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Third session on my back today, with my friend Iain Mullen. Rudy Fritsch does the next one at the London Convention, mid day on the 27:th. Come say hello.

I had one of the best tattoo experiences today and officially crossed the line into weird territory with this by Mando Rascon today. Immaculate tattoo is definitely the best shop I've been in so far and Mando is honestly the best dude I've met, after the tattoo they shouted me lunch and he took me on a tour around Mesa and Tempe and then drove me all the way home to my hostel!!. what a dude.

Some of the LST posters here are bang-on, it is so others can calculate the money you have spent. In my experience it's either because they are genuinely curious and want to see if heavy coverage is a goal attainable for themselves OR to validate their own holier-than-thou opinion that you are a fool for 'wasting' your money on something which they view as silly and frivolous. What you see, it took me 10 years of steady progress to get covered in tattoos like this. It shocks most - if you think about a 3hr tattoo vs 200hrs coverage - because I think the average person has a misconception about the time/pain we all here invest...time to manifest the ideas, time coordinating appointments, time to travel, time to research and plan, time to make money and time off work, time applying stencils and placement, time actually under the machine (which is what is only really counted), time to heal, time to develop our relationships with our tattooers, time for the tattoo to age and wear (which is frankly when it looks the best), time for the tattoo to take on a life of it's own as we wear it through our lives. And we can't forget the time to wash/rinse/repeat! When the goal becomes heavy coverage we aren't talking about hours invested anymore, we are talking about years committed. Then a tattoo isn't just a tattoo, tattoo becomes life :) Tattoo coverage doesn't happen over night. Which is why tattoo to me is a visual representation of commitment, loyalty and dedication, which are values that I think are very important. So I tells em, "So, like, how long did that take bro" "A long fucking time man"

That entire post @bongsau is bang on. Although this quoted text I very much had to highlight. That's exactly what it means. This is what the GP don't understand. This is what I love about this place, is what I love about hanging with my heavily tattooed brothers and sisters, we're on the same plane. The other element which ties into this obviously is the pain. As we've mentioned, learn to channel the pain, we can learn to manage any diversity. Channeling that physical pain through that commitment makes me stronger in mind, helps me rationalise and problem solve life's complexities ...if that shit makes sense. Thanks for a refreshing post. I can feel a good, long ride ahead of me today with my heavily tattooed brother. 3 pints of lager & a packet of crisps please

Like @bongsau, I kept a spreadsheet for eight years because I am a chart-loving nerd, but I stopped remembering to update it about a year ago. I'll probably figure it out one day when I'm particularly bored, but I'm sure it's less than 200 hours and I'm done apart from strange gaps.

Just like when folks ask you how many tattoos you have, and when I'm fully complete, I'll just respond "one."

My never-ending front piece by Tomo...

yeah I suck at this. check my gallery

Yes, in fact I am a giant nerd and I do haha! I've been keeping a spreadsheet for 11 years. So I have all my stats of my tattoo collection. Each tattoo is assigned a number to track the sequence my collection. I track each piece by hours, # of sessions, the hourly rate and cost along with start and end dates. For me this spreadsheet has been an interesting tool, I can compare the costs and time of my various tattoos. I can see who has given me the most add-value, bang for buck over the years although I am satisfied with the quality of all the work I wear, no regrets. Tracking also has helped me come to understand the process of tattooing better and gives me a clearer picture of hours/money to budget for upcoming projects, accurately. I've gone so far where from the stats I can determine the percentage of my collection that has been made by each tattooist and how much time and money I've spent at various shops. I am well-aware how much money I've spent overall for my decade worth of tattoos but that is never something I disclose. But most of all, it's just a fun data set I can play around with. I like knowing all the stats and facts on my collection, for myself. I also have collected the majority of my line drawings and/or stencils. I'll probably put together a book of my collection and stats for my family once I'm old and even more boring!

@Lance it's a Namanari - as was explained to me it's a stage before full transformation into a Hannya... Thanks for all the positive comments guys.

My peony I got from Glennie at the Pearl Harbor Gift Shop yesterday. It is really fn hard to take a picture of the back of your arm. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The one thing I avoid is thinking about costs. I'm math handicapped anyway. Any estimate I have vis a vis cost would be way off. Haha but I DO know how many hours I've put into the big piece. I've never added up total hours of any of the other pieces but know about how long each single piece took. Again. Too much math.

Once my sleeve started to look like a sleeve, I was so stoked and stopped caring about tracking time/cost. Although I haven't put in nearly as much time as a lot of you guys/girls!

do both have a few random porkchops on my lower legs, gonna do some larger stuff on the front side so...save a few big spots to plan some larger stuff out

I've long since lost track of how many hours I've had to sit or lay on a table. I don't think I want to remember or get into it with just anyone even if I did. It just leads to calculating costs which isn't the point of a tattoo. Talking amongst LST is cool though cuz in the end we'd all just laugh it off and say, "Totally would do it again. Totally worth every cent". "Totally" (Yes, I was born in LA)

I don't 'track' it on purpose, but I do know how long each piece took, just because I know? I was there!

I stopped by Dark Age Tattoo and Supergenius today. Both are rad shops. Talking to the folks at Dark Age I was surprised that Derek Noble and Jesse Roberts only have a 2 month waiting list. The other artists are as few as a couple of weeks. Definitely a place to stop by if you want something kickass before Christmas.

I'll be there. Really hoping Horimitsu gets back to me because I'd love to collect something rad.

