missStark

One of the bigger problems is when people don't know what a good tattoo looks like. There are soooo many shit tattoos out there that people assume that's how they look.

This is true. I can't tell you how many times people have said to me "I've always thought tattoos were gross and trashy, but I like yours they're so bright and beautiful"

This thread makes me really sad. Sad for the people that are walking around with this crap on their bodies. I have to keep reminding myself that it is their own damn fault for letting these people tattoo them.

OMG Make it stop, make it stop!!! I can't believe that someone would put that crap on Facebook. It's even harder to believe that someone would see it and say, "that's where I want to get MY tattoo."

I was talking with someone recently about how I can't believe none of these guys have been severely beaten up or worse after some of the shit they have tattooed on people. Especially after one of those "portraits"

Except for some disapproving looks from folks in their 70's and 80's I've never had any negative comments as I recall. I've had a few "Sick ink, brah" comments from douchetard 19 year old boys before, but technically that's still positive...

Side note: I got a tiny, nickel sized spider with a number 13 tattooed on my thumb this past Friday, April 13th and at least once a week or so, despite all this elaborate stuff visible from shoulder to wrist on both arms, I hear "Whoa, you have a spider on you thumb!?! Dude that's awesome"!!!

I don't get it.

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Haha I get the same thing! I have a tiny anchor on one of my fingers and that is the one that people compliment the most. It's so weird. My arms are fucking bright but they don't seem to notice them. It's always "OMG!!!! I love your anchor!!!"

I've had compliments from both my doctor and vet about how beautiful and colorful my tattoos are. My doctor has even mentioned how she loves looking at my tattoos and likes seeing the new ones and how she pretty much only sees shitty tattoos all day everyday. I also had a little old lady stop me in the grocery store and start pulling up my sleeves to see my tattoos. Normally I don't like strangers touching me but this lady really loved my tattoos.

I do however get really annoyed when people say "sick tats!" or "sick ink!"

This is a local shop that for the longest time never posted anything online. I just discovered that they finally have a facebook. These people make me want to cry.

Infamous Ink

I always have major swelling no matter where I get tattooed. The absolute worst is my lower legs though. I'm trying to finish them off because the healing process is so awful. My entire lower leg down and foot will swell with even the smallest tattoo. I'll have cankles and a huge swollen foot for about 3-4 days. Dealing with this right now actually. This tattoo is up closer to my knee and my ankle and foot are still swollen from it.

I have several sets of sheets that are all stained from fresh tattoos. It doesn't really bother me and I tell my friends that stay with me and get tattooed during their visit not to worry about. I've definitely ruined blankets and sheets of others while I'm visiting them. I try not to and I feel bad when I do. These friends are most of the time heavily tattooed themselves so it's usually not a big deal.

My dog and boyfriend are both notorious for bumping and or jumping on my fresh tattoos.

The one thing that really bothers though is the flakes of skin. It just really grosses me out having dead skin flakes everywhere. The majority of the time someone in my household has a healing tattoo and I get so grossed out when i find these flakes on the couch and such. I have to vacuum like crazy.

Got this pretty little thing from Mr. Adam Gibson at Good Times Tattoo in Salt Lake City yesterday.

hi-

Just joined, and did the proper introduction in another post.

Have to say, there are some amazing tattoos posted here. So much fun to browse through all the posts.

Here are a few pics of a tattoo I got on August 6th, at Congress Street Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH. (sister shop to Hobo's if you are familiar)

The artist is a guy by the name Tony Sellers (or Fat Tony) and the tattoo itself is a design based on a sketch out of Martin Lacasse's 365 book.

This is my first forearm tattoo. Kind of a big move for me.

The first two pics are when it was first done, and the third is about 3 weeks later.

thanks for looking.

(for some odd reason the pictures are all pointing the wrong way, very irritating.)

That snake looks great! Tony is a friend of mine and a great tattooer as is everyone at congress st and Hobos. Enjoy that tattoo.

I collect small carved horse statues. 7 or 8 years ago my grandfather gave me a small collection of hand carved wooden horses that belonged to his grandmother. Ever since I've been collecting them and have recently extended my collection to include carved stone horses as well. The wooden ones are getting harder and harder for me to find but once in a while I still get lucky and find them at flea markets and occasional antique shops.

I pretty much have zero hope left for humanity. I wish people would just stop encouraging and taking care of these people and let natural selection kill them off. Or maybe soon our planet will just fucking explode.

Sorry for being such a negative nancy but fuck!!! I keep running into this shit. As it is I recently had to get rid of cable because I can no longer stand to watch the crap on tv.

so I guess the butthole tattoo trend is coming? or is it here already? hmm, I kinda feel sorry for street shop tattooers now that trailer trash chicks will start to get the last guy they hooked up with tattooed on their bunghole instead of some senseless script going sideways down their ribs, oh well someone has to do it.

On a lighter note I will paypal the first tattooer a one hundred dollar bill after he/she post a video of tattooing "gucci gucci" around this young lady's poop shoot. -

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Really?........Really?............I don't think she even has teeth. It truly astounds me how there are people out there who just don't take care of themselves

We were in Fairfield (close to Enosburg Falls). Was that close to you? I know, it is so beautiful...so much green, I love it there.

