Leaderboard

Second session today with my buddy Iain Mullen on his collaboration with Rudy Fritsch. Beyond happy with how this is progressing. We did the lines with two machines almost 2 months ago and I had gotten used to seeing it that way. Now with some of the black in I am amazed by seeing it come to new life again.

First session, the next one we are going to salvage the owl if possible. Kemer at Superfly Tattoo, Leon Mexico.

Ok I'm just going to write something short about my back piece in progress since I am healing after the second session now and feel psyched about it. Since I first started getting tattoos I knew that I would want to get a back piece. I figured I'd wait and let the idea evolve over time, save up enough money and start doing it on my 30:th year. Two years ago I got tattooed by Iain Mullen for the first time and since we've done something like 6-7 tattoos and they are among my favorites. We also became friends and I usually stop by the shop at least once a week to hang out and talk with him and the other guys. As time passed I decided to give him my back when the time was right. However last autumn I went down to Italy and got tattooed by Rudy Fritsch at his shop and felt like he'd make me an amazing back piece instead… Eventually I told Iain that I wanted the two of them to collaborate. I was a bit uncertain if he would be up for it but the next day when I came in to pay for a tattoo he told me that it was on (!) About two months later it was time for the first session. Up until this date I had not seen the sketch or been allowed to make any wishes about what the tattoo was going to be. I put my trust in them and I am very happy that I did. The first session was two hours with both of them working simultaneously on me. Rudy starting low on the left side and Iain up on my right shoulder. I found being laid face down on a massage bed, having only the floor to look at and no visual way of telling when or where the pain was going to hit… this was the most psychological challenging thing with the whole session. I've gotten some pretty rough spots done before but this was the worst two hours I've had to endure when it comes to tattoos. Two machines are not twice as bad but still a lot worse than one. I'm happy that they both work quick but it also meant a lot of brutality when it comes to long lines being nailed into my ribs in fast succession. I tried to zone out and focus on the breathing but that only made time slow down more, I could not think of anything else. Second session was this thursday, I sat up on a gym bench and me and Iain were talking the whole time through and it was such a walk in the park compared to the first one. I feel good about having had that experience anyway, it was special.

Session two on my back. Mercifully we stuck to lining and shading the background on my upper back. Next time I think we're hitting the lower back, ass, and thighs, which I'm sure is going to be a lot of fun. Can't wait.

My first tebori by Horitoshi 1--just finished and still a bit bloody

skip to 28:15 to hear Tony talk about tiger tattoos; also watch the whole thing cuz it's rad

Second day of healing on my upper back. Realized I'm bendy as fuck and cream my whole back without another persons help or any extra tools.

Things are still up in the air, but I am feeling pretty certain we'll be there.

I have a 2nd cousin coming from Italy in a couple weeks. From penpalling with a different Italian cousin 20 years ago, I was given the impression my Italian family is rather conservative. My friends have joked I should take her to get a tattoo to shock the family. Well, turns out, she actually wants to get one while she's here! My grandfather has been rather vocal about mine, and she's staying with him, so I'm sure he'll be pissed, but I don't care, I'm too excited to take a newb for their first piece. I'm thinking of taking her to either The Okey Doke or the Pearl Harbor Gift shop. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Howdy all very excited here. Gonna be getting a lot of woek done around the bay area convention. First off I'll be continuing with Matt Deverson on my left lower leg hopefully we will get nice and far doubt we will finish though. My wife will be finishing her arm with him also then I'll be doing a chest plate with Ichi Hatano think I'll be doing a severed head. Then I'll be set to go with Miyazo to do some right leg action and to round it all out my wife will be starting her back piece with Tomo. Goona be an expensive month but we'll worth it. So rarely do you get so many good artists in one place at one time you gotta take advantage. Looks like the rest of y'all are getting some nice work out there

Please try and not let me stunningly beautiful bum distract you from the artwork :) 10 hours in total, so quick quick this time and I am glad! Some of the arse is brutal, specially where the cheek meets the thigh..... Victor said doing bums is awful, the skin is too soft and for him its not a very good place to tattoo but we are happy with the results. We still have a largish gap for the centre of my bum but we will just fill that next year with just a few shaded bits and pieces. We also have the back of that thigh to do next year. Maybe add a devil horn to the devil hound. My arse is red raw and swollen so sorry for the pics. :)

Oh yeah, she wanted a kanji for her first tattoo. She did really well for her first tattoo. Did not take long at all.

