Hoople

I've got 6 on my arms, one fairly large scratcher done mess of a mistake from my youth.  I'll put it on the bad side later.  I've got one big leg piece, and both of my feet done.

The final pass of shading and highlights on my 3 hour calf were pretty intense, but I'd say the 48-72 hours after having both feet done at the same time with a very thick black traditional tattoo was one of the most painful experiences of a very colorful life.

Pretty much every step that I didn't aim for the balls of my feet to avoid stretching was like a light to mild burn, and if I had to put all my weight evenly on my feet it would get so intense that it would nearly buckle me.  I would have only gotten one foot done at a time, but I had intended to get ankles.  The placement was just way cooler on my feet, and when I saw the stencils I had to go for it.  Friday the 13th and my first super traditional tattoos.
 
 

2nd year in a row that I honestly think the best piece of the day wasn't even allowed to compete.  Kelly's American Traditional chest was amazing.  I guess they spent the time that they normally would give the third finalist to Dave hanging from hooks and trying to find a way to make that mics sound less like a hot mess in the new finale studio...

Bonus points for Oliver taking a huge dump on the (yes, admittedly controversial) watercolor style and every artist who works in it with those "This is how real tattooers do watercolor.." rant.

Had this done yesterday at 454 tattoo in Encinitas by Dave Kruseman.   There's a little warble in the line at the top, that was 100% on my twitchy leg, not Dave.  I'm super stoked about this tattoo though.  Probably my last of 2016 and my last American Traditional for awhile.  Hope ya'll like it!
 
If anyone is curious, Dave is a super nice guy, and happy to talk about winning the show/shooting the show, but also about just about anything else. Everyone at 454 was super friendly and helpful.  Great little shop.

Kruseman was at one point pretty local to me, I forget where he's relocated to recently but he still comes by to visit periodically. I'd like to get something by him someday. He was actually on my "get tattooed by" list before I even found out he'd been cast, so that was cool.
Thoughts on the most recent episode: Gian's male pin-up was really cool, definitely the winner of the bunch. With every episode, I grow to hate the women on the show more (except for Kelly, she seems decent). Every episode is just them whining and complaining, and consistently turning out mediocre at best tattoos. Their ego doesn't even come close to their skills. But hey, what else is new with this show.

OMG.  This is the coolest memorial tattoo ever.

And here's my tattoo done in the last day of the convention, yesterday, by Florin Orga.
My first neo traditional and i love it so much!
It's my cat who likes to bite, so we reinforced the theme :D

Video also here.

Had this done yesterday at 454 tattoo in Encinitas by Dave Kruseman.   There's a little warble in the line at the top, that was 100% on my twitchy leg, not Dave.  I'm super stoked about this tattoo though.  Probably my last of 2016 and my last American Traditional for awhile.  Hope ya'll like it!
 
If anyone is curious, Dave is a super nice guy, and happy to talk about winning the show/shooting the show, but also about just about anything else. Everyone at 454 was super friendly and helpful.  Great little shop.

I knew about some of this stuff because Richard Stell told me a lot about the show and its process. He railed on Clint for a crazy long time about his shitty American traditional, and he said they only showed a tiny bit of it. Made me laugh. Arguing with Richard Stell about American Traditional means you are stupid or an asshole. Probably both.
I always liked Kruseman. Glad to hear he's nice and genuine. I thought Duffy was great on the recent Redemption episode. She was graceful in the face of a truly crazy pair of bitches.

Had this done yesterday at 454 tattoo in Encinitas by Dave Kruseman.   There's a little warble in the line at the top, that was 100% on my twitchy leg, not Dave.  I'm super stoked about this tattoo though.  Probably my last of 2016 and my last American Traditional for awhile.  Hope ya'll like it!
 
If anyone is curious, Dave is a super nice guy, and happy to talk about winning the show/shooting the show, but also about just about anything else. Everyone at 454 was super friendly and helpful.  Great little shop.

Had this done yesterday at 454 tattoo in Encinitas by Dave Kruseman.   There's a little warble in the line at the top, that was 100% on my twitchy leg, not Dave.  I'm super stoked about this tattoo though.  Probably my last of 2016 and my last American Traditional for awhile.  Hope ya'll like it!
 
If anyone is curious, Dave is a super nice guy, and happy to talk about winning the show/shooting the show, but also about just about anything else. Everyone at 454 was super friendly and helpful.  Great little shop.

Here frands:
Feeling pretty tattoo-flu-y, but I have a steak on the way, and then it's time to drink every water and sleep every sleep. So happy that we finished the areas that were the most painful for me during lining, though.

Couldn't be happier.

I was staring at this when it came up twice today on instagram, and of course it is on an LST member!!! Awesome, you are very much winning today :)

Had this done yesterday at 454 tattoo in Encinitas by Dave Kruseman.   There's a little warble in the line at the top, that was 100% on my twitchy leg, not Dave.  I'm super stoked about this tattoo though.  Probably my last of 2016 and my last American Traditional for awhile.  Hope ya'll like it!
 
If anyone is curious, Dave is a super nice guy, and happy to talk about winning the show/shooting the show, but also about just about anything else. Everyone at 454 was super friendly and helpful.  Great little shop.

Had this done yesterday at 454 tattoo in Encinitas by Dave Kruseman.   There's a little warble in the line at the top, that was 100% on my twitchy leg, not Dave.  I'm super stoked about this tattoo though.  Probably my last of 2016 and my last American Traditional for awhile.  Hope ya'll like it!
 
