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I just got back from another fun-filled session. 3 hours of stabbing on and around my spine....fun fun fun :) This time a lot more black went in (coat and bow mostly), a bunch of purple in the coat and bow and some pink in the Kitsune's feet. I have another 2 sessions planned (in 2 weeks, and the last one in 4 weeks), and the piece should be done then! :cool:

I hate those things! They remind me that those people were cool because they didn't need tattoos to be cool and that I might be barking up the wrong tree with my obsession. Ha! The thing about ideology/fashion is you can't see it for what it is when you're in it. Look at any photo of yrself from more than a decade ago. You look silly but at the time you thought you looked great. At the same time that's what's great about tattoos--you're committing yourself to something for life when it's obvious that nothing is "timeless"--it's inherently stupid and in bad taste.

Dude, it is a COMPLETELY idiotic option! If you slow down our ham eating odyssey, I will never forgive you!

Finally got around to finishing my knee with Koeplinger. It sucked, so I'm kinda dreading the other one. If I were you I'd wait @Graeme. Walking a lot can be a challenge, at least the first couple days after.

I think people are really overstating the timelessness of traditional tattoos. I first started seeing them in the mid to late 90s when hardcore kids started getting them. I would guess this was to a large extent the influence of Higgs trickling down, though I did know a dude who got a bunch of bad old metal tattoos covered up with some really beautiful classic traditional done by The Dutchman in probably around 98 or so, and that was coming from a different place. Regardless, traditional tattoos have a time and a place, there isn't this continuity with them that a lot of people imagine there is, and my suspicion is that it's probably not going to be too long before traditional is going to be looked at with the same kind of sneering derision that a lot of people usually save for tribal or chromed out dragon sleeves. I'm not saying that a well-done traditional tattoo isn't going to age super well and that a big fuck off eagle on the chest or roses or a panther or whatever isn't always going to look badass, because it will, and I'm going to continue getting tattoos like that because they're powerful and they get me stoked, but don't fool yourself into thinking that they'll always be the "cool" tattoos. There are a lot of twenty year olds out there who are keepin' it super old school by getting face tattoos who are putting on shitty "traditional" tattoos that look like total ass. There's stupid things circulating of old timey celebrities with traditional tattoos photoshopped on them, I mean, there was a recent thread here about a gallery show of fucking porcelain dolls with traditional tattoos painted on them. Shit is becoming an unfunny joke.

Yes.....I know this is probably not the proper place to put this so please forgive me! I just wanted any of the NYC people to see this and figured this was probably the most visible forum.....so again I appologize! I am leaving the tattoo shop tonight and heading up to NJ outside the city to stay the night and then heading into Brooklyn tomorrow morning to hang out with Tony Polito and Marvin Moskowitz at Old Calcutta.....so if any of the NYC/NJ/CT people would like to stop on in then it would be awesome to meet you all! I know it's severely short notice BUT I wanted to make sure it was 100% before I said anything! Anyway....stop on in tomorrow if you are close by! Thanks, Bunny

Starting my back & ass-piece tomorrow. Collaboration between Iain Mullen and Rudy Fritsch. Very happy that this is going to happen!

Chrome bodysuit=robocop reboot. Don't worry everything repeats itself as far as trends go. New means, you just got exposed to it. Be ready for the 90's reboot because it's coming. Not limited to just tattooing. I've been seeing weird and frightening fashion statements being made on a regular basis. Some hybrid high waisted Mc hammer pants, just one example. Lots of 90's movies being remade too. I'm ready to start doing that chrome tribal robocop bodysuit on the first new trendsetter.

me and my mates all got these fun little felix tattoos today, mine was done by Adrian Hing at Frankie Lee's tattoo parlour in Melbourne.

My newest tattoo, I sat 5 hours for it last Saturday, and this pic is from the next day. I commissioned the art from my favorite artist (Hannah Yata) and had the tattoo done by Dana Krieg at Pop's Tattoo Emporium in Kingston, NY. I absolutely adore it!! (Although the current healing phase is driving me crazy)

Bitches, am I right?

This is why I like you. I love traditional tattoos, immensely. They are great. But I also love getting tattooed by people who are illustrative, who are technical, who are bold, and who are delicate. I like getting tattooed by people who can draw. An open 21 liner (jokes folks, I hope no one ever does that) and a bunch of skip-shading isn't everything.

@beez, Friday the 13th tattoos are so passé. Now, Sunday the 15th tattoos are where it's at. Be a rebel ;-)

I was in my last year of high school and really wanted a tattoo, I went to a shop and made an appointment for after my 18th birthday. I even got birthday money to go towards my tattoo. I was (is) very much into art, and particularly surrealism. So I got the elephants from "Les Elephants" by Salvador Dali as I had a large print on my wall for years and it's my favourite painting of his. It cracks me up as apparently it's a (relatively) popular tattoo, but I don't care. I still like it, and I especially like how it's framed by my sleeves. It was done by Scott Veldhoen at Eternal Image Tattoo in Calgary (Canada). First photo is after I got them done in 2003 (I was doing hair modelling for a hairdresser pal hence the cheesy photo) Second photo is at my wedding in 2011

Chad did most of my shin in under two hours which wasn't too bad, though I remember thinking at the time that numbness is a really wonderful thing. Me and @Pugilist are going to Barcelona and I'm hoping to get tattooed by El Monga or one of the other Aloha guys. If it happens I'll just pick something off the wall and stick it on my legs, but I was wondering if one of those bat heads or something similar on the knee was not a completely idiotic option.

