keepcalm

I think your coworker is just missing the "nuance" section of her brain. Wanting to be tattooed does not mean it feels comfortable to invite comments on them in every single social and professional situation. We all feel differently about how much we show and conceal. That's ok.

@keepcalm I've decided to push the trip back to September/October and I'm going to be in the states for hopefully 3 months, I can't wait.

Very cool plan, @motsimus! I'll be driving across the U.S. (east to west) in April/May of this year, and even though it's not a tattoo trip, seeing your plans and the shops people are recommending is giving me some great ideas!
I'm sure you'll really enjoy this! When are you starting the trip?

Plenty that I agree with here and I'm going to add Ron Henry Wells. What first really made me pay attention to him was this "open letter to tattooers everywhere" that he wrote last year about how, while acknowledging that there are some bad things going on in tattooing right now, that there are also a lot of genuinely fucking amazing things happening. Maybe for me a big part of the appeal was that I'd just started getting tattooed at that point and was super psyched on it (oh wait, I'm still super psyched on it) and it was rad reading someone who, for a change, was talking about all the great things happening in tattooing RIGHT NOW instead of lamenting how it was better in the old days.
His designs and tattoos regularly fucking kill it. I love that they're proper tattoos...skulls, daggers, torches, lady heads, ships, birds, etc...but with these little twists that I haven't seen elsewhere that just make them so fucking awesome. The negative space tattoos he's posted on IG blow my mind.
I have a couple of tattoos from him, will in all likelihood get more, and I'm stoked because me and @Pugilist are driving down to Congress Street at the end of the week to see him again.

@9Years @bugxjuice I actually read that list as one cohesive idea... it could work :)

@keepcalm I just stopped in the Atwells location of Providence Tattoo when I was in town a couple of days ago and that shop is so ridiculously nice looking. I want to get tattooed at that shop just so I can spend some time there.

Got a consultation with El Monga Monday at Tattoo City.
Go back the next Monday to get the work done.
STOKED.
Not sure how it's going to play out exactly yet...I plan on tossing out the following and seeing what sticks:
SKULL
CANDLE
WINGS
LIGHTENING BOLTS

February 2015 appointment. Waiting since June 2013.

For those who are not necessarily going for full-body coverage, do you ever think about the overall look you have as a tattooed person?
Like I imagine many people here, I am an appreciator of aesthetics, and when I consider getting new work done, I think long and hard about where to put it and how it will change the way my body looks in clothes, out of clothes, in swim suits, etc. It might be slightly different for females since we tend to have more variety in the clothes we wear (different cuts, lengths, dresses, etc.), but I do wonder... Do you pay a lot of attention to keeping your work balanced on your body? Do you take into consideration places on your body where you don't plan to ever get work? I guess one approach would be to prioritize the design, and pick the place on your body where that design fits best. Another approach would be to think about where you'd like to have tattoos, and pick designs you like that would flow well in those spaces.
This post is partially inspired by this thread about negative space with tattoos.
I am a huge fan of negative space and have spent a lot of time thinking about the best way and location to place substantial tattoos on my body, with space in between them. Some people might say this is overthinking it, but I can't help it, ha. I've considered putting most of my work on my left arm and right leg, leaving the opposites mostly clear. I've also considered mainly tattooing my torso and leaving my limbs mostly clear. When you think about it, following each of those two patterns would make for a really different overall look.
Maybe as a still-kinda-newbie to this world, I do think about this stuff too much, but I'm still curious as to others' thoughts :)

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

Tattoos are for degenerates and evildoers.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

I got my first spur-of-the-moment tattoo last night, and it was really fun! I was biking through the neighborhood, and started thinking it would be cool to get a going-away present for myself in the form of a tattoo (I've been in DC for a decade but am moving next week).
Anyway, so I went into Tattoo Paradise, and Dave Cavalcante put a neat little black & gray compass on the top of my left thigh. I don't have a great photo of it yet, but I like it! I told him it was my first tattoo that I hadn't pondered over for months -- or even years, ha. Definitely a new experience for me, but it was fun!
Incidentally, I think I'm done getting tattoos anywhere close to my crotch. jesus it hurts.

Had my consult with Dennis at Providence Tattoo on Saturday. Such a nice guy. He seems excited about my idea, and I am DEFINITELY excited. Just bummed I have to wait til August to get it done! He's booked solid til May, and I'm busy this summer.
Is it too early to start a countdown? :/

Had my consult with Dennis at Providence Tattoo on Saturday. Such a nice guy. He seems excited about my idea, and I am DEFINITELY excited. Just bummed I have to wait til August to get it done! He's booked solid til May, and I'm busy this summer.
Is it too early to start a countdown? :/

Happy birthday to me! (2 years ago :p )
If I look a bit sweaty, it was almost 60 degrees centigrade.