YOMONEY

I learned how to shuck oysters last night. It's actually really fun to do, and oysters are delicious so I see a lot of oysters in my future.

^ I agree, I hate how fetishized tattoos are. Not even just on women, probably half the pictures of guys with tattoos are the smoldering model types. Most of the time when I try to google certain designs, I feel like I'm looking at soft-core porn. I've always thought tattoos are more for the individual getting them (not in the upside-down "IT'S FOR ME!" way :rolleyes:), but this hyper sexual stance on tattoos makes it seem like you get them to get ogled by strangers. I feel more beautiful with mine, I don't need to dress like a porn star to express that.

This is just not true. Paying a high price might not always mean you are going to get the best tattoo ever, but typically the better artists charge more because of supply & demand. They are known to be really good and have customers lining up to get their work. They can charge more. They should charge more, you are paying for their quality, dedication, and creativity. The scratchers cannot charge high prices because they suck, they need to get customers however they can. There is a middle ground, where maybe they are not scratchers, but they are also not next-level amazing and they probably charge somewhere in the middle. $100/hr. is not high for tattoos.

i like this mitch love ship/lighthouse/lightning scene flash/painting..

im def looking into get a whole ship scene like this, probably with a captains head too, before the year is out..
- - - Updated - - -
and achor. i want to see how much naval shit i could shove into one peice..

As for awesome things, @DJDeepFried and I saw the Dalai Lama speak yesterday at the Forum in LA. It was great. He's a pretty charming human. (Sorry, old news if you are on our Instagram.)

Thanks, really appreciate it. Ironically someone just tore me a new one on our Instagram account about how we could possibly justify the pricing for a 10 seconds worth of work, they sadly failed to read the person had more then one tattoo and we do scale for very small pieces. Thanks for the support!

current progress on my chest .
first pic. how it was.
second picture. how it looked after 2 treatments with a medlite II nd yag laser.
third picture. how it looked straight after laser with picosure. the bright blue side, got lasered the second time with picosure, the dark side, got lasered the first time with picosure.

that's pretty crazy man, does it numb out your arm like you just iced it?
also, I talked to an artist a couple weeks ago. im good to go on a cover up next month. will keep posted.

if you guys haven't seen it ... here is my blog on realself about my laserjourney :)
Tattoo Removal of a Full Sleeve and a Lowerleg Sleeve / Chest, Stomach and Neck with Picosure- Germany, DE - PicoSure review - RealSelf

Thanks @Brock Varty & @YOMONEY - I probably said this elsewhere on LST but when we started, we made it clear in our plan that we don't want to shame people about having tattoos, for any reason. I also am not offended when someone only wants a few treatments because they want a cover up. At the end of the day, we (business partner & I) want to make people happy. Tattoo removal is very different compared to being tattooed. I build relationships with my clients, I see them every 4-6 weeks for months on end, in some cases a year or more. They need to be as comfortable coming into me as possible, because they obviously don't like what they have on them, so why make the environment one of regret and shame? Seems like bad business.
We offer a standing discount to enlisted members of the military and first responders, but like I said, are trying to work with recruiters about those wishing to enlist and trying to find government money to help even partially fund removal of tattoos for those who are re-entering the working world after being incarcerated, no longer in a gang or former member of a hate group. Also looking to partner up with local job fairs to help those who tattoos in visible locations (knucks & necks) who are now having issues pursuing more "conservative" jobs where such tattoos are frowned upon.
We're all tattooed, we all know that there shouldn't be prejudice but there is, and sometimes you just have to bend a little "for the man" as they say. Having worked in NYC, it's perfectly acceptable to be tattooed up and down, left and right, in most industries. Go to small town USA, totally different story.
I also agree with the pricing. We're not undercutting our local competition, we're competitively priced, but due to promos, sales and specials you can probably get a slightly better deal through us. That said, I have a few clients who come in from a neighboring state and would rather drive 2 and a half to three hours to me because their local options cost THREE TIMES what we charge!

