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This Friday will be my last appointment for 2013 with Mike Rubendall at Kings Ave in Long Island. Going to put more color into dragon on my back piece. Have several scheduled appointments in 2014 to finish things off and possibly start something new. Will post update with pics this weekend.

Love these photos! Here's mine, taken around Halloween time.

Popped into The Pearl this morning to catch a session with Tim Pausinger before he left for the Xmas holidays. He basically finished my chest piece. In January we'll link the shoulders and arms to it. He is also going to do some spider webbing between the tattoo and the bottom of my pecs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry for the very late response. Holiday, sickness, work, laziness. You name it, it all applies. So to answer your question about resource material, unfortunately Shige did not give any books which have been translated into English that anyone can make use of. Obviously he doesn't need the translated versions. That said, personally, I've noticed, once you find the name of figures in a woodblock, it's fairly easy to find a description of the stories on the Internet. But of course, NEVER trust the Internet for all facts. It's crap. Full of BS by people who know nothing or romanticize to the extreme. It can be useful to determine the bare bone basics after reading multiple descriptions and discerning the relevant information but it's up to each person to dive further. After all once you know the name of the subject you can also search for potential books which can contain more reputable sources. One example is the samurai "Taira no Kiyomori". There's information on the Internet. Being wary of red herrings there's enough for you to learn his general history and background. Enough breadcrumbs to then be able to search for translated books on him as well. By the way, Kiyomori was an uber badass back in the day. In regards to prints/stories he talked about, there were a few interesting ones. One was in regards to I believe it was the Goddess Izanami-no-Mokoto who helped create the Japanese islands, I'm really not too sure. He showed an image where she was in a cave and thus in darkness so it alluded to Japan being in darkness. There was a whole story to it but that's an extremely abridged description. Kind of cool. Sorry to be vague but I'm not too good with stories that far back. A second print was related to Taira no Tomomori. Everyone typically knows his story with regards to the battle of Dan no Ura where in defeat he jumps off his ship with an anchor tied around him or afterwards depicted as a ghost. Shige lamented no one ever gets another image he is depicted in. One where just prior to jumping off the ship he is depicted with broom in hand sweeping the deck of the ship cleaning it. There's a Yoshitoshi print of this. Anyway, many people might think this is a weird image but it's very Japanese with regard to pride and maintaining an appearance. By cleaning the ship and having his enemies seeing it's pristine cleanliness in the midst of a raging battle he is showing them his pride and honor as a samurai even when all is lost. It's a very cool story just as interesting, possibly more so if you think about the meaning behind it, than other depictions of him. Shige also mentioned Tomomori's father who is vastly of more historical importance than his son. Taira no Kiyomori. Most people know about the shogun in regards to Japan and samurai power. Kiyomori, however was the precursor. He was the first samurai to gain power over the nobles and seize power in Kyoto the seat of the central government. Without him who knows if the Minamoto would have been able to take over after and become the first shogun. Anyway being such a powerful figure there is a story (and print) where he instructs a large if not impossibly long spanning bridge (for the time) to be built. He was so powerful a figure he is depicted as preventing the sun from setting till the bridge was completed. Like I said earlier, Kiyomori really is a badass for his day. If you've seen prints of him they will likely be ones showing him on his death bed hallucinating with scenes of hell or where the background garden is depicted as skulls. At the time he died he supposedly had a fever so high it burned people to touch him so the stories go. The last story was related through another one of his back pieces. It depicted a Uesugi Clan Princess ( I forget her name) taking a magical protective helmet across Lake Biwa to her lover a Takeda Prince (I think it was Takeda Katsuyori). There's more to that story but the point was to bring up the Takeda of Kai and Uesugi of Echigo. Both were powerful clans during the 1500s with legendary leaders who actually once met eachother and dueled during a battle (the 4th battle at Kawakajima, a really popular print subject). Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. The Dragon of Echigo and the Tiger of Kai. Dragon vs Tiger. Heaven vs. Earth. (Sidenote: I almost chose them dueling as my backpiece had I gotten my sleeves paired as dragon and tiger rather than phoenix and dragon). Shige basically described how they were historical badasses that really existed even if the story about the helmet may be mythical. Well that's all I have. This was a very quick and extremely abridged, possibly slightly inaccurate description of some of the things that were talked about with a bit of my own bits of knowledge thrown in. Not to be taken as gospel. Always dig deep and do your own research for peace of mind and even then go to someone who knows better and has the knowledge. BTW, check out this link: Kuniyoshi Project

Just booked an appointment with Mario Desa at the Philly convention. I guess the exact design I'm going to get is still somewhat up in the air, but as I said in the Higgs thread, I'm leaning toward having him do the Higgs hand holding a flower. Should be a good time!

A picture taken after last sitting, by Matt Shamah

Nice video I came across. A young Horioshi iii at around 4 mins 50 in.

