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By WT Norbert today. Its a bit bloody in these pics. Saw Chad Koeplinger at the shop, if I knew he was in town I'd have booked in with him too! Bummed by a missed opportunity there.

I get it now. The cl in your name is short for Cthulhu.

Kyle Sajban from Red Rocket Tattoo NYC. Back hurt A LOT more than I thought it would.

hhhnnnfghbhllffrrrhhbblllll

ok so I have finally finished researching everyone's amazing suggestions ! what can I say ? wow!! thank you all so much! @Dumpleton : wt Norbert! I checked that link and fell in love with what he does! one pic says he is in Sydney which is only about4.5 hrs from me, so not too bad travel wise! I would love for him to do my thighs or just one seeing I also checked Rose Hardy and was very impressed! she is brilliant! @Gregor : like I had said earlier, I saw Crispy lennox in a magazine I have here and got all excited. I think I need to add him to my list ! no idea for what, but I really like his work. I checked out Ali, she is in Brisbane. thanks for suggesting her too!She is a wonderful artist! would love to get something by her at some point! god you people are going to send me broke ;) @Amok : I ended up finding the article :) I also looked him up on the web and remember why he stuck in my head. brilliant! @Graeme : not sure I would get Trevors work but I really did enjoy looking through it! thank you for the suggestion! I do enjoy looking at Japanese tattoos, and reading about the tradition and how certain elements go together and others just don't. so again! thank you all for suggesting these amazing artists! now I must think a bit harder and save a bit more. definitely don't want to just rush in to my local artist for my thighs now, happy to wait a bit more and hopefully get something by some of the above artists :)

So the knee torture is finally complete. My knee/thigh demon by Matt Van Cura done at Invisible NYC.

My two latest lowdowns! Cat-lady by Valerie Vargas at Frith Street Tattoo, and start of tiger and dragon thigh piece by Marius Meyer ( will post a better picture of this later!)

Made me think of this lol I hope someone gets this reference.

It's both frustrating and really fortunate that I have tons of space left. Fortunate, because I want to keep getting more, but frustrating because I'm tired of not having more of my body tattooed.

Oakland police department is corrupt as fuck and has zero interest in serving the people of this city. Can't say that's true for all police departments, but with the growing militarization of the police force, my respect for the people serving this system is rapidly dwindling. I do think there is honesty and integrity in the ideal of law enforcement, but I have yet to see much of that in action. But yeah, I have no idea who you are, where you live, or what your job is like, so I can't say much on your situation.

@InkedMumma glad to hear it! There's plenty of fine artists to choose from here and you're on the right track. Slightly off topic but I'm getting tattooed by Norbert right now! Foruming distracts from the pain a bit.

I highly recommend Warren Ellis' "Gun Machine" It was a good, creepy, page turner. Gun Machine: Warren Ellis: 9780316187404: Amazon.com: Books I've been on a crime fiction tear over the last few years, plowing through police procedurals. Ian Rankin's John Rebus series is great and I've recently discovered Duane Swiercznski's "Hell and Gone."

No problem, folks. Glad you're enjoying everything. Forgot to post my friend's folk bird.

lady head by Valerie Vargas skull drawn on by Stuart Robson

Big Brent from Mastodon has your answer !

I got both my thighs tattooed this year by Ade Stacey at Nine Tattoo in Brighton. Awesome guy and I love the pieces that he did for me. Baku on one side and Kirin on the other. Something a bit different. The picture of the Baku has come from Ade's own website as you might have guessed from the water mark. In terms of the twitching I got a bit of that towards the bottom of the muscle near the knee but otherwise it wasn't too bad for 5hours+ of tattooing each time.

Oh come on dude not every single tattooer is that jaded.. or can afford to be that picky.

I would be too! Chest isn't fun It was a good day, he's a nice guy and I'm happy with the outcome. I posted a few pics the latest tattoo lowdown thread but here's one. There's a few blood spots there that have gone now.

My sentiment exactly....... My local BOH regs state walls must be of light color. My guess is they feel a brighter, lighter area will be less likely to hide biohazard material splatter..and also must be sanitize able 36" from floor level... This is probably some sort of OSHA reg from Food service areas...made to adapt into tattoo shops.. Like I said, they adopted a lot of outside information into the local regs...it's insane. I'm preparing certain change proposals for next year...along with a couple local guys.....hopefully if all our ducks are in a row we can make the changes without screwing ourselves with these people. - - - Updated - - - To illustrate further the out dated regs we have... We originally had beautiful pressed tin ceilings in the entire shop. They had a great vintage feel..and actually had to be dry walled over because the BOH felt the ceiling should be free of texture to prevent bacterial growth....lol....unreal.... One of the changes we will address...hopefully

That's what she said.

For some reason lately, we've had a barrage of couples at the shop who think it's okay to make out on the tattoo floor and lean on the tables/be publicly affectionate. Like.. come on, guys. I am at work. Working.

Here's something to think about, you just made a broad generalized statement about folks who do tattoos. And then wonder how it is that someone can make a broad generalization about police officers.

I am two assignments away from finishing a holistic health program I started over two years ago! Woot!

I just picked up the first 6 copy's of Brother Lono . I have only read the first one and it's waaay out there , I loved 100 Bullets so I'll stick with it , however it's been really gratuitous so far. - - - Updated - - - @Graeme I love the sound of that. I can't get enough Lovecraftian horror

Yes!!! I finally have an appointment for a NEW tattoo! It's been soooo long!

