Headphoned

I tried this last night, Wells "Waggle Dance" Honey Beer. Nice, though I couldn't detect and honey flavour. Thought it smelled honey-ish though.

Made my first booking for the year on Saturday; back with Valerie in April to get a Gorilla and Snake on my calf. I've wanted a gorilla for a while then saw this on Tim Lehi's instagram and thought 'yeah the addition of a snake might be cool...'.

Also put my name on Chad Koeplinger's cancellation list for while he's at Frith St, but I doubt that one will come off and I must be somewhere near the top of Xam's list as it's getting on for 2 years since I put my name down...

I was on Xam's waiting list for about a year and a half, and had my appointment last month, so you should be up soon! It was worth the wait!

Another vote for Tutti Serra here too, great stuff. Also, i'd love to get tattooed by Jason Phillips, I really like the word play and pun oriented tattoos and flash he does.

Thanks, I love it! My girlfriend was texting me Instagram like updates as I was on the way to the airport after the tattoo to fly back to Dublin,we were getting wildly excited by all the likes :)

Xam is super quick, the whole thing took about 3 and half hours.

My latest, another torch. Done by Xam at The Family Business in London, last Monday. Healing up pretty good. Pic is fresh, as you can tell from the bloody paper towels!

I can definitely relate to this, happens to me after nearly all big sessions. Your body releases all these endorphins and adrenalin and what not while your getting tattooed, so it seems natural enough that theres going to be some sort of comedown. You just have to minimise the angst by eating well and avoiding stress, and of course checking out your new tattoo!

I've really enjoyed Tattoo Age. I'm no tattooer, just an enthusiastic collector, but the mindset and work ethic of the people featured was really inspiring to me in my own non tattooer pursuits. On the Thom DeVita episodes, he seems like a really cool guy, and I was amazed at how well the tattoos on his own skin have held up. Considering he's 80, everything looked pretty readable and solid, and his back piece is still really vibrant.

I too would like to see some less than perfect pin ups....Might even have to get one! Prediction wise, I expect owl tattoos to peak and arm bands to make an unwelcome comeback.

My longest was about five hours on my chest. That was six years ago, so who knows if I could sit that long now. I'd like to think I could though! Had just over three hours on the back of my leg a couple of weeks ago and took it pretty well. But legs are easy. What's this Bactine stuff that was mentioned a couple of pages back?

Yeah Dr. Dave is great, he helped me out once on a tattoo trip to New York. Back on topic, old ladies often give nice compliments, and someone once said that my tattoos made them feel warm and fuzzy. How quaint.

Yikes, he didn't wear gloves...

I always seem to end up with non tattooed girls for some reason! Current girlfriend of 18 months has one tiny one but is open to idea of more and is supportive of me getting more, although she was initially freaked out by my neck plans. She's since come around to the idea. Previous non tattooed girlfriends really didn't seem to "get it".

I love having special food treats on new tattoo days! Your new additions are looking great :)

Good day Barry and I second Hogg

Hi Lochlan, I posted a few pics earlier in the Tattoo Gallery. Iphone shots, not the greatest quality alas!

"Neck sleeve" - Only heard this one recently but it didn't sit well with me!

Thanks Alanna and Hogg! I'll upload some pics over the next day or two.

Hi everyone, my name is Barry and I'm from Dublin Ireland. I'm a collector, and pretty passionate about it. I've been reading and watching stuff here quite a bit recently so I thought I'd join up!