining how many people got tattoos from it. Here are some of my collection. I have a bunch more I need to take pictures of. Bob Shaw Owen Jensen

Here ya go.......

It looks like Hardy Marks is going to put out a 30th Anniversary printing of all of these later this year. It should make a nice Christmas gift to myself.

Mario Desa Tattooer at Chicago Tattoo Company