Just wanted to give you guys a heads up about a new book we are working on. Lost Love is a collection of vintage tattoo flash presented in a 200 page 9×12 hardcover format. This book represents a handful of private collections and is full of never before published sheets of antique flash along with acetates, sketches, and photos. The images in this unique collection were selected to embody the rich and diverse history of tattooing. Our goal was to show everything from folky to fancy. This book will contain unsigned flash sheets as well as images from Cap Coleman, Paul Rogers, Sailor Jerry, Stoney St Clair, Percy Waters, Milton Zeis, and many more. The first 200 Lost Love pre orders will receive a limited print of vintage flash with their book and it will be shipped in hand silk-screened packaging. Pre orders have already started and the book is expected in early Feb. can be purchased at Yellow Beak Press Here is a small video teaser for the book.

These are my two favorite machines. I think they look pretty rad. Not too shiny, not beat up, just honest pieces of equipment.

ha no excuse needed , I still look at my tattoos daily the eagle especially keeps me enamored

Nice dude!! And @slayer9019 finally done! Those FLAMES dude..

this looks cool

Best post timing ever. A guy I work with is getting his chest done by Norbert in 1 weeks time, he is shitting himself ha ha.

I missed this thread somehow. I'm late - welcome! Great introduction.

I love the way my sleeves have taken shape, but I do wish I had a couple of extra arms to keep working on. This forum has a way of making me want more and more and more... I'm hoping Mario is going to travel to Toronto again. I've got a couple of spots saved for future tattoos by him.

It is. A super gritty crime drama on a Native American reservation. Crime, drugs, sex, murder, alcoholism, gambling. What's not to like!?!?! Haha.

no tattooer would be excited about fixing this. i would advise getting another tattoo from a good shop and if you can hit it off with the tattooer, he/she would be much more likely inclined to fix your old crappy tattoo. sometimes crappy tattoos are a great memory too. like that tattoo is a mark of being in iraq and of your buddy.

Yes, because us "artistically inclined" people really love to work for free. Go to a good shop. Show him/her your tattoo and discuss possibilities. This forum isn't really for satiating these kinds of questions.

Blaine the train!

I am a man. I want a butterfly tattoo.

I love how this thread is turning into a discussion on masculinity and no women have posted yet except myself. Excellent. I just emailed Kings Ave to book with Kim-Anh Nguyen in May for a one-shot butterfly (woo!). I have a feeling she will have the design I desire :)

I do love a good butterfly tattoo. I was talking to a guy who is planning to write a book on the history of tattooing and we got into a discussion on butterflies and masculinity. He laughed and told me that he thought a guy getting a butterfly tattoo in this day and age was almost asking to get beaten up. He is not particularly dialed into the scene. I rolled up my sleeve for him to reveal my SJ butterfly that I picked from a book of Jerry flash at my local shop. I love it and it has never for a moment posed a threat to my masculinity (however it is that I may wish to define it.) Edit: This was done by Glennie at The Pearl in Toronto. She has a much nicer pic on her instagram feed, if you were to scroll back the better part of a year.

Thanks ross! Yea after it was done I was like holy shit...that's loud.

That hand/dagger/roses though...

Pictures didn't take, here again Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2

You just made an amazing point. It's true, I personally do not celebrate watercolor tattoos because it is a bit of a lie to the client. Because she posts it publicly on her website, I don't think it is a problem saying this, but she charges $300/hour for something that isn't going to be there in 5 years. That, to me, is a travesty. Same with Bose! You can spend the same amount of scratch on an audio receiver that is superior quality and with more longevity.

It's really sweet of ya'all to get my initials! That's technically a bro-tat, right?

Awesome stuff, everyone (as usual). El Monga added this to my leg today! Picture stolen from his Instagram. I'm now realizing that I never posted a picture of the last one he did on me, because it wraps and I can't seem to get a good picture of it. I'll try to do that soon.

In November 1979, Louie Lombi tattooed a large koi on my right upper arm. Large? it stretched from the top of my shoulder to below the elbow, and wrapped around from mid-biceps to mid-triceps. That was before ink-transfer stencils, and it was an acetate stencil he'd made, by hand. Anyway, the outline and shading took 12 hours, and the coloring (a month later) took 13 hours. Now that I think about it, yeah, that included breaks... lol. Now? When "Painless Jimmy" Hankins did my back piece in 2005/6, the longest I could go was three hours (the outline) -- talk about painful!

I've made a little collection of photos of (mainly) tattooed circus ladies here: http://www.pinterest.com/FrankieFrankie/circus-tattoos-and-stuff/ while researching some stuff. Love 'em all. Beware: nakedness and visible breasts. Must say I was disappointed by Bodies of Subversion, but maybe my expectations were too high. - - - Updated - - - Oh, these are interesting too - plenty of photos INK Part 1: A History of the Tattooed Lady http://www.transversealchemy.com/2011/02/ink-part-1-history-of-tattooed-lady.html?zx=8e7d635280bb0d60 INK Part 2: The Sideshow Girls http://www.transversealchemy.com/2011/03/ink-part-2-sideshow-girls.html?zx=e1573d9c2aadafce

I feel this way about ANY business. Eat at home or the restaurant but not in a records store or clothing store or dentists office or tattoo shops. I mean, why can't you just sit and eat and move on? I see that crap all the time and it's one of the rudest things one can do.

Gotta have some ethics. It is up to us. I don't support the "fuck it" mentality.