If anyone is curious, Dave is a super nice guy, and happy to talk about winning the show/shooting the show, but also about just about anything else. Everyone at 454 was super friendly and helpful.  Great little shop.

With Oliver, I imagine it's a little different.  Running two successful shops in the Southwest, years on Kat Von D's shows, and then judging every season of Ink Master, I imagine he's pretty burned out on it in general. I know at his True Tattoo they have varied input on the show itself. (I've never seen him in the shop, just have a few from his staff.)

In this case, Kruseman brought the show up first, saying he was always excited when he got new clients who had seen the show. I mentioned that Duffy had the classiest episode of Redemption to date and he lit right up.

He got so animated talking about even little details that I don't think I was bothering him at all.  I do some press  work in and around reality TV in the L.A. area, and I'm pretty good at knowing when I'm bugging a celebrity.  
 Like you, I tend to be chatty through the painful parts.  It was a two-hour piece, and he talks while he works, so we hit a number of topics.

Did I see you say somewhere that you were getting tattooed by Oliver at Bay Area? I'll have to live vicariously through you.  I blew my budget at Desert Trip and can't swing it, or I'd be trying to get a small piece by Oliver as well.  Side note, while you're there, Ian "Jonezy" Jones is in the True Booth with Oliver, he's one of my favorite LA True Tattooers and a hell of a guy. His work is definitely worth a look, especially if you're right there.
I don't think anything here is technical information or even info that isn't out there in his(and other artists) post-show features/interviews. I would feel a little different if it wasn't a conversation about publically available media.  I certainly don't share shop banter or casual conversation that I've had with my artists, things get a little too Rock&Roll for general consumption.  From my own experience in press writing, I can say pretty conclusively that I left a ton of awesome inside info and a lot of banter/stuff that no one needs/wants to hear.  I cherry picked Ink Master safe stuff to share here.

Thanks! Hoping it heals as well as my last jammer. 
 

Had this done yesterday at 454 tattoo in Encinitas by Dave Kruseman.   There's a little warble in the line at the top, that was 100% on my twitchy leg, not Dave.  I'm super stoked about this tattoo though.  Probably my last of 2016 and my last American Traditional for awhile.  Hope ya'll like it!
 
If anyone is curious, Dave is a super nice guy, and happy to talk about winning the show/shooting the show, but also about just about anything else. Everyone at 454 was super friendly and helpful.  Great little shop.

Had this done yesterday at 454 tattoo in Encinitas by Dave Kruseman.   There's a little warble in the line at the top, that was 100% on my twitchy leg, not Dave.  I'm super stoked about this tattoo though.  Probably my last of 2016 and my last American Traditional for awhile.  Hope ya'll like it!
 
If anyone is curious, Dave is a super nice guy, and happy to talk about winning the show/shooting the show, but also about just about anything else. Everyone at 454 was super friendly and helpful.  Great little shop.

we like it too,we watch every episode,
it's kind of fun for us since we got tattoos from Oliver  in feb this year at fresno,and we have 6 hours of appointments with him in SF on 10/22 at http://bayareatattooconvention.com/
he's a kick to talk to.

Hello again thread. Here's my latest tattoo done yesterday at a convention by Radu Rusu.
I really love the look of b&g tattoos and can't wait for this one to heal. I really like it :)

My wife and I got "matching" heart tattoos from Aaron Is (during a guest spot at Precisely Veiled Tattoo in Killeen, TX). 

Started this in January (i posted the lines here before)... this is 5 sessions in w/ 2 hrs each time. Again, I want to thank the LST community for leading me to Jason Brooks -- I could not be happier w/ the results :D

And, finally, in the daylight. I am really stoked. This says exactly what I want it to say...without stating it blatantly. For me, it is awesome.

I guess these aren't technically my newest, but they are only a few months old. (Friday 5/13) they were new to me in several ways, and I love them. I also wasn't' sure where else to post them!)

I wasn't really that big of a Traditional American fan until I saw Dave Kruzeman's winning back piece from Ink Master. Side note: I'll be seeing Dave for a piece on my knee in a little over a month. I'm super pumped.  It pretty much blew me away, made me dig deeper into tattoo culture and to do a ton of reading and researching on Norman Collins and his apprentices. 

That lead me to the Friday the 13th tradition and got me thinking about some fo the bad luck I had with tattoos when I was younger. When I saw this rework of Jerry's "Superstition is for Sissies" black cat, I knew it was time to choose my own tattoo luck, and pick better artists and tattoos  So, I made sure I always have a black cat in my path. Ian "Jonezy" Jones did these for me at True Tatoo, Hollywood and was insanely fast getting them in.  I think the whole thing was under 90 minutes and the shading was my most painless shading I've ever had.  After the fact, these hurt so bad I mentioned them in the "most painful tattoo" thread.
This is the un healed picture, but they healed nearly perfectly.  This is just the only picture of them where my actual feet(not the tattoos) don't look super gnarly because I can't take a good picture of them with my phone, and I don't want to bother anyone else to take pics of my big gnarly man feet.

Cool, @Dan! Nice one. :-)

so I went to a tattoo/bike show in Dixon Ca today and met Anthony Michaels,pretty cool mellow dude,and I won 3rd place for my B&G tiger side piece.
 
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