The first time I travelled to Asia was in 2008. I was very privileged to have my Sifu (Master, RIP) take me along with his family to Foshan, China to learn about the roots of Wing Chun kung fu and experience Chinese culture. Then we would spend time in Hong Kong to train Ving Tsun with his Master (my Sigung, grandfather teacher). We had some free time and went to explore the street markets one evening. We had been in the area the day before and I noticed the big blue “TATTOO” sign on the busy street. My curiousity had me drawn to it and I wanted to see what it was all about. I would say I was still inexperienced at this time, 5 years after my first piece (maybe 50hrs in?) however tattoo culture was becoming something I had become very fascinated by. If you wanted to see pictures of tattoos you would muster some courage, suffer through the intimidation of ~actually going into~ a tattoo shop; you could see what your punker friends had scratched on each other; you would sneak a peak at the BME website (the internet! Oh my!). I went off on my own at night time to find this mysterious tattoo shop. I had split off on my own, away from my group. My time was limited to explore. I found the building underneath the big blue sign, went up several flights of a dark dingy stairwell. And there it was “JIMMY HO TATTOO”. Just an apartment door framed with classic tattoo flash pasted to the wall. So I rang the buzzer… I thought maybe it would be cool to get a tattoo in China…but I was also very hesitant. Did I have enough time? My group didn't know where I took off too and I had to meet back pretty soon. I was uncertain about the safety of the needles and ink. Healthwise it seemed risky. China isn't exactly the cleanest place in the world. How was I going to heal a new tattoo being in the hot sun all day and then training (contact) the evening? Afterall, my focus in Hong Kong was Ving Tsun. ...I remember being so nervous when I rang the buzzer. Shaky. There was no answer. So I waited for a bit, my curiousity had brought me this far. But what the hell was I doing here? Sketchy. And then a head suddenly appeared through a gap in the flash covered window. This older gentleman opened the door, poked his head into the stairwell to see who else was around and waved me in. I was pretty mesmerized. Here I am a younger, naïve kid, swept up in the energy of Hong Kong at night. Here I was in a sketchy, dimly lit building in an old man’s apartment studio. Old timey flash, certificates, photos, a lot of tattoo history covering every square inch of the 300 sqft apartment. What in the hell was I doing here? “Tattoo?” He said. That was about the only English he knew and would speak to me. He motioned at my long sleeve shirt, I didn’t have any of my tattoos showing. So I took off my shirt and showed him the work I had amassed at that point. Both my arms fully covered. Some leg tattoos. A big dragon on my ribs. He gave an approving half smile and motioned for me to sit down. I think this man knew that I wasn’t there to get a tattoo from him that night. However he made my curiosity feel welcomed in his studio. Looking around the studio it felt like a risky place to get tattooed and I felt I wasn't experienced enough to think otherwise. Not very sanitary by North American standards (but probably cleaner than some of those tattoo conventions haha). The bench pillow was covered in ink and blood stains. I couldn’t see an autoclave. The ink bottles in the corner looked a little crusty. The older tattooer gentleman didn’t have any visible tattoos and there was a serious language barrier. He gave me some his photo albums to flip through. It wasn’t a portfolio. It was more like family photo albums. Very old pictures of some American-classic tattoo designs he had made on people - eagles, panthers, daggers, hearts. There were pictures of him with groups of shirtless Chinese men, dragon and tiger backpieces and sleeves on display. Photos of this older Chinese gentleman with who I would assume to be elder American and European tattooers (I would be to naïve to have named at that time in my tattoo journey…I’m pretty sure there was a pic of him with Hardy, I think Pinky too? I really can’t remember). The whole experience was very surreal, I was nervous and awe-struck. I was going to have an amazing story about meeting Jimmy Ho, but would anybody really believe me? Or care? Afterwards, I did a bit of research (in which there was and still is limited info online). It turns out Jimmy Ho was the son of the late James Ho, who opened up Rose Tattoo, one of the first tattoo shop in Hong Kong back in the 1940s. My mind was blown that I had just had an exchange with a man from tattoo royalty. The next day I was exploring and ended up checking out another tattoo studio “Star Crossed Tattoo”. It was run by two friendly UK ex-pats Ross and Julia. I spent the afternoon talking with them about HK life, punk rock, tattoos, watched Julia tattoo and confirmed a few things. Yes, I had just met Jimmy Ho. He was tattoo royalty in Hong Kong. Hygiene standards were very questionable in Hong Kong/China at that time. Very risky, healthwise. The HK tattoo scene wasn’t regulated by the health board. Later on in the trip I would venture back to the area of Jimmy Ho’s tattoo shop. I didn’t take any pictures inside his shop, I was too distracted by the reality of the interaction - a human exchange about tattoos that happened in spite of a language and cultural barrier - and I didn’t want to be disrespectful towards a man that had let a stranger into his studio apartment. But I wanted to get a picture of the big blue TATTOO sign from the street during daylight. At that time I realized that I must have been a batshit crazy kid (even if I did know some kung fu!) to take a back alley into this area at night time, as there were a bunch of strip clubs, bath houses, massage parlours and gambling going on in the area with Triad looking Chinese (dragon/tiger halfsleeves) working the doors on the block. Not a place a young white tourist would want to find himself alone at night time. No guts, no glory I guess haha. I didn’t get a tattoo on the trip. And I have no regrets about that. But what Jimmy Ho did give me was an incredible memory and experience. Another story to go along with all the pictures I wear on my body. Thank you for reading :) PS If anybody has any further info about Jimmy Ho, James Ho, Hong Kong tattoo history please do share, love to learn more about it. - - - Updated - - - I did find this https://www.facebook.com/jimmy.ho.7127/media_set?set=a.292623604111543.71717.100000917175393&type=3

