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I feel like LST is the perfect place to get this started, so here goes. It looks like I'm going to put together a fundraiser in early December for the Wounded Knee School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I've been talking with Chris who runs the Friends of Pine Ridge website and I've talked to Principal Alice Phelps from the school who is totally behind the idea. Some of you may know about the levels of poverty, unemployment, and suicide, some of you may not. Some of you may remember the name being associated with Russell Means and the American Indian Movement in the 60s and 70s. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about. What I don't want to do is get on a soapbox and go on a tirade about our government's systematic failure and attempt at extermination (woops, just did it), but instead I just want to get these kids fed. The Wounded Knee School needs help. All of the students qualify for free meals in school but the problem is when they get home. Principal Phelps has made arrangements with Feeding America in Rapid City to come out once a month and do a food distribution for all of the families but the need is more than they can fill. Because there is only a single convenience store on the reservation and the nearest grocery store is 60 miles away in Rapid City, Alice has started a food pantry that she operates out of the school. That's what we're looking to fill. My good friend Dave Wallin has agreed to use his shop, Eight of Swords Tattoo, here in Williamsburg for the event. You might remember the name from last year's Ladies! Ladies! art show, or other shows and events he's had there before. We're still in the early planning stages, still trying to lock down a date and a timeline, but I wanted to post this up here first to start to get the word out. I've reached out to a couple people initially to sort of gauge interest and everyone seems eager to help. The idea is pretty simple: get a bunch of rad tattoo artists to donate pieces, do a silent auction, and then send that money to pack the food pantry at the school. We're looking at early December, possibly the first Friday or Saturday. I haven't even sent out real emails or made phone calls yet but I'm meeting with Dave on Monday to iron out some of the details. So expect me to bother everyone even more! Feel free to pass along the info. to anyone that might be interested and in the meantime, I'll try not to fuck this up. Also, MSNBC did a pretty decent three-part article on Pine Ridge a few months ago. Worth a read: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/failing-americas-most-forgotten-children Thanks everyone!

Me and @Pugilist had a running competition for a while about who had the most hours under the needle. I've since lost track of how many hours I've been tattooed for, but the answer is "a lot of hours". I have no idea how much money I've spent on tattoos, nor do I care to know because I'm sure if you gave me the sum of money I've spent on them...without even talking about cost of travel and hotels, time off work, etc...I'd be stunned and perplexed how I even came up with that kind of money. People wanting to know hours so they can roughly calculate how much you've spent is weird anyway, because it isn't about money, and anybody who cares about the cost of tattoos, especially heavy coverage, is never going to get tattooed like that because it's not like getting tattooed like this is something that comes from a rational decision-making place. You don't sit down with a personal or household budget and see that you can fit a bodysuit in there. It comes from a more primal place, it's closer to a need than a want. That's where the tattoo magic is.

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"

Mow your own lawn. No one likes seeing a person's yard go to shit ;-)

I really can`t describe how weird I always feel writing introductions like this. So I will just tell the most essencial things about myself: I live in Fredrikstad, about 100 km south of Oslo. I work as a social educator / health worker for adults with mental disabilities. I have a daughter, a miniature schnauzer, and three cats. I am very fond of tattoos, and I have gotten quite a few the last few years. I guess I should upload pictures of them, so I will do that later. I see my self very much as a metalhead. I love going to concerts and festivals, both as audience and as a volunteer. My current favourite bands are Ghost (b.c), Sabaton and Leprous, and my all-time favourites are Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, a lot of the 70`s bands etc. I guess anyone can ask if you want to know anything about me, thanx for having me on this forum :)

Upon showing a picture of my backpiece to a girl: - Is that on you right now?!

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

A few different guys; my "regular artist" (if you will) is Nick Oaks, and I have 5 pieces done by him (and filler upcoming). Also been tattooed by Franz Stefanik, Ron Wells, Dennis m del Prete, and a local guy in Vermont. The cobra, morning star, rats, reaper, and dagger are all Nick, the church is Ron Wells, the ponies are Franz Stefanik (one shot, might I add), and the eye of providence is Dennis m del Prete.

Check my intro. It includes my first (only, for a few more weeks!) tattoo photos and critiques of it both + and -. I welcome and understand this. I still love the tattoo, and in fact have an appointment with the same artist for another. Yes, I see the flaws, and it faded too rapidly which was corrected. Maybe at my age, I'm a bit more pragmatic about it all. Expect not just art, but life to have flaws - and learn to enjoy the difference that reality brings!

Let's just quote Stewart Robson from the original thread and call it a day.

inkmaster then then later get something blasted over it.

There it is.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say I've got an exact record of how many hours of tattooing I've had and how much I've spent. I've kept it all recorded step-by-step in a tattoo progress blog. I've even got video footage of all my work so far! I think I'm a bit OCD about this sort of thing haha. It's not something I go around declaring to people in the street or anything but the info is online if I or anyone else ever wants to know.

As the old joke goes, if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

That shits real "3 pints of lager & a packet of crisps please"

@bongsau's post is so nerdy, I love it. Only 4 tattoos in but I find it hard to keep track of time spent actually being tattooed, since sometimes it can be really stop-and-start. Like, do you turn off the mental stopwatch every time you pause to talk about something? I find it really easy to lose track of time in a shop, anyway. You just surrender to the fact that you're on someone else's time.