I'm tracking hours on my back piece. It's pretty easy because each session ties pretty nicely to each of the elements he's adding, like 6 hours for the clownfish/anemone, 3 hours for the sea snake & coral, etc. I'm type A enough to want to know hours at the very end. However, I do NOT want to know how much I paid! (Resisting urge to do the math...)

This is going to be fun, but the question is way too easy! Shunga all the way, because it's at least going to be a beautiful tattoo! But if I had to get some shunga on my neck, I'd honestly probably go with Dan Sinnes over Horiyoshi III simply because I'm more into the way Dan Sinnes has taken shunga in this really weird, crazy, gross-out way that to me is more appealing than the more traditional shunga. Though there's still some really wild stuff there in the original reference. Anyway, here's a Dan Sinnes tattoo of a vagina Daruma riding on a penis turtle:

Quick appearance on the beach. Still a lot left to do and layers to add, but it's coming together. Back in the saddle on Friday. Dude asked me, "Please don't tell me you did that all in one sitting." :rolleyes:

That pin up challenge... I can't even... Can you just eliminate like 9 of them now to spare the people awful tattoos

yeah @hogg what a collection he has, very nice dude.

I don't know about anyone else, but I can't see the pic you posted. Looks like it didn't upload properly? (or maybe its just me!)

@motsimus that's so awesome ! I love the tattoo and, cool pics. Waylon !

I went and talked to him yesterday. He said we'd start filling it in Friday and he'd go as long as I could stand it.

[emoji106] 3 pints of lager & a packet of crisps please

I just posted them in my gallery, and took a look at yours. Wow! Your jewel tattoos are especially lovely!!

Unbelievable, @RoryQ! You know you wanna fill in the navel, though. ;)

Shunga, because I can wear a scarf all the time when I'm at work, etc. (Which reminds me of "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.") Having a sartorial trademark sounds preferable to having a shitty tattoo I can never get rid of, even though I'm not really a penis-on-the-neck sort of person.

I had an absolutely AMAZING time in Montreal this past weekend, as did my wife! Thank you so much to @Graeme, @Pugilist, @Shaun1105, @BrianH (and Taylor) and @mitslam for a great brunch and great conversations. I was on zero sleep due to a bit of insomnia and some hard partying neighbors in our hotel. Going into a back session with Chad was terrifying under these circumstances, but Graeme, Anna, and Shaun kept me calm and relaxed! Thank you so much!!! I CANNOT wait till next year and plan on staying a few extra days next time. Thanks again guys. Great memories and talking with you all felt like hanging with old friends. It truly did. @Graeme, @Pugilist, @Shaun1105, and @BrianH scored some amazing work, which i believe has been posted in the latest tattoo thread. GREAT TIMES!!! Rob btw- @Graeme, @Pugilist, and

I'm still crying inside that I didn't make it... Therefore next year I'm going to make it a point to go AND possibly get tattooed. Gotta make it epic.

I had an absolutely awesome time at my first convention. It was great to meet up with everyone, thanks for making my brother and I feel so welcome! I will definitely try to get back to Montreal next year (or maybe sooner!).

Looking good both @MrToby and @SeeSea glad to see I am not the only one chipping away at backpiece sessions. Had another 3 hour session on mine last week and we reached 2 seperate goals. 1. I think we have now finally finished background shading. A few tiny spots that need touching up but on the whole the background is done. I have worked out in the course of my job I do quite a bit of driving, the few spots that need touching up are basically where the seatbelt rubs. Who would have thought being safe in a car can be so bad. :) 2. The last of my original 4 (crappier) tattoos have now been covered with much better art. I know there are mixed feelings about covering previous work etc but 3 of the 4 were basically flash pieces off the wall and had no meaning to me at all. The 4th I wasn't happy covering but it was a decent sized piece in the way of doing my backpiece. It was sacrificed for the greater good :( . The 1st of these were done nearly 20 years ago and I like to think if forums such as LST and in general the www were around I would have probably made a more informed decision back then and probably not just picked flash off the wall. Showing my age now but using Lynx and Gopher just wasn't quite the same experience back then as the internet is today. :)

Here's a good place to start. Where do you live? I'm sure someone here can recommend a good shop in your area. Then: go there and look at the portfolios and the flash on the walls. Maybe something will inspire you. Personally, I don't like quotes much. I'm sure you can find an image that suggests that idea to you. Something bad-ass like a panther, eagle, tiger, dragon, etc. is never a bad idea. They're classics for a reason. As far as the ladies go, find what you're into and do that thing.* Women are attracted to interesting guys who do interesting things. *N.B.: Going to bars and clubs to hit on women does not count as a "thing."

@SeeSea I love it, it's come so far and it's gonna be killer when done Next session Saturday it's been ages since I've been in the chair. I have to admit I am Anxious

Liberty is the spot for traditional.

Welcome! I like the hand tattoo idea, and I think the right artist could do something great with that. Have you looked into Ollie XXX in Edmonton? I feel he's a good choice for you because you like traditional. If you want to travel a bit farther, to Red Deer, you have Lucas Ford who kills it with both American and Japanese style tattoos and is, in my opinion, one of the best tattooers in the country.

Close up of mine, by Chad Koeplinger. (Healed)

While looking between @hogg's legs tonight, I was struck to realize we have all the same books. I mean it. All of them. Go figure.

That unicorn's chest looks like an arse.

Chris Smith, Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago. The ship itself was done last year, just finished the background and flowers this time around ... Last Thursday.

While I was at Frith Street my beautiful squeeze had her second session. A really stunning Day of the Dead Girl, tattooed by Stewart Robson.