AlannaCA

So after reading Iwars' San Fran travel blog, I'd made a comment a long the lines of "maybe I'll do the same for my next Japan trip..." I'm pretty sure the response from @Iwar was "you better blog the shit out of it". So, for Iwar & the rest of the LST crew, here is a blog/travel log of my last trip to Japan, in December 2011 to complete my sleeve by Horinao at The Cat Claw Tattoo-Z in Kyoto. And to catch up with my Japanese fam ;)
(This is my first blog type thing ever so my apologies ahead of time if I waffle on or if it's boring as shit lol. You have been warned :) )
For those of you who just tuned in, I'll do a really quick (ok, not so quick) update to get y'all up to speed on where we are at :cool:
In June last year (2011) I'd gone to Japan to visit and stay with friends in Osaka, and to do a few more things I wasn't able to do on my first trip the previous year (October 2010). Probably the number 1 item on my list was to get a tattoo while I was in Japan (I really love Japanese tattoos, so why wouldn't I want to get one in Japan?). I knew what shop I wanted to go to and who I wanted to get something from, so before I'd left I'd sent off a couple of emails to Catclaw trying to figure out if I could get a booking and when. Unfortunately, I never received a reply... but that wasn't going to deter me ;) Yosuke (My japanese friend who I knew from Australia and who was helping as my translator and local ye olde inn keeper) and myself set out to find the Catclaw and see what we could make happen...
When we've walked in to the shop, Horinao was at his station painting and Hiro was working diligently on, funnily enough, another Australian. Speaking to Rina (pronounced 'Lina') the shop manager and Horinao via Yosuke (and my bad Japanese lol) we decided on a Hannya. Horinao asked what colour I wanted, and my reply was "Aka" (red) making a real emphasis with my body language to say "I wanted this baby really really red" (For those playing at home different colours represent different stages of transformation and different standings in society) Horinao got this cheeky little smile, nodded and knew exactly what I meant. And from pretty much from that point we where total BFF's... lmao. Rina said to come back in an hour and we could start, so Yosuke and I went and grabbed some food and headed back when it was time.
2 1/2 hours (maybe 3 including a break) I walked out with this:


I was pretty damn happy to say the least, and at that point knew that I wanted him to finish the sleeve... IF it could be finished due to needing a cover up that wasn't going to be that easy. Well, there was that and the fact that I'd need to somehow figure out how to get back to japan for this to happen ;)
I get back home and about 4 days later, without going into to much detail, I get some bad news from my Mum but with this news also comes some money and I can only think of one thing I really want to spend it on. I even jokingly said to Mum "You know what this is going on don't you?" and in typical Mumsie style, she responds with "Yeah, I kind of thought that. Just let me know when you book your flights" and that was that...
The next piece of luck was that Jetstar where having another sale to Japan! It's the only way I've been able to go as often as I have - I've never paid anymore than $450 return ;) thank you Jetstar. So I emailed the guys and asked if Horinao thought the tattoo I wanted covered could be... This is what I wanted covered:

Yes, it's Venom from Marvel Comics' Spiderman series. I'd gotten it when I was 19 I think if memory serves correct? It had a lot of black in it, as well as a nice assortment of colours, so I wasn't sure what could be done. Laser was an option of course, but I figured i may as well just spend that money on the tattoo.
Horinao said it'd be all good and asked what I wanted. Although I'd never wanted a Dragon or a Koi as such, I also knew they where probably my only two options. Horinao agreed, and said that a Koi would work best and so thats what we agreed upon. I booked my flights for the end of August, booked 2 days in and after that trip I was left with this:
August 2011 Day 1 (A little over 6 hours not including breaks):


August 2011 Day 2 (4 hours not including breaks - Horinao had a gig that night lol)



He drew everything directly on to my skin to make sure it all worked and flowed as well as possible. I have to admit I was in awe just watching him sketch onto my arm. I couldn't make out shit, but knew I was in safe hands ;) He also never shaved my arm (except for the first time with the Hannya) which I found on later isn't super necessary unless your quite hairy, and it helps lesson the itching during healing :) (hairs aren't growing back)
I got back, twiddled my thumbs until Jetstar had another sale and the second they did, I booked my tickets back for December...
Well, that pretty much brings everyone up to speed with where I was at before I left in December last year. I'll make this the first post, and do the next few as individual days me thinks? So if possible just hold off on any replies until I say "FIN" lol :D (don't worry, they're coming right now!)