The technology is shorter bursts of light mean less heat, in turn means less damage to the surrounding skin tissue and yield faster healing with more efficient fading. 2-3x faster removal? That I'm not so sure of. I can't see a tattoo that would normally take 12 treatments being cut back to 6, but maybe down to 9-10, that seems reasonable to me.
Pico- - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nd:YAG laser you're currently being treated with is a nano-second laser, or a billionth of a second burst of light at a time. The Pico will be firing at a trillionth of a second, but from what I've read they both still operate at 10hz

this cracked me up..

greaser greg if he were a tattoo..

these are younger kids out of brooklyn doing their thing. makes me feel old. diff generation. but it was just yesterday i was kicking it pretty much the exact same as these dudes (still do, tho hah).

Here's more numbers, again who knows how the questions are being asked and what segment of the population they are polling: Nearly One-Third Of People With Tattoos Regret Getting One: Study
My issue with that article is the word "regret" - I talk to people every day, "regret" is rarely used. Sure, when people find out I do tattoo removal I hear a lot of, "good to know, I have this one tattoo that I'm not fond of anymore..." but that word regret really bothers me for some reason. Like art on the wall in your home or the color of car you drive, some people just change their minds, and that's not always a regretful decision.

why is there a parrot there?

ron swanson parks and rec..

Ahhhh, so lucky to have the job I have. Only rarely do I wake up not excited to go to work. (Not a tattooer, a speech therapist). :)

Hi all,
well, i want to show you guys my Laserprojects. i hope you guys understand me, because my englishgrammar is not the best (i never had english in school ;)
here are the pictures of my Lowerleg.
Before and during the laserprocess.
I started it in March 2011.
we started to cover it in December 2011.
The First Testlasering !

This was on the Inside

Outside and start of the first Treatment


And finally, it's almost finished! :)



And Here is my Current Project i started in november 2011. it goes to the end...
it was a full sleeve! almost 10 Years old... not really happy with it at all...




Current Status


Enjoy :)

The same reason why Dave Navarro is a judge on Ink Masters...

Who needs to apprentice when you have the internet and youtube has tutorials!
(jokes)

i heard a great qoute the day about how most people hate their job and need to find happiness outside of it. and how making money off of what you love is a pretty new american ideology that a lot of us were fed, and in reality, very few of us get to do.
tattooing will live on and so will yoshi and chris crinkle is dead (rip). .

it's great to see gang banger give up the life and even better to see people giving them a second chance

not really "wtf", but i love hearing about people like this..
Cover-Up Artist Removes Tattoos of Ex-Gang Members for Free - Yahoo! News

Second chances can be hard to come by, but Chris Baker, 42, a tattoo artist in Oswego, Ill., gives them away for free.
Since 2011, Baker, who's also a youth pastor, has created more than 500 free tattoos for former gang members and victims of human trafficking eager to remove or cover up the visible evidence of their past. Big city human trafficking networks are often run by gang members, who tattoo their victims with barcodes, pimps' names or gang symbols to track them and make it almost impossible for them to escape.
"It's my way of giving back to the community that's given me so much," Baker told ABCNews.com, in explaining his service. "I just decided to do something positive, and to show people that people can change."
Baker founded INK 180, a nonprofit organization that he funds with money he earns from his regular tattooing business, and through donations. The name symbolizes the degree of change he hopes for in the lives of those he tattoos.
Baker has worked with former members of the Latin Kings, Black Disciples and Aryan Nation, explaining that the tattoos are like a rite of passage for initiated gang members.
It was during one of his youth group meetings that Baker realized he wanted to help these people, whose efforts to change and progress were often halted by the markings of their past.
Once a warehouse manager, Baker said that many of his employees had belonged to gangs, and they often compared their tattoos to Baker's religious ones.
"They would say, 'I wish I could get rid of my tattoos. I'm tired of getting judged,'" Baker recalled. "And I decided, 'That's my calling.'"
PHOTOS: Chris Baker: Tattoo Artist
For two years, Baker has worked with local, state and federal authorities to offer his services to former gang members who had difficulty finding jobs, or who were living in secrecy from gangs they'd left.
A member of his church who works with the Department of Homeland Security brought Baker's attention to victims of human trafficking - pointing out that by covering up or removing their tattoos, Baker could make it much harder for their captors find them.
The gang members who come on their own, or the women who have escaped sex trafficking rings and arrive with law enforcement protection, open up to Baker as he listens to them describe what they've done and what they want to do.
"These guys will say, 'Yeah, it hurts,' but it's almost like penance for them. It's representative of the pain they caused others, and they don't want to cause anymore," Baker said.
Baker leaves the type of tattoo up to his customers. "No matter the design, I just love being able to take away the visible reminders of their past and give them something beautiful to remind them of their future," said Baker.
"There was one guy from Kansas City who had gotten out of prison," Baker recalled. "We did a cover-up of a tattoo for him and found out he was an artist. He's now working as an artist for a greeting card company."
The Oswego village board recently approved Baker's special use permit, and in a few weeks, he will have a more permanent home for INK 180, after previously renting spaces. It'll be one of the few tattoo shops in the United States with a prayer wall and an information center for other nonprofit ministries in the area.
"People always ask me why I do this for free," Baker said. "The stories I hear make it worth it."

