Dan S

Way down yonder... Really, it's not too bad of a drive. Nick is killer on that type of work, his roses are a trip, and he has done a lot of knotwork and other Celtic designs. CTC has always specialized in coverups...almost all of my work is just that. You can post, you just can't start a thread for awhile. Dig around, and take part in a few discussions...before you know it, you'll be able to. What kind of specific questions do you have...mayhap we can answer a few for you!

Doubtful...but it wouldn't have mattered!

Seems like all the forum software is the same...'cept different! Best-o-luck on getting that straightened out. We just used the high postcount thing as a way of organizing who saw, and commented on, what.

For traditional, you can't get better than the people at Chicago Tattoing Company. I get all my work from Nick Colella there, and his specialty is traditional American tattooing, but he, and the other tattooers there, do all styles of work. Check them out. The Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Co., Inc. 773-528-6969 1017 W. Belmont Ave. Also, if you are getting into Oriental-style work, particularly Japanese, you can't ever go wrong with Miles Maniaci...great guy, great tattooer. { Miles Maniaci } There are a buncha scratcher shops in the Chi, be picky about who pokes you! - - - Updated - - - Come on up! What type of work are you looking at?

Hey, I'M a tattoo predator...I see a tattoo I like, I'm all over that sucker. Or it's all over me, depending on how you view it. Either way, that tattoo never has a chance!

One of the things we did on another forum was to place an unnatural number of posts to reach a certain status, i.e., Contributor, ex-Lurker, etc. Say someone joins, they can access all the boards, but are only able to post in, say, the Intro and General boards. After they have shown their stuff, a mod can move them to the next level by adjusting their post-count. We set it at, for instance, 101 for an ex-Lurker, 501 for a Contributor, and so forth. It's a little bit of a pain, since a mod has to adjust people's status, but it pretty much eliminates the poster who is gon dump ten quick posts across teh boards, as so many seem to do lately. .02

Vicodin n Valium, works every time!

Welcome to the boards...are you hooked-up with the 81?

Kipod Tattoos in Illinois? Did they move from Israel?

You put 'em out there, you made 'em public bidness. Personally, I think you got some shabby work, and your fake-ass posed pics look like something a low-rent hustler would put out. Barbwire armbands?! But that's just my opinion. But it isn't a problem for me, don't worry. Oh, and welcome to the forum.

Good. Nothing like an old-fashioned boot party to get a yobbo's mind right.

I'm needing that recipe, please!!!

Someone needs an asskicking.

I'd really rather get this diagnosed online...just something about having t5o deal with my pimple-artist again.

What Graeme said. Instead of taking an artist a vague idea of "what kind" of dragon you want, you should be able to track down a pic of one that is durn near exactly what you want. When I get work done that is "custom", I make sure I have pix of all the major elements so there is no confusion about how I want it to look. Shop around. The tattoo convention advice is excellent! Go, look, absorb.......AND GET TATTOOED LATER! Don't go there for the specific purpose of getting work done-it's too easy to get caught-up in the moment and end up with something that isn't exactly what you wanted. Far as "lubing", if you're a college kidliving in a dorm and can't get someone to put some lotion on yer arm, well, I can't help you! I will say, tho', that tattooing was around long, long before modern skin lotion was. That means that for many years, people actually got tattoos and let them heal, all on their own. Not the most comfortable, but certainly old-school.

But if I leave it will the pimple stay there? An, if I pop it, will the tattoo go away???

Woke up with a tattoo on my pimple this morning, what can I do about it?!?!?!?!?

lucky for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fur Elise... Welcome to LST, Elise! Hope that you enjoy your stay here, and I look forward to reading your posts!

Hey Robert! What can I tell you, sometimes these intros get missed. Welcome to LST, and I'm sure that you can get all the direction you need to help finish out your sleeve-post us up some shots and let's see that bad boy!

Nick was there last week-check out his Tumblr for pix of his work there. Happy to say he's back in sweet home Chicago now, and hard at work!

Welcome to LST...you seen Ponyboy today?!?!?!?!

Thank you. I've gotten the same thing, big, plate-like scabs, usually in the black, that when they do finally come off, take color with them. These last few times, I haven't had that problem, and I'm not really sure if I could attribute it to my healing process, the tattooing process, or just plain old "shit happens"!

"Every day that I stand up and walk on my own two feet is a gift." Ya kno...just reading yer sigline, I think every day you're up and walking is a gift to US!

Harry, every time I get som ework, I try a different way to heal it. They all came out about the same! Way back when, in the early seventies, a little hand-lotion whenever you though of it was about the extent of things. A few of my pieces I bandaged during work hours...I am a machinist and got enough burns/cuts/scrapes that I figured better safe than sorry. NEver seemed to hurt 'em. In the eighties, when I got the next batch of work done, the big thing was Preparation H. It cut the swelling down almost instantly, and really held the moisture in. Healed some major large work with it, and other than smelling like an asshole all day, it worked fine. In the late-ninties, early 00's, I got a full sleeve, and used mostly Vaseline Intensive Care lotion on it. Did use Preparation H on the outlining for it, as I was stuck in the mountains in Mexico, and it was like 105 every day-shit was popping out like a relief map! Anyhow, it all healed very well, tho' color in the ditch and a few other spots took a bit longer. I've had the most trouble with healing in the last few years, but I think that's mostly because I'm elderly. Right now, I am putting Aquaphor on my latest work, one thin, thin coat a day, about an hour or two after showering, and it has worked wonderfully. I didn't use any lotion at all for the first three days after getting my ribs done, and on the 4th day, after I showered in the evening, I put the lotion on. Smae every day since. I am one week out today, and durn near healed. Just my experiences, maintain, you'll figure out the combo that's right for you.