joakim urma

Chad sure make some wicked Kalis, good choice!

@CABS Make a thread about personal tattoo rules plzzzz I have some too

@ThatGuy High 5's to us for making good choices! I wrote to him that I wanted sort of a meditating figure in a clash/swirl/hole/?!? of energy. Let's see how it turns out, I'm super stoked! Last time I got tattooed was when Rudy and Iain finished my back in march so I've been really getting the itch since. What are you getting?

@ThatGuy I'll be there around lunch on the Saturday, getting tattooed by Koeplinger then. The convention is all right but not big or interesting enough for two days unless you're getting tattooed both days. For the past three years I would go for a few hours in the evening and have fun. But yeah, hope you enjoy it :)

@cltattooing It's so great! What a perfect fit for a full back, can't wait to see it finished!

Usually I get tattooed and then ask about the closest ATM when I know what the price is going to be. Either that or ask the artist if I can paypal the money. Even if there is a fee it's small compared to what I paid for the tattoo, and it saves me trouble in foreign countries.

@Wilhell Great line up! Envious! :) Still waiting for confirmation from Mike but hopefully. If it all works out I'm getting the area on and around the side of my knee with just waves, sort of a big filler piece. I haven't decided yet what I'm getting from Rico. Thinking of some boats perhaps...

@Blaue Ugh! What a good choice for a first tattoo, congratulations on being wise! John Sultana tattooed me early last year and I had a great time. Saved is a rad studio too. Stephanie Tamez, who is the owner, had a blog back in 2010 that taught me a lot about tattoos when I first started to dive into it. Good luck with your first time under the needle (it will be fine, don't stress about it) and hope you stick around the forum!

I got tattooed by Eli last year on my first trip to New York. Got to get something by Dan on the next.

Oh @sophistre! That really sucks! I wish you a speedy recover and that you can get started on the back later this year :)

@Synesthesia Well put!

"I really want a tattoo, but I don't know anyone that died..." People watch way too much tattoo shows on TV...

For this reason, whenever a friend or stranger ask me about advice surrounding their idea for a first tattoo, I tell them not to get it on their forearm. I think that for many people it's really good to kind of ease into the experience of being a tattooed person and being able choose when to show it. I was quite hesitant to get my forearms done. I was studying journalism and had the idea that in that field of work it was important to be able to give of a good impression, and visible tattoos might offend people and prevent me from doing a good job. What made me change my mind was two things a) I had a half sleeve and I realized that even if I wore a t-shirt that tattoo was peeking out quite a bit. So I would have to wear like a long sleeve shirt anyway, at best I could roll it up to the elbows. b) I really love to look of tattoos on the forearms. So I went for it. That was three years ago and I still have quite a lot of space left on my arms, besides getting three more tattoos there. Just recently I had a similar chain of thoughts that made me decide to tattoo the top of my shoulders and a bit on the base of the neck. Without really planning it, my backpiece had extended enough to peek out above the rim of my t-shirt, so as long as I am not wearing a button up shirt strangers on the metro will know I am tattooed, even when I can't see them. So I might as well go for it. I guess I will start wearing button up shirts a lot more, which is fine too. I'm 28 and an adult.

Really interesting to see all these lists, thanks for sharing. Some of these shops I don't know the story of, or don't even recognize the name, so I'm definitely trying to find out some more about those. That @Graeme would kick off with a time machine list was also fun. I don't feel like I know too much about tattoo history to really make a initiated list but here's a short Time Machine List: Thom deVita private studio The Leu Familys Family Iron Ed Hardys first custom only shop Sailor Jerrys shop at Hawaii of course Heavy places where I've been tattooed (Theo Jaks) Infamous Tattoo Smith Street (Rudy Fritsch) Original Classic Maudit Caillou (not legendary yet but it was their first week and the shop has great ambiance) (Mongas) Aloha Tattoo Shops where I would like to get tattooed Into You Tin-Tin Tatouages Horikitsunes private studio Invisible Spiral Tattoo Lifetime Tatuata Three Tides

