RoryQ

Talk to anyone at The Pearl Harbour Gift Shop.

The Okey Doke is reputable too.

I'd bet she's an awkward customer no matter what the service in question.

Does raise questions about her use of her job to settle perceived scores but I'd guess she sees it altogether differently.

There's going to be a Brewdog bar there this year apparently!

Thanks for sharing, that makes sense. I want someone to have him tell me that each session is 8 hours, so I can breeze through half hah. I understand that the back heals easier than most areas, is the front notoriously the same?

Tomo has a studio in Nagaoka?

I found both back and front healed well. The front is easier to look after in terms of cleaning, covering etc.

5-6 hours a day is loads of tattooing for me these days.. especially on the torso.

Tomo has his own studio in his home city now - Silk Needle Tattoo.

What are you getting on your torso?

@Lance

Yes, finishing it in his new studio in Nagaoka.

I don't have the space to start any really big new projects but I do have a consult with Shige... Maybe to see what we can squeeze in somewhere.

I did two days back to back all the way through working on mine. Once or twice a year (travelling). Finishing this year.

It's brutally sore though... I can understand your apprehension. I think it's better to go in knowing that it's going to be tough however.

Last time I was at the London convention I paid in Japanese Yen, so depending on the artist and your arrangement anything is possible... ;)

I'm going to try to go. It's just a couple of weeks after I'm back from Japan so depends if I have the €€€.

Easiest was my outer forearms, no contest.

Top of the feet, thigh and shins were ok too.

The London convention isn't going to be awkward at all.

"Broken homes" by Ben Aaronvich.

The police procedural element to his stuff is so correct (in tone if not detail) that I thought he might be an ex copper. Apparently not- just a Watestones worker turned writer who obviously has an eye for detail.

Occult shit going on in London. Mixed race copper tries to juggle magical murders with nonsense Met bureaucracy.

I think I mentioned this a while back, but the wife gave me permission to put up her "near miss" which was a kind of a swerve on her part.

She had set up with Shige to get tattooed in Yokohama. What was originally going to be a rib panel or smaller back piece somehow morphed into the full neck to knees turtle back piece (he kind of talked her into it, but I think maybe they both got a little caught up in it... neither of them like saying "no").

He was planning out this really brutal schedule to happen the following year with 4 full day sessions to be done during a two week visit. I was getting my front by Tomo.

Then... during the wait...

...We got engaged, bought a house and decided to try to have a kid (and we did).

At a certain point it became clear she was like "how is this multi session multi year monster back piece going to get done now". I said it could still be done (Shige has had other female clients who took breaks for similar reasons) but in the end she decided it would be wrong to start something that she was conflicted about.

Shige was like 'if you're harbouring doubts then it's best not to proceed'. He offered to tattoo her later and I think that might still happen - although she was embarrassed about cancelling on him.

Right now she has much more coverage and is starting a big rib panel with Calle (King Carlos) in the summer. So although she says she thinks it was the right choice THEN to cancel the whole thing I think now she's like "what if"...

Capilli Tupou.

Too painful to type out the whole story. Would share in person.

Can we twist your arm?

You should check out Colin Dale's tattooing, I've got a feeling you would find it interesting.

I collected and played 40k also.

First of all, I think it had an exceptionally well-supported art department with some really talented artists and designers. They also had good writers and hence the burgeoning second business as a SF publishing house (Black Library) in addition to the gaming.

I can't say that my teenage tabletop gaming led me into getting tattooed but it was definitely part of a lifelong love of SF / Fantasy.

In terms of subcultures there was a slight cross over with martial arts. I was going to Japan when I was in college to train martial arts about once a year (we did nothing else when we were there, lived on instant ramen and vending machine beer). The headmaster of the school was friends with Horiyihshi III.

@mmikaoj

Really great post, I was wincing just reading that.

There's nothing worse than being sleep deprived before a big tattoo session and in your case it was extreme... with the added stuff of a foreign country, convention setting etc. No joke, you weren't actually going to die ... but I understand why you were freaking out.

Where do you guys get tattooed in London?

Always struck me that there were a lot of heavyweight Italian tattooers in London...

I went to Tokyo Disney and was wearing shorts and a t-shirt...

When I went through the ticket area I was getting some pained looks but I (honestly) didn't realise until later in the day, when I saw a sign, that tattoos were to be covered.

I guess they were irritated but for some reason said nothing (I think even Japanese employees look the other way if it's too much hassle / embarrassment sometimes).

Had I known I would have covered up, if it's the rules then it's the rules...

All year round...

Mixture of pork shoulders, lamb leg and prime rib here. Low and slow for the former, reverse sear for the latter.

The only face tattoos that work for me are ta moko - on actual Maoris. It looks "right" somehow in contrast to the way most face tattoos in the west seem to make people look worse rather than better.

Although, even in that culture it can illicit mixed reactions. I read something by a researcher that spoke to women who got the facial moko and it seemed like there was, for some, almost a reverse snobbery.

One lady got approached by another Maori woman who wanted to know who she thought she was, to deserve to wear something that was such a potent cultural artefact. Then there were the older folk who weren't sure what to make of the whole tattooing revival.

I bet a few hundred years ago Vikings with "the helm of awe" tattooed on their temples looked badass.

i've been drinking tequila and i'm here to tell you all a thing or two...

too soon? ;)

I'm tempted to get out my laptop and get off tapatalk just so I can like this.

I think I would just go with an owl head.

Matt Jordan (NZ)

For me the kind of realistic tattoo that appeals is black and grey stuff that doesn't go too far into the hyper-realism end of things (you know, that looks not just photographic but almost goes further, with the really crazy light effects).

Jose Lopez, Chuey Quinatar... Some of the crazy Mexican bandits in front of trains, goddesses, human sacrifices, Virgin and Jesus etc.

I like looking at the religious stuff in general, or big epic myths and legends pieces like you see some of the Eastern Europeans do.

Think these are both Zsolt Sarkozi (Hungary). Love this stuff.

@xcom I think most of us understood that you were trying to contribute something positive, I wouldn't worry.

Also @RoryQ have you checked out Jeff Crocci's work at 7th Son in SF?

Just did... Pretty cool- he mentions he gets a lot of international clients on his IG... Guess bio mech still has its adherents.

You see the odd sleeve of it here ever now and again, but it's uncommon.

Lately I've been really admiring nice script.

Dan Sinnes' work is probably my favourite.

I also really like looking at Norm's work but if I'm honest I struggle with some of the less readable stuff he does - it's cool, just not for me.