That's where I got my only current tattoo! (By Eric Wilcox there.)

@peaceridge I have a calm faced tiger on my left arm, you can see it on my profile page gallery. I love it!!!!!!!! That tiger is serene for the moment but will spring into action if anyone messes with her ;-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's red because it's irritated from the skin being tight around those scabs and then when you are moving the skin pulls thus causing inflammation and irritation. That combined with hair growing back will make it red. Infections aren't subtle mysteries. If you had one you'd know it. It would be more alarming, heavy greenish discharge, red streaking travelling further away from the area, it would be hot and painful. You'd most likely have a fever as well. Leave it alone and let it finish healing. The only thing I'd do other than a normal washing when bathing would be to use a tiny bit of witch hazel on a clean paper towel and dab it on the irritated areas. That, maybe once or twice a day at most. Even with that, I'd only use it for a couple of days at the most as well.

@hogg it was based on an image I brought in of a female ONI called "ibaraki doji." Although I agree "tomomorioni" would be a better name ;) @CultExciter I preferred everything about tebori except for how long it takes. I loved the quietness and sometimes there was no pain--I heard the JIK JIK JIK but the only thing I felt was the hand stretching the skin. I nearly fell asleep once.

It might have come to symbolize Viet Cong, but "coolie" is a racist slur that originates in the 19th century, when chinese immigrants were brought over to the U.S. and built the transcontinental railroad during the Californian Gold Rush. It's like (but not the same as, I know) getting a picture of an African slave's head with a dagger through it, which I think most people would agree is beyond the pale.

Three more weeks until I go see Dennis at Providence Tattoo -- very excited! Been waiting for this since January. Also a little nervous. Originally we booked two sessions (he's covering the top of my right thigh), but my travel plans have gotten in the way a bit, so now we just have one day to get it all done. It will likely be the longest I've ever sat in one go -- hoping I make it through!

