beez

How about we let...

Done by Bradley Tompkins at Frith St. Great guy and great shop
(borrowed his IG pic)

To: @DavidR, @cltattooing, @jen7, @bongsau, and @Abellve. Thank you for all ya'lls reply.
I am around. This thread got to me a bit and I just need to sit back drink a beer and relax for bit.
Thank you gals/guys. @jen7, Engineering background (By trade) here as well. Metals/Engines/Electronics just fascinate me! The knowing of how it all works.

A new flash sheet I'm working on. I know I still suck but these are for you @Graeme. Baby steps buddy.

While I think it would be cool if one was given - say, to a lifelong client who had just had a piece done that both parties found phenomenal, broke the mold, or time to retire the machine type good - as a commemoration, I would never ask for one, and would refuse profusely if offered. I mean, it's literally their tools of the trade.

save your money for more tattoos.
leave the tattoo machines for the tattooers
my $0.02 :)

I can only speak for myself but I think you'll find the overwhelming majority would agree that if there is such a thing as intruding into our industry (and there is), collecting the tools of our trade is the definition of it.

No, one cannot.

Panthers! LST Panthers!!!!!

I haven't been getting tattooed for very long, but after my first one was completed I was all gung-ho to start working on my back. Then I realized that instead of rushing into it I should let everything marinate until the right idea came along. I've turned over several ideas in the intervening years, and am now (I think, yay!) settled upon something that feels right and true for me.
Great advice @bongsau!!!!

That is truth indeed.
Cheers to you for that *excellent* write up. Thank you bongsau!

Hi
I'´m Hampus Samuelsson from Sweden. Long interested in cultural tattoos and collected a few as well. It all started in the beginning of the 21th century when I traveled to Samoa for my first time. My girlfriend at the time had her family there. Her father worked at the hospital on Tutuila so we visited them during christmas. They knew this tattoo artist there, Wilson Fitiao, and he did my very first hand tapped tattoo. After that I needed to get back. And so I did in 2007. This time I had to meet up with Petelu Suluape. So the search began about a year before the trip. I talked to Heidi Hay in my home town, she were about to marry Paulo Suluape which tragically ended up in him being murdered :(. But even if she were close to Petelo, she could not help me. So I started calling to the US, tried to get hold of Freewind Suluape but failed, talked to a bunch of artists and customers but nothing. So I searched the internet. There I found I guy on bebo, an australian facebook version at the time. He was family to Petelo Suluape so we started chatting a bit and some phone calls. Eventually I could speak to Petelo himself. His english was not as good as I thought it would be, so I got suspicious. Talked to Heidi again and she also thought it sounded weird, Petelo speaks good english. Turned out I had been speaking with his brother, they shared the same name! The rumour says he was born Alaiva'a but took his brothers place in school and been called Petelo since. Anyway, time was running out and I left for New Zealand with still no contact with Petelo Suluape. Four month went by in NZ and I sat on the plane to Samoa about a year after I started my search, with nothing. But while walking the streets in Apia a saw an american that I recognized from the site couchsurfing. There were only two registered couches in Samoa so I had read both their profiles. This guy, Peter, had his wrists tattoed by Petelo. I called out his name, and he was much surprised that I recognized him. I asked him if he knew where I could find Petelo,
-Sure, he's a shop right around the corner, next to Spoons (the ice cream shop)!
A whole year of searching and it was this easy? I went straight to the shop where I met, another, Peter. He was the son of Petelo and a very talented artist. I asked him if I could book a time with Petelo.
-Petelo? no, he's in Hawaii.
*doh*
-He'll be back on Thursday.
*yay
Got his cell number and waited for Thursday, called but no answer, friday nothing. Saturday morning, finally! I described what I wanted and he sounded interested.
-Can you come tomorrow, 10 o'clock?
-Hell yeah.
It was finally happening. Took a taxi down to Faleasiu and we went through my ideas. He grabbed my arm and twisted it around almost to breaking point. Then finally said.
-It's a big tattoo........ OK!
Six (!) hours later it was done and they smuggled my out of the village in a minivan and dropped me of at the highway where I had to hitch hike back to Apia, manuia le kerisimasi. Why? It was Sunday and he wasn't allowed to tattoo on Sundays or he have to pay a fine to the church. Eight years later and my tattoo still rocks. Solid black and sharp lines.



