J.Stell

On 6/6/2019 at 6:55 AM, gtrjunior said:

See, I respectfully disagree.
Again, I’m not an artist but those tats are small and not heavily colored and dark.
A good coverup doesn’t necessarily have to actually “cover” it. It may incorporate what is already there and make it part of the new piece.
I’m not seeing anything there that a good artist can’t work wonders with.

Why are you even asking then? Obviously you KNOW it all already. . . You are not a TATTOOER, drop the bit..... 

I tattoo ten chicks a week like you, you know better, be my guest..... But you know, you really don't know otherwise this convo would be ...  

Sorry guys I am sick of people asking for advice then belittling the people trying to help.

On 11/28/2018 at 9:12 AM, SStu said:

Very nice, @J.Stell! 

What's the meaning behind that Kanji?

It is the center of the compass that has to do with the Sword of Fudo.... Immovable... The place that keeps all things in their order.... I believe... The Book "immovable" is what we referenced... When we were drawing the piece up...

Weldon was the only person I knew Richard wouldn't be mad dogging the whole time.... Richard fell asleep on the shop couch.... I really love the piece. Never thought I would get anything above the boobs....

On 11/28/2018 at 9:12 AM, SStu said:

Got a little tattoo a week ago.... I say little cause we cut like three elements out. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqbvrWvlXem/

thanks dudes.... 

Is there any way to flag users that are obviously trolling or spamming... Like the vitamin dude and the at self teaching wannabe scratchers?

Self taught tattooers..... HUMMM..... I can list a few people that I know, personally and professionally, that started on their own, in their houses.... and I know a few of those guys tattooed Richard out of their houses.... But they aren't typical examples of "self taught", they essentially hooked up with very well known and respected tattooers, who took them under their respective wing... and smoothed out their roughness and broke their bad habits...

Ehh, to each their own... 

And this folks is why it's important to buy from supply houses that actually check credentials... 

Trevino, Degan, Deutsch .... just a few. 

As opposed to trying to reason with you I will say this..... GO FOR IT. DO IT!!!! JUST DONT F***ing TATTOO ANYONE EXCEPT YOURSELF. 

If you wanna be another rat jumping on this already F***ing half sank ship, your doom is your call..... This ship never had any benefits, insurance, or savings.... No lifeboats either...  

There is a TRADITIONAL methodology to becoming invested into the craft, if you don't want to at least try to go that route, and you have already made your mind up as to what "you want"..... Why are you even here? 

At least take an online Blood Borne Pathogens Class, to keep from getting yourself, or your family sick....

And know, when the rando person at the store comes up to you and asks that question, "you do a lot of your own tattoos?", you can respond.... Yes, and know- to the rest of us, we know it's a big joke and a waste of your own good skin to try to learn on your own body....    

Yes, I am a *** and a total asshole.  I'm married to a big dick, also a tattooer... 

Good luck regardless... 

It's amazing what some know how and black can do to save a tattoo... Well done.

Hay.... @Oboogie

Thank you... I miss you like mad... Come get tattooed soon, we got Dan Mitchell, aka DRMORLOK, Dan Higgs gave him his nickname, and he was taught by Robert Ryan.... He'll be around for a while and we got Dave Woodard coming up like next week to guest... You get tattooed, and we can catch up on our bullshitting...

@SStu

I will check his stuff out... Does he post healed, and settled photos, I have seen some stuff like his on the net, but no aged pics... Also, I don't want piercer arm, "black arm", so if i'm stuck with clowns, I will deal with it....

1 hour ago, oboogie said:

I have seen them. They are terrifying, and she hates them. Hahaha.

yeah... no on the clowns.... three years of therapy, a divorce, and im still trying to figure out how to cover it all with mandalas and lace.... 

Hey don't sweat it... it's a learning curve.... just trying to help get ya jump started in the old rules.... and sleeves don't happen in a day, start with a piece at a time.... just save the hands and special parts for when you have had a few years to take it all in....

Super glad this is being talked about. . . . It's becoming an issue here in our shop, that hasn't garnered the best reaction from the (new generation of clients).... We have a lot of 2nd generation clients coming in, and I know their parents are comforted that they don't have to worry about their 20 year old coming home with a throat tattoo, let alone hand blasts....

