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On Sunday I got a gross Mr. Toad. No particular reason, I wanted to start getting more stuff on my legs, and I wanted something traditional Japanese. Done by Stace at waterstreet tattoo in vancouver, Canada.

I suppose I'll contribute to our collection of giant ass-flowers. Finished a few weeks ago by Grez!

finally got my other knee tattooed this afternoon. by lowercase j

Decided to quickly drop my pants in a field Crow - Bert Krak Rock of ages - Steve Byrne Strongman - Stacey Ann Golliwog - Steve Byrne Pharoes horses - Steve Byrne Gorilla - Dan Santoro Tengu -Steve Byrne Rose of nomans land - Steve Byrne Grimm Reaper - Eli Quinters Not that many right now but until last July I only had two

30 in 30 sounds like a breeze... Usually I hear 90 in 90. Some people swear by it. I think you just have to do whats best for you and constantly evaluate yourself and your needs, then adjust accordingly. - - - Updated - - - Also big news for me... I got accepted to an MSW program! Starting in the fall and so ready to hit the books again after a few years of mindlessly working. And my husband and I have been struggling with our opposing schedules and the new puppy has made it challenging to find alone time together, but last night we hung out in bed and chatted for a long time before falling asleep and I had so much fun just catching up and being silly. I haven't laughed that hard in years! It's a beautiful thing having a life partner. I highly recommend it! :)

Dropping your pants to display squidpants is the LST secret hand shake.

I usually leave mine at home. Seems a hassle travelling with them.

The penultimate example. Guy Aitchison. 1992.

made it a full month without drinking. younger brother's college graduation party was last Saturday so I had a few beers. Budweiser is surprising flavorful after not consuming alcohol or processed sugars for a month. lost 9lbs of fat and gained 9lbs of muscle during the month of May. gained a lot of strength. and i could just be imagining things but i swear my tattoos look brighter.

not just metal but chrome...

Just returned from another trip to China. I was actually shocked at how much enthusiasm and positive response there was to our tattoos this time around. Everywhere, literally...like, here are all these cultural relics, history, ancient landmarks, wonders of the world that are hundreds of thousands of years old...but wait rook! It is a crazy foreigner with all these tattoos. "WOWEE So very beautiful" was the typical praise. Chinese all wanted to get photos with our tattooed kung fu team, kind of fun to be a spectacle in China for a few weeks. The young kids at the Shaolin Temple were super hyped because I have lots of different animals tattooed. I would use the tattoos (and kung fu poses) to help practice their English vocabulary. Dragon, monkey, crane, tiger, eagle, frog, turtle, snake...and my miniature preying mantis tattoo was the obvious favourite, it got tonnes of laughs and what I assume translated from Mandarin into "what the...crazy foreigner...mantis...look how so tiny...funny!" I told my Shaolin friends the tattoos were Canadian chi gung, funny to hear a shaolin monk grimace about "much pain" from tattoos when you just watched them bust metal and sticks across their body. This photo below makes me laugh. Buddy Beijing was so pumped on the tattoos on my forearms I had to hulk hogan my shirt for him. He then got so amped and insisted we take a photo with him and his baby. And then with grandma and gramps. And then the whole family. And then individually. It was a pretty magic moment and victory for international tattoo relations! There was some confusion and disappointment though that I had near everything on my body tattooed...except for my back! Well there's always next time...starting my backpiece journey next month :cool: ------ my Instagram is "dennis_kool" if anyone is interested in pics from Shaolin and China

This completely flies in the face of all the talk of sobriety here, but it looks like I'm going to be teaching a course on beer tasting in the fall.

Thanks guys! I think we'll do a rat on the other thigh once I've saved up some more allowance haha. I already have a snake and rat on my calf so I need a ratman on the other leg to balance it out.

@Mick Weder Thanks a ton for the share. It means a lot. Getting back into normal life is definitely difficult. Living on the edge, or at time going past it, has really made me into a different person than I was as a kid. It started in middle school for me, when I saw the kids who were getting high and listening to underground music and wanted to get into their clique. Now, I have a few friends who aren't heavy drinkers or are trying to get sober, and it's a journey for sure. Went to another meeting last night with my sister's boyfriend. The speaker was awesome. He was this old punk dude who went through so much, and is now going on 32 years sober and clean. His stories were very inspiring. He had some cool things to say about the whole God part of NA, which I found supportive of my own views. Saw someone who ran cross country at my high school's sister school and talked with her for a while. Going to a welcome to NA meeting tonight and a CA meeting tomorrow.

Thought that Amy deserves a post. My 1.5 year old frenchie.

http://instagram.com/p/jXmpkuMVAH/#

Sleeve-y sleeve being done in Beijing. Chinese Opera/flower/bat freehand jazz.

