Guerillaneedles

I love this. It's so true. Sometimes my mum has commented that if I'm worried about money (I do tend to worry a lot being self employed) maybe I shouldn't have got that last tattoo. I can't take it back to the shop though! I also had to explain to her that even though I was a bit strapped there was no way I could cancel my appointments with Sneaky Mitch or guen Douglas because I'd waited so long for them! (I'd saved enough anyway). Sometimes I do wonder how I afford it, but I guess you just do! I save every month, own my own house and always make sure my mortgage and bills are paid before I buy any luxuries. I do ok but am in no way 'rolling in it' yet I've been able to afford a lot of high quality tattooing. Go figure.

I love this. It's so true. Sometimes my mum has commented that if I'm worried about money (I do tend to worry a lot being self employed) maybe I shouldn't have got that last tattoo. I can't take it back to the shop though! I also had to explain to her that even though I was a bit strapped there was no way I could cancel my appointments with Sneaky Mitch or guen Douglas because I'd waited so long for them! (I'd saved enough anyway). Sometimes I do wonder how I afford it, but I guess you just do! I save every month, own my own house and always make sure my mortgage and bills are paid before I buy any luxuries. I do ok but am in no way 'rolling in it' yet I've been able to afford a lot of high quality tattooing. Go figure.

For me its simple, tattoos are not a necessity. I do however derive personal fulfillment from being tattooed and sharing/discussing tattoos. I have always liked/had the desire to be tattooed. I share more personally when in a setting talking or getting tattooed substantially more than I do in other settings. On occassion my personal situations actually help others. Not long ago I was talking tattoos and the talk of loosing a loved one came up and I shared my losses and my outlook on them. He let me know some weeks later that what I said really helped him along. Tattooing is a positive thing for me, maybe some people feel better with a TAG watch and it helps them with self esteem or worth. For me I appreciate tattooing and art done by them and in a very small way I feel I help them continue their craft all the while allowing me to look way cooler than I am and actually interact with people in an unguarded way.
For me that's more than a luxury .

I say get what you like
your tattoos will age
some more gracefully than others
but hey look
your tastes may change
maybe you end up with tattoos of different styles along the way
picking a good artist though is more important than the style
why worry what its gonna look like in 10 years
aint no day promised to ya but the one your living
besides - they look good "lived in"

Heh, heh. Well, if you're going to wear heels, @SeeSee - then @Cork has to, too.
Just being fair, here . . .

Yes but with Guen is just a touch up I think so not so bad!

Thanks I'll guess I'll be doing this quite a lot as I explore the site more. I'm really into it, so nice to find a community of like minded people.

Tat-wrap would be useless with out some Tat-tape ($9.99) to secure it in place. And after a few days you'll need to apply some Tat-lube ($14.99) to ease the itching. And after its healed you'll want an app on your smart phone to show it off to all your friends so sign up for Tatagram ($1.99 per month membership fee).

I always ask for a ball park figure and then take the maximum amount mentioned (plus a little more just in case). I have usually ended up paying the top end however I've been pleasantly surprised more. When I price my own tattoos I do it by size. Pricing art is really very hard but at the stage in at I find it evens out. I usually end up doing my own designs a bit cheaper as I'm happy to do them and I can put them in my portfolio. I will however change the price if a client moves the goalposts, as I think this is only fair. (ie.I'll drop the price if the design is simplified)

OK for me, I do a lot of walk in stuff and as we work in a student town we get a lot of requests for pinterest style stuff. It irks me when people ask for an exact copy of tattoo AND placement (aren't tattoos meant to be individual?), obviously we usually don't copy but if it's a crescent moon outline 2cm big there's only so much you can do with that. We also get huge gangs of girls especially who all try and pile in to watch, and there's usually a tattoo 'expert' among them who of course knows more about tattooing than you do. It also grinds me when someone has to ask all 8 of their friends whether the placement is alright. Before you even get them in the chair, I also hate it when people get shitty with you when you try and advise them on placement, size etc and look at you like you're being a dick. Honestly I could take your money but I'd rather give you a good solid tattoo.
I realise I'm on a roll here, and this is probably a UK thing but I pretty much get asked every single day,3/4x a day whether I watch tattoo fixers. I tell them I don't have a TV licence (which is true). Also fuck those guys.

I'm pretty heavily covered but my boyfriend has one tattoo, that I did for him! He says he wants more though, but honestly at the moment only from me. He doesn't bug me much and I don't push it (be was a bit of a little bitch when I tattooed him!) . He has some good ideas I think other artists could do much better justice to than me (I'm very early career!) I'm avoiding scribbling all over him. Haha. He definitely doesn't share the passion for it that I have.
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Had to reply to this as I'm in the same situation. Been with my fella 5 years now, and as I mentioned he only has one tattoo. I did go through a bit of a crisis of confidence when I started tattooing, it was such a sea change for me, I had to consider did I want to be with someone who didn't share this all consuming passion with me? Since then I've realised I don't need him to. I have friends and colleagues for that. What's more important is that he loves me, and that he supports my decision to become more heavily tattooed (and he looks after my useless ass) . He's said he finds my tattoos attractive but what's funny is he doesn't like me dying my hair,(it's not a huge deal) which I find funny because that's not even permanent!

