Acedia

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

Well, Takashi beat the shit out of me for 3 hours yesterday; was able to do the mikiri/background shading on my left shoulder.

But this was with tebori, for the first time on my backpiece, and although I have another tebori piece this was on a whole other level of pain. Especially behind the armpits... and the back ribs. Everyone says how your ribs kill, but no one talks about how your ribs extend to your back!
But it's weird because I totally could have taken a nap were it not for the pain... by which I mean, there really is a rhythm to tebori that's different than machine, and while it's a different kind of pain altogether, that rhythm is relaxing.
Anyway, Takashi rules, and persistence is the name of the game!

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

Progress report
 
 

Session # who knows now, but coming to the end. 36 hours to get here. One more sit to finish a tiny bit of colouring we haven't done and to hit a bunch of the background to smooth things out. Scott wanted to darken the big wave over my ribs to something a little closer to the lower one. It's gonna be weird not having this to work on anymore, but at the same time I'm so effing relieved. Gonna be healed for summer and for the crazy shop party--boo yeah!

Wow....just....Wow. Incredible piece of work.

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

I've had this happen some of the times I've used tegaderm, only on the outer perimeter of the derm though, never on the tattoo area. This has always disappeared a few days after removing the derm, i suspect it's some reaction between sweat, dermglue. It won't keep me from using tegaderm again, the heal is just so much smoother in my experience.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn ONEPLUS A3003 met Tapatalk

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

Started my back with Marius Meyer yesterday. This is as far as we got. 

finally finished, totally hurt 
 

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.

Session #6. Had a lot of wind under my sails and sat for 5 and a half hours. 26 hours total and unbelievably stoked on the progress. Finished the lightning and patterned the entire octopus. once this heals down, Capt'n Scott is going to blast over it all with some teal and define all the layers. This was less of a whooping to the kidneys and more of a tedious cookie cuttering. 
 

I'm by no means an expert so don't take my opinion as gospel. I've always used tegaderm but never applied it straight after the tattoo, always around 4 hours after. I do think it doesn't sound like a good idea to drain the derm or poke holes in it. You're basically creating an area not closed off enough to keep bad stuff out and not open enough to let it breathe and get cleaned regularly. Imo either keep the derm closed and leave it for 3 days minimum or once the derm is compromised, remove it, wash tattoo gently with ph neutral soap, airdy and reaply new derm. Hope this was helpful, best of luck.

Thanks all! I ended up buying Tegaderm at Walgreens after this post. I took the Saniderm off in the shower and cleaned it and applied a fresh sheet of Tegaderm. For what it's worth, my tattoo looks and feels great! No redness or swelling, no warmth or smell. It's got a tight shiny look to it, and felt a little dry, so I'm hoping the Tegaderm will help trap some moisture in there. I'm thinking I'll leave the new sheet on for 2-3 days. Will update!

Whoo-Hoo! I received my shipping notification late yesterday. Silly excited to finally see the book.

I second the tegaderm/saniderm option. I've had my full back lined and shaded in 2 consecutive days, after first day slept with cling wrap, second day i kept cling wrap on for 4 hours, showered, air dried and got tegaderm on entire back. Kept it on for 6 days and it was basically healed.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn ONEPLUS A3003 met Tapatalk