@exume Ugh, so envious! I think Michael Aul does some super special and interesting stuff! Looking forward to see what you got

@hogg yeah it's ridiculous and impressive as hell! Also Miles at Black Garden in London is going places in his style, about a year in too

@Graeme Knock yourself out man! Maybe that's a separate category, "If only I had a time machine"

Maybe this is über nerd/crazy tattoo collector-territory now but lately I've been thinking of the shops where I would like to get tattooed. Not of the tattoos I want to get, the styles I'm interested in or the tattooers that I find inspiring, but the lure of certain iconic shops and those places that have the right vibe, energy or history and so on. I can't really articulate why I get a lot of feelings, thoughts and associations around some shops but... I also started to think of the shops where I have all ready been tattooed and what that gave me. I really enjoy getting tattooed in shops rather than at conventions. I think it adds to the experience a lot and it's also cool to know that you got x tattoo in y shop. In a way it's not too far from people who get a kick out of having seen not only their favorite band, but from the fact that they saw them at CBGBs or Carnegie Hall or wherever it was. Spending time in/getting tattooed in or just walking into some shops have been really powerful experiences, and these are the places where I picked up a lot of knowledge and impressions of tattoo culture and art, where my appreciation for tattoo art grew and I realized some important stuff. I think of the actual tattoo in the skin as the one most physical level, the next more abstract level is the experience of getting the tattoo (and often the ideas and preparations around it), next comes the tattooer that made the tattoo (some people don't care about this, some people are collectors) and even more abstract is getting the tattoo in a certain shop. I can't really say much more than that right now, I'm starting to figure it out still. In the past year I've noticed that I think more and more about the shops. What are your thoughts? (I'll be back shortly with a list of the memorable/legendary/important/awesome/whatever shops that left a strong impression on me when I got tattooed there, and a second list of the shops where I really would like to get tattooed. If these ideas are too subjective or hard to put into words at least this thread can be about the coolest shops we know of, and we can get inspired by eachothers lists)

Todays happy news is that I'm getting a hand size tattoo by Rico Daruma in London at the convention. It's going to be a good week end

@MarvelAvengers Really neat looking tattoo. I don't think it needs a background. Or just B/G as @pidjones said. Blue background will make the the shape of the blue in the costume hard to read

@L2DB Should be totally fine with so much time to heal inbetween. If possible, perhaps you want to put some bandage or something over it during the race just to shield it from the dirtyness in excess. I believe that in that stage of healing only sun light and lotions loaded with chemicals will hurt your tattoo. Sweating is probably good, and a pinch of naturally dirty water is nothing to be nervous about. In 2013 I went to Iceland less a week after getting my inner thigh tattooed, camped in tents and swam in numerous hot springs over the following 10 days. It healed perfect.

Wow, what a great thread this turned out to be. I read it all and you've been bringing up some very interesting points and perspectives. I want to thank _everybody_ who contributed so far!

@ReDile Really nice one! Congratulations! Besides the actual tattoos I like the small dots in between. The "biker dust" filler style with a lot of small dots never appealed to me, but just a few dots here and there looks great.