We live in the buckle of the bible belt... It could be 100 degrees outside, if I have to go to the grocery store, and I don't feel like fielding questions, or even getting vibes, or being followed because I look suspect: I wear a hoodie... 

Our shop has about a 30 min question/lecture time for anyone coming in and wanting "sacred spots" tattooed, and they don't meet the required coverage tattoo wise... It's more of an educational spiel .... And most the time, people get it, when they don't, depending on the circumstances, we tend to turn that away... If someone is independently wealthy, and it's obvious they won't take no for an answer, and they are so desperate they will risk going to a "scratcher", we may make an exception, after they think on it a couple days.... (and hopefully come to their senses).

I guess, some things aren't going to be sacred much longer, but in this shop, we will stick with tradition. What sucks is seeing amazing tattooing on hands, then immediately seeing, oh, they don't have arm tattoos.... I had that reaction to these amazing hand jobs, but.... kinda sunk at the same time.

As usual scrolling the IG, and then a gasp.... ehh. I am getting too old. 

Also hit up Tattooland in Anaheim, or Joel Bones at Gold Rush tattoo...

New One:

Clients bringing in their "love interests", and all the sudden, the vibe changes, and I feel like I am being put in a position of feeling like I am being treated not as a professional just trying to do a job, but like "spank material", cause they got all "affectionate/oddly intimate" while I'm trying to just do a tattoo... No make up,  dirty hair, up in a bun, and not trying to be anything but a tattooer... I'm not a fluffer, nor do I appreciate my massage table being leaned on by someone and movements happening, that totally affect the work.... Luckily my co-worker picked up on my vibe, and interjected into the "situation", and I didn't just go off on someone for yet again, crossing a line that should be totally respected.

Next...

Clients thinking since they have been tattooed in the shop multiple times, quoting prices, as if they work here full time. Not cool... That's just fucked.

I would tie it all together once you're done adding chunks and whatnot to it by making one cohesive addition to the gaps in between each section, and around the perimeter of the tattoo where needed, with one or two variants of a gray wash... 

Tie the room all together, but remember: too many accessories will ruin an outfit, so don't go adding baby foot prints or something completely off key with what ya got going on already.

Jennifer

I'm gonna use your "blow-out" as a metaphor:

Part of the tattoo/line is a little too deep, the ink spread... Because you got in over your head with this tattoo,  just like the line, it got a bit deep, then up it pops for a little air- you waded back up into shallower water, where the comfort zone was/is.... 

Blow-outs happen.... and if you weren't such a beginner in the "getting tattooed" pond... You would have been totally fine swimming in the deep end of the pond, cause you would have known... Hey,  it's not just a "you pick it, we stick it..." It's a hey.... kinda big deal, but regardless, you would have been prepared for such a thing....

PS. It really sucks when someone has basically no tattoos, and they come into a place and start using "jargon" that they don't even understand, a little bit of manners, and a lot of mutual respect : will get you everything in a shop.

Regardless.... I wish you the best in your tattoo collecting path.... And lots of luck.... When I was 18 and in a shop, I really do wish someone would have looked out for me... I didn't have that until I started working in the second tattoo shop, of my career... And I use the age of 18, because that's baseline beginner age, to me...

I have an entire arm of dumb ass clowns... CLOWNS. And they cannot be removed. Just looking out for ya kiddo. AND I HATE ICP. but with this dumbass entire left arm: everyone thinks In love ICP. NO.

Jennifer

I couldn't remember my old login stuff, and yeah... Need the tattoo distraction moreso now then ever... Yeah, and I am always in shop... Ha, FML. 

5 hours ago, Kai Lo said:

@J.Stell

If you don't mind me asking, what do you mean on the comment: unfortunately not all people adhere to rules or the "road" in tattooing, IE; finger or hand tattoos on people that aren't fully sleeved.

What is the difference between just getting a plain finger tattoo or having it with a sleeve..?

and now that it's actually starting to heal it actually looks pretty friggin' fantastic. I just had a panic moment when it looked part blow part not and I thought it was going to be all... wonky. It's looking beautiful now, getting more healed and awesome.

