irezumi

Rob Admiraal does some incredible tattoos

Vanilla tats

Haha beat me to it^

@cookietruck

Roper.

You're willing to drive close to 15 hrs?

... How about as long as 16.5 hours? (Houston to Tempe AZ.... )

It's well worth it.

Home to someone doing hands down the most amazing Japanese tattoos in the US.

Anybody that knows, knows.

Anyone that knows would agree without thinking twice.

Awesome

Wrong thread

If you want to do it next year you should just cross Trevino off that list. Not sure if it's still the same now, but last I knew of he had a 3 year wait.

There's a scroll Joel painted for Andy hanging in Dedication, really impressive stuff in person, this show will be killer. @irezumi I still need to drive down and see you guys at Bolder sometime, I saw Mijo up here in summit a week or so ago.

I just did my last day of the season at Breck yesterday, bittersweet. Mijo will be up there (Breck) again this Sunday. I would be too if I didn't have work to do.

You're screwed. I see at least one or two people die a week at the shop. See ya on the other side.

Let me tell you the story of Right Hand, Left Hand. It's a tale of good and evil. Hate: it was with this hand that Cane iced his brother. Love: these five fingers, they go straight to the soul of man. The right hand: the hand of love. The story of life is this: static. One hand is always fighting the other hand, and the left hand is kicking much ass. I mean, it looks like the right hand, Love, is finished. But hold on, stop the presses, the right hand is coming back. Yeah, he got the left hand on the ropes, now, that's right. Ooh, it's a devastating right and Hate is hurt, he's down. Left-Hand Hate KOed by Love.

FIGHT THE POWER

That second to last picture of the tiger dragon is wacky I'm feeling it as a concept.

(if it is a thing like the koi dragon then this is the first I have seen it)

Yeah I hadn't seen it before either. He's started a couple of pieces with this or similar theme.

@irezumi Do you know how old that tattoo was at the time of photographing it?

I took those photos last week, and I think it's maybe 6 or 7 years old? more? Not quite 10. I think.

Man oh man. @irezumi I would love photos of this event afterwards. Joel, in my humble opinion, has always been in my top 5 of best American tattooers doing Japanese tattoos. Fast on the heels of Trevino. Awesome thread idea as well.

If he approves of photos being taken or posted/shared I would be glad to. And yeah he is arguably in the top 10 American tattooers doing traditional Japanese tattoos.

I get eye strain just looking at it as a photo and in real life. I can't imagine working like that every day, that guy is the king.

Here's some teasers of some of scrolls that will be there

White guilt thread.

I'm surprised we don't have this thread yet; or it's here and I've never seen it. This is a tattoo forum so I would think to keep it fairly or at least somewhat tattoo related. That said, I will probably be the first to post upcoming shows that aren't at all related.

My good friend and work buddy Joel Long is having a show at Adrian's new spot, scrolls and paintings that will completely blow your mind. A bunch of it was displayed at a local gallery late last year, and I posted a couple of teasers from that show, but this is a chance to see them in person and see some new ones as well. Myself and a few of the others from Bolder Ink will be in attendance. Show up and hang out drink wine eat cheese mingle shake hands buy artwork and all that other stuff.

One of my buddies want to get a small neon sign with a simple pull chain to turn it on and hang it above the station, so that anytime someone asks "Can I get a tattoo of a word in white ink?" ... stop tattooing, reach over & pull the chain - 'FUCK YOU POSER' pull the chain to turn it back off and return to tattooing. No words or even eye contact need be said or done.

"Can I get a word on my pinky?"

'FUCK YOU POSER'

"Can I just get a line or two with no ink to see if I can take it?"

'FUCK YOU POSER'

"Can I get it backwards so that I can read it in the mirror?"

'FUCK YOU POSER'

(not kidding, this has been requested along with "can I get this quote on my ribs upside down so that I can read it?")

"Can I blah blah blah waste your time blah blah blah I want a tattoo but not really I just want to say I have one"

'FUCK YOU POSER'

The whole idea that this thread is based on gets the FUCK YOU POSER.

Not to any of you personally, I think what I said is pretty clear.

Jack Rudy, all single needle on my friend Dave.

Madonna.

That's not too far off; it has lots of great pics and it does have a good amount of history of the Horiyoshi family and japanese tattoo history and related stuff but not heavy on the this-means-that and other explanations of imagery and motifs.

@bunny wow that's a gem, thanks for posting those machines

You'll be thanking me for it!

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@BigTex I'd suggest getting both. Good stuff.

I really don't post up online too much of the things I have.

Me neither but not everything needs to be a secret that only I have in a box that nobody else will ever be able to appreciate. I don't give out ALL the gold though hah.

I have been looking for a reference book to get ideas from. I'm planning a Japanese half sleeve this year. Would you guys recommend this "Perseverance" one for that purpose? If not...any suggestions? I am particularly interested in making sure the "rules" are followed (seasons, correct imagery,etc).

First off if you want to look proper then you need to go over onto the chest as well. Which is awesome because that makes the tattoo even tougher.

Super basic and easy to find book that has excellent images and basic explanations is The Japanese Tattoo by Sandy Fellman, and also really good one is the other The Japanese Tattoo by Donald Richie. The Ritchie book has less photos, and they are of an older generation of tattooers, but the information is excellent and well-researched.