Wait... It took you 4 minutes to rack up enough posts to create this strange thread with an ambiguous question? I shouldn't even bother, but... Who is the artist? Why are you asking? Is this on you or someone else? ??????? *Goes back to the LTL thread to restore my faith in this forum*

Saw Black Sabbath play their only London show last night with Uncle Acid as the opening act , all the old favourites came out (with the exception of Bill of course ) and for me the highlights were the rendition of " Black Sabbath " and Iommi in fine form . Getting home after the show was suitably metal as London was engulfed in the worst fog I've ever seen which caused our river ferry to crash forcing us to disembark the vessel and subsequently miss the last train - proper Doom ha ha .

The little bracelets of masks are super rad.

Chad Koeplinger made this on my upper arm when he visited Oslo in October. Hard to get a good picture because the tattoo wraps around my arm, but you get the idea :)

Taken last year. No peeking!

I'm a little late to the party but here i am. I went to the release of the Star Trek Lottery ticket at the Dallas Convention center. William Shatner was there.

Well . . . maybe not so "traditional" . . .

Question for everyone: I've seen a design similar to the hand holding the club from Higgs' flash, except it was a hand holding a flower. Is that also Higgs flash, or was it someone's flip on the club design? EDIT: Nevermind, answered my own question. Turns out I had a picture on my phone of a Higgs flash sheet with that very design on it. I'm thinking about having Mario Desa put it on me at the Philly convention in a couple months.

Thanks, I said I wanted a dragon and skull and left the rest up to him, it came out basically how I pictured in my head, but a thousand times better, haha. Thanks man, next session is middle of January, so not long now, will probably finish the dragon off then Thank you mate! Couldn't be happier!

@Johannes thanks! I'm gonna make it into postcards to send out for the holidays. Also, Shredders was started by tattooer Ezra Haidet, which is extra rad because by buying excellently horrible Christmas sweaters, you're also supporting tattooing. Yee!

http://youtu.be/3FBDYctTcqU Watch the last five minutes of the Tim Hendricks video. Well, watch the whole thing, but pay attention to the last five minutes especially.

You can watch the whole thing here. It's a great documentary. Signatures of the Soul - Tattooing Today - Television | NZ On Screen

Who: Shawn O'Connor shawnocconor.ca What: bad assfrog (Sailor Jerry flash!) Where: Ink Machine, Edmonton, AB Canada When: at a touchup appointment...station was already setup, however i wasn't in the mood for a minor neck touchup. Why? because it's a god damn sailor jerry battletoad! we were shooting the shit and i was flipping through a jerry flash book. i was like yeah buddy that's a sweet frog! shawn is like yeah buddy i've never done a frog before! we looked at each other and than said let's go buddy! add some pink in the belly! done on whim! took like 15 minutes lol RIBBIT :cool: this retarded little frog tattoo captures everything i love about the tattoo experience. the best. - - - Updated - - - also got this cool headless owl from Jon Gray (from Hamilton, ONT...guest spot at Lucky Strike in Edmonton, AB). It was from Jon's own painted flash. 2hrs. Ollie walked by and turned up the volts on the machine and Jon was flying. it was funny. good time and good tattooer! <nuff side ass, en joy>

This is my "Ghost of Oiwa" tattoo done by Chad Koeplinger: It is based on this Kunisada woodcut: & http://woodblockprint.com.au/images/s3654.JPG?471 You need to check out Hide Ichibay´s work! I think he makes the absolute coolest ghosts. Do you agree, @Iwar?

check out @Hospitelli 's gallery

Believe it or not, these beautiful beads (and the butterfly) were done by Stuart Cripwell a few years back. Not his usual style!

Ugh for whatever reason, insert excuse here, this was the most painful session I've had so far. I was the only one all day and all I could muster was ~5 hours. That being said, I am crazy stoked about the progress. Finished off one thigh's background and added some color!! Honestly, I think the color looks out of place just because I've been staring at black and grey so long, haha. Very excited for more progress. The next session will be to kill the background on the other thigh/lower back, then maybe hit some more fire. That's going to be a rough one if it's anything like today was. Dana has some pics on his Instagram, one of my ass, one of my back, but here is the full monty. And I just noticed that my ass has a hilariously straight shelf on the under cheek. That's weird looking, I can't take my eyes off it. Also I'd like to give a serious thank you to the fundoshi for providing some level of decorum so that Dana didn't have to stare at my hole as he destroyed my inner butt cheek. You may take note of the wind bar direction out of my ass. Dana referred to that as "The Wind of Doom". Good thing he has a sense of humor, even if he did lose his appetite.

Really excited to say I just booked in for the full "turtle shell" back piece with Aaron Bell. Getting a western traditional lion. Starting around a year from now!

Morning LST, after a long trip I made it home. As promised here is a pic of my finished (for now) back. Not the best pic but I'll see if I can get a better one ASAP. Completed over 5 sessions by Horinao at The Catclaw Tattoo-z Kyoto... I'm going to go pass out for a bit lol.

Beer can be very inspiring. I don't want to derail the thread any further though.

Just finished last night! Chris Garver , Invisible NYC Timeless tattoos Rock!!

Perfectly okay to bump old threads. some good ones get forgotten in time and it is always appreciated when someone finds them and brings them out of the depths of LST!

I want to wear those to my office next Halloween, then take them off at lunch and see if anyone notices.