Howdy, been a way for a while but my daughter's girlfriend, who lives in a tiny town in eastern Indiana, decided she wanted her first tattoo. I helped her scope out her area and there was no one worthwhile there so I went and gave her a ride so she could see Jereme who did the mushrooms on my leg. I decided I like the mushrooms so much I'm just going to give him that leg so we started talking about what to do next. I said I was thinking of something along the lines of a red winged blackbird perched on a fence post. Both him and the guy that owns the shop started nodding and thinking that would work out well, then the conversation went like this: Jereme: That would be pretty bad ass, but you know what would be better? Me: What? Jereme: A red winged blackbird perched on a skull. Me: Oh fuck yeah, that would be good. Jereme: Yeah Me: And you know what would be even more bad ass than that? Jereme: No, what? Me: A blackbird, perched on a skull, with a fuckin dagger through the whole thing. Jereme: Fuck yeah, now you're takin'. So there ya go, the next tat. Now I just have to gather up some cash.

Odd question for a tattoo forum

Got some new small stuff from Matt (Dr. Claw) at Diamond Club. First knuckle piece and inside finger. Very small and simple. Its for my wife and my anniversary. Oh and inside the finger was rough apparently you have to break through the pad. And you definitely know when you break through. Having done a very small piece inside, puts my palm, tattoos on hold for a while. Gonna have to prepare for those

Don't think these have been posted, but if they have - please delete. Two part interview in San Francisco Arts Quarterly - 1 - http://www.sfaqonline.com/pdfs/SFAQ_issue_fourteen.pdf 2 - http://www.sfaqonline.com/pdfs/SFAQ_issue_seventeen.pdf

Thank you for the feedback. We did try dry healing this time. First one since the aquaphor nightmare. We have tried many different methods. Next on the list will be to keep it wrapped. I'll bring up your suggestion as well. I feel terrible because it's as though his beautiful work goes south and the tattoo ends up looking very aged. This is a pic of the rose I took this morning (had it done last Saturday). I love my tattoos but would really like to find a better healing method that preserves them. Thanks again.

@peterpoose that snake is fabulous!!

Excellent stuff. I'd pay to see you guys. As a bonafide New Orleanian, you guys would fit in perfectly down here. same classification as Eric Lindell or JJ Grey.

Here's the outline. As soon as it heels I'm going back to get the rest done.

@Graeme thanks for the info, looking forward to hanging out and discussing our favorite tattoo design websites!

@Shaun1105 Canadian is usually okay unless the artist specifically says otherwise; check with your artist if you have any doubts. @BrianH I believe that I brought a backpack last year to bring shorts to change into, snacks, water, etc.

@peaceridge Research tigers in ukiyo-e and you'll find a lot of reference for not fierce tigers that would still make for really excellent tattoos.

@peaceridge, here's a nice example by Forrest Cavacco of a Japanese-style tiger without a snarl: Tiger heart | TATTOO FORREST I really like this one.

The resurrection of this thread makes me so happy. There are so many places to investigate after I visit Scapegoat in September!

I'm assuming that coolie means Viet Kong. If I'm wrong, correct me, but I think it is because it was a popular, patriotic thing to do in the 40s and 50s, with the war and all. Not to say that I am for getting a dead kong tattoo, because I think it's highly offensive. I think the image is completely out of place in today's tattoo vocabulary.

Sorry to kind of derail this conversation, but I've been wondering... why is it cool to get the "coolie" with the knife through his head? It seems like a much more violent and overtly racist, but nevertheless very popular american traditional tattoo image.

oh this isn't going to go well

Bethenny, if you really want your back done then do it. We all might whinge about how bad a backpiece can be while getting but i promise that all who have finished a backpiece would do it again. I myself am about 1/2 way through mine and although it sucks getting the work and healing it the satisfaction of seeing perhaps the biggest piece of art you can do on your body is awesome. I dont look forward to my fortnightly sessions but once they are done I cannot wait to get home and see the progress. The end result is well and truely worth it. Btw @Cork love the work, great detail and colours. I wish I was that far advanced with mine. - - - Updated - - - This fortnights update. Most of work was done on right side arse cheek and thigh but shows how he merged the original 3/4 sleeve into the backpiece.