My mates and I got sweet Felix tattoos today for Friday the 13th, mine was done by Adrian Hing of Frankie Lees Tattoo Parlour

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

I love the legibility and solid colors in this! A LOT!! I've really found myself liking the less detail cluttered Japanese stuff these days. Like ones you see in books from +30 years ago and older photos from the early 1900s. The clarity of the subject is very powerful. These posts really inspire me to begin work on my torso soon, but I'm still wracking my brain trying to figure out what to get. As an aside if anyone has suggestions on what works with a samurai/namakubi backpiece and dragon/ho-o sleeves by all means feel free to shout out. Suggestions more than welcome.

Oh lord, no... The knees are rough. I didn't want to walk *anywhere* not even from the couch to the kitchen for a couple days after mine.

I like this thing, it's been done for the last few hundred thousand of years...word of mouth.

Good thread. Here's my mutant viking. This is years old, never been reworked. I remember this one well, Dino (RIP) belted the fucker in.

Got a spot as well, cannot wait.

Don't scratch it. Slap it like the bitch it is.

Hi @Breakme and @Pugilist - thank you for asking :) She came home today - she got through the surgery just fine yesterday and was a model patient - kicked butt for a little old lady. She's upstairs passed out after a good supper. They removed a liver mass but she had a big mass right in the middle of her pancreas. They got a lot of it which will help with her nausea and barfing discomfort - it was really pressing on her stomach, but whatever it is, it will grow back. It is too invasive. They also found a shadow in her chest on the X-rays. Test results for the two masses on Monday, sigh, but I think we all know where this is going. We just hope it's gonna go there slowly and that we can keep her a happy kitty for all that time. I think about her being a monmon kitty on me somewhere. She has the perfect coloring for a koi.

Nice post Graeme. Applies to many things. I'm too old to care what is currently considered "cool". I just go with what I like.

get a tattoo from @cltattooing

I'm sure Grez has a super extra stock of black on hand at all times haha

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.

Thanks for the kind words, y'all! I am so stoked both to have it and to be done with it--I got it done in about a year, which flew by (even if each session was a mini eternity) but I'm excited to not have to heal this summer.

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.

My bad. I misread your question. Train on a railroad track? Monorail cat?

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

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

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.

So glad to hear that he's feeling better! I am a bunny lover myself, however I'm in the bad books at the moment, Hermann is sitting in MY on the couch refusing to move or talk to me as I rearranged his designated area without his prior permission. :rolleyes:

My first tattoo was in 1998, it was a 17th birthday present from my mom. We went to a shop in Fredericksburg, VA and I got tattooed by a guy that went by the name Sailor Joe. I just picked out a red and green gecko from the flash, and told him I wanted it huge on my right forearm, from inner elbow to wrist. He (VERY thankfully!!!) refused to tattoo such a large, visible tattoo on a 17 year old and so it's on my right shoulder blade, pretty small. I'll have to look for a picture later, but it's pretty terrible, haha. I've considered covering it up, but since it's a present from my mom I think I'll keep it.

i really enjoy reviews that use the terms "tat", "tatted", "tattoo salon", etc.

TGIF! Found these little beauties in my local bottle-o, direct from Amsterdam :D

@Iwar I assumed, but thanks for confirming my suspicions. Your knee looks amazing.

i was gonna saw something like this but i never really made it there i was looking at someones flickr and i kinda noticed that about 5 or 6 yrs ago some of the super hotshit tattoo artists around here weren't even really doing traditional tattoos or if they were they were really shitty. you can still see them if you get off instagram and check out their shop website portfolios. and maybe i'm super critical or an asshole but so many of the "traditional" tattoos i see are pretty bad...shit so many of the tattoos i see are pretty bad. i just have to consider myself very very lucky that i stumbled upon the artists i did and it was word of mouth...

I prefer day time tattoos. I've had a couple in the evening and I always find it next to impossible to sleep if I get home late. Earlier is better, for me at least.

FTW Oakland http://ftwtattoo.com/ She is @cltattooing on Instagram.

Holy shit!! This is INCREDIBLE!!!

Given the shape of your scar, something long with pattern/texture would probably work well. A snake, dragon, octopus, etc..

not just metal but chrome...

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

So just one week til the first session of my dragon back piece with Ian Flower. Definitely getting excited, but also wandering what I should be expecting. Does anybody have any advice on how to prepare before a back piece session?

Thanks! I'm very happy with it! Oh no! Let me try again! :confused: Not the best photo though... :rolleyes:

I totally feel you. So glad it's finished! Here are the photos, btw. Done and done, yay!

It's been six weeks since the last session, but today we finally got to continue on my back. At first we just wanted to do the colouring of the Kitsune, but we even managed to put all the blue in the coat. All this was done 4 hours (of agony :) ).