joakim urma

[...]I knew that a backpiece was a huge commitment before I started it, but I'm only now really understanding what that means. It gives me a deeper appreciation of the tenacity and dedication it takes to wear a backpiece, and that there's a lot more to it than just a huge, beautiful tattoo.

Feel exactly the same way now, on my second session too. Also the back is so damn rough. Much kudos to people with tramp stamps!

Second day of healing on my upper back. Realized I'm bendy as fuck and cream my whole back without another persons help or any extra tools.

Oh boy this thread sure makes me calm..

edit: planning to get some really shitty spots done next.

Second session today with my buddy Iain Mullen on his collaboration with Rudy Fritsch. Beyond happy with how this is progressing. We did the lines with two machines almost 2 months ago and I had gotten used to seeing it that way. Now with some of the black in I am amazed by seeing it come to new life again.

@marley mission

Yeah I have a lot of energy this time of year so I need to channel it somewhere! It's also fun to try something new.

Respect for picking up skateboarding at a later age! You will hurt yourself a lot in the beginning but hang in there, after a while it's more comfortable and less frustrating. And the rewards are great… so much fun!

Booked in for three more sessions on my back piece, two with Iain Mullen in Stockholm, one with Rudy Fritsch at the London Convention. Iain and I will also redo my heel tattoos that didn't heal proper. Not looking forward to any of what I just wrote but what the heck..

This is really not awesome but I hurt my foot skateboarding like 4 months ago and haven't given it enough time to heal. Every time I skate I can do it for tops 2 hours and then it hurts really bad the next 2-3 days and then I can do it again after a week. I really think the foot needs time to heal so this is no good. I decided to lay of skating for a while.

Skateboarding has been a great joy and outlet for the past 12 years, kept me sane through many heartaches and stressful chapters of my life. But I will not let this get me down. To keep busy I registered for a beginners class in yoga (something I've been interested to try for years) and will also start swimming regularly in the mornings at a indoor pool close to where I live. If my foot holds of decently I also intend to get down with bouldering which seems super fun.

Drunk girls tend to do that a lot. At first I didn't mind the new found female attention but sadly its only the superficial retards that do this (with the rare exception of drunk tattoo enthousiasts) and nothing good really comes from it. Also in november i might come say hi in stockholm ;)

Hit me up when you know about dates and I'll sight see with you!

The other week I found myself talking to this guy who was collecting cans and bottles on the street (to get the refund) about my tattoos. He just walked up and asked what I paid for them. I was so surprised so I told him some number close to what it might have been (I'm not really counting this..) and he was so shocked. He later told me that he wanted to get the names of his father, mother and sisters tattooed on his arm and asked me if 50 euro would be a good price for this. I told him Yes. We talked in length about why someone would get tattooed and spend all this money. He confessed he wanted to get gold chains around his neck, "like in America, rappers!" He also described a friend of his who "lived like a pig" but drove a BMW.

Just some hours later I was sitting on a bench with a friend when a bunch of drunk girls, a bit younger than me, walked by. One of the girls stopped like she had hit a glass wall and exclaimed "Are those tattoos! I love them!", while pointing at my legs. She proceeded to touch my tattoos and grab hold of my legs, lifting them and twisting them to see better. I have never had a stranger do this to me before so I was too surprised to tell her not to. After a while one of her, slightly less drunk, friends grabbed hold of her shoulders and guided her away from me. The whole encounter was strange.

Started "dating" someone. She was leaving for a month long Bali-trip the following week so we made the most of it, met ever day and shared beds for 4 nights. I'm surprised about how good something this new can feel. I'm a happy guy and I miss her now

It's been true summer for a week now in Stockholm and I've been in t-shirt and shorts most of the time. I am starting to grow tired of talking about tattoos with people with no tattoos/really bad tattoos. I think during this time I have talked about tattoos with most people that I work with, many of my friends (that I do really love by the way) and a few random folks. And I don't see the point… or rather, it gets very tiring. Maybe because many people don't know jack about tattooing, only from what they have seen on tv and they ask you the most rude and stupid questions. And then proceed to show you some horrible work on "a buddy" by making you browse this persons instagram feed.

Normally I am a very polite and patient guy but after a week of this.. I don't really think I care about talking tattoos with people who are not deeply into it. I feel like an elitist for saying this but, I guess right now, that's me. I think one of the problems has to do with how tattooing became a mainstream and "cool" thing. Much like skateboarding right about that time when Adidas and Nike decided there was money to be made. Skateboarders used to be the weird smelly kids, the outcasts of the school. It used to be something the general public had no understanding for. I wrote this to a friend recently who thought that my skateboarding hobby was cool

"I don't think skateboarding is so cool, obectivly speaking. Same with tattoos. Or, I don't want it to be cool and hyped and a lot of attention and money into it. I prefer when things are underground, wierd/repulsive to the general public and only cool to the people involved and active. Outsiders and tourists destroy everything genuine (especially as soon as money is involved) It's cultural gentrification."

/End of angry rant. Back to trying to be a nice person and talk reasonable and in a friendly tone to people who wants to talk tattoos with me. Shit, I did not get these to be a conversation piece. One of the rudest things that I've had to respond to in a number of occasions is about the cost of tattoos.. like "Woow, dude that's a lot of money on your legs right there!". Few people would talk about the cost of the paintings on the walls of a friends place the first time they get invited over for dinner, am I right?

ps. I am a really nice guy in real life

To me its like, I really enjoy many types of photography, and I can get a huge kick out of graffiti if it's done to my liking. I also like reading books and a few pop cultural phenomenas are wonderful to me. But I don't care at all for tattoos that look like photos, graffiti on someones body, text-tattoos or pop culture references in tattoos. And even though I've been skateboarding for close to 12 years I have never seen a skateboard tattoo that I liked.

