bongsau

China - lots of staring. people are mostly curious and would say "ah very beautiful". there is the Triad/Mafia connection to tattoos in China however a smiling white boy with sleeves in a far east land is pretty obviously not part of the chinese connection. In the markets I was a spectacle, people so excited...i have sleeves, legs, both ribs and big ass chest piece but when they found out my back was empty the crowd got pretty bummed haha. also a bit of a celebrity, i went to the hotel front desk and before i could give my room number they would say "oh we know you, very colourful"

Japan - people would slowly move away from me and avoid eye contact on the subway when they noticed lots of tattoos. my experience (and friends who live there) is that there is still a big social stigma and yakuza connection with big tattoos.

Cuba - mang, they love me there! so crazy, people would stop me in the street, make me take off my shirt and pose for pictures. i was touring with a punk band so i already had the mystique of being part of a Canadian rock star. They wouldn't let me keep my shirt on at the shows. I still keep in touch with some of my cuban peoples, this girl Meidy sent me a handwritten letter saying that I inspired her to get her first tattoo, spongebob square pants on her leg haha! My colourful tattoos (and delightful persona haha) gave me celebrity status in the towns and freaky (that's what they call punk rockers) scene. Other bands have gone down on followup tours and the Cuban freakys want to know how Erico is doing, everytime. There is a Cuban dude who moved to the central part of the island where the underground punk scene is growing to tattoo the freakys. My buddy was saying kids are just getting chopped man, neck tattoos hand tattoos, a real fuck you to the traditional way and regime down there. If you are a tattooist and want to experience some real shit in Cuba, link up and I can get you in touch with our posse.

Jamaica - well, this was interesting. they nicknamed me "Colouring Book" wherever I was, which is a reference to a song from the infamous Vybz Kartel, yknow the dancehall superstar who bleaches his skin so he can get more tattoos. I'm pretty well versed in reggae and dancehall so when I start singing the Kartel songs back at the people they just love it up. Anywhere on the beach HEY COLOURING BOOK I GOT THE GOOD WEED MON Think I'm some sort of gangster tourist. LOL. The tattoos also seem to provide the Jamaicans with the belief that I am a millionaire tourist and gwan a hustle all mi money, bumbaclat.

SLATES

SLATES

I left the band last year after recording 2 LPs and a bunch of 7" singles. We toured Cuba for 2 weeks bringing a punk rock to a socialist country that has historically frowned upon rock music (solidarityrock.com for the whole story). After I left, the band toured Europe and is going coast to coast in Canada in July. Scope the bandcamp downloads, wicked music, really talented group of dudes I got to play with it.

SLATeS concert footage from Santa Clara, Cuba 2010

OUR MERCURY - From Below

Our Mercury - From Below.zip

Toured with this band from 2005-2007, signed to Smallman Records

OPERATORS

Ops 780 - S_T.zip

punky reggae band i played with from 2000-2004. I was the singer and organist!

THE CLEATS

The Cleats - Chemical EP.zip

download an unreleased 4 song EP from a classic Canadian Oi! band i played with

download /// share /// en joy

@mighty_romeo

pics of reggae, pugs tattoo, bands and fun stuff in Edmonton, AB

No...but if you live in Edmonton you should consider getting a tattoo from Ollie Schell. Guy rules at tattooing and at life.

I'm working on a 3rd piece with Mr.XXX ! According to my nerd-spreadsheet I have spent 13.5hrs thus far with Ollie (which if you know how fast dudeXXX moves that is good progress). Next appointment is in July connecting the 3 tattoos together to sleeve the leg.

I really love the experience and his process of applying tattoo. He's got a fantastic flow, the most consistent, fastest and easy-healing tattoos I wear. I was pretty excited when I heard he was moving to Edmonton, furthermore moving in with the Lucky Strike Tattoo crew where my other dudes work. I really don't have a need to go to any other shop in town or afar now.

No...but if you live in Edmonton you should consider getting a tattoo from Ollie Schell. Guy rules at tattooing and at life.

haha that guy?

As a spin off on this inventory subject...does anybody keep the sketch or stencil for their tattoos?

I've been fortunate to get to keep a few from my tattooists. Now once I clone my beautiful self I can ensure my clone's sleeves are an accurate recreation of the original haha.

Maybe it is my engineering background, but am I the only nerd who keeps an active spreadsheet inventory of my tattoo collection?

According to my data, in about 4 hours I'm sitting for Session #43 and Hour #130.

$17K in 10 years...YIKES. Better decision making would have seen me invest in the stock market instead.

But, that would have been a horribly boring and uncolourful 10 years!

:confused:

Looks like a lot of allowance and time in the shop for a 16 year old.