not really "wtf", but i love hearing about people like this..
Cover-Up Artist Removes Tattoos of Ex-Gang Members for Free - Yahoo! News

Second chances can be hard to come by, but Chris Baker, 42, a tattoo artist in Oswego, Ill., gives them away for free.
Since 2011, Baker, who's also a youth pastor, has created more than 500 free tattoos for former gang members and victims of human trafficking eager to remove or cover up the visible evidence of their past. Big city human trafficking networks are often run by gang members, who tattoo their victims with barcodes, pimps' names or gang symbols to track them and make it almost impossible for them to escape.
"It's my way of giving back to the community that's given me so much," Baker told ABCNews.com, in explaining his service. "I just decided to do something positive, and to show people that people can change."
Baker founded INK 180, a nonprofit organization that he funds with money he earns from his regular tattooing business, and through donations. The name symbolizes the degree of change he hopes for in the lives of those he tattoos.
Baker has worked with former members of the Latin Kings, Black Disciples and Aryan Nation, explaining that the tattoos are like a rite of passage for initiated gang members.
It was during one of his youth group meetings that Baker realized he wanted to help these people, whose efforts to change and progress were often halted by the markings of their past.
Once a warehouse manager, Baker said that many of his employees had belonged to gangs, and they often compared their tattoos to Baker's religious ones.
"They would say, 'I wish I could get rid of my tattoos. I'm tired of getting judged,'" Baker recalled. "And I decided, 'That's my calling.'"
PHOTOS: Chris Baker: Tattoo Artist
For two years, Baker has worked with local, state and federal authorities to offer his services to former gang members who had difficulty finding jobs, or who were living in secrecy from gangs they'd left.
A member of his church who works with the Department of Homeland Security brought Baker's attention to victims of human trafficking - pointing out that by covering up or removing their tattoos, Baker could make it much harder for their captors find them.
The gang members who come on their own, or the women who have escaped sex trafficking rings and arrive with law enforcement protection, open up to Baker as he listens to them describe what they've done and what they want to do.
"These guys will say, 'Yeah, it hurts,' but it's almost like penance for them. It's representative of the pain they caused others, and they don't want to cause anymore," Baker said.
Baker leaves the type of tattoo up to his customers. "No matter the design, I just love being able to take away the visible reminders of their past and give them something beautiful to remind them of their future," said Baker.
"There was one guy from Kansas City who had gotten out of prison," Baker recalled. "We did a cover-up of a tattoo for him and found out he was an artist. He's now working as an artist for a greeting card company."
The Oswego village board recently approved Baker's special use permit, and in a few weeks, he will have a more permanent home for INK 180, after previously renting spaces. It'll be one of the few tattoo shops in the United States with a prayer wall and an information center for other nonprofit ministries in the area.
"People always ask me why I do this for free," Baker said. "The stories I hear make it worth it."