More progress on my back piece this weekend. Artist: Jill Bonny - State of Grace (The bird and side piece were already there)

Just finished. Mask by Anderson Luna. Hopefully the detailing will hold and not turn into a blurry blob down the road.

I'm just saying that we should beware the hubris of mocking how ugly a former tattoo trend while thinking that our current tastes are timeless and will never seem outdated to anybody. I love my traditional tattoos, but I also know that they will look very much of their time and uncool to people somewhere down the road. Tastes change. No one and no style is immune.

Thank you @TrixieFaux, @ironchef, @scubaron. Tests were inconclusive. We're taking her for emergency surgery in the morning. I have to drive 4 hours to get home tonight. So please keep her in your little animal prayers - she's mommy's little girl.

I don't think she's saying to apologize for it in anyway. But styles change, and even though traditional tattoos do have a staying power, certain elements won't be as accepted. I think it was Catcher in the Rye that said something along the lines of "no matter how cool it looks now, years down the line we'll all just look like those old people doing the Charleston." Should we apologize for that or let it sway what we get? Fuck no. But I'd be curious to see what collectors/tattooers/whoever think of my tattoos in ten-twenty-fifty years.

One of these times I'm actually going to not be broke around this weekend, and I'll get a Saturday the 14th tattoo.

Hahaha, I didn't realise "Les Elephants" was a popular Dali tattoo. I have them on my back, I had just turned 18 and they were my first tattoos. I didn't really know very much about tattoos at the time, but I wanted something from my favourite painter. Would I get something different now? Sure, but do I regret them? Not in the slightest. I think it's pretty easy to rag on people for their design ideas, but as long as it's done well, who gives a shit if they're walking around with a popular owl, or a famous painting? I'm sure some on my tattoos wouldn't appeal to a lot of people, but that's why I am wearing them; because I like them! I used to work at a tattoo shop as a receptionist, and the artists there would definitely suggest improvements on weird concepts, or poor placements, but the biggest thing was they would respect that some people's ideas are definitely subjectively "cool", so just make sure it's executed well and there you go.

it's a manly symbol from back when real men got tattoos, and today real men still get them because we're manly enough to get a tattoo we like and not care if other people are ruining its meaning. By men i of course mean women too, because it's a damn fine woman who can stand by that tattoo.

Awesome. Man, I really need to jump on that no drinking train @BrianH But work, work...oh work, you suck the life out of me.

We're all a bunch of unoriginal bastards anyway. Waiting for chromed out shit to come back.

As long as they're good tattoos, I don't really care what suddenly takes off as a trend. What sucks is that trendy stuff invites a lot of imitators who copy without knowing what they're doing (there's a lot of really wonky mandalas out there, for example). But I find it hard to care, particularly as a client, what images are "trending" as long as they're done well. None of us are all that original.

Ahahaha thanks lance, I giggled. I had ultra hairy (for me) calves when I started on my leg. I wasn't expecting to work on my calf and wore knee socks thinking I was super smart because we were only working on my thigh, and she could access that really easily if I just pulled up my skirt - I really planned for this and thought I was super smart, but she had other plans and I stood for an hour on a chair with my hairy legs out for all. She did not shave them, and hasn't shaved any part of me (okay, this is getting weird) before tattooing me ever. And then the next day my feet were really dirty looking because it was raining and black dye from my shoes melted on to my feet as I was walking to the shop so I had hairy legs and dirty feet (though I was freshly showered). So I guess this is an example of good client *intentions* :p. Next sitting I had a pedicure and leg wax. (Starting to sound remarkably similar to a date. Hm.) Hopefully made up for the time previous!

My kitty Molly has 2 masses in her abdomen we found from an ultrasound today. They sent away cells for testing. It looks like one may be obstructing her stomach causing nausea and vomiting. They may have to do exploratory surgery to know for sure. She is 16 and a sweet little thing. I'm not sure what to wish for from the test results, other than that we could cause her as little pain as possible. God, animals just wrap their little furry paws around your heart.

by Stewart Robson On a side note, me and @ThatGuy crossed paths in Frith Street without realising, Crossing the online/reality divide. It's a Fantastic back piece! Gets my vote this month.

http://photos-f.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xpa1/925000_242144452644757_1131876742_n.jpg I still haven't decide what to put on the inner arm of this. I've gotten in contact with some artists and I've gotten ideas of skulls, flowers, hanyas, and drums. and severed head I'm leaning towards a B&G skull. Is there another badass idea that I'm not considering? Doesn't have to be japanese.

