Chelsea Shoneck

This thread is excellent. I hope I can squeeze my next pimple into a full rib panel of Japanese tigers. What a time-saver it would be! I'll goop up my side with some vaseline and crappy Dove skin cream and tape on a printout of @hogg's Lehi tigers for reference.

To me, the difference between a collector and the average client is that the collector does their research... They have plans for what they want and where, and when they plan a vacation they probably visit a shop or two if funds allow. I like the term, personally; I'm actually surprised so many don't. I guess I just never considered that people might find it a snooty term.
Someone mentioned an artist feeling pressured/nervous tattooing near existing top notch work... The other week I did a tattoo on a talented tattooer (already stressful!) about six inches above a full lower leg piece by Rubendall. I was simultaneously stoked and sweating like crazy. And damn, that Rubendall piece looked PERFECT... Absolutely stunning. I felt privileged just to get to see it!

Most of the bigger tattooed ladies I have seen (or tattooed) had something tiny done on them. I am personally not a fan of teeny tiny tattoos on anybody (especially if they're of the super girly variety or consist of microscopic text) because I believe that bigger is better... and I believe the same for larger ladies too. When I see a big woman with a tiny butterfly on her ankle I think to myself how cool it would be if she had a giant tiger or panther or dagger/skull or something. I love the look of people with great tattoos no matter how many extra pounds they might be packing. And I have no doubt that when I have more extensive work on myself, I'll feel a little more comfortable in my own skin.

I agree with @Badtaste ... I would much rather tattoo some of these hipster tattoos than silhouetted birds, infinity symbols and lots of other Pinterest specials :) dinosaurs on unicycles, owls, and animals dressed as people? Yes please ^_^ while they may be trendy, they're still infinitely better than rib paragraphs and tribal armbands :)

So, the 18th marked my one year of membership here... I feel like I have changed quite a bit in that time. Definitely had my mind changed about alot of thing, educated on alot of things... I went from one tattoo to 4 (You are all terrible enablers), and generally just enjoy myself and the friends I have made on here.
So thanks. You're awesome. I appreciate getting better tattoos.

Most of the bigger tattooed ladies I have seen (or tattooed) had something tiny done on them. I am personally not a fan of teeny tiny tattoos on anybody (especially if they're of the super girly variety or consist of microscopic text) because I believe that bigger is better... and I believe the same for larger ladies too. When I see a big woman with a tiny butterfly on her ankle I think to myself how cool it would be if she had a giant tiger or panther or dagger/skull or something. I love the look of people with great tattoos no matter how many extra pounds they might be packing. And I have no doubt that when I have more extensive work on myself, I'll feel a little more comfortable in my own skin.

I agree with @Badtaste ... I would much rather tattoo some of these hipster tattoos than silhouetted birds, infinity symbols and lots of other Pinterest specials :) dinosaurs on unicycles, owls, and animals dressed as people? Yes please ^_^ while they may be trendy, they're still infinitely better than rib paragraphs and tribal armbands :)

If you could only be tattooed by one tattoo artist for the rest of your life... who would it be? Explanation is required. Shop talk, personal conversations and general work done plays a huge role in every experience and hopefully we will get some good stories out of this. (I haven't posted on here in a while, so I hope this didn't get brought up somewhere else.)
It was a hard choice, but I know that if I could be tattooed by anyone else for the rest of my life... It would be Freddy.
1. I'm lazy and its a 1 mile walk to Temple
2. He is hilarious
3. I could hear him talk about India all day.
4. Jason, Derrick and Heath are awesome to talk to as well.
5. The shop is beautiful.
6. Every time I go in, I just want to get a million jesus tattoos.
Your turn.

I can say I understand a bit from time to time about the kinda shock about being tattooed. This only really happened recently when I looked down at my legs at realized "holy shit that is mostly tattoos...and I got appointments booked out till 2014". Then came me visiting my extended family over the weekend and not wearing long sleeves and jeans. Let's just say I got some really shitty responses and left early. (That by the way was the first negitive reaction I have ever received at least to my face). I really like what I got and have been looking forward to getting this stuff done since I was 12 and marker-ing in tattoos on myself. The only thing I know I will regret will be when I run out of space and when a great artist comes up and I don't have room for whatever it is I want. This especially effects me because I like HUGE tattoos (it seems I do limbs or most of a limb at a time).
I've talked to a bunch of people older and wiser than me. 99% of the time the biggest regrets was NOT doing something.