Also, when did Lil Wayne claim straight edge?

To prove I wasn't bullshitting on the awesomeness of the bass setup:

c'mon I play bass in reggae bands

I was suppossed to become a professional jazz musician, instead I ended up a professional engineer with a gear problem:

Guitars:

Ricky 360

Les Paul Studio

Fender 68 reissue, rewired w/ Burns TriSonics and series switching

custom sunburst Squire 51 w/ lipstick pickups

'76 Ibanez Rocket Roll flying V

Rebuilt/re-wired P-Bass

Amps

guitar...Fender Super Reverb is my jam w/ a glass of juicy Orange Or-50

bass...70's Peavey 400W superfestival running into a 2x15 ampeg fridge and a 4x12 peavey black widow. Also have a Peavey 400W power amp which I slave off the superfestival and run 2x 4x10 columns with...BASTARD LOUD, i feel sorry for the new neighbours that just moved in!

Organs !!!

Hammond B-200

Farfisa

Leslie 147

100 year old upright Piano

just about everything on this list has paid it's dues on the road. no touring anymore, happy to stay home and play/record with my old musician buddies for shits n giggles

here's a pic of the 68 Strat and Squier 51 that I rebuilt and rewired...see that engineering degree did come in handy after all

I have tattoos that react differently to the weather conditions.

Some of my outlines raise when it is hot and sunny or if the air is dry (i.e. in airplanes).

I have a white bird tattoo where the white turns a golden colour during summer months. Or different ink colours get a bit itchy when the weather is dry.

I also have some scars that react similarly to the weather.

Don't think it is anything to worry about, just your body's reaction to the environment.

The life cycle of a butteryfly is incredibly symbolic. An artist (tattooist) can make a butterfly tattoo as "tough" (masculine) or "soft" (feminine) as they want. Depends on a lot of things...size, colour, placement. I agree with the best comment in this thread: it's all about how you wear the tattoo.

a spin-off on the religious topic...what's up with all the upsidedown crosses on a lot of newer work/designs?

@kev tigerina

Cobra and peonies were done by Casper @ Shades of Grey in Edmonton, AB, Canada.

We are making good progress on both sides, I'll post some new photos at the end of the month ;)

Follow "caspermugridge" on Instagram

@caspermugridge (Casper Mugridge) 's Instagram photos | Webstagram - the best Instagram viewer

ha! you got it @hogg!

training wing chun & shaolin kung fu since 2005

bong sau means wing arm...and since i have a crane sleeve, seems fitting ;)

The best healing results from my experience:

1. take the bandage off 4~5 hours post-tattoo

2. wash all the gunk off with luke warm water and mild soap

3. Dry heal for a couple days

4. Take a shower every morning and clean 'er off. Pat dry off the healing tattoo and let it dry heal.

5. usually by Day 5 the skin will have a 'shed' and lightly flake off in the shower. don't pick the flakes off dummy!

4. after the major 'shedding' i use either vaseline or glycomed brand unscented lotions (pea drop) to lubricate

Lubriderm...used generous amounts to heal my first couple of tattoos. Now it just itches and burns if it goes anywhere near a healing or healed tattoo. Lubriderm contains lanolin, which comes from sheep wool. Don't recommend it.

Here is my Year of the Dragon tattoo! by Scott Rusnak, Lucky Strike Tattoo (Edmonton, AB) 2012

Knee tattoo...what do I suggest? PERCOCET lol

Tattooing the knee, just gross man. I keep rescheduling the last colour session.

I've got matching peonies on my knees...get it? P-KNEE yuk yuk

Here is my chest piece, completed in 2009 by Bobby Tripp @ Lucky Strike Tattoo (Edmonton, AB). Enjoy!

i've been in the same dilemna.

i now have opted to plan my backpiece to cover my butt.

i ended up getting a whale-on-fire up the back of my thigh to tie my the bottom half of my leg sleeve in.

i also have kinda-matching peony-weird snake pieces in progress on the fronts of my thigh that cover the knee.

here's a pic, i really love the way the placement turned out.

What's up my name is Eric from Edmonton, AB Canada.

Inna Jamaica they know me as Cololuring Book (yes that is the way it is spelled).

Got my first tattoo on May 6, 2003.

I'm about 125 hrs in with all my work done in Edmonton by the likes of:

Miles Kanne

Scott Rusnak

Bobby Tripp

OllieXXX

Steve Batt

Casper

Skinhead Kev

Blessed to have been tattoo proper by these gentleman. Don't have any coverups and barely needed any touchups. At the moment I'm working on some matching knee pieces and a big ass whale on the back of my thigh. I am looking like a colourful rendition of 'poor decision making' LOL