Dogs, cats, metal. I think we can hang. Welcome!

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.

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:

Had my first session last month, was just in a few days ago. All outline so far, coming along nicely. Glad i found this forum.

hello all, my name is Ammar. From the UK but currently living in Hamburg, Germany. Been thinking about a first tattoo for a while now and am looking to get it within the next 6-12 months! Stumbled across this site which has already been great in terms of finding incredible art and ideas. After a good think, I am looking to get something along the lines of a lady head (with plenty of colour) and skull (just black) combo. Love the types of tattoos with the thicker black lines and strong blocks of colour. Will go back to London for the tattoo and have seen some great artists work at Frith Street and The Family Business Tatoo Shop but if anyone would like to share some more places or some pictures with what i mentioned above it would be really appreciated! Cheers!

the answer is to get more tattoos - this way your less than perfect tattoo won't be such on your mind plus even bad is rad imo

@ttoosday , Please pardon me for being blunt, but the best thing you can do accept it and move on. We can't help or make suggestions unless we see it. For all we know it may be perfectly fine, and you are having tattoo remorse. It's not the end of the world, you can get it covered, lasered, added to, or just leave it alone and you might learn to love it. Expand your tattoo horizons. Spend some time here, listen, find a good shop, go get an awesome tattoo. I guarantee you will feel better. Unless you are a chronic sad-sack. Then we can't do anything for you. Cheers!

Ahh u make a good point. And I agree that is more what I would be looking at in my case. However, I still am on the fence about what to do. Even if all I needed was a touch up, I still would contemplate whether making the drive is worth it or not.

HA! You found a loophole.

I want a little shunga tattoo anyway. Done by Horiyoshi III? I would not hesitate a second. <will be stuck with neck dicks my whole life>

I know the book, but I have not checked it out yet. The designs I have seen from it is awesome. I chrochet too :) I added you as my friend on Ravelry :) Did you know there is a group on Ravelry for tattooed ravelers?

Most of them won't age well, and look better on paper or canvas than skin, hence the dislike from most people.

My friend's girlfriend after my last tattoo session: "So now that you have all these tattoos, how do you *really* feel about them?"

I think I stopped keeping track because you're winning. :(

She must of had a blonde moment mate @mmikaoj 3 pints of lager & a packet of crisps please

@peterpoose I don't think time has the same meaning to you, as it does most of us. That's why you get tattooed for a billion hours at a time.

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)

Neck shunga obvs. It would be an awesome and hilarious tattoo. Horiyoshi III!

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

I basically have the eagle off the mexican flag tattooed on me, but I imagine you could do a lot of fun things with golden eagles and even Hawks. - - - Updated - - - Ashley has a few of these hawks designs drawn up, this one someone is doing on their rib.

What about."what is it?" Really?

Got this from Britney Goodman at Downtown Tattoo in Las Vegas.

Here is my submission for this months contest. My whole backpiece has been done in a 6-month period (just 31 hours in total) by Bonel from Corazon Santo, Arnhem, The Netherlands. I also have a full size picture available HERE

Mine on the left by Chad Koeplinger, 2013, done at Frith Street, London (photo also by Chad, straight after it was finished). My dad's on the right by Bob 'Eagle' Smith, 1970/71 (photo taken last week) Oxford, England.

My oldest daughter wanted to slam some bullshit passage down her rib panel. I said, sweetheart...I love you, but if you ruin prime real estate like that with shit text, I'll be forced to trade you for another daughter with more brains. She's 25 this year and has learned the sound advice given by her father.

Best of luck for your kiki! She is beautiful and would definitely make a beautiful monmon cat :) - - - Updated - - - This is Hugues (pronounced oog). We mostly call her oogie, she's a 4 year old Frenchie and the first dog for myself, as well as my husband. She is rad, except for her breath which always smells like a bag of rotting anuses. Thankfully her cute face makes up for it. I'm sure someday I'll get a tattoo of her, I just don't know what.

Its done really, really well...but like others said, it doesn't say tattoo to me.

The term is actually a play on words: Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka. Look it up. I actually like some of it... good solid art work that you usually see in galleries, but on skin. If its executed into solid tattoo work, I can see it catching on. Rob

I don't even think his graffiti is that good.

I think what a person puts on their body is their business. I personally like this style and depending on the tattoo it goes from douchebag shirt to really awesome. The images you've uploaded here I've got to say are some of the more crappy of the lot. I'm a huge fan of bold and simple. It's funny that people who are tattoo artists or collectors would even have such a closed mind. It's that same mentality that people use as a weapon against people with ANY tattoos. "Oh god that person has tattoos that's so ugly" The whole purpose of the art of tattooing is to be able to carry our personality around with us on the outside.. If we all had the same personality this world would be utter shit. I'm not saying love the artwork just appreciate it for what it is and respect the people that compose these tattoos as artists.

Buddy Brian Grosz is on his fourth or fifth session on his back with Mike Rubendall. Looks like he's been going every two weeks and, even better, he's started a little blog to chronicle the adventure. He also added a little bit on cleaning up/aftercare. Bodysuit To Fit