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Okay folks, quick update after yesterday's session. Great experience as usual over at Kings Avenue Manhattan. As I stated in my previous post, I took the summer off from tattooing and just jumped right back into it with a 6+ hour session with Mike Rubendall on my back piece. To get the real effect of this, check out the first two pics. Started off during the day and ended well into the evening. Needless to say I'm very happy with how things are turning out so far. LOVE the colors. Will be seeing Henning at the end of this month for upper back portion of this collaboration. Enjoy the pics and my goofy commentary: The man himself laying it into me...noon time shot Almost end of the session...about 7pm or so You want to talk about a shop with heavy hitters? Rubendall, Grez and way in the back....O'Donnell. And each one of them super down to earth and funny as well. Can't really ask for anything more. Messy and yes...painful Full on progress shot, what we managed to get done Left cheek and right inner thigh Right cheek

I'll be there on Saturday for sure, having the last session done on my back.

Not ours

Dick on my jawline was tattoo number one. The fire-jizz coming out was tattoo number two. No regrets, mofukka! I love it cause it has so much personal meaning to me. I also got it upside down cause it's for me.

This is what happened to me today: Rudy Fritsch, of course. I encourage anyone who as a chance to get something from this man, very inspiring and unique in every way. Well worth the trip to Trieste (nice town!) where his studio is. I think that's it for me, no more tattoos until spring. Ciao! edit: not really necassary to comment on how much I love this tattoo. I do. A lot.

"Why does that heart on your forearm say 'WOW'?" "Because I love my mom!"

Yup. I just was perusing the Full Backpiece Thread and I concur. We all wish we were @ironchef haha

HAHAHA I wish I was @ironchef

Rubendall asked what colors I was thinking of for the dragon. I showed him a piece he had done a few years earlier where I loved the various greens. He suggested a red belly which I was stoked on, so we're pretty much on the same wave-length. I'm scheduled for multiple sessions with Henning. He's got some more outlining to do, that's for sure and I'm sure we'll get everything shaded. If things go fast and I don't pass out from the pain, maybe we can get some color into the phoenix! I got to chat with O'Donnell a little bit. Still kicking around the idea of getting something from him. Have to finish up this back piece first before thinking too far ahead, haha.

So @ironchef the backpiece is really starting to come along! Those finger waves healed beautifully and I absolutely love the color of the scales on the dragon. Was that your choice or Mikes? I can't wait to see the update on this after Henning gets some more time on it. You going for multiple sessions while he is here or just another 6 hrs? @MikeL, that back piece is looking good and I love the thick line work. When it gets colored in it's really going to pop. I will be starting on mine with Chris January 23 2014 at Kings Ave NYC. Pushed the start date ahead a year because I've been working like a dog doing a ton of OT at work. Social life has taken a hit but it will be well worth it. I'm all kinds of giddy and nervous at the same time.

Welcome. There was a poster recently who got her wrist tattooed and was concerned about the visibility of it, especially in terms of employment, so think very seriously about what it will mean to have a tattoo that is difficult to conceal. Are you in a line of work that accepts visible tattoos? Are you willing to possibly commit to a life of wearing long sleeves even in the summer if people don't accept your tattoos? I'm not saying don't do it, but just tobe aware of how people might react to it. Some nice script could be nice, but you could also look into images that convey a similar meaning...how about a big Fudo Myoo tattoo?

Black ink.

@ironchef looking strong as hell! 6 hours straight in that location...tough. Going to be hitting my lower half on the 26th. All work being done by Rodrigo Melo at Northstar NYC Mike

These are my two newest. Just got them yesterday. For years I have taken my stress out on myself. The top of my left arm is covered in burn scars. The swallow represents freedom and New beginnings. The cage was where I was trapped. The cage is open. I am free.