But, that's not the reason I came. I've done some viking reenactment in my days, about ten years, and met a lot of interesting people. Some of them tattoo artist working with hand poking techniques. Peter Walrus, Kai Uwe Faust and Colin Dale to name a few. Being a hobby videographer I ended up doing a short interview with Colin Dale that I'd like to share with you. Hope you like it :)


Watch it in full HD here: https://vimeo.com/abacrombie/roots
Maybe something for your video section @slayer9019

We started up sign language classes again, on the 4th of 8 sessions this time, and we did 6 last time. Getting better and better w/the short sentences I have to sign at work w/my little guy. I sign to my kids and husband too...husband isn't impressed. But whatever, I'm impressed w/myself so who cares.

@CultExciter, it's a Big Move spring! Been up in Portland Maine working for the last three weeks while the wife wraps up things in NYC and we do the big move Thursday-Friday. Walked away from a great job (and job offer..) and tons of great people -- but also walked away from a city we're simply not willing to simply survive in anymore for more reasons I care to list. Don't know if it's the right move, but I was giggling by myself in the car when I shot outta there three weeks ago.. Had an unbelievable send-off on my last shift. Doing my best to look ahead!

@CultExciter
Super good plans, both of them! Wish you all the luck man!
My stuff:
- Moved in with my girlfriend three weeks ago. Beautiful roomy apartment in the city. First time in my life that I don't live in the suburbs. Even though I really loved living with my four friends in the commune house this feels very exciting and like a new stage to live life from.
- Moved out of the commune house but still rent a corner in there as a workshop/painting space. Just painted the walls and started arranging it. It's going to be awesome to have a space like that to really focus.
- Started a eight week meditation course two weeks ago. Exciting and interesting so far. Don't think I ever sat down for any extent of time and tried to "clear my head" before. After 27 years of constant input/output, except for sleep, it's fascinating and also very hard.
- Got back to spending more time and effort in the kitchen again. In love with cooking vegan food, so much to learn and try out!
- Somehow got over my strong fear of interpersonal conflicts. Or, at least I can act the way I want and not choke up or suppress my opinions. It feels really good to be able to be honest with my feelings and opinions, instead of "being easy going" in fear of creating a heated argument. Conflicts are just obstacles to get beyond, it's not dangerous.

With respect to cohesiveness and advance planning, I did a reverse approach to my tattoo suit. I didn't get my first couple tattoos with the intent to do a bodysuit, I just got some tattoos and then continued to balance side-to-side to maintain my symmetry.
I had arms, legs, ribs, stomach, chest, neck/shoulders and thighs completed before I started my back, which is an opposite approach. That's just the way it worked out for me as my interest and excitement for tattooing grew. I got tattooed by 14 different guys over the years. I had one session in particular in 2009 (my chest, during my 100th hour) that the shop had a full house of heavyweights. Me working on full size chest piece and 3 other cats working on backs (waist up). Everyone hit the day rate, after 5 hours was no charge, and there was some magic in the shop that day. From that moment seeing backpieces in the flesh in progress, I knew that's where I was headed tattoo-wise but wasn't in a place in my life to commit to the time/money nor had I an idea for a subject I felt strongly enough that I could carry the weight of on my back. I was headed there all along in hindsight, just sometimes in life that direction you're headed does not reveal itself fully to you until you are ready to become aware of it.
I've been to China to further my kung fu training 3 times since 2008, the last 2 times (2011 and 2014) to train at Shaolin. The first trip is when I finally knew I wanted a monk on my back, similar to the murals etched in the walls of the temple and the design on the back of the training vest the monks wear. I connected with the tattooer and the correspondence for the back began in 2012. In the meantime I worked on some other spots like the tiger in my belly, some thigh tattoos, collar/neck while I patiently waited for the green-go-light. Because of my existing tattoos though, there were certain spots I wanted to complete first in sequence to frame and layer my works the way I desired. There was some other life-shit that went down in the meantime, namely my Sifu - my kung fu master - passing away suddenly and one of his dying wishes was that we take the students again to Shaolin and continue our relationship with the temple. That's an intense story on it's own and it just heightened the desire, cemented the idea for my Shaolin tribute. It wasn't something I picked out of a comic book and was like yeah that's cool -there's nothing wrong with that!-but I wanted something ~heavy~, you know what I'm sayin? I know what I'm sayin!
So ffwd to my first back session. Seeing all the crazy stuff and bright colours I have going on all down the front and arms/legs, my tattooer designed my backpiece to be simple, bold and black (as fuck) to balance it out, align the horizon lines and gravity of the water in my tattoos, really attract the focus, make the tattoo powerful and tie everything together. Because I had my ribs done prior, it made my back canvas a bit narrower to work with, which is why I ended up with 1 monk in a kung fu pose instead of the original idea of 2 monks in combat. It all ties together, maybe not as clean as a bodysuit from japan, but nevertheless ties together my stories and experiences, 14 tattooers and 69(?) sessions. And whether you are tie-ing pