jimmyirish

@mmikaoj No they aren't on Lastsparrow, probably the best way is if you private message me your email. I am going to ring my friend this evening so I will mention it to him then and pass on your email. I actually met him on a subway in Brooklyn when it broke down and we were trying to figure out if you could smoke on the platform! Then we realised that we are from the same place and both like tattoos and some of the same photographers. I think living with good friends and inviting interesting people into your home when they are travelling is a really rich experience. I'm hoping to have some cool people through once I get set up here in Melbourne. What are you gonna get from Rubendall?

@mmikaoj, I grew up around East London and although I'm now living in Melbourne, all my closest friends are still there. My best mate lives in Stoke Newington which is just a short bus ride from the convention, he lives in a shared house with six photographers and has a lovely Boltz pinup. If you are still looking let me know because they will definitely let you stay on their sofa bed? They are really nice guys and I imagine you would all get on great. Better than braving the tube from the suburbs on the weekend! And can't believe you are getting tattooed by Rubendall, very jealous!

I spent a long time agonising about whether to go to the wrist or not and I do regret slightly not just going to the wrist right off the bat. As others have said, if you remain interested in tattoos and don't live or work in an extremely prohibitive environment chances are you will want to extend it later on. On the other hand I'm a firm advocate of not doing anything that you are not comfortable with-if the idea of going to the wrist causes you anxiety then don't do it til your sure, if that means a slightly less cohesive overall sleeve then so be it.

@taaarro I'm getting tattooed at his studio Honey Tattoo which is in ikebukuro I think. Will private message you nearer the time to sort out where is convenient to go for a drink. Otherwise I'm going to be drinking beer by myself all week!

@taaarro, I didn't hear back in the end from horitoshi 1, but I managed to book in with the equally brilliant Horimitsu. He is my favourite of horitoshi's protégés I think, so I couldn't be more excited! In terms of time I think Horimitsu reckons we should be able to finish the tattoo in 2-3 sessions, because it is only the lower half of my forearm. I'm gonna be there from the 11th-18th November, I don't know where you are located in Tokyo but if you feel like getting a beer or something I would be super keen!

First of all, right off the bat, that tattoo does not look like a penis. Unless your penis looks like a lighthouse, in which case you have bigger problems. But seriously you have to let it go man, its a big bold tattoo that is going to be on you for the rest of your life, you have to make your peace with it. I used to be like you when I started getting tattooed, obsessing about whether it looked right or whether this or that part of it could be improved or whatever. But the fact is that kind of thinking leads to madness, if you ask anyone with any significant collection they will have work on them that they wouldn't necessarily get today- but in the end its all part of it. I think its a cool lighthouse, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the colours. Wear it with pride and stop torturing yourself by continually asking people what they think of it.

Yep I realised my last post might have come off a bit strong. Just having a rough day at work, and there's another picture of wonky circles and skid marks down someone's back. But anyway, as Graeme says, you gotta learn chicken shit from chicken salad.

As @cltattooing says, anyone who makes tattoos as ugly as that should be avoided like the plague. It's difficult not to get angry when you see that kind of dogshit; it takes advantage of the credulous and is in direct contradiction to everything that is great about tattoos. Please don't get tattooed by this person. Where are you living? I'm sure someone here with much more knowledge than me would be able to suggest an alternative shop/ artist.

I love that @marley mission! I remember seeing Electric tattoo when I went to see the Boss in Jersey, judging by your tattoo I definitely want to take a better look next time I visit!

Just got my appointment confirmed with Horimitsu in November to extend my peacock sleeve! Super excited to travel to Japan for the first time and to be tattooed by such a great artist. Also really intrigued to experience Tebori, now just got to book some flights!

