RoryQ

Chad Koeplinger just posted a pic on twitter of a kind of hybrid crawling panther / native american design ... Worth checking out!

Wow, very informative, Hawk. I guess prepping an area like the knee that is likely to be coarse / drier skinned in advance is a good idea then - that would not have occurred to me.

Im impressed with your understanding of the American ''southern thing''. ya gotta love the South. Now how bout some "sweet tea''.

Maybe it helps that we have our own historical North / South issues here too...

Complex seems to about sum it up.

Re: The confederate flag and international perceptions of it ... I can only speak from personal experience, but I think in Ireland it is associated with things like the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard, truckers, an idea of 'rednecks' from movies etc. ... And probably there is awareness that it is a contentious symbol in relation to the contemporary US politics and the US Civil war (or should I call that the War of Northern Aggression? ...Joking).

About 5 weeks on, this is resolving itself slowly. Turns out I have a bulging disc at C6/C7, and it accounts for the symptoms. Probably someone cranking on my neck was the 'buckling' factor, but it's likely that it was able to happen because of general wear and tear over the years, probably some bad posture and probably a lot of 'chin poking' when I was doing things like pull-ups, shoulder presses and whatnot.

Anyway, got a pretty good physio and I'm doing a routine that will build stability (strength) in the c-spine area. I look like a mental patient, pushing against bands with my head in the gym, but hopefully it will do the trick. I will eventually have a neck worth of Internet 'big neck' pictures when this is all over. Looks like with a bit of careful rehab over the next few months I should be able to get back to mostly normal training, which means a whole new host of injuries in the coming years.

BTW if anyone does have a back problem, but more of a lower back issue, then one of the best books I read recently is Stuart McGill's 'Ultimate Upper Back Fitness and Performance'. He's a Canadian who consults with the NFL. The guy really knows his stuff. BackFitPro.com

@Rebushido -

Well done man, you're probably glad to have it over and done with. It looks great.

Combining beer with coffee is not exactly a new idea, but this is one of the better irish offerings. They've done the fancy brewing bit in advance - all you need is a bottle-opener.

I was hoping that Synyster ink (and the two guys pictured) were an elaborate hoax - maybe they're drawing those on with ink pens, smudging them, making the skin look wet etc.

... ?

I'm looking to buy a grinder (a proper one with multiple settings, good quality grinding mechanism etc) and price is a factor - you don't seem to be able to get one that is 'well regarded' in the industry without spending about 150-200 Euro on it ($200+ ish dollars). Then again, the motto of the likes of Hasbean is that 'life is too short to drink bad coffee'. I drink coffee every day, so I kind of see the logic in investing in it.

The funny thing is that sometimes it's the small, inexpensive things that make the biggest difference to the way your coffee tastes... Knowing about taking the time to wash out and heat paper filters (to get rid of an acrid 'paper' taste), getting coffee to 'bloom' before adding more water etc.

I've just finished spending about 20 minutes hand-grinding enough coffee to brew up a proper batch in my Chemex drip filter coffee maker. Got a line of coffee-related gadgets under our kitchen counter, some of which I've yet to even get out of the box.. Aeropress, electric espresso makers, various filter papers, french presses... You name it.

I get my coffee beans from hasbean.co.uk - probably one of the best UK sites for that kind of thing.

Freshly Roasted Coffee Beans from Has Bean Coffee

Originally it was a place in Chicago that turned me on to drip filter made coffee, funnily enough - a place run by an ex-Navy guy across the road from Deluxe Tattoo...

http://www.asadocoffee.com/

It would be pretty tough to go back to instant....

Anyone else got a particular method of choice?

As requested - Chris Smith (not on me, BTW).

I think we're thinking of the same thing - I've heard them called compass stars, nautical stars etc. (with five or eight points) but I'm not sure that's the right term. To my eye they look not dissimilar to the stars the Russian mob seem to get on their knees? As far as incorporating them with a spider web googling seemed to throw up a few to me but now that I look for one done by a reputable artist I'm struggling. I was just curious because it does seem like a combo that's out there.

As far as the potential difficulty with lines on a compass on a knee go - you could well be right, if things like cat heads and more classic spider web designs crop up again and again there is probably a reason- thanks!

I have been revisiting knee tattoos lately and thinking about designs.

I've seen some cool spiderweb designs from Stewart Robson (with a spider at the centre) and from Nick Colella which made me search for more. One design that seems to crop up in a few cases is a spider web with a nautical star of some sort. As something I have always liked the idea of for a knee tattoo is a compass star I was curious where the combination of spider web with star comes from - anyone know? Random combination or is there a story behind it...

@Duffa

Wow, a serious backpiece from Xam... Holy shit...

@CaptCanada - yeah, sorry about last time. It was a bit hectic to be honest. This time should be more chilled.

Just booked flights with SAS (flying via Copenhagen for a change... Should be better than Heathrow) - we're around from 18 Nov - 2 Dec.

I meant to put Chris Smith in here before. He tattoos at Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago and also makes machines I think (Workhorse Irons))? I think he does some really clean-looking, bright tattoos.

I am almost sorry I went ahead with Japanese chest plates when I see these kinds of trad front pieces:-

I like his big cat heads too.

His (not updated very often) blog: Being dead looks retarded

The last few times I stayed in NYC I just used some of the more reputable hostels - they worked out fine. The Gershwin or similar looks like a good option too though (although two weeks is going to work out expensive no matter how you cut it..). You could always try and couch-surf for part of it.

Cool, well we know the dates we're in town for Shige appointments but just haven't booked flights yet. Will check exactly what they are and report back.

I'll be in Japan in November again - this time we really will do an LST meet-up ...

I would definitley be all over Smith St. if I were you - I got their little flash book at Christmas and have been drooling over it.

The other super thing about NY is the food. Island Burger ... the NY style pizza by the slice ... Nyom nyom nyom

Super write-up, man, you've set the bar pretty high for future efforts. In particular, I like all the photographs. It's nice to get a sense of the people and the place, as well as the tattoos.

Judd Ripley from the Sailor's Grave in Copenhagen. Was looking at his site yesterday for quite a while - some really great large scale work.

That does suck, Ursula.

If it makes a difference, I do think they're much better quality shirts in terms of softness, keeping their shape etc. than cheaper shirts I've bough elsewhere.

I watched those vids before we visited Shige's studio last year. It's a really good video diary in that he does manage to capture the feel of Toyko / Yokohama pretty well... I bet cramming the backpiece work in on top of his own tattoo work plus the jetlag must have been a real head-melter and added to his sense of dislocation. Shige's studio is pretty crazy - all the back piece designs he has up in his work area are amazng... sheets and sheets of brilliance. Pretty heavy haze of incense hanging around too.

An interview with Tomo is being published in next month's Total Tattoo magazine. I spoke to the guy who did it a few months ago, and he said he thought it was going to be a really interesting interview for people, to get that insight into the sempai / kohai relationship in a studio as famous as Yellow Blaze.

I waited to pull the trigger on some of the Hooper shirts before and they sold out... You've got to be quick...