Hello world of LST. I found this blog thanks to one of my co-workers who was telling me about it one day and also to Instagram after I saw Nick Colella post a screen shot of the recent Scott Sylvia interview (which by the way if you have yet to see it is absolutely incredible and opens your mind to the way a real professional thinks regarding this industry). I'm from Richmond, VA. and have lived here my entire life. I'm currently a front counter assistant for the shop I work for (Heroes and Ghosts Tattoo - Heroes and Ghosts | Just another WordPress site) and have been here since April of this year. Growing up in this city has thus far been awesome and especially since I have gotten into tattoos/tattooing. There's such a heap of knowledge and talent around this city that it's great to be able to call it my hometown. However there is also a vast majority of turd tattooers and scratchers, but I guess that's life and every place has those so I can't complain about that too much. I'm in a couple of bands (In Courage - incourageva.bandcamp.com : New Solution - newsolution.bandcamp.com/) and have been playing drums since I was in the 6th grade (1999). I love doing so, playing shows, touring, etc. It's just a hobby that I've grown up on that really taught me a ton about life and the world we live in. I recently bought a 1975 Honda CB360 motorcycle and that's becoming a great new-found hobby of mine to work on. Tattooing became an interest of mine when I was probably 16 years old, getting my first tattoo the next year, and the love for the art and industry has blossomed since then. I hope that I can learn and interact as much as possible through this Blog and I am very happy to be here now!

if you're all not already stoked enough... how about some moving pictures?..

The rent is too damn high! - - - Updated - - - Should we just get a headcount and go for Angelina?

I love how you say this like it's possible you just forgot.

I must say that Paul is my favorite Bosch-surnamed tattooer, although he does very different work from what you have. Also, why don't you make a thread in the initiation forum to properly introduce yourself and tell us about your tattoo journey?

Oh and it's confirmed, I'll be at Deno's booth on Friday at 7pm. I'm planning on attending most of the convention, definitely Friday and Saturday at the least. Stoked to meet new faces and see familiar ones!

This is one of my favourite threads. Every few days I get a new account to follow.

Welcome to the forums and good luck with your venture, however I feel that there are already clothing brands doing similar things--Steadfast Brand comes to mind--and I'm not interested in those either. I'll continue wearing shirts from tattoo shops, and supporting tattooers that way even if I'm not necessarily getting tattooed by them, instead.

Like I said, I'm down for wherever. I think I've heard good things about Angelina's. @BrianH I saw you just got tattooed by Rubendall and O'Donnell, are you still in the city this weekend?

Last night I realized I was following almost 800 people/shops and was spending way too much time with my face buried in my phone. A little overwhelming so I decided to only follow: 1.) LST users 2.) artists I would get work from (or already have work from) 3.) artists that do huge awesome pieces but I most likely won't have a chance to get tattooed by due to financial, space and travel limitations(grime, shige, etc.) 4.) tattoo legends (stell, horiyoshi III, etc.) 5.) My girlfriend and a handful of "real life" people I know..... boring hahaha Now I'm down to a manageable ~170 followings file this under tattoo collector problems

That's jewish law and is one of a long list. Plus the original hebrew makes no reference to a "tattoo". Its carving your flesh for the dead.

I am new here and followed the advice of members here. At first I thought my ideas were better, but when I stepped back I realized they were/are absolutely correct with the advice they gave. Try not taking it personal and step back and think about it a bit. I would not get I facing towards me, just my two pennies. Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2

I was gonna give some advice but it looks like it will fall on deaf ears no matter who says it or why we do it like that. So be it. Welcome to the spot nevertheless!

So pretty much the whole "Ill take ANY advice you have or suggestions! Lay it on me. Should I get it on my wrist?" was just bs. The advice to not get it facing you is the common wisdom here. If you don't want to take that advice, of course you don't have to, but you're the one who asked.

6000th LST'er. Welcome Nick. Big up yourself everybody, for making this a place people want to hang out at.

Don't get it facing you. Try to get some nice hand drawn script (e.g. BJ Betts) and not something that looks like a fancy computer font

no rules anymore......

So if I'm understanding this correctly you got your first tattoo on your face? Wow.

Booked in with Stewart at Frith Street last week for a Pharaohs Horse tattoo in December. Looking forward to it.