If you only feel like it was a mistake because of the money you spent on it, don't. If you could afford to get it, then why should you worry? If you feel like donating to the homeless, thats great, but you should be able to, as a middle class person, get the things you want for yourself, without feeling like the money should have been donated to the poor. If you think about it, you just made a long term investment. You now have a possession that cannot be taken away from you, that won't need to be replaced, that you can't possibly lose, and that no one can break.

I agree with @Badtaste ... I would much rather tattoo some of these hipster tattoos than silhouetted birds, infinity symbols and lots of other Pinterest specials :) dinosaurs on unicycles, owls, and animals dressed as people? Yes please ^_^ while they may be trendy, they're still infinitely better than rib paragraphs and tribal armbands :)

Hey now people, let's all calm down. There is nooooooo reason to use harsh language like "Bieber" in here.
We're all friends. Sheesh.

I really hope that nobody opens the copyright can of worms onto tattooing... imagine all of the published reference images or commercial imagery that's used in tattoos. Even if the suit is between two artists, I feel like it would set a precedent for larger entities to totally shit on the tattoo community.

To me, the difference between a collector and the average client is that the collector does their research... They have plans for what they want and where, and when they plan a vacation they probably visit a shop or two if funds allow. I like the term, personally; I'm actually surprised so many don't. I guess I just never considered that people might find it a snooty term.
Someone mentioned an artist feeling pressured/nervous tattooing near existing top notch work... The other week I did a tattoo on a talented tattooer (already stressful!) about six inches above a full lower leg piece by Rubendall. I was simultaneously stoked and sweating like crazy. And damn, that Rubendall piece looked PERFECT... Absolutely stunning. I felt privileged just to get to see it!

There's a whole section of this forum dedicated to tattoo designs, try looking in there. Go to a bookstore or library and look in art books. I know you didn't like people busting your balls about your tattoo, but getting good tattoos requires doing some work researching artists, looking at reference, learning about tattoos, art, and design and while this forum is a great resource and starting point, the onus is on you to do something with it. Nobody here is interested in holding your hand through the whole process.

"

I've found, in my experience, that the best tattooers are the nicest and most professional ones. Tattooers that have big egos and harsh personalities are probably just overcompensating for/grumpy about their sub-par work. Just my $.02.

So the shop got this gem sent to our facebook yesterday...

When I met my (now EX) husband I already had a tattoo and he didn't have any. He decided to get one but didn't want me to get anymore as he didn't really like them on women :rolleyes:
We have now split up and I have recently started dating again and had a brief fling with an old friend who has lots of tattoos. Tattooed people are more interesting naked ;)

Congratulations on splitting up with him. :eek:

Why would an artist disrespect their client by letting another tattooer do that same custom design? Please let's keep this forum to real-life things instead of strange flights of the imagination.

I'd avoid an asshole, largely because I don't like giving my hard-earned cash to douche-bags. I've been tattooed by all kinds of types. Some are super friendly and talkative and others are the silent types - and a range in between. All are totally cool with me. Just don't be a dick! I've noticed a really unpleasant trend on instagram recently - some artists have taken to posting pics of their clients, mocking them for being fat or ugly, or generally dissing their choice of tattoos. That's fine, I guess, but I sure wouldn't go to their shop. It strikes me as an odd way to do business, but hey, its their choice.

Why does it bother you? I find it kind of endearing, as it usually means that said client gets tattooed by the same person consistently. We don't own our friends or our coworkers or our dentist, but we still say "my friend, my coworker, my dentist."
I don't see much of a difference?

To me, the difference between a collector and the average client is that the collector does their research... They have plans for what they want and where, and when they plan a vacation they probably visit a shop or two if funds allow. I like the term, personally; I'm actually surprised so many don't. I guess I just never considered that people might find it a snooty term.
Someone mentioned an artist feeling pressured/nervous tattooing near existing top notch work... The other week I did a tattoo on a talented tattooer (already stressful!) about six inches above a full lower leg piece by Rubendall. I was simultaneously stoked and sweating like crazy. And damn, that Rubendall piece looked PERFECT... Absolutely stunning. I felt privileged just to get to see it!

To me, the difference between a collector and the average client is that the collector does their research... They have plans for what they want and where, and when they plan a vacation they probably visit a shop or two if funds allow. I like the term, personally; I'm actually surprised so many don't. I guess I just never considered that people might find it a snooty term.
Someone mentioned an artist feeling pressured/nervous tattooing near existing top notch work... The other week I did a tattoo on a talented tattooer (already stressful!) about six inches above a full lower leg piece by Rubendall. I was simultaneously stoked and sweating like crazy. And damn, that Rubendall piece looked PERFECT... Absolutely stunning. I felt privileged just to get to see it!