Time etc is a bit of a moot point, tattooists are people just like you, we're all different! We work at different rates, and to be honest I think it's pretty impossible to say how long a 'sleeve' would take as it's very dependent on you and how well you sit. I'd say with something like you want you really need to do your research. Look at portfolios, do the artists have experience of doing similar work? Shop A sounds like they put you off because they don't have anyone capable of doing justice to the idea, but instead of pointing you in the right direction (eg. We don't have a realism artist at our shop so we send people who want that to someone we recommend in our city centre) they tried to talk you out of it.
I'll reiterate how important I think it is to research and then if you're happy with the artist you have chosen (you trust them to do got a good job) you can usually trust them not to fleece you time /money wise. Large work like that takes as long as it takes!
You're question 'what is a tattoo?' I'd guess is a response to what the first shop said. I suspect that they think the first one certainly is photo shopped, which is entirely possible. That being said, it's tattooable by the right person. They might also think, like I tend to do, that a proper 'tattoo' needs black lines in it to hold it together over time. Realism like that can blend/fade into a mush, especially if done poorly. Tattoos need structure, but that's just my opinion,

I might be biased since I have two but I love Danielle Rose's ladyheads. I actually have a proper emotional reaction to her work that I rarely get from the visual arts.
The one on the left is from her earlier work, the second one about a year later, I think it's interesting to see the difference. I also love Claudia de Sabe's ladies and Xam.

what i do wonder if its women's nurturing and caring nature that pushes us to try and be nice to people enquiring about our tattoos even when they are being pushy? im leaning towards the thought that more women would take time to speak to these people than men in the same situation....

For me, the thing that is the most frustrating is the notion that when a woman chooses to become heavily tattooed the majority of the public seems to think it is no longer necessary to approach heavily tattooed women with proper manners. I actually had a man tell me I had lost my right to privacy because of my tattoos. Honestly, if you're a stranger, what's going on underneath my clothes is none of your business and you're being rude. If you don't know me, why on earth would it be proper to grab, stroke or touch my tattoos? Again, you are a stranger and this is sheer rudeness, and inappropriate. What if someone approached your daughter/sister/wife in this way? Would that be okay? Highly unlikely. When approached in this manner, it is challenging to be nice to people. Although I do believe it's incredibly important to be as kind and patient with folks when asked about the tattoos. I truly believe anytime you can undermine someone's preconceived notions of what tattooed people are about it's a win.

For what it's worth I feel no animosity towards panthers. My thought process when thusly:
"What's the toughest thing I could possibly get, so everyone can see how nails I am?"
"I know, A Panther"
"Wait, with a fucking dagger through it"
and then that turned out to be too much tough for me to handle, so there's a butterfly as well:

Seriously though, it looks cool. What more reason would you like?

If it were my back I would wait until you can see the artist you wanted originally. Enjoy your trip to Bali, save up and go back another time. Odds are you wouldn't be finished a serious back tattoo in one trip anyway.
You only get one...

Latest tattoos from Guen Douglas done at Magnum Opus in Brighton. Really pleased with them but damn the heal is so tough. Usually heal very quickly with minimum issues. First time using vasocaine so don't know if this is affecting the heal? Anyway can't wait for them to be settled in. Got an appointment with Sneaky Mitch on Wednesday, way to soon but you just don't say no, not even when you've been waiting as long as I have to be tattooed by him!

I might be biased since I have two but I love Danielle Rose's ladyheads. I actually have a proper emotional reaction to her work that I rarely get from the visual arts.
The one on the left is from her earlier work, the second one about a year later, I think it's interesting to see the difference. I also love Claudia de Sabe's ladies and Xam.

Finally got an appointment with Sneaky Mitch. He's been my great white buffalo (hot tub time machine anyone?) for a while now, especially since he literally works 5 mins from me! Haha. So worth the wait though and he's a top guy.

i got my elbow tattooed yesterday by ivan soyars @ old soul tattoo; canonsburg, pa.

Kneecap fully healed by Danny Rossiter at Rain City Manchester - Bonus healed monmon cat!

Fish Rose morph
Becca Genne Bacon
End is Near
Brooklyn, NY
awesome time with Becca - super cool
got in early to Brooklyn so I went to Black Gold Records
grabbed a coffee and tshirt
chatted with Dan Santoro's wife Summer
super nice lady - gotta get myself to Smith St. this fall

Prettyyyyyyyyy pumped about this one, not gonna lie. Yesterday:

There's a vid too: https://instagram.com/p/5075TDTBNR/?taken-by=greggletron
By Greg Whitehead at Scapegoat in Portland, as usual.
My thigh feels like a wobbly hot water bottle today, and I don't even care. :o

This was the only guy in town that got stared at until he passed away recently:

I guess I'm spoiled:cool: