Delicious

I saw this on IG and I'm like, I know that leg... Glad to see how beautifully your tattoos are coming along

I saw this on IG and I'm like, I know that leg... Glad to see how beautifully your tattoos are coming along

Fully healed from Anderson Luna @ Saved tattoo NYC . Will most likely add to it on this years NYC visit ;) Also posted in the lady head thread.

I just got this gar from Mat Welch earlier today. I also got a little beer mug filler from Paul Holland while he was guesting here, but I don't have a picture. I'm pumped on 'em!

I got this one finished today. I was told that the green in the buoy will settle down in a day or so.
The artist is Papa Joe in Boise, ID.

So my japanese arm piece has been shaded today by the talented Dan Innes at the Pearl Harbor Gift Shop in TO - I don't have a good photo of the whole thing yet here's a detail of my Hokusai Mt Fuji :)

I've been on a tattoo hiatus which was supposed to last until October, but this weekend I kinda sorta fell off the wagon...

By Nico, Blue Arms Tattoo (photo stolen from his instagram)

Got my shin and knee done by Marie Sena in Dallas at Saints and Sinners. Can't say enough nice stuff about Marie and my experience with her. She's doing some 2nd layer/blast over stuff on one of my arms next and then she's doing the side and back of that thigh. Can't get a good picture of my leg...its either too dark in the house, too weird outside, or has to be too far away to get it all in the shot. You get the idea though.

Last one by Hugo from Siha Tattoos (barcelona)
the pain was bearable and it was about 3 hours of line. shading and colours at the end of the month!

Teapot by Mors from Chiale Baby (Lille)

and calf by Servadio from AKA London
the lettering reads "DOOM"

Got my koi done today finally. We didn't go all the way around the back this time, the tattooist thought it would be better to wait until I extend it down to the forearm to do that. The colours don't look that great in the photo- irl they are far brighter. Need to take a daytime + healed photo at some point. 7.5 hours.

Boom!!

Almost fully healed now, leg skull/snake/flower by Scott Sylvia at Blackheart Tattoo.

Also drove up to Napa to get this lady head/eagle from Chad Koeplinger on Thursday. Super good experience.

Got this pantherose from Jeff Rassier at Black Heart yesterday. So stoked. If I lived here, I'd get a lot more tattoos a lot more quickly.

Thank you!!
So, as I have mentioned before, Junii usually has some inspiration right before the tattoo and our plans change a bit - now it looks like we're going back to two snakes, no hannya (maybe). And the collab? Oh, just Junii, Shad, and EVERYONE IN DIAMOND CLUB, nbd. !!!!!
At the beginning of the second day, I was looking at some frog paintings my hosts have around their home and vaguely thinking "what a cool tattoo that would be". Headed to the shop. As soon as I get there Junii says "what do you think about this?" and pulls out some frog stencils she made!! As my mind was wrapping itself around this fun bit of synchronicity, she explained that she wanted to put a meditating frog down at the bottom of my leg, and then add some dreamy clouds working their way up so it appears that everything we see is what the frog is sitting and meditating about - we have a beginning now!!
She is going to add a few more frogs, one guy with beads, another one with a coin, maybe another guy. I am so satisfied with how this tattoo is coming along - not just with the quality of the work, but also the completely organic nature of how the tattoo itself is developing. It's really incredible to be part of this experience!! ...searching for more words...I'm just into it, is all. :p
I'm booked again in July...we'll see what she comes up with next!!!!!
I've attached some action shots and one of me being just clearly insanely happy to be where I am. (Thank you for indulging me). Yes @Lance, best birthday present to self ever.
@Zillah the koi looks great!! You are a beast to sit for 7.5 hours - that shit is hard! Congrats and can't wait to see a healed pic.

Latest session. 18 hours in now, the end is in sight! Thanks to Stewart Robson and FST.

About a year old - fresh on the left and healed on the right. Still learning about this and in retrospect would have done things a bit different - nevertheless a fair outcome!