I was watching a tattoo doco ages ago and the interviewer was talking to this suited dude outside a convention about his choice of design. Old mate says, in the beginning a lot of thought went into design, placement and meaning...now it's just all about the coverage man. I was really able to pick up what he was putting down with that statement. I know what I like, but long gone are the days where I'd think too much about it. I have been with some pieces, but like when we were looking for a large feature to punch in the inner right thigh, tattooer says, how about an evil looking monkey playing a banjo swinging a whiskey bottle from his tail sound? Whiskey swilling monkey it is. I always knew as a young boy that a heavy suit was designed for me. For me it's not quite the design, it's going heavy. In saying that but, when I see the most awesome work through these threads on fellow LST members, the work just blows me away and constantly think how I'd love to be able to start all over again. ...hold on, nah fuck that! It hurts too much :)

Hi lovely ink enthusiasts. My name is Kirsten (Stan) and I'm part of the team from a custom work studio in the North East of England. After many years of blood, sweat and tears and saving we have recently relocated to our new premises in the heart of a busy town. We are Glory Bound Tattoo. Please check out some our the pics I've uploaded..just a few for starters. Hope everyone is having a great day..the sun is shining and the ink is flowing happily here today. Have a good weekend people :) much love Stan xxxxx This is me and some of my work done by the owner of the studio.

So we bought one of these wrappable ice packs when my husband started getting his leg sleeve, and it's rad Perfect to take down swelling alongside some anti inflammatories and elevation.! It's a flexible gel pack that sits in a sleeve with stretchy elastics to velcro it on. Well worth the 20$ or whatever I spent on it.

Snake tattoos always work. For anything. Which is why I have three.

Damn @semele, that thing is so legible I can read it from a few states over. Did Grez run out of black ink after finishing? Stunning work. I tip my hat off to you.

I love it, @semele !

I love this!

Your collection is amazing. I love the b&g look and I think the way they all work together really brings a great cohesion to your leg tattoos. I have a ton of color in most of my tattoos, but if I had to do it again, I'd give very serious consideration to having more b@g.

fucking love that tattoo - - - Updated - - - thinking about the first modern recorded tattoo's would all be polynesian. those tattoos were supposed to convey power. powerful images are awesome. what could be more poweful than somethings head run through

Hi I'm from Vancouver, Canada. I'm slowly working my way through my skin real estate!

It's constant to stay on top eh mate?! Ya know, I remember when I was young and started dropping lots of LSD & mushrooms and shit, I did it 'cause it was fun, and ya just don't realise how quickly everything spirals out of control. From there I started shooting amphetamine. When I realised I had an amphet problem, I started shooting smack to wean off the speed...so it was like shoot speed in the AM, shoot smack in the PM and instead of having one, now we had fuckin' two addictions to battle. Man, a few years living like this is one thing...but I find the hardest battles it not so much the physical addictions I needed to conquer, but the integration back into "normal" society. Dealing with the Mr & Mrs Jones's of the world. When ya lived on the edge man, it's real hard to find stimulation at times. They're the times I find myself at my weakest. It took a long, long time to understand what it meant about it being "for life"...actually, I think I just started to work this out recently. You know...you're gonna draw lots of strength from this journey mate. Embrace those positives :) I wouldn't normally throw something so personal like this out there, but the topics here & thought....fuck it.

I don't know if the guy is on here or not but I actually recollect seeing someone on IG getting a monmon cat back piece with a Fudo Myo-o back piece. Yeah, it was pretty jaw dropping incredible.

Hey @cvportagee, this is Greg. We met Saturday while Horitomo was working on my front. Your back is looking good!

it should be written vertically - top down. And the stroke direction of how you write a character can change the meaning. You should know though there are actually 2 "alphabets" which are phonetic and don't include a number of english sounds, as well as roman script and the Chinese Kanji characters in Japanese - so 4 ways to write one thing - each having different implications. Hiragana is the script for native Japanese words, and Katakana for foreign words. So if I was writing my name in Japanese I could write it 4 ways - Erin, エリン(elin- a foreigner), えりん(elin - if i was born in Japan - also how my name was written on my bank stuff), or 英鈴 (Ei-lin which translates to English Bell - if I was a Japanese national). Be careful with tattoos of a language you don't speak - or have a native speaker to correct for you. I lived in Japan and speak some Japanese, and still don't trust myself. I have a Kanji as part of a larger tattoo on my back for my Japanese astrology, the year of the ox (or ushi). Google and most tattoo flash said to use the Kanji 牛 but my native speaker friend, who is also a calligrapher said the symbol for the year was actually 丑、as 牛 basically just means cow - like on a menu. Always double check. Also things do not always mean/ translate to what you think- for example my stepbrother named his dog what he thought was "child of the forest" in Japanese - what he actually named her was Kuniko- it means mushroom.

At the request of @polliwog , here's that tattoo from @cltattooing . This was after it was all healed except for the smoke, which later lightened to where you can see the outlines.

For what it's worth I feel no animosity towards panthers. My thought process when thusly: "What's the toughest thing I could possibly get, so everyone can see how nails I am?" "I know, A Panther" "Wait, with a fucking dagger through it" and then that turned out to be too much tough for me to handle, so there's a butterfly as well: Seriously though, it looks cool. What more reason would you like?

Apparently this guy.