Holy fuck is that an actual tattoo from the show???????
That's fucking awful.

My money's on B-Tat. Saddest part about it is he's the only one that just tattooed a skull and didn't try and throw his "style" into it. So bad...

For Al Fliction, duh.

Came home last night after burgers and beers, poured a glass of whiskey and turned on the TV. Flipped around and saw the show, caught it about 5 minutes after it started, watched the thing and laughed my ass off. Pretty funny stuff and yeah, it's a TV show, so it's gonna be.. just like a TV show. The best part was the names. HEATHER SIN, B-TATS, AL FLICTION.. Al Fliction is barely clever.. by like the narrowest of margins.. AL FLICTION!!

Jeremy Sutton:

Thad Ritchey:

Cory Lenherr:

Stuart Cripwell:

Crispy Lennox :

Iz famus.

I got tattooed by Chris Trevino in 1997, right before I left Austin for SF. He said he had just done a guest spot in SF, so I asked him what the coolest tattoo he did on the trip was. Now, for those of you who are familiar with Pre-100% Japanese Style Chris Trevino, you know that "coolest tattoo" also meant "craziest tattoo." He went on to describe an insane armpit-to-waistline rib piece that involved, among other other things, a jackelope wearing a fez, a waterfall of blood, and a lady with a beehive hairdo making the devil horns with her ring and middle fingers tucked away in her special pocket. I couldn't really get my head around it, but that was the case with many of the tattoos Chris described to me.
Fast forward to 1999, when I finally had enough money to get tattooed by Eddy Deutsche. I went to 222 on my lunch break and booked the appointment with some guy at the counter. We got to talking about my tattoos and I mentioned that I had work from Chris. He said, "Oh yeah, he did my ribs" and lifted up his shirt. It was that piece! And the guy was Jeff Rassier, who is in a league of his own when it comes to putting weird (and awesome) tattoos on people.

Bad movies.
Good movies get you engaged. Bad movies make you want to sleep just to avoid them.

Here are a few from SFO this past fall. My Next appointment is with Scott Sylvia at the end of the month.
Mike Wilson

Bert Krak

Eli Quinters

Eli Quinters

Turns out Chad Koeplinger is back in Ireland in February - I have a 3 hour slot. Sweet...

evie!
puppyCat



i see you...

You have no chance to survive make your time.

@Iwar Stefano C from Frith Street. My wife said it wasn't too bad, Stephanos got quite a light hand.
But then my wifes a tough old bird.

I photographed my wifes neck tattoo healing from 24th December to 8th January.
The photos are in date order from the 24th December - 31st December. The last one is 8th January.
Well on the way to healing now.

@Ursula and everyone else who weighed-in, thanks for voicing up.
In order to know what a good tattoo is VS a bad tattoo OR a bad tattoo VS a mediocre tattoo and so on, one must often see the difference.
It's an open forum so this is part of it though we thought ahead, somewhat, and put some things in place...
-Use the 'like' button because photos/tattoos that are most 'liked' rank higher and appear on the first pages.
-Next, there is the comments section so leave feedback on both good, mediocre, and bad tattoos but be respectful.
-Lastly, everyone starts somewhere in getting tattoos and more often than not we start getting bad tattoos first and it is not til we learn what a good tattoo is and/or someone offers constructive criticism that we realize I need to get better tattoos or some time passes and you take note its all bleeding together or its fading much faster than it should.
This site is aimed at all interested in tattoos so all have the opportunity to learn and get better tattoos. Shit, I was in a shop topless the other day getting tattooed and I know when ever this happens around those who know tattoos I am going to get comments on my bad tattoos so I laugh with them while getting better tattoos.

One thing I'd like to know is how does Lenny intend to hang up the phone? Lol or more so, where is he going to put the thing??

he should have at least gotten the bluetooth one
way cooler:

got my big green egg smoker and made this with some baked beans, cornbread, collard greens

Johnny Eagles Dublin

this place closed down a few years ago, but was open since the 70's (i think).. i always used to walk past it and think it looked pretty cool -

What catches your eye? Heres some of my favourites ;
Willrise/Norm L.A.
Tattoo Peter since 1955 Amsterdam
The Family Business London
Classic Ink Dublin
China Sea (no longer) Hawaii

I got my first two done here, I love the look of the shop

I bet she knows this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTdVaN_hY6I