joakim urma

Changed my mind and I'm not going this year. One year I have to go though.. Aiming for the Scottish Convention in the end of march instead. Finishing my backpiece

Booked all the tickets for my next trip yesterday.

Flying to Barcelona since it was cheap, taking the bus the next evening to Toulouse to get tattooed by Guy Le Tatooer, meet up with two friends and have a good time.

Two days later I take a long bus ride up to London where I spend one day before finally getting on the last bus that will take me to Edinburgh. On the sunday my backpiece gets finished by Iain and Rudy and on the monday I fly back to Stockholm.

I get to hang out with my girlfriend for a few hours before getting on the night train to spend easter with family and relatives in the very north of sweden (above the polar circle). When I get back to civilized parts of Europe again I am moving in with my girlfriend, in her apartment in the city center. Spring looks like happy times.

Edit: actually this was not something awesome that I did. I did however plan and book the trip and me and the girl did decide that we want to live together. That's pretty awesome.

I think Iain Mullen does some of the best devils around. Straight up gnarly and evil looking. I've got a Judas wearing a hanyaesque devils mask on the side of my leg, by Iain.

Tattoo was done in two hours, boom!

Two from about a year ago:

Watercolor pens, water, ink and paintbrush, some marker. A4-sized

Finally, after a handful of attempts over the past four years, managed to book in with Guy Le Tatooer. Going down to Toulouse, and his (by then) newly opened studio, in the end of march to get my lower belly tattoo. Very happy!

I had the dream tonight where I was going to learn to make tattoos and I had a kit and everything ready. In my dream I had to do the first tattoo on myself but realized all the reasonable spots to start (reachable parts of my legs) where all ready covered with tattoos (as they are) so I began by going over them with really bad lines, just free styling random shapes. Horrible.

So, I'm flying to Istanbul with my girlfriend tomorrow. Another friend asked me just now if I'm getting tattooed or just traveling. Hadn't given it a thought really so probably I am not getting tattooed. But I still love to visit good tattoo shops and talk to artists. Istanbul is a huge place so I guess there should be at least a couple good quality studios.

Any info on worthwhile tattoo places are much appreciated! (As well as general info and things I should know/not miss while there)

We're staying in Istanbul for at least five days and then we're going to some cities close by, haven't really decided where yet. I don't know anything about tattoo culture in Turkey so any kind of good info is of interest.

Thank you!

@Padji

Niiice! Say hello to Adde from me :)

@HettyKet

Thanks for the heads up! Seems really interesting

Lucid dreaming awake

Thanks for sharing, haven't seen this one before.

@Rob I

Not kidding man, it's real life ;) Thanks! Looking forward to seeing your new piece!

Oh, nice! Going to watch it straight away. I like his stuff too.

Edit, a bit later:

Well done, in every way! Blue Arms seems like a real power house of a tattoo shop, absolutely have to visit next time I'm in Oslo. Are you planning to do more of these? Actually I've been thinking for a long time about doing some interviews about Swedish tattooers, but only with photos and text since I don't know my way around video editing well enough.

I very much enjoyed watching this, @Iwar So cool to see some, non-bullshit, tattoo media coming from other places than the States. We have a plethora of great artists in Scandinavia that deserves to have their work known. Another Norwegian I would like to see something similar about is Marius Meyer. I'll post this video on my tattoo-blog thing so you reach to some more people!

Anyone?

Seems like I'll be going to Paris earlier that week for two tattoos, so I might as well go to the convention too and check it out :)

@ThatGuy

Thank you!

@jimmyirish

Thanks so much man, I'm glad you too are getting something good out of this :) Well, it's not done yet. There will be one more session to do shading on the bits bellow the face. Then when it heals we'll make some proper nice photos of it so you can preach the tattoo gospel to everybody you meet ;)

Thanks for all the likes and comments, @marley mission, @Russ, @sophistre and everybody else!

@SeeSea

Amazing to see this one finished, looks grea! I really loved reading your story behind it, very ambitious and fun project!

@Cork

Haha no I'm sticking to the black and gray-theme, FOREVER! Last session is to put shading on the lower part, under the face, and then do some touch ups. And at last I'm done, can't believe it!

@majorpenalty

Wooow! Good choice!

Above is a picture of me laying like a passed out pale seal on Iain Mullens table. Today was the second to last session on my back. Can't wait to see it finished. We're doing the last bit and touch ups with Rudy Fritsch at the Scottish Convention in the end of March. Going to be fun/hell. Todays session was nice except for a few bits. I can't believe how quick this piece has been. I got the idea to start my back in April last year, asked Iain about it and then we started in mid June. It really helps that both him and Rudy work super quick and make for good company + conversations during the sessions.

Secret bit of knowledge exclusively for LST (I know people love that exclusiveness, I sure do): that ain't a dark red, but actually a light gray wash looking bloodied and irritated. Haven't got a piece of color on me, except for a few patches of gray and white.

Just figured out what this spring is going to be like, travel-wise. In somewhat chronological order, four trips

1. 9 days: Istanbul with my girlfriend.

2. 3-4 weeks: Copenhagen and Bruxelles to visit one some of my best friends who just moved -> Toulouse for a tattoo -> Barcelona for a tattoo (->Paris/Amsterdam?) -> London and or Cornwall -> Edinburgh for the tattoo convention and finish my backpiece with Rudy and Iain

3. 1 week: Very north of Sweden, with my parents and brother (and maybe two dear friends), to visit relatives and do wild life shit

4. 3-4 weeks: Berlin to visit friends -> Krakow -> Lviv to visit old study buddy -> Kiev for my cousins wedding -> St. Petersburg to visit a new friend (-> Moscow?)

Actually, I haven't done this recently.. what I did do was to make a decision to work less and enjoy life a bit in the near future. Bye bye all my hard earn cash. Bring on the fun times, adventures and inspiration!

I've been in a relationship with one woman who had a single tattoo (quite big skull wearing a crown, and snake or dagger, on her lower leg) and I've been with some women who really liked my tattoos a lot (fascination, more or less of sexual nature) and wanted to talk about them and about how they percieved me because of them, that it was a turn of for them and so on.

Honestly, I don't care for being some object of fetishism for a person that I care about and who knows me well (for a one night stand it can be a fun game to play though) And I don't really like talking at length about (my) tattoos with people without their own, and with little understanding, taste and knowledge of the art (usually goes hand in hand)

My girlfriend as of a few months back has a really good approach to it, which makes me feel very comfortable. In the meantime I've been chipping away on my backpiece and gotten four other tattoos. It took a long time before we said anything more about my tattoos than the fact that they are all over my body. She knows that tattoos are important for me (and as with anything I'm passioned about she is encouraging) but since it's not an interest we have in common we seldom speak about it. She is mildly positive towards tattoos, but has none herself (she was going to get the logo of her punk band tattooed but it's been postponed indefinitely) She likes my tattoos and she doesn't think it's a big deal whenever I talk about the next one. I can show her tattoos on instagram and I can feel that she is starting to "get it" more and more, but she is not doing it to please me, she's honest. She is also very well rounded when it comes to taste in culture in general and appriciates different art forms, I think it helps.

I don't know if this was such a good explination of how tattoos sits in our relationship, but for a plainskin I must say she has an amazing attitude.

As for myself, I'm turning more and more into a snob when it comes to tattoos and I would much rather be with someone with no tattoos than someone with bad tattoos. It's not often that I come across a woman with really great tattoos and a lot of coverage, but when I do see someone like that : god damn, it's hot!

Next session on my backpiece tomorrow, with Iain Mullen. We're doing the flames that goes on both sides of the ribbs and down the ass a bit. It's going to suck.

I don't think you need to be all that careful with feet really, from experience. What I can recommend however is to take some kind of pain relief-medication that also combats swelling and infection for the first 2-3 days. Also, as soon as you are in a place where you can walk barefoot: do so, take of the socks and wash and cream.

@AvrageJer

To each his own :) I also like to treat myself on tattoo days, but with other things.

I just figured that getting tattooed is such traumatic event to your body, the last thing I would want is to give it more heavy things to digest and cope with.

Can't believe how much sugar and fat some people gulp down before/during/after sessions, not only from here but often what I see when visiting studios too. That ain't good for you, no matter if you're getting tattooed or not. I eat natural nuts and seeds and a banana during session if it's long enough to snack. I drink water or perhaps a 100% fruit juice. Often a light meal after the session, and a lot of water, no alcohol.

Have a look at Lowbrow Tattoo Parlour: Adrian Edek, Sebastian Domaschke, Adde Ramstedt.

Also: Blut & Eisen, if you are into blackwork and geometric I think it could be worthwhile. Just remember reading about it at Xed Le Head's webpage.

@chrisnoluck

Fuck yeah!

Here is what I got from my friend Adde Ramstedt the other day.

Felt so good to get the other foot done, never more (still need to do sides and toes...) Adde just moved down to Berlin and will be working at Lowbrow Tattoo Parlour for about 6 months. I encourage anyone to visit Berlin, hugely inspirational city with many things to experience and explore. While you're there, get tattooed by Adde too ;)