Duffa

Got my dates for starting my backpiece - in the last week of September - and a hint of what some of the details of the design are like. Super-exciting.
It's with Ching from East Tattoo in Taiwan. I gave him a fairly loose idea of the type of subject matter I was interested in, and specified that I wanted black and grey and something that was going to make a big visual impact (it was some of the backpieces featuring Buddha heads and Guan Yin figures that originally caught my eye from him).

Appointment with Mario Desa a fortnight on Sunday. Can't wait

I have an appt in Oct in SF at the State of Grace show with Trevor McStay -- to do my leg

Just got a portrait of my pup from Ben Grillo...

This excellent post is by irezumi from another thread:
It got me thinking: beyond traditional Japanese sleeves, when did sleeves start appearing in the West? I've seen lots of old tattoos pics, but rarely have I seen full sleeves outside of sideshow performers. Lots of stacked pork chops down the arm, but usually 3 to 5 at a time.
But since I know a lot less about this stuff than many of you, I thought I'd pose the topic for LST to discuss.
Side note: to irezumi's earlier point, I recently saw a documentary on Vince Lombardi. Turns out that his dad had WORK and PLAY on his knuckles.

It's on people!
I shall start with some lolcats. (1st and 3rd have me dying every time I see them)



And a random one that cracks me up

I fly out Thursday morning for Japan, and heading to Kyoto for 2 days of good times on my sleeve at The Cat Claw Tattoo-z :D
Am I excited? Your daaaaaaaamn right ;) I'll post pics when I get back

Rory I can already give you one - friggin hot!! I have friends in Osaka and the minimum temp is around 26, maximum 31 (thats degrees celsius people, I have no idea about Fahrenheit!) I thought living in Queensland I could handle most humid climates but it gets sooooo muggy in summer there its simply not funny (I was there about 5 weeks ago?)
When do you leave Rory? And if you need any info on shops/cool things to do around the Kansai region hit a brother up ;)

It's on people!
I shall start with some lolcats. (1st and 3rd have me dying every time I see them)



And a random one that cracks me up

i'm getting a blow fish from shinji/horizakura.

That panther is badass! Are you adding background to this?

Here's a closer picture of my back.. The last ones I posted I now realize were reversed.

I got a cool dragon head from Theo Mindell on my left knee. You can see pics in my gallery. As a general rule, I think things like heads, skulls and masks work particularly well for that spot.
And for what it's worth, it hurt far less than I feared it would.

I was going to get that too, and then without knowing my best friend did so I don't want to anymore. Then I thought about doing matching Jap flowers but my dude has that on his. So now I'm probably going to do a rose on one and a peony on the other.... maybe... unless I think of something else.. also thought about doing a tudor rose on each..
I tried to find a picture of my friend's knees and couldn't but found this from the same artist. His name is Stuart Archibald.

Or you could get real fucking old school and get a cross like Otzi the Iceman

Cat heads seems to be a good fit for knee-designs.
I especially like these:
Jim Sylvia

Valerie Vargas

I don't know it depends on what people are trading? My kid is pretty cute so I think I could get a lot for him.

GRIME part 3 is up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q--MS3kyQU4
Grime Part 3 - Tattoo Age | VBS.TV

Following this thread made me realize I may have the best Tech job on the planet.
I'm a Communications Technician for one of the big 4 class I freight railroads in the U.S.
I work with installing/maintaining everything from PC support, software, network, data, CCTV, satellite dishes, radios, on down to the humble telephone.
I'm not stuck with the same stuff very often, or for very long. I cover a large territory, so I'm not bound to an office all the time.
I've been on this job for 10 years as of this month. I got hired with visible tattoos and it has never been an issue. I kept on getting more as time went on ( the biggest amount in the last year).
I have to move equally between corporate types in the division office, and guys that turn wrenches and swing hammers all day, but now they got to use a computer to do their job.
I've been on the job long enough now (10 years this month) that everyone knows me and knows that I know my stuff, if they call me I can get your problem fixed.
I've never had a negative comment directed my way because of my tattoos (the ones that are visible go from the wrist to "outta sight").
The only dress code we have is T-shirts with 1/4 sleeves and no shorts, (besides hard hats, safety glasses, etc., when necessary).
The corporate types know I can fix their PC, so they don't hassle me, the wrench turners know the same, but they know I'm just a regular guy, and the other guys in my department know that I know my shit so the tattoos aren't an issue, they just take a peek when I get something new.
All that plus I'm payed hourly an outreagous sum and union.
Fuck Me Runnin'
you could'nt beat me with a stick hard enough to leave this job.

I always enjoy these kind of conversations so thanks everyone for partaking and thanks in advance to those who will continue to. This topic has come up a few times on the site and this one is one of the more engaging times.
With that being said, I work as a consultant mainly in the world of psychology and have a fair amount of tattoos including hands and neck which can not be covered up easily. Up until more recently some psychologist used tattoos as a way of pathologizing and potentially distributing possible diagnoses to clients. Some may still do it and I know there are several research studies always going on looking for associations between tattoos and various diagnoses. But thank god more and more people are not relying so heavily on pathologies but rather more on the individual(s). And many of these individuals who rely on pathologies (fifty to seventy percent I believe) will be retiring within the next five years so us in the next generation get to really change how historically psychology has not been used in the best client centered, guided, and driven manner(s). So we get to infiltrate the system and change how services are delivered from the face-to-face work to policies to education to ???????
This I believe can translate to many other professions as we enter these trades or whatever linguistical word fancy's your excitement to work hard and get rid of various pathologies, stigmas, 'isms' and what have yous. The work we do is what matters but at first the older generation and maybe even our own generation are going to judge us so rather than kick in the front doors why don't we lead by the quality of our work and come in through the side door..... We are at a cool spot in history where we can potentially shape things in a much more inclusive and positive way for the future. This all includes pulling the strengths from the old and combining it with the strengths of the new creating a tailor made worker for these days. Anyways, I could go on and on, on this conversation but will cut it short with this.....I wear a suit to ninety percent of my contracts with hand and neck tattoos showing while traveling around from; speaking with agencies (non-profit and for-profit), students, colleges, politicians, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, to what-have-yous. I get various looks and some comments on them but try not to talk too much about them and let my work speak for itself. Sure it may help when I am face-to-face with a youth or someone where it could improve the rapport but most of my days are spent with people where it could jeopardize the rapport as well. The flip side is, I get the opportunity to prove the people who could/would judge me wrong if I don't fall into their stereotypes of tattooed people. I do my job and stay respectful. If they want to be disrespectful that's their choice and if by the end of the contract they are still being disrespectful I don't do another contract with them. But my retention rate is good for contracts so I would draw the conclusion, quality of work and respect are speaking louder than tattoos these days.

Perfect place to mention that Jill Bonny has a new excellent blog out there,great news as I sadly miss the old SOG one .
Born to Tattoo

So, I feel a little bad about having only shown old Trevor McStay work as I'd forgotten about that thing called Myspace? So here is an update :cool:






These aren't exactly back pieces... but who really cares in this instance?


More here: Dynamic Tattoo on Myspace

I completely endorse this service and/or product :)