A lot of my real estate has been filled up and so I've ended up going the unorthodox route of putting multiple smaller pieces on my thighs. So thought I would share a racy picture of me in my underwear...I mean of this bizarro mystical panther I had placed on my inner thigh by Shawn O'Connor (now in Nelson, BC at Timber Tattoo Co). One sit for 4 hours. I'm planning on getting another sit in at the end of summer to add some flames as well as fill in all the thigh gaps with spider webbing.
- - - Updated - - -
"Don't lick the frog"

Not sure whose they are - but they're awesome.
Artist = Jeff Ensminger

So I decided to join. I'm also really bored at work and my husband has been on my case to join for awhile. So hi! I think I met a few of you when we visited SF!

yes! And read this bullshit
We’re going to talk about racism now
Because 90% of the opinions that end up in my inbox aren’t critical of my critiques, tattoo history, or anything else I feature. They’re denials of racist imagery. And when I call someone out on racism, the anger is always directed at the accusation of racism—not the racism itself.
Now I disagree with the theory that white people, including myself, should feel bad about something our ancestors did (ie: slavery, genocide, etc). There is not some mystical racist gene that we are all born with. My family are immigrants, so should I feel guilt over slavery which “my people” did, while my gene pool was in backwoods Eastern Europe until about 50 years ago? I don’t think so.
But that isn’t to say that I have cart blance to say or do racist things. The idea of “white privilege” it that we still benefit from racism every day because of what has happened historically.
Let’s go through some examples of how, as a white person, your tattoo imagery cannot only be incredibly offensive, but you yourself benefit from such offenses:
Sugar Skulls: Sugar Skulls are fucking cool. There is no way around that. It’s a really expressive religious ceremony that, for other cultures, we have no equivalent too. But to use them in tattoos without meaning or history is to absolutely privilege your own ideas over another culture’s. Does their intent not matter compared to your own? Even worse, these “sexy” sugar skulls are a way of turning a religious tradition around and sexualizing a caricature of that culture’s women. And how do white people benefit? By making Mexican culture some “other” that can be used or discarded however you like, you are undermining the agency and humanity of the people who created it! This may not hit as close to home for non-American leaders, but white Americans benefit in huge ways because of Mexican immigration. Mexican workers are hunted by the police, the FBI, and even by vigilantes with guns. They are forced to work dangerous, low-paying jobs to subsidize everything from food costs to childcare. White bosses make huge profits off of farm workers working for less than minimum wage, and white women are returning to the work force post-child birth because they can hire someone of color to watch their children for less than they make.
“Sexy Indians”, Dream Catchers, etc: The portrayal of Native American cultures as homogeneous (warbonnets or dreamcatchers as broadly “indian” verses culturally specific) is to deny that they were separate, independent nations. To deny this is to deny the illegal invasion of those lands when we massacred their people and took their land. The idea of creating a caricature of that culture portrays them as a dead thing—something in the past that no longer exists. And how do white people benefit? All the natural resources we take from the US belonged to someone else. They were taken by our government. If we were to pay back all that we stole, prices for everything would go up. Hell: if the government were to give it back to the people they stole it from, what would happen to us? Native “reservations” are also one of the only places where you can gamble legally in the US, yet many remain some of the most impoverished places in the continent. Just like European Jews were allowed to money-lend during Medieval Catholicism, they serve a social function now but can be easily disposed of when needed.
Kanji or Chinese Symbols: Once again, it’s not your culture. These, in my opinion, aren’t as outrightly appropriative as other symbols taken from other cultures because they don’t involve caricatures of that people. But when, in fact, the majority of symbols put on as tattoos are incorrect in part or entirely—what’s the difference between this and saying something like “chee chong chee” and claiming your “speaking Chinese” as a joke? It’s a bad, tasteless imitation. But how do white people benefit? Once again, viewing a language or people as “other” dehumanizes them. Imagine a factory, in your state or providence, where workers are locked in by management, paid less than a living wage working 10+ hrs a day, often denied pay, are in unhuman conditions… there would be a fight against it! And yet, these same conditions are the day-to-day lives of most people who make our clothes. But they’re often portrayed as “lesser” and, if worthy of any attention, worthy of pity. Racism is used to keep us from respecting their rights and supporting their labor fights while we benefit through cheap commodities produced at their expense.
Confederate Flags, Nazi Symbols, White Power Symbols: These are racist, right? Everyone can pretty much agree here! The difference is they are overt: they state, I believe I am better than other people because of my race. But I’m listing this here because, as outlined above, claiming “I can say/do as I like” ALSO puts your own wants or interpretations over those of another culture. You might not be announcing “I am better because I’m white” over a loud speaker, but your actions certainly do.
However, white people also suffer because of racism. Not in the way that people of color do, but economically—yes. For American readers, think about how badly racism has affected minimum wage laws. Everyone makes less, across the board, because if “we don’t work for less then we can’t compete with the Mexicans.” Like there is some American “we” and non-white, foreign “they.” I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d rather see undocumented immigrants making a living wage than I’d like to continue seeing these CEO’s paychecks get fatter and fatter. And yet, this division is justified entirely by racism! Fight it now before it comes back to bite you too.
Lastly, “reverse racism” is bullshit. “Your’e being racist against white people.” It’s the same logic that claims a minimum wage worker is being unfair for hating the CEO of their company while the CEO profits off of their work. Don’t blame the victim!
If you want to seriously learn more, I recommend reading news from BlackAgendaReport.com; picking up the book How a Minority Can Change Society; the book 1491; or hit me up and I can give you some more specific recommendations.
Someone get this girl off her white horse and white guilt. Jesus fucking Christ!

