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I went to Chicago (first time!) for a very short work trip. However, I did manage to squeeze in an appointment with Nick Colella: He wedged my wife's name into a little spot below my left knee ditch and right under a girl head I got that looks just like her. I didn't tell her I was going to do it; when I got home last night, I said, "My leg hurts. Can you look at it for me?" Fortunately, she loves it as much as I do. Nick was awesome. He did the whole thing in about 15 minutes, then I hung out and soaked in his beautiful shop for a while. Nick, Erik, Frank, and Matt were all super gracious and chatted with me for a long time. I can't recommend Great Lakes Tattoo highly enough. And they take walk-ins all day!

Uploaded some photos to my gallery...now let's see if I can get 'em here? For whatever reason, we started this kind of piecemeal and have worked our way both up my back and down my thigh. It has worked out very well for both of us. We are adding some snakes at the convention! Some big ass snakes! Started with the big, orange peony, added another spray of peonies next sitting, added a pair of karajishi the next two sessions, and a smattering of clouds and rocks throughout. And, of course, more peonies. We only connected the back and the bottom stuff at the last session! Sorry for all the butt and uncropped instagram images. I cropped them but failed somewhere because they are still instagramy screenshots.

Finished this babe last week. All I got was a crappy cellphone pic before it was mailed off.

Yesterday my wife had her 4th session on her backpiece, and the background brought it to life and we are so stoked I just had to share it with you all :-) The piece is made by Bonel from Corazon Santo in The Netherlands, which also did both of my sleeves and chest pieces :)

messing with ink & charcoal lately.

One time I was tattooing this girl's ankle and she meowed her way through the whole tattoo as her 'pain management.' It was a trial.

Honestly I couldn't care less about tattooing's PR. I wouldn't blame some dude saying tattoos give you cancer for 20 bucks just to keep the suckers fool enough to believe it out of this already (debatably) over-inflated industry/community. Maybe that's only because I wasn't around when things were 'worse' and mothers hid their children from tattoos. I'm no authority on whats best but thats my two cents. Also journalists are bloodsuckers. There is no integrity. But journalism is the only industry that self-regulates. If this gets out I can almost guarantee that it would get a retraction, or some other publication eager to throw this asshat under the bus (less competition is never a bad thing), flack against the organization claiming it, and in a best case scenario the medical community fighting back. I can't imagine, in a world where everything gives you cancer, that the medical community would be okay with some dumbass crying wolf with this shit.

I found out today... I am going to be an aunt as of late april or early may. Very very close to my 21st bday when i will meet my neice or nephew

I haven't really posted anything here...y'all who follow me on Instagram usually see my drawings or my cat. My mentor asked me to paint him something he could hang in his station...no pressure right? I came up with this.

Ashley Love at New York Adorned gave me this badass mermaid and anchor this afternoon at New York Adorned. I would see her again in a second for any traditional work I was looking for. Love her line work and her tattoo demeanor. Seek her out if you're in NYC and want quality traditional work, or phenomenal chubby girls - her chubby girls rock the house!! - - - Updated - - - Ashley Love at New York Adorned gave me this badass mermaid and anchor this afternoon at New York Adorned. I would see her again in a second for any traditional work I was looking for. Love her line work and her tattoo demeanor. Seek her out if you're in NYC and want quality traditional work, or phenomenal chubby girls - her chubby girls rock the house!!

whoa! just smoked tooo much afgahni hash....whilst being pretty drunk....this might be interresting...better watch story of ricky...yes.

cats are jerks :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2vfq-KTx8Q

I don't mind people staring at my tattoos sometimes I catch myself staring at theirs. I am a father of 2 severely disabled children so it's a different matter when we are out and they get stared at , dependent on mood , but most of the time if people are staring at them, i'm usually straight up in their grill (as you say in America :D) asking them what the fuck they are staring at.

I'm actually so narcissistic and passionate about tattoos, that I take every stare for envy, admiration or blatant sexual desire.

Skull and Peony on the inner side of my elbow by Chris O'Donnell. Future appointment to add leaves, water, wind bars, etc. to tie it into my existing half sleeve.

Made a new one. Sorry about the bad photo.

I'm new LST. Totally enjoying the interviews. My first tattoo was by Greg Kulz in 1990 & my last tattoo was by Juan Puente last month.

I have Swans.carcass.melvins.neurosis tattoos. I'm general the older I get the less I like band related tattoos. Even tho i still love the bands music

Throwing in the towel at the end of a long session on an area like the back, ribs, front is one thing... 'Backing out' while you're early into a piece is another proposition. 'Backing out' is marginally better than not showing up at all, but only in the sense that at least the tattooist has a chance of being partially paid for the wasted time and effort. Let's not normalise or excuse behaviour which leaves people with half finished work and screws up bookings and a studio's working day. If you aren't sure you can finish what you start, then holy Christ... don't get in the chair.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

@Mark Bee @Gregor Thanks guys! Iain is such a rad tattooer and person. Even besides the art he is very inspirational. Anyone who has a chance should get at least one piece from him. He's coming to the scottish convention ;) edit: to early for spelling

@ironchef, But your cat is so awesome (judging by Instagram, haha)! My wife loves Rubendall's work, so I tried to her your back. She ended up distracted by cat pictures.