"Tattoos are luxury products. It's not something that anyone really needs." I remember reading it just like that somewhere for the first time and I have heard people expressed the idea since. I've thought about it a lot since and tried to formulate my thoughts on it. I'm not sure yet that I have a definitive comeback that I'd let people quote me on but let's explore the theme for a while. If you talk about different sorts of needs, in most cases I'd say tattoos are not fundamental to life in the way food, clothes and shelter are. Getting tattooed probably ranks pretty close to the top of Marslows pyramid of needs for most people. Of course there is circumstances where having certain tattoos could save your life (or make you lose it), just think of prison culture in many parts of the world. Many of us have seen the sensational documentary about tattoos of the criminal Russian subculture. You could also argue that sometimes tattoos can help in sexual interaction and from some evolutionary perspective help the poor genes in your body keep life going past your death. Then there is all the sociological aspects of in-groups and out-groups and how most people try to fit in someplace, if not in the mainstream then somewhere else. Some biologists talk about how having a sharp intellect is an aid in evolution, that it's an important factor in the sexual selection. The intellect in turn would be expressed in external symbols, status symbols, titles, behaviors, the clever words we use to impress each other and tell the world who we are. I've read people arguing that often art: both appreciating (the right) art in front of others (or symbols there of) and the performance/creation of art (or the symbols there of) is also a evolutionary strategy in order to find a mate and make children. Of course us humans enjoy thinking of ourselves, and humanity, as something more complex than that. At the same time sex and violence/love and death is at the core of both art and the human experience. Right now I am reading a book about evolutionary theory and one of the main points the author makes is that we have to bridge the gap between biology and the humanitarian sciences. Religion and art for example, has it's roots in evolutionary processes but has in part branched out and become so complex over time that often we forget it was created by the human brain, which was in turn formed through evolution. Maybe that was sort of a side track, decide yourself. Truth is you can not eat your tattoos, they won't shelter you from the elements and keep you warm. (But many people have in different ways made money from making tattoos or having tattoos, to put food on the table in their cave or hut) If I was really running low on cash, say I lost my job, getting tattooed would pretty quick be had to put on hold. So I could eat and pay rent. However, I suspect most people who do get tattoo regularly, especially those LST-forum members, can probably afford to live a pretty comfy lifestyle by a global standard (or even just comparing with people in their own country) and on top of that spend money on this kind of luxury. Sometimes I can feel guilty about it, like this money could pay for "real things" that could prove helpful. I know my parents think I should be saving money for an apartment to own, and such things, as if I wanted their way of life. Or just put money in the bank for "the future". Once my aunts man asked me how much I paid for a tattoo on my arm and when I told me he exclaimed "But that money could get you a moped!". But I don't want a moped... I said. I think many are provoked by heavily tattooed people for this reason, to different extent. A funny scene to illustrate this happened last week. By chance I ran into my friend Olle (some people might know him as @tattoo_pilgrim on instagram) outside of Systembolaget (state owned chained of stores in Sweden, the only one who legally can sell alcohol stronger than %3,5) We ended up standing right in front of the store, talking for 10 minutes. All the time people are going into the store to spend money on alcohol. Both me and Olle have tattoos showing, and right next to me sits a Roma woman, begging the shoppers for money. On my foot next to her I have a tattoo of a sleeping bum with a cloudy speech bubble containing the acronym C.R.E.A.M. I don't know exactly how it ties to what I am writing, maybe not at all in the sense of language, but I thought it was an absurd scene to be part of. I think most middle class people, and even working class people in some countries, can afford to spend huge sums of money on objects, interests and pursuits that are not crucial to their day to day existence. One example I often find myself using is that it is not considered weird to want to spend 20.000 euro on a car, or to lust after a watch for 500 euro. In fact it's culturally sanctioned and encouraged by advertising and other instances of our society. For me tattooing is great joy on so many levels. I would not be the person I am today without the tattoos, impressions, thoughts and experiences I've collected since 2009 when I got my first piece. I could never have imagined then what it would spiral into. I remember the first time I formulated for my father that tattoos could be a hobby even if you are not making tattoos, or to my new friend in Italy that tattooing was art. It was strange to put those words in my mouth then, I was not sure if I really had thought it through enough. But now, years later, I know that this what I think and feel is good for me. So spending that money and effort is all worth it. In the same way people enjoy fancy cars, travel the globe to see their favorite band perform, slave away at the gym, put hundreds of euros a month on clubbing, alcohol and drugs, and all other things that may or may not be luxurious to indulge in. And maybe in a way we are doing it because we believe that in this culture it will set us apart in a way that allow our genes to live on. So even if the acts are "un-natural" or superficial, the motivation is very human and basic. It's up for debate Hmm.. maybe this blog post-length rant is not going anywhere really. As I wrote, this is like a loosely weaved net of ideas that is still shifting in shape and content. Feel free to discuss whatever I wrote or introduce your own ideas tied to the theme. PS. I studied sociology for a while, but probably not enough to make any sense, perhaps you can tell D.S.

@OutOfIdeas Sounds like The Story Of Success if I ever heard it!