I have been thinking about this alot lately.
It has, over the years, become more and more acceptable for a woman to have tattoos, and to be heavily tattooed... In my community, lots and lots of young women get heavily tattooed (usually with garage garbage starting in high school), or they get visibly tattooed. it is considered normal. But, there still is a stigma to being a tattooed woman, even one as lightly tattooed as myself.
With my grand total of three tattoos, when people see my chest, its ooh's and ah's and where did you get that done?
but on the flip side, I've had people ask me, what will your children think? How will you look in your wedding dress? What man will find you, obese with tattoos, attractive?
I, planning on becoming more and more tattooed (but never heavily tattooed, just not my thing), feel like in the eyes of the world, when we get tattooed, especially in visible places, we are surrendering our femininity in the eyes of our peers.
My father and brother both said my chest tattoo was too big... though it only covers the front of my shoulder. Girls who get their chest plate done, a sleeve of tattoos, are all at the mercy of our peers, who degrade us for being "trendy"and not truly feminine.
But isn't this decoration of our body seizing and controlling our sexuality and femininity? This has parallels, in my opinion, to the current contraception/abortion debate.
Not that they are morally equivalent, but that each appears to be an attack on a woman's autonomy of her body and her own control of her sexuality.
I get the impression, especially with my field of interest (Political Science), that tattoos are for people who are ok with being somehow "lesser", and for men. Lesser, in the sense that those who get tattooed come from a pretentious side, and won't amount to anything, or that they are low class. And that tattoos are for men, because a woman with an arm tattoo is a big "dyke", that a woman's tattoo is pretty and small and soft, but never visible. But men can get tattoos with impunity, for they have been the realm of men for a long time.
Tattoos are becoming more and more common among the population in general, and more and more acceptable. But we are held back by what a woman is "supposed" to look like. This is one facet of the struggle of the modern American woman. She must be traditionally feminine, want a family, look the part... But with the rise of equality for women, now we are supposed to go out, get high paying careers, make our mark on the world, be as successful and intellectual as men... These are contradictory demands. We have this cult of ultimate womanhood, ultimate motherhood, that has no room for tattoos, no room for ugliness, no room for personal freedom. The ultimate woman in our society is a devoted mother, who is totally involved in every aspect of her children's lives, who looks pretty on the outside, with nothing deviating from the norm. No visible tattoos, a normal hairstyle, clothes that fit the contemporary mold.
We are taught by our society we must fit into this womanhood, this being, in order to be a good woman. But now, we must both be what we want to be, and what society wants to perceive us as. It's a complex issue. Tattooing is becoming more acceptable, but, in my opinion, still held back by traditional values and norms for women.

been in labor and delivery for the last 9 hours. my nephew is on his way. came home to sleep for a few hours, but super stoked

Ok back to report, my nephew Jordan was born at 5:45 this morning. He's adorable and big. Havent been able to hold him yet but I will get to when we go back to the hospital