@9Years Before I started my backpeice I talked with my tattooer about what would go best with what I had already. Had a few ideas about what I would want and he said all of them would fit relatively well and wouldn't say one is better then the other. He told me to think it over and which one I wanted. I settled on Monju bosatsu, cause it would work with the space I had available. While the other tattoos would look fine, they would look best when done down to the mid leg area, and I only had till the end of my butt. So it was just talking it out with my tattooer and having a few ideas in my head. I just wish I would have started my backpeice first. Which in japanese tattoos is the normal approach, back, arms, chest, ribs, legs.

I have really been digging on Adam Guy Hays' tigers.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm working at Lucky Rabbit in Muncie IN. Not sure what mysterious member you're talking about. - - - Updated - - - Thank you for the welcome as well. Yes it was Read St. Figured those who knew would be able to guess. As for the tattoos I like to get, all of mine are traditional or close to it.

anyone want to volunteer to mail me one of those awesome robson/vargas convention t-shirts? i can paypal you the money for the shirt and shipping costs.

The other med I like during/after a brutal tattoo begins with and X and ends with and anaX.

Yeah, I know Tebori is a long process, but I feel like it would be worth it. Thank you very much for telling me about those artists. Getting it done in the US would at least cut down the traveling costs, so that's definitely a great option.

Having my back worked on by Junii @ Diamond Club booth from opening til 7ish...that video just made me realize how open air the tattoo environment is...should have thought about that! HAH! Thanks for posting @Hands On! I'll be around Friday, for sure, just checkin' things out. I feel like I should write LST (#squidpants) on my forehead. ;p

I don't want to overstep my boundaries as a non-tattooer here, but I think that sometimes things are said in a tattoo shop that aren't meant for the internet, and that it's very important to be conscious of this. Just because information is given to you, or that you've learned things from getting tattooed or by spending time in tattoo shops doesn't mean that you should share this information in a public forum. Sure, there's painting advice on YouTube, but there's also a lot about learning how to actually tattoo, and I don't think--again, as a non-tattooer--that this is right or does any service to tattooing as a craft. I don't think my opinion matters much here either way, but that's just my .02.

I work in a call center where no one cares how covered in tattoos you are. That being said, I'm refraining from getting my hands, neck and forearms tattooed. Whenever I get a different job I don't want to be held back by any discrimination against my appearance. Though the forearms I'm just saving until I've gained a good amount of weight, give myself a bigger canvas.

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.

I was always like "I won't go below elbow" then I did. Then I said "I wont go hands", then I did. I also said "I wouldn't do neck", and now I am. I never pictured getting a full suit when I first started getting tattooed, well, that has drastically changed. I plan to have full coverage other than face, I'm saving my back for the person I want to do it and when I can afford it. Other than that, it's just putting them where they will fit. My arms, legs etc are just pieced together... but my torso/back I want to be planned out and done as a full back piece. I guess you can't say never.

Smashed something with a baseball bat after a long, frustrating night of dealing with a person who ultimately refused care because my coworker was Asian and I was not an MD.

This thread is weird.

This isn't the most original idea ever, and it's just a sketch, but I had fun with this one today:

And here is my entry for this month, my 'Tamatori-Hime' sleeve (the one with the octopus ) that we finished today (with a bit brutal 5 hour session. This sleeve (and my other sleeve) are made by Bonel from Corazon Santo tattoo studio in Arnhem, The Netherlands.

Flame shirts rule . I had never heard the word "persnickety" before. and you yanks think us brits talk funny .....

Absolutely not... it's one thing to finish a line when someone says stop, but to hold them there and keep working as long as he does is unprofessional.

If you want to be able to hide a tattoo putting it on your head is one of the worst places you can choose.

I don't usually just take something off of the internet and post it here, but this thing was too incredible not to.

I was talking to Mike Fite who did a variation of this on me yesterday ... He said it was an early turn of the century design ... Possibly as early as 1890, but definitely lots in the 1910-20's. Here is mine I got from him:

I hate everybody so I just mumble a "yeah thanks" and wait for them to finish ringing up my groceries.

My recursive wolf coverup (wolf covered up by a bigger wolf!): You can see the before here: Coverup

I fumbled about for the right term for these but thanks to my man Hogg i've now got it ,Capt Coleman dragons .Anyway this "did me up like a kipper " as the say over here .Hope this is cool to post...great new stuff from Valerie Vargas .