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I've had 2 consecutive days with Chris Crooks from White Dragon Tattoo in Belfast. First day he did all the line work (7 hours) and the second day he did background and some shading (6 hours). It was an amazing experience with a phenomenal artist and down to earth great guy. I'm blown away by the quality and speed of his work. He put a video up on his instagram doing the piece more justice. I will be flying back to Belfast in December for the continuation of this piece.

Started my Japanese crane arm with Yutaro at Seven Doors in London yesterday. Pic nicked from his instagram as I don't have one and the arm is wrapped atm. There is a second crane on the lower arm and more finger waves. As I don't have to travel and I'm not in a hurry, we decided not to stress it but do the whole thing in a couple of nice short(ish) sessions. Really enjoyed the time at the shop and look forward to going back!

The first thing you absolutely need to do is take a few deep breaths and try to relax. Worrying and driving yourself crazy with anxiety over it is only going to lead you to a panic attack. You applying Purrell is a direct result of you over thinking this. After you calm down you should seriously smack your friend upside his head for mentioning to you the absolute worst case scenario. The possibility of contracting MRSA from a gym bench is highly unlikely. A majority of MRSA infections happen in hospital type settings. Gyms are routinely cleaned and offer sanitary wipes to patrons to wipe down equipment before and after each use. In reality the bench that you laid on was most definitely wiped clean at one point or another by someone. It's not like the bench was constantly being used for months without it being cleaned so thinking logically I'd say that your in the clear.

Hit the back up with another session yesterday, and now I can thankfully say that all of the lining of this piece is done, save for some details while colouring. The rest of the background should fill in quite quickly, given that it took Scott three and a half hours to line my thighs and about twenty minutes to blast the massive wave over my ribs. He used a 15 mag, so probably the least sharp pain so far, although that whole area is feeling a little bruised. 12.5 hours total chair time here. We got another sit later this month. Hit it hard!

Steve dig a dagger going thru an eyeball on my calf at the first Pagoda convention. He didn't have any stencils or anything like that so he just drew it on and went from there. Needless to say I had an amazing tattoo after he was done and I couldn't be any happier with it. This was taken after it was completed and since then it has healed up nicely. Your def. in good hands.

Chad Koeplinger? He just did mine about a month ago. It was a blessing that he's stupidly fast and a curse that he is so heavy handed. But at the end of the day, I think that was the best way to go. 1.5 hour large knee tattoo... yes please! Git'r done! And I also limped for close to 5 days. The first 3 I could barely walk. It's going to be awhile before I do my other knee for sure...

Just spotted this on Pinterest. Gotta win a prize for most hipster ideas in one design!

@PinkUnicorn you know what it is for me is that i like almost all tattoos i really do i wouldnt be interested in getting a design like this but its simple and readable and i like those qualities in a tattoo

You're a trooper for sitting for 2 consecutive days like that! It allready looks absolutely amazing, can't wait to see how this will look once finished. Enjoy the ride man!

Well...(deep breath) Steve Byrne in less than a month (Sept 1). I don't generally get nervous or "starstruck", but I've definitely got butterflies on this one. Who's been tattooed by Steve?

.like was said,it's too late now, . considering how dirty and germ infested public gym/fitness centers are, .. all you can do is wait and see if it got infected or not and deal with that at the time. . and yes, I agree with you,that was a pretty bad idea. there is a great reason why every one says to "keep it clean". put it down as "live and learn".

Worrying isn't going to help anything at this point, but it is going to stress you out so don't worry about it. You're going to need to let the tattoo heal and judge from there what, if anything, needs to be done. If you have any questions about healing the best person to answer them is the person who did the tattoo.

Hi All! I really like the look of well-executed munewari. I have only seen it on men and a few smaller breasted women. As a larger breasted woman I am interested to see how munewari reads on...big boobs. So. To that end, does anyone have pictures to share? (lol good thing i've been here before because that ALMOST sounds creepy). Anyway, pictures of women, preferably with larger breasts, with munewari to the nipple. (definitely sounds creepy. but i'm doing it for the tattoos guys!) Thaaaankkks! beez (ps SF peeps, think i'll be down in the last half of august for tattoo!)

Up and around a bit now. After not moving for over 12 hours. He has eaten, drank, and peed.

It's not so much hipster as a combination of what are often regarded as common/cliched "female" tattoo ideas. Common/cliched "male" tattoo ideas are usually treated more kindly.

call me crazy but i dont hate designs like this

While heading back from the beach we stopped in (unannounced) at Bell Rose Tattoo in Daphne, Al. Sean Hermann took time out of his busy afternoon to visit with us. Super gracious host, and I'm on his books for July '17! http://www.thebellrosetattoo.com/sean-herman Only a year to wait, lol.

Todd bumped me up a week to 8/22 @ Redemption - high noon appt - much better for the same turn around back to jersey

Going to be in Berlin next week and going over to Fur Immer to get a palm sized piece from Toshihide whilst I am there. First time getting a tattoo whilst travelling in about 7 years so really excited about it.

I've got a few new ones over the last 2 months... Very stoked. Have a cool Japanese yokai tattoo booked for Saturday...

I say do it! I'm 45 years old with two kids and definitely don't have my 25-year-old body anymore. I recently finished getting my entire a$$ tattooed, mid back to mid thighs. Stretch marks and cellulite included. It looks so much more awesome than plain stretch marks and cellulite :) Wildcat

brisket fuckin master

Of course I'm glad tattoos hurt: I agree it's an integral part of keeping them for the dedicated only... Willing to sit and take it for the lifetime reward of the tattoo. But... I got to admit that I stopped philosophising too earnestly about the educational or self improving nature of the pain the time I got my front lined out. It wasn't a relevatory experience for me ... I just felt like I got carved up! I guess I found my personal tipping point that day. Small tattoos, or decent pieces most places on the body... I can grin and bear it and, yes, I probably learned a thing or two about managing pain mentally. Even my back piece was pretty Ok. But a really long sessions on a sensitive place like the torso or ribs... mostly just makes me miserable end of story. Can't make a purse from a sow's ear.

Bubbleberry, please stop.

On a more helpful note: You can take apart cars and scooters, I'm presuming you can drive. You understand how the machine needs to be used and what the various parts are for. Tattoo machines are more like kit cars than production models. You're gonna need to know WHY something does the thing it does. The only way to learn that is to learn to tattoo well or have a good tattooer explain it to you.

Tuning and building tattoo machines is totally easy. Anybody can do it. I have a drawer full of machines and every singe one of them was made or tuned by someone who did it according to a manual, on their day off from a real job. I learned everything I know (tattooing and otherwise) from a dvd too.

do you really want to learn the "secrets" of a tattoo machine from a DVD? honestly, those "secrets" exist for a reason, and are best kept to those who get their hands dirty building them. if you, or your wife, or whoever wants to know about the different parts of a machine, it's probably best to ask in person, to an artist you know or trust(or in the case of your wife, to the person/shop who's apprenticing her). and if it's about maintenance, i'm sure those who have actually made the machine can give you tips on how to best clean and take care of it. learning anything about tattooing from a dvd or online course feels a bit like replying to one of those ad's that used to be on the back of MAD magazine, where you could enter a drawing test to win free drawing lessons and a certificate stating you won. just because you can draw cartoon bear or turtle doesn't make you an artist. i'm sure others will chime in on this.