Well....  If you perchance were not just beginning to get tattoos, and starting out on hands/ fingers, (which most tattooers in the traditional sense of rules/core values typically don't do, with newly beginning clients.)....  You would not have kinda had a "Anticipation - Panic - Grief" moment, you would be further along in knowing about the process.... How different parts of the body heal, how you personally do your after care- cause it's a learning process for everyone: what routines work best FOR YOU...

Not a dig on you, but merely an objective observation of the "new" - "Who gives a F***: give them what they want" moments I am seeing all over the place.... I'm just getting old.

And you would know: FINGERS BLOW OUT, it's part of the landscape, and it's not a big deal. It adds character.

Once upon a time, in a land before Myspace, FB, IG.... If you wanted a hand or a finger tattoo...

You HAD to be sleeved fully, or an actual tattoo artist to get such places on the body tattooed... People look at an individual differently when certain parts of the body are tattooed: Hands, Faces, Throats, Neck... Body parts that aren't customarily covered in regular or professional attire....

It's a "I wanna sleep at night knowing I didn't just screw this young person out of something by putting a tattoo somewhere that may not jive with my heart"...  

And we have been everywhere, and moving and being here in Tulsa, TATTOOS are a huge thing people knee jerk react and judge on still to this day.... Sucks.

Jennifer

4 hours ago, Hands On said:

some of the best!!

it seems like the monkey has tits AND balls. perhaps it's from Thailand.

the one of Richard with the braided beard is amazing. how did he react to seeing that one?

He was pretty stoked on it... He remembers Bart lurking in Scorpion, "eye F***ing" his flash... and I guess scaring him off, he was super young. They both were kinda.

As you get more and more tattoos you will figure out what works for you: after care and healing wise....  Blow outs are part of tattoos being handmade, and part of the deal, depending on what you get tattooed, where on the body, and by whom.... Tattoo artists are not machines, and unfortunately not all people adhere to rules or the "road" in tattooing, IE; finger or hand tattoos on people that aren't fully sleeved... It's a process, but if you really are into it, you'll get the hang of it, the deeper you fall into the rabbit hole. . . 

Jennifer

Back on topic... I have been eyeballing Bart Bingham for a contortionist tattoo... I like the straight up version of the design, but... BB just kills it with where he takes the shit...  And it seems like he would be pretty cool since he's from the old stomping grounds.

Just some random pic i snagged and am repopping, with his details... currently, trying to figure out when our ships will pass again to make this happen...

11 minutes ago, oboogie said:

I use it instead of lotion sometimes. Not when it's still super fresh. 😉

Sweet.... on a fresh tattoo Richard has a very funny story about using cocoa butter on his healing inner thigh tattoos from Boltz, and his entire leg swelling up into his leathers on the motorcycle, after Bert sleeved the leg out with the little SSTP filagree..  Said it stank like rotten .... and burned, he was real quick to get off the bike and shower...  (to his defense, it was the only moisturizer available, supposedly)

3 minutes ago, oboogie said:

Hi, Jen! It's Jen. It's a smell-good product that works well. Ingredients below.

Ingredients: Shea, Mango and Aloe Butters, Coconut, Sunflower and Rice Bran Oils, Rosemary Oleoresin, Green Tea, Vitamin E Complex & Mint Arvenis Essential Oil. With Essence of Papaya and Coconut.

Well, don't tell the old man, you use that and what's in it.... He'd shit an iphone.... I can't say I back it... as too many things in an open wound, that just kinda freak me out..... 

Richard would say, "butter" really, food in a tattoo....

PS: those cloth sleeves you are talking about are for IV drug use, to keep people comfortable with their pic lines, etc.... ( I know this cause I spent most of last year in the hospital, and at home administering IV antibiotics 1 time every 8 hours, for 24 hours, for 3 months after getting out of the hospital....) 

Hit a local medical supply suited to elderly, or hospice....

Yeah I am going to totally feel old and out of touch, cause, I am taught to not pay attention to certain "gimmicks" product wise, but is hustle butter, in fact cocoa butter? Or a different version of some kooky special cocoa butter?