Not my thing but that's a killer tattoo. Another LST success story!

Very very nice. No worries on resurrecting an old thread, in fact I think it is encouraged especially when it is to update everyone on the progression of your idea. Awesome tattoo, very clean. And I love the green glow effect it gives off.

Check out this fucking SICK skull done by Garver at invisible yesterday: Instagram Coincidentally, I was there getting my own skull outlined by RG.

Procrastinating, drinking wine and reading through the past few weeks of this thread is the most recent awesome thing I've done ;) I'm coming off a fabulous weekend of playing music with good friends on a little road trip to Quebec. Our second stop was Donnacona, QC. Nice little town with an awesome blues festival. We played there last year on the main stage but, this year we were booked in a club for a late show. When we arrived, we found out that, with our consent (we consented like motherfuckers lol), we were being filmed for television by TVA, which is a national French language channel in Canada. It went really well and is set to be broadcast nationally in October. We lucked out. They had intended to film the outdoor stage but, decided on an indoor venue due to rain. The promoter recommended that they film us. Very sweet deal. As an aside, the only other time that I've posted in this thread was around this time last year after a trip to Quebec with the same band. Playing in Quebec just plain rules. Last year I was blessed to have a brief but lovely meeting with one of my idols, Johnny Winter. That is one of the most awesome things that has ever happened to me.

Finished my tiger up yesterday By Kore Flatmo Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm not sure I see what the problem is. It doesn't look like it came from somebody's kitchen, it looks like somebody did his or her best with a not very tattooable idea, and honestly, your post reads like a bad yelp review.

It was 1985, I was 17 and my best mate Dave (RIP) came around home to show me his new tattoo, a Chinese black and grey dragon he had tattooed on his arm. I was like, fuck! ya should have told me mate, I would have got tattooed with ya. So with that, off we went to High Energy Tattoo in the valley. I was nervous as fuck, a biker run no bullshit shop. I think I was more nervous about saying or doing the wrong thing than the tattoo itself. When I walked in, it was funny, I instantly felt at home and knew this was the beggining of something that I had always wanted. Dave took the chair to have his second tattoo done. A couple of hours later it was my turn. Sitting there holding the album cover to "The Day The Country Died" I've had a few tattoos covered from the early days, and some better than this one, but would never even think about losing this. It was the beginning of it all.

Went to KC for the weekend and managed to snag a walk in with Noah Moore, he filled in a pretty awkward spot with this rose: (Photo stolen from his Instagram)

Jack Rudy, all single needle on my friend Dave.

Opie G. Ortiz posted this 20 year old Hardy backpiece on instagram a few days ago

Agreed. Back of the knee was all around horrible. Mine looked pretty rough for a long time. About a month and a half to look normal

I had a huge chunk of my lower leg tattooed on Tuesday, and HOLY SHIT healing the knee ditch sucks. Everything else is fine, though sleeping has been tricky the last two nights, but FUCK YOU, Mrs. Back-of-the-Knee. The tattooing itself was really pretty easy for the most part, but unbending my leg is the worst healing pain I've had to deal with so far. Kinda like someone is taking razor blades to that crease. I just hope that it heals well enough that I don't have to do this again. Okay, whining session = over.

When I had my ribs done, Nick used some kind of numbing wipe before he put the col;or in. For awhile, all I could feel was that he was doing some damn thing there. As a matter of course, I eat 7.5 of vicodin on my way in to sit, and if it goes longer than 3 hours or so, I'll eat another. When I got my ribs done, I added a 5mg. Valium to that, and yeah...it was like, all beautiful! But hey-I came up in the 60's and 70's, you know, better living through chemistry.

Taken from the Temple site by Mr. Nice Guy himself.