A guy at work last night wanted my advice on a design his friend had drawn for him (sigh), because apparently I have the most "bad ass" tattoo of everyone at work. That's not exactly difficult when everyone else has tiny little wrist/ankle scribbles and swirls. The design is apparently "the only thing" he would ever want to have tattooed on him, and he's been holding onto it for months because he's too scared to actually go through with it. It was basically a question mark with an eye. Of course, it had some deep, literal meaning that he had to explain to me (the question mark is because he's always questioning things, the eye is because he's always seeking the truth). The whole thing was just so poorly designed and pretentious that it took all I had to not roll my eyes at him. I basically told him he'd be better off coming up with a vague concept and letting an artist draw something, instead of having someone imitate this design, because it was awful (I didn't say that). Then I got the whole "Well, this is really personal to me and I want to have some say in its design" response. At the mention of another artist changing it, he said he would just go to a friend of the guy who drew it, who, of course, is an "amazing" tattoo artist and would copy it exactly the way he wanted it. Funny how everyone knows someone that's amazing at tattoos. At that point, I just kind of nodded and went back to work, it was a hopeless cause.

Artist credits would be nice on these.

I wouldn't consider him traditional Japanese, but for big, bold, powerful Japanese, Kiku at Invisible NYC absolutely kills it. I was at Saved once and there was a woman there with a Kiku Kannon backpiece and the thing was knock-you-on-your-ass bold and powerful. And you see a tattoo like that and you know it's going to look great forever.

It's finished. Starting a new journey for '14 this Saturday with a full back piece. Neck to knee ditch!

Funny you should ask. 2 sessions ago when I asked what he was thinking about colors he just said "Cool ones." And that was a solid answer. All I know is that Kongoyasha will be dark blue like he is supposed to be. We haven't decided on anything else yet. I'm leaning toward pinkish lotuses, and his yellow snakes look baddass. I'm 100% open to his suggestions though.

Great episode of Big Bang theory.. Howard tries a tattoo

You must not have spent much time here before starting this thread @tkl13

I feel like this is saying something akin to, "I know I'd be the most awesome chef in the world, better than Ferran Adria, if only someone would let me into 3 Michelin Star kitchen and teach me how to use the tools. I know how to boil water and make toast, so I know I'll be awesome."

Here is the start of my mates chest tattoo. Also what I would do is email Norbert and ask if he would be heading your way I am fairly sure he travels to Melbourne to tattoo, not only at conventions but as a guest artist in some shops. A lot of artist do travel to Australia more often that you might think. Best to ask the question and get the tattoos you want from the artists you really want. This year I had tattoos lined up from Steve Byrne and Myke Chambers in Sydney, unfortunately both fell through as they cancelled there trips for whatever reasons. Ask the questions and you might be pleasantly surprised.

I've been collecting pictures of Kirin's as reference for the rest of Auspicious leg piece. Very beautiful when paired with Sakura, same with Baku. By Chio Tattoo art in Portugal An old Chinese painting I found while searching. Any of you guys have any other Kirin reference?

Just finished my first session with Tomo from Yellow Blaze. Super sweet dude with a magic touch. Plus the place itself is incredible - located just up the road from Yokohama's Victorian-era studios where all the Euro(-trash) royalty got inked in the 1800s. Got a few weeks for the ink to settle and then back for the colour...

So during my trip to SF back in October. Our first area we ended up in was Mission, and I was so inspired by the murals painted there. I took a lot of pictures and decided I wanted one of the beautiful traditional roses tattooed on my arm. We went to Oakland at Temple Tattoo, I wanted to visit this shop anyway because well....its fuckin historical. So there was only one artist there that day, Jonah. I asked if he had time for a small walk-in tattoo, and showed him the pics of the murals. Ended up being him that painted those murals! :) We definitely made each others day! So he drew up a rose while we were talking to him, fuckin awesome experience overall. Having someone with 15 years experience tattooing me was epic and especially in that shop. One of the best trips ever. I have to go back to California. <3

Second session just finished on my thigh. 6 and a half hours in. Swollen, bloody and inky but here is a pic. Tried to get some details in on the right side pics.

Second session just finished on my thigh. 6 and a half hours in. Swollen, bloody and inky but here is a pic. Tried to get some details in on the right side pics.

@Graeme I want Neil Peart & Joey Shithead for my Leaders !

Awesome! Love those! Here is the start to my outer thigh Tsuru Kame [/img]

I am from Germany and it the same here. A lot of great talent, but also tattooist that are so miserable, how anyone within their righteous mind would get tattooed by them is a mystery to me. I have been following the career of this tattooist for several years. He lacks even the most basic drawing skills and cannot draw a straight line. He started with a mobile tattoo studio, then opened his own studio a few years ago. So the conditions in which he works might have improved a bit, but unfortunately the quality of his tattoos has not. What is even more worrying than the quality of his tattoos, is how many positive comments he gets for his work on facebook. http://mobilesmetall.blogspot.de TATTOO & PIERCING STUDIO LAUTERBACH https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tattoo-Studio-Lauterbach/219664431427169 A few of his gems: