joakim urma

A plainskin at work was asking me about my sleeve and then said "But you know who has really good tattoos? David Beckham."
This is why people get bad tattoos.

This is a funny one because on the one hand I see people with people's names written on their necks and few other tattoos, or big paragraphs of text which is pretty illegible and I think 'what in the name of all that's holy were you thinking?!?'
On the other hand I think who am I to criticise ? It's their body, they may absolutely love their tattoos. When they look in be mirror that neck tattoo proclaiming 'Shug' for all to see might make them happy. Is that not the whole point or tattoos ? They are for the person who wears them not for us. Not everyone is going to get what I perceive to be a beautiful tattoo and actually that's ok with me. If we were all the same the world would be an incredibly tedious place.
I have a few script tattoos. They don't mean anything or sentiment. I'm a big word geek and just love the way slightly unusual words look in fancy lettering. Last night I got 'Vagabond Soul' tattooed script. It won't make any sense to alot of people but I love the way the words look.
Anyhow I digress. There's my contribution :)

Well then what is it about people these days that they walk around with so many sob stories that they absolutely have to put on their bodies with typewriter font? I mean, my cats and dogs have all died, my grandparents all died, and in my 20s I walked around with dysthymia like nobody's business but I never once wanted to tattoo a word on myself about it. I went to meetings instead.

I was going to call it quits and postpone tattoos until after summer, but today James McKenna posted up on instagram that he is visiting Stockholm on the 8:th - 10:th of june. So now I am getting an androgynous african shaman with some kind of predator cowl, head only and perhaps a hand, on the inside/front of my thigh. So amazingly stoked that this is happening, one of my absolute favorite tattooers who usually works on the other side of the earth.

I was going to call it quits and postpone tattoos until after summer, but today James McKenna posted up on instagram that he is visiting Stockholm on the 8:th - 10:th of june. So now I am getting an androgynous african shaman with some kind of predator cowl, head only and perhaps a hand, on the inside/front of my thigh. So amazingly stoked that this is happening, one of my absolute favorite tattooers who usually works on the other side of the earth.

I can understand the emotions you go through. The before, during, and after of getting a tattoo is very different then anything i have experienced. I know i have stopped and looked at myself and thought "wow! when did i get so many tattoos!" and then think what can i get next!

I've had moments where I haven't regretted my tattoos but I've looked at myself in the mirror and kind of been "WTF have I done". This has always been really early in the morning when I'm underslept and waking up for a 6am start of my workday so I'm not fully in my right mind and I find that as I get more tattoos I experience this lot less. Tattoos are a really big deal in many ways and I don't think that it's necessarily weird or abnormal to sometimes have complicated feelings about them.

I've never had the blues or regretted what I did, but when my sleeve was outlined it took several weeks to get used to it. I kept thinking, "What the fuck have I done??" But not in a bad way, I just couldn't believe that I did it. I've only been working on my tattoos for a year so I suppose I'll get used to them eventually, but I rarely look in the mirror and don't notice them. I tried to explain this feeling to a few non-tattood people, but they just kept thinking that I regretted getting them. No way, I'm planning my next sleeve and chest panel!

Got fresh ink on Saturday and the blues are setting in on Tuesday night. The skin isn't even flaking yet!
So glad most places don't take credit cards, otherwise I'd be in more trouble.

I am so glad that I found this thread. I go through the same thing most of the time. Though like most everyone else has said, this feeling is fleeting. It only lasts for about a day or two. I think it has to relate to the change that has taken place. You body is exhausted from the impact of the tattoo machine and the healing process. It is also a change that you have to prepare for mentally as well. Your brain knows that you have been in some sort of pain for the past few hours, but it take a while for the mind to comprehend that it's permanent. Even though you may have planned it out for months, change is change.

I don't remember the reaction on the first one but.. now as I'm up to 20-something tattoos each new one gets less and less negative reactions. At first it was like "Why are you doing this? You are destroying your body! It is ugly"
Now it's more like "Hmmpf.. another one.."
I guess that's a good thing. It has been mainly my mother who has been negative about the whole thing and I kept telling her that she will have to accept it, that I will cover my most of my body and that's that.

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

Today's shenanigans in NYC or better referred to as tattoo fan Heaven!
First a stop by Invisible NYC to check in on my friend getting work from Chris Garver:

Then some work on myself by Mike Rubendall at Kings Avenue Tattoo Manhattan (more photos in the back piece thread):

Finally, Chris O'Donnell working on a grim reaper thigh piece at Kings Avenue as well (Grez and Rubendall in the background:

Got this fella from Deno.

Planning tattoos and getting them is fun for me. Then, having them is great, too. So, they make me happy. I don't know if they've changed my life...but they enhance my life for sure!

This. So much this. I love your story :D
Although nowhere near the same, I have some health stuff that's not fun (Fibromyalgia and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome). I felt quite negative toward my body, knowing I can't do the things I used to do, can't go out on a whim like my friends, can't run (used to be one of my big hobbies). Getting tattooed hurts like a mofo because of the hypersensitivity, but the achievement - getting to look at a part of my body and go "I sat through hours of pain for that" helps to pick me up on a bad day and remind me that I'm doing better than I give myself credit for. That there are still things that I CAN do, and having awesome artwork all over me is one.
So yes, having tattoos has changed my life. In other ways too, of course - the way strangers interact with me has changed, but I can't say I have time or energy to think about that too much. Mostly they remind me that I kick ass.

yea tattoos have changed my life, can't exercise and swim because i'm always healing something and i have less spare cash to spend on drink, drugs and women....!

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

You should get a cat with a hawk tattoo on it.

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!