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Just got this at Clubhouse Tattoo in Oakland from the very cool Carolyn. (CLTattooing on here) A good friend of mine also got an amazing skull and rose tattoo, hopefully Carolyn posts pics soon!

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!

starting my back on tuesday with Eddy Deustche, been waiting all summer for this extremely stoked that its finally time to start.

Finally did it! Thank you @slayer9019 for finally getting our asses in gear. Great to meet you @HaydenRose @Fala and your dude Jason, @ironchef you are far too kind with that print.. truly. @dirbab hope you got back over that bridge ok, homie. That hair is looking luxurious. Sorry it's not a better picture! - - - Updated - - - Aaaaand it's crooked. I am so good at computers.

By Adrian Hing on my inner thigh. - - - Updated - - - We were gonna try and fit in a snake in a similar gap on the other leg but went for something I've wanted for a while instead, when the snake didn't want to fit:

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!!

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

Well, I give you points for sticking to your guns, regardless of the good advice given. I hope you like it. If you decide to stick around here and get more, I hope you educate yourself on good tattoos, and are able to listen to other's advice.

@Orangutango if that's a Simpsons reference then you might be my new favorite person haha. Love that Moth tattoo

Started this guy in my free time between appointments and walk-ins the last few days. Drawn for a client, although I decided to paint it out since he still insisted on having tribal flames as a framing element. Blown up to 12"x16", not sure how I'll finish out the remaining space just yet.

Just booked in to do my right hand with Steve Byrne at the West Texas Tattoo Convention. Still waiting to hear back from Daniel Albrigo on time and such. One of my co-workers just booked in with Paul Dobleman as well... beyond excited!

My wife and I just signed a lease on a massive warehouse space. The adventure begins!

Just want to throw out there that I am also picking up merch for people so if anyone wants anything, I'm happy to oblige. Just send a PM.

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.

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.

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.

Plenty of great tattoos this month. I hold no illusions that mine here will win but I figure I'll share it anyway. I like it. The shark and a few water marks were done yesterday, the shipwreck is about two months old, the sea monster, compass star and an off screen squid, are all about six months old, and the map outline is about two years old. All of these were done by Kyle at Leviticus Tattoo in Minneapolis.

Super cool! Nice work, @cltattooing.

hey my bad, I'm there doods.

Very early in my apprenticeship, a friend of a friend came in to get tattoos on the front of her thighs... she made up a fairy tale for about 15 minutes (of about 1.5 hours of constant talking) to take her mind off of it. That wasn't the weirdest stretch of her talking, either.

There you go.

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

I fucking wish all I ever tattooed were dragons...

For those who are not necessarily going for full-body coverage, do you ever think about the overall look you have as a tattooed person? Like I imagine many people here, I am an appreciator of aesthetics, and when I consider getting new work done, I think long and hard about where to put it and how it will change the way my body looks in clothes, out of clothes, in swim suits, etc. It might be slightly different for females since we tend to have more variety in the clothes we wear (different cuts, lengths, dresses, etc.), but I do wonder... Do you pay a lot of attention to keeping your work balanced on your body? Do you take into consideration places on your body where you don't plan to ever get work? I guess one approach would be to prioritize the design, and pick the place on your body where that design fits best. Another approach would be to think about where you'd like to have tattoos, and pick designs you like that would flow well in those spaces. This post is partially inspired by this thread about negative space with tattoos. I am a huge fan of negative space and have spent a lot of time thinking about the best way and location to place substantial tattoos on my body, with space in between them. Some people might say this is overthinking it, but I can't help it, ha. I've considered putting most of my work on my left arm and right leg, leaving the opposites mostly clear. I've also considered mainly tattooing my torso and leaving my limbs mostly clear. When you think about it, following each of those two patterns would make for a really different overall look. Maybe as a still-kinda-newbie to this world, I do think about this stuff too much, but I'm still curious as to others' thoughts :)

bad photo of some drawings i did today

I have a few I can post a bit later today, when I can resize them. We had an old timer in with his granddaughter when she got tattooed, who had just gotten a rose while visiting California, and was showing us his old tattoos from the mid-60s. Done in Chicago, Hawaii, and San Diego, so I know we were looking at some gold. I have a few others here and there I can dig up as well, but those are the ones that stuck out in my mind...

See you fools at 230

I'm one lucky fucker indeed. This ^ is exactly what happened! You lot are a bunch of heros - I'd never have dared give the required trust without the advice I've had one here. Particularly what @hogg said about the beautiful Stuart Cripwell legs which is, of course, true of the circus girls too.

Depending on how long you're in town you could try Zach Taylor at Electric 13, I stopped at the shop on a Friday and he was gracious enough to tattoo me on his day off on Monday. He does some pretty strange stuff, it's great. Instagram

I'd say stick to a late lunch at 230

How as Trevor got a beard?

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

Remember to snap a group photo you guys!

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 :)

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 live and work in China and got my first tattoo here this summer. Although more popular with younger generations, in China tattoos carry a much stronger stigma than in the west and are associated with prisons, crime and lack of education, in a much more narrow view than in other countries/cultures. I started a full sleeve and and the general response of my Chinese colleagues in the office (I'm Caucasian) was one of total silence, except for two younger girls, who asked if it hurt and said it was cool. Old ladies in the bus are scared of me now. Man I'm such a badass.

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 am, it's been 23 months.....

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

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

I think that living in SF has a lot to do with this. :)

My smallest tattoo to date. This lil kung fu mantis is about the size of a loonie (that is a dollar coin in canaduh eh). Tattoo by Bryan Turnbull (from Gov Street Tattoo, Victoria BC) and was made at Shades of Grey Tattoo in Edmonton, AB during his recent guest spot visit. God damn this tiny zapper makes me laugh DON'T BUG ME EH

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

Chris Garver did this Tengu on me, Sunday, at The London Tattoo Convention. Picture taken the day after.

Got this Namabuki from Henning Jorgensen on Saturday.

Not getting something because it is a trend is just as bad as getting something because it is a trend.

heres mine