sprouler

You just reminded me of one of my favorite images from a set of Spider Murphy flash. Love that griffin/lady at the bottom right. Of course, you won't be getting a lady face on yours, but griffins are cool. I was at Spider Murphy's only once and the person before me got a griffin from Paul Dobelman. It was awesome. If I were to get a griffin, I would have to go back there.

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/guidelines/

I feel like I only rarely ever see tattoos that take a woman's breasts into consideration.  I would really like to see more chest pieces that go down onto and encompass the breast; how often do you see pictures of a woman with two large holes in whatever tattoo is covering the rest of her torso?  However, that being said, I don't have any bright ideas for how to incorporate them into the design.

Oh, I totally get it. I'd wanted a lot of tattoos from a pretty young age so my first one went from wrist to elbow. Good on you for taking the plunge!

Home engineering = cool, real world applications, RUN from this. First and foremost, no gloves?
Next, 808nm is not the proper wavelength, every commercial machine runs at 1064, and 2 others for harder colors, but 95% of tattoos can be removed at that wavelength. There is no talk of pulse control either and his depth gauge is a guess, at best.
Further signs that the guy, while apparently smart enough to rig this up, does not fully understand what he's doing - he states in the first video "dude, I can see the ink changing colors" - which is false. The white you see is actually water vapor, from the laser exploding it within your skin. Lasers do not remove tattoos, they facilitate the body to dispose of the pigments.
You wouldn't go to a kitchen magician for a tattoo, why go to one to have it removed?

Bubbleberry, please stop.

Tuning and building tattoo machines is totally easy. Anybody can do it.
I have a drawer full of machines and every singe one of them was made or tuned by someone who did it according to a manual, on their day off from a real job.
I learned everything I know (tattooing and otherwise) from a dvd too.

do you really want to learn the "secrets" of a tattoo machine from a DVD? honestly, those "secrets" exist for a reason, and are best kept to those who get their hands dirty building them. if you, or your wife, or whoever wants to know about the different parts of a machine, it's probably best to ask in person, to an artist you know or trust(or in the case of your wife, to the person/shop who's apprenticing her). and if it's about maintenance, i'm sure those who have actually made the machine can give you tips on how to best clean and take care of it.
learning anything about tattooing from a dvd or online course feels a bit like replying to one of those ad's that used to be on the back of MAD magazine, where you could enter a drawing test to win free drawing lessons and a certificate stating you won. just because you can draw cartoon bear or turtle doesn't make you an artist.
i'm sure others will chime in on this.

Wizards and Baphomets on big fat bellies are an excellent idea.  Also vultures.  Big flaming panther heads.  Generally tough tattoos plus fat bellies =

Do it! Get a big ol' fat wizard flipping the bird so that everyone will know how siked you are on your tummy and how little you care what they think.
Or something else that maybe you want to get, but whatever.

Do it! Get a big ol' fat wizard flipping the bird so that everyone will know how siked you are on your tummy and how little you care what they think.
Or something else that maybe you want to get, but whatever.

If you go big and bold it's going to look fucking rad. Tattooed flesh looks better than non-tattooed flesh. Fat doesn't figure into it at all.

do it!

from a fellow fattie ;)

Tell her that you love her and hug her when you can. Oh, and maybe not post any more photos. :)
Side note: None of my family approves of my ink. When my brother gets mad at me he calls me a "tattooed white trash whore". I, too, have multiple degrees and a great job. My strategy is to kill them with kindness. You most likely can't/won't change her mind but don't let that impact you being an awesome, loving daughter.

@Morrigan its all good - only your mother has any control over her emotional state and perspectives - I'm 45 and my father doesnt like my tattoos - though he wont say as much to me - you gotta live your life and do what works for you - partly i think there is a generational issue at play - if it was me - i'd be straight forward - 'mom i love you and you dont have to love my tattoos but your frustrations with what i do with body wont have any influence on what i will continue to do with my body' - end of story

I have not really had any "road blocks" ,other than waiting for appointments.

This is an interesting topic. While I typically roll my eyes at all the kids getting face tattoos, I've also seen a few that I like. Here's one done by Boris:
Now about the life consequences part. When I was in my late 20s and doing a fisheries degree at UBC, I went and got a small anchor under my eye. I already had half a bodysuit. Aside from the occasional person asking me about it, there were zero life consequences. I went on to work as a biologist for the federal government in Canada and then the same in the US. Never was it an issue.
I think we often judge facial tattoos because we often see them on street people or really trashy people who are trying to repulse us. However when someone more integrated into society gets one (which is rare), the consequences are often nil.
Before i got my hands tattooed, everyone told me how big of a deal it would be and how there would be "consequences". Afterwards I found there were zero consequences. Then the same thing happened with my neck. I was a dorky college student getting all of these job stoppers while continually getting good jobs (research, consulting, education). It got to a point where I felt it was all horsecrap, so it was as simple as wanting that little anchor and then getting it - and again, no consequences and no problems with job prospects.
Now, getting your entire face tattooed...i think that's bat shit crazy. And I strongly dislike the script above the eye, and also the little trinkets under the eye, which I have haha! Whenever I see someone else with an anchor under the eye I think " oh man look at us unoriginal losers!"

I thought the same thing, some kind of anarchy going on.  you grab more than one at a time and you are playing with fire.

I think I'd have to take it by a case by case basis, but in general, I'd say no to this.  I don't like the idea of getting tattooed being used by a business to sell something that isn't tattoos.  The last tattoo I got was posted on the Black Claw instagram to show how good their needles work, and that's cool because that's tattoo-related, but fuck a bunch of "tattoo lifestyle" bullshit like hipster beard pomade or whatever fuckery people pitch at tattooed people.  That seems really vulgar and tasteless, and not what I want from tattoos.

I was really surprised the first time I got that, but then thinking back to all the old issues of tattoo magazines form the 90's and early 2000's...

And here I thought it was when you get a bunch of people with tattoos together to show them off and have a great party.

It happens. No tattoo is perfect. It's a handmade craft. Gives it character, etc. Chances are it won't bother you so much as time goes by. But at least let it heal. Fixing it could make it worse. Up to you if you want to take that chance. But I'd do what your artist recommends if you trust him/her. The reason why "get more tattoos" is the best answer is because you'll drive yourself crazy nitpicking over every last detail so you may as well put that energy into planning the next one.

I think this is the main thing.  Most of the time, you're just comparing different flavors of bad.  I have had untattooed people express shock at the fact that my visible tattoos weren't awful more than once.

Howdy folks! I posted here before awhile back but forgot my username and which email I used.  So, here I am again. Thank you for having me.
 
edit - sorry! I forgot the important parts.  I am a tattooer in Tacoma, Washington. I'm not the best by any means, but I'm always hungry for learning. I get by.

Welcome back!!!