If you ask me, tattooing is a quite specific thing and it should stay that way. Just because you like chocolate cake AND chorizo hot dogs doesn't mean a combination of the too will be better.

The excitement about some tattooers come and go. I've had some major instant crushes on a number of tattooers for like half a year, like "wow this girl does the best lady heads I have EVER seen!" but then after a while it seems like it's all the same tattoo being made, but different subject matters. And then I grow tired and find someone else to be psyched about.

Some names has sticked with me for a long time and I am still inspired and amazed by most things they pull out of their heads. To name a few this would be Josh Stephens, Jeff Zuck, Rudy Fritsch, Guy Le Tatooer, Steve Byrne

Almost, very close to being on the list: Robert Ryan, Tony Nilsson, Smith St guys

breaking up with my (ex) girlfriend and dealing with all the who gets what bullshit. Also we were traveling around and living for free in a community in the swedish countryside. I wanna stay in sweden so now im living on peoples couches in gothenburg.

Atleast i got some good plans for the summer to make everything better again.

Let me know if you need to sleep in Stockholm for a night or two. Take care man!

Just got home today from 6 days spent in Berlin. Love that city! Shared a bed with a new acquaintance for 4 nights, biked around a bunch, met cool people, ate awesome food, saw the ethnographic museum and Pergamon, hung out with a friend from back home and stayed for two nights at my X's place. Life is too good sometimes

Late answer:

@jimmyirish glad you're so into it! I am too, the more I look at it the more I like it!

We haven't decided on the day yet, I'll let them two decide and then I'll probably post in the London Tattoo Con-thread here on LST in case anyone else is interested.

@Iwar Thank you! Yes the plan is to have them both work in all the sessions. We are aiming for 4 or 5 sessions, they are both really quick. I just need to bite down hard and let them hurt me for long enough each time haha..

Thank you @hogg, @Mick Weder, @misterJ, @Lance, @MadeIndelible, @ironchef for the support and encouragement (and also everyone who pressed "like")! Wasn't expecting it to be this bad actually. I so long for this project to be done with, I think the three of us are continuing at the London Convention this year and then one session in Trieste and one in Stockholm and then hopefully done.

@Gemini Yeah we planned it to be the two of them since months back. Collaborations like this don't happen from day to day ;) I'm glad you're in to it, thanks!

Starting my back & ass-piece tomorrow. Collaboration between Iain Mullen and Rudy Fritsch. Very happy that this is going to happen!

Your collection is amazing. I love the b&g look and I think the way they all work together really brings a great cohesion to your leg tattoos. I have a ton of color in most of my tattoos, but if I had to do it again, I'd give very serious consideration to having more b@g.

Thanks man, glad you like it! Yeah, being anal with matching things is one of the main reason I go for b/g only

You have a real nice collection,but that ROA tattoo would look even cooler done in color.I love b&g work too,but all my traditional work is in color,and most of realistic stuff is in b&g.I guess I'm just not used to seeing traditional work done in b&g.Although it seems to be more prevalent in the city.

Thank you, again! Yeah I know, especially the ROA could be more dramatic in color. Also done by Peter Lagergren and his ways with doing color tattoos is just beyond. I've seen some quite complicated healed ones by him and they look truly amazing. If you don't know him I highly suggest you check out his stuff.

I don't know about how popular it is to get only b&g and only/mainly traditional but to me, judging by "the internet" it seems that quite a few people are doing it. I think it's a great strong look, a bit more primitive and raw looking than having a lot of color and fine lines. Actually I'm trying to get some prettier pieces as not to look too grim

Nice work....but some of them would look better with color.

Thank you! Yeah I really like color tattoos, I'm not particular in that way. But I think when you start to get many not too large tattoos and they're all in different color schemes you end up looking like a explosion in a paint factory. Not that there is anything wrong with that, some people pull it off , but being of my particular kind I would find it impossible to dress and end up only dressing in black clothes. Also I would probably be like "man.. I really wish this blue was a little bit more teal" after like 10 years. I don't know, I can only speculate on what it would be like. Black and gray on skin looks so nice. To each it's own I guess.

Some crazy lineup for this year indeed. I might have to go even if I'm not getting tattooed this time.

Ok so I finished photography school 4 years ago and have been doing journalism and sociology and a bit of this and that since then. I'm still into photography a lot, in theory, but I haven't been as active as before. It's hard to come up with your own projects and carry through when nobody is forcing you, while also living a life. I've been mainly doing everyday photos, travel photos and a few jobs for magazines since I graduated.

But since about a year back I decided to make a photography project consisting of portraits of every tattooer that has and will put ink under my skin. I just made a list and I'm up to 23 names so far, tattooers who has all ready worked on me.

Save for some less involved photo sessions I haven't really put any effort in. Until yesterday when I hung out with and took photos of El Carlo who was guesting at Theo Jaks Infamous Tattoo in Stockholm. El Carlo tattooed me at the London Convention last year and it was really cool to meet him again and chat a bit about Spain, politics, tattooing and art in general.

Now I feel stoked about continuing the project and putting more energy into it. We'll see where it ends, perhaps in 20 years when I'm covered from head to toe it's going to be a book of portraits. I feel inspired!

Bonus: A friend wants a tattoo from me. Now it's time to start a long and glorious career of kitchen scratching, finally. Giddy up!

6 hours I think, side of thigh. It's fascinating how the body works, I found the last half hour almost unbearable but up to that (save for the first 10 minutes when I am always wondering why I am getting tattoos to begin with) it was quite enjoyable. But after 5,5 hours it was like hitting a switch and everything felt horrible, probably my storage of pain sedative hormones just ran out. That's cool to me and part of the tattoo experience, getting to know how pain works