Fairfield is closer to where my brother currently lives but I grew up on a horse farm in Lyndon which is more on the Eastern side of the state. My mom still lives there with all of our horses. I try to get back there to visit at least once a year, usually in the Fall when it's the prettiest.

We are on a 2-week vacation to see family and friends on the east coast. A highlight was staying a night at our friend's organic dairy farm in northern VT where I had stored 3 boxes of photos before moving to Los Angeles in '98.

Our 4 year old got to see her first clear, dark nighttime sky full of stars, made her first s'more at a campfire, and saw her first herd of cattle up close, in-person. While my friend's sister was singing and playing guitar by the fire, Stella (my daughter) said, "This is the best song ever. This song is making me want another s'more."

Haha. Good times.

PS-another awesome thing I just did was to buy an LST t-shirt!

Where exactly in northern Vermont did you visit? I grew up in northern VT and most of my family still lives there. It's so beautiful and I find myself missing it a lot.

Got a quick question about this guy. He came into my shop looking to sell me some "original" Paul Rogers machines. He said he had a bunch of flash too and was wondering if anyone had ever had any experience with this guy. I dicked with a couple machines and they seemed a little too flimsy to be a rogers but I've never really seen any of his 1984 engraved machines. Any who. Buyer beware? Or legit?

He also stopped into our shop. He set those machines on our counter and everyone just kind of ignored him until he felt awkward and left.

My understanding was that you need a scab to occur? You have an open wound and the natural healing process is for it to scab? I dry heal for about two days just having a shower morning and night and then start applying a little Bepanthen around the two day mark. Everyone is different, but it seems to work for me :) maybe a tattooer could jump in and offer some advice?

Whoops! @missStark - you tattoo if memory serves correct?

Yes I do :)

I don't ever re-wrap my tattoos and I don't typically recommend doing that. If your skin is wrinkly like after a bath then it is definitely too moist. I personally would unwrap it, wash it and then just let it air out. If it seems kinda of goopy and wet then I wouldn't put any type of ointment or lotion on it yet either. Let it dry out a little and see if that helps. I've had some tattoos that have been very heavily packed with black and they get a little goopy like ink is coming out if I pat it with a paper towel. I have always jet let them dry out for a few days (regular cleaning but no lotion) and they have healed fine.

@britainystark Mostly pics of tattoos that I've done and other random stuff that I think is funny.

Also just for shits I searched #squidpants on instagram and I was highly disappointed with the results. We should change that.

I've spent the last 14 months scrubbing bathrooms, floors and tubes to get where I am. It isn't easy to find someone willing to dedicate their time to teach you their craft. You have to prove that this is truly where your heart is and it will be worth it to them. An apprenticeship isn't just learning to tattoo, it's paying your fucking dues. I have never had a problem just going into any shop. I have been able spend time with tattooers whom I really look up to and they have taught me many things even though they were not my mentor. Why? Because I'm doing it right and I've shown them the respect they deserve.

That woman treated you the way you deserved to be treated.

Welcome! I'm from New England but live out west now. I grew up in Vermont and right before I moved out here I was living in New Hampshire. Where are you from?

Rats, fuck yes. Couldn't agree more.

Definitely rats! Now I want one :D

Also fish other than the typically tattooed fish like koi. I think goldfish or betta could be pretty awesome.

Living in Utah can be pretty interesting sometimes. Salt Lake and the surrounding areas are fine and nobody looks twice at you, however if you travel further south shit gets pretty weird. There are entire towns that are strictly mormon. One time while the boyfriend and I were heading south on a bike trip, we stopped at small gas station to use the bathroom. There was a group of fundamentalist mormon women in the bathroom that looked absolutely terrified when they saw me. Another time while on a camping trip we stopped at walmart one evening and one of the workers followed us around. I guess assuming that we were going to steal or someting. Other than that, I've never noticed a problem or been treated differently.

Haha I've definitely never considered keeping track of how much I've spent. However, some new guy at my boyfriends work saw my boyfriends arms and said "Nice ink! how many hours ya got on you?" We had a laugh at that one and then decided to see if we could figure it out. Needless to say there were some that we really couldn't remember how long they took. Are there really people out there who keep track of how many hours they have on them?

I was told the history of George when I was at congress st! Very cool, yes hes another old schooler who id love to get a tattoo from. The hobos/congress st people are GREAT people. I also think Jason Scott is terribly underrated. I will be getting some stuff from him in the future as well. its a new england classic and important in tattoo history IMO.

I agree, everyone at Hobos and congress street are great. I got my very first tattoo at Hobos and Tony Sellers is a good friend of mine. I try to stop in whenever I happen to be in New England.

I had a kid come in today who had printed out a reference picture at home then took a picture of it with his phone to come in and show me. Ughhhh when I asked him why he didn't just bring the actually picture in he said because the picture was in color and he wanted it black and grey so he changed it on his phone. Really dude?! Do you think I don't know how to turn something into black and grey!? Beside the fact that he could have even just printed it black from his computer. The picture of a picture just looks like complete shit. I couldn't even make out what the damn thing was supposed to be. I was of course polite and just asked what exactly it was he wanted and told him I would just draw it up.

I feels really good to vent though. I am so sick of people coming in and showing me their phones. Its just so lazy

Stopped into Cathedral Tattoo yesterday and got myself a spur of the moment birthday banger from the talented CJ Fishburn.