6+ hours yesterday with Mike Rubendall on my back piece. Check out full report with pics in the "Full Back Piece" thread.

@Lance Well, I ended up looking for the copy you were talking about, and now I feel like flying to Korea and punching that guy. He's got a few other Shige copies up there as well. The weird thing is that Korea isn't that far from Japan and Shige almost certainly would have tattooed whoever got that backpiece if they'd been willing to travel. I don't know what the copier charges, but Shige doesn't even really charge outrageous money by cost-of-living-in-Japan standards. The original backpiece is amazing - I think the green foliage is my favourite detail. When I hear people say things like 'Shige's work isn't as good as it used to be' (seriously) I look at his recent pieces like this one and Uncle Allen's and wonder how they can honestly say that. Speaking of backpieces and approaches to handling plagarism: We all know that Smith St. prefers their work not to be posted online, and you can see their reasoning at times like this. When I was getting tattooed there I asked Steve Boltz about the kind of tattooing he did day to day, and I think I thought he was doing all medium and small pieces. Anyway, he was like 'Ah, I'm working on about eight backpieces right now'. Not just traditional, but japanese influenced too. Blew my mind, wasn't what I was expecting at all for some reason.

Fuckity. Shall have a beer and an internal debate, after which I shall return. - - - Updated - - - done

@9Years I actually did not want to get a back piece done initially as my thought was, how the hell will I get to see and enjoy it. But since I was getting comfortable with my artist and also the process of tattooing, it was natural to move on and have at it with the biggest canvas on my body. I had looked at various Japanese/Asian themes, Quan Yin with Dragon, Tiger and Snake, General Gwon, etc. Eventually decided on the Dragon and Phoenix motif (balance, yin and yang, female and male, etc.) I got extremely lucky in that I was able to get two fantastic artists to agree on a collaboration. They decided who was going to do what and we've worked everything out so far. Been a FANTASTIC experience.

Most (not all) tebori artists are slower than machine only artists. Keep that in mind if you're planning tebori for a huge piece like that. There are a handful of artists here in the states that do tebori: Shinji (Horizakura) in New York and Horitomo and Horiken at State of Grace in San Jose, CA come to mind immediately. I know that several members of the Horitoshi family travel to conventions in NY and SF, too. Just sayin': you can get tebori stateside if you'd like.

Also a bit of info I did start a very similar thread a bit back. http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/3789-etiquette-multiple-concurrent-tattoos.html

Haha sorry! I must have confused you with another LSTer. Maybe it was @ironchef? There are too many good tattoos going around to keep straight. But just trying to get as many people as possible for this, so it's not a bust again.

I have script inside both wrists; the first wrist is upside down ("facing me," if you will) and the second wrist is the correct way. If absolutely nothing else, the amount of people I've had ask me what it says instead of just being able to read it numbers into the hundreds at this point. As was mentioned before, that's a very visible location, so be prepared to go from having no discussions with people about what very well much have a deep and personal meaning for you to having a veritable cavalcade of people who enjoy watching sensationalized TV shows ask you about "the story" behind your tattoo. I'm not saying don't do it, just be aware that your interactions with the general public will now include those.

@Lance @hogg Rubendall said, "You can't half ass the scales and they take a lot of time." Well worth it. I'm more nervous about my upcoming sessions with Henning as he always wants to maximize the time when we're working together. We're talking 7+ hours that I've sat with him before. Hope my back can take the punishment.

Finally, after two postponements in the last couple of months, I'm getting a mermaid from Ashley Love at New York Adorned tonight. I haven't been tattooed since mid-August, and I've been getting that itch recently. This is coming at just the right time! Posted pics forthcoming...

Having not been tattooed in well over 4 months, it felt like I went 12 rounds today in the ring with Rubendall, hahaha. We did a 6-6 1/2 hour session. I'll try to upload better pics tomorrow. For now just enjoy the ones in the Instagram feed. Goodnight...

This right here. Holler!

I just basically wish I had four arms.

My love handle. My poor poor love handle.

if you get a bible tattoo, then that'll cover all the verses