Thanks very much @Graeme, I dropped Horitoshi an email, as you say...no harm in trying! How did you find booking in with him @taaro? I kind of feel unworthy writing an email to someone of such stature within traditional Japanese tattooing, like asking if he'd be interested in doing a smaller tattoo might be perceived as disrespectful in some way. I'm probably just over thinking it I find it super interesting looking at tattoos done using Tebori, they seem to settle into the skin slightly differently to tattoos applied with machine. I haven't seen any healed Tebori work in person though so its just speculation, but it almost looks to me like it heals slightly less bright but that the carbon in the black settles in a quite particular way?

So since moving over here to Melbourne I decided it would be cool to do a trip over to Japan and get my peacock sleeve finished off. I have always been really intrigued by tebori and figured this would be the perfect opportunity... I'm still trying to figure out who I want to do it though as I'm super ignorant about artists in Japan, and have to confess to being pretty confused by the different families and titles with the tradition. As it is only gonna to be small scale imagine that many of the masters wouldn't be interested. I looked at ShunHo after @ironchef's recommendation and thought he could be a possibility? Any of you guys familiar with his work?

You gotta be around it to know it. Nobody is going to be able to tell you what to include to make your work more applicable to tattooing, just start small, save up money and get work from good shops. Turning up at a shop with no tattoos and a vague desire to apprentice is likely to meet with a very blunt response. Pay your dues, get tattooed and maybe something will happen for you in the future.

@mmikaoj I have got to say that you start some killer discussions man. This, alongside the conversation you opened up about big names in the industry (contentious as it was!) is what this forum is all about. It seems to me that taking refuge in the false safety of consensus is always a dangerous thing- and its through these kinds of lively debates between passionate people that we are able to better understand our relationship with tattooing. I remember reading when I first came to this forum someone say that tattoos are like currency here, and I think you are in a really good position to open up these conversations as someone who has made the effort to get a lot of rad tattoos. So I guess I'm just saying thanks, really. I think the topic of whether tattoos should be seen as a luxury product akin to buying a car or a watch is really interesting, I have to admit to myself that I come at this from a very biased perspective. I'm not into cars or watches, so for me there is far more intrinsic value to a tattoo, as others have mentioned, the craftsmanship and and history of tattooing gives it a rootsy charm that I just don't see in other mass produced 'luxury' items. However I'm sure there are people who are super into all kinds of things that seem dumb to me but are beautiful and significant to them. I have a friend who is crazy about raw denim, spends thousands of pounds a year importing different weaves from Japan and charting the way the denim ages with wear. Now to me that is bordering on the autistic but for him its got all this significance and it makes up a large part of his identity- he sees another bloke on the bus who is wearing a pair of jeans by FullCount and they start talking about fades and all kinds of stuff! But even as I type I can't help feeling that there is some kind of extra significance involved. I had booked in to get tattooed by Steve Byrne at the London Convention last year, but was forced to cancel my booking at the last minute due to a family tragedy. For a long time afterwards I felt intensely guilty about not just getting tattooed but having tattoos, as if in the midst of what was going on I was just this walking monument to my own narcissism! As time has gone by that feeling has faded and I'm actually on the brink in the process on confirming some large scale work with Paul Dobleman which will require a lot of travel and expense. But its a consideration that is always somewhere in the back of my mind, because unlike jeans which eventually will wear out, tattoos are a permanent reminder of something you decided on purely for your own benefit and sense of self. And its been a good lesson to learn for me that there is nothing wrong with that- as Virginia Elwood says 'its for me'. I don't know if that makes any kind of sense but i'm really enjoying everyones ruminations.

@Graeme, yeh I remember you saying that you travelled quite extensively for your Thomas Hooper sleeve. Has the fact that you haven't had to travel for your back made it a less daunting prospect, especially with the sheer amount of work involved in a full back piece? Having just moved to Australia from London I don't think I realised how lucky I was to have so many great artists on my doorstep. Now that I'm gone and can't see myself being home for a couple of years I regret not tackling some bigger work. As has been said before, I don't regret any of my tattoos, only the ones I didn't get....anyway, sorry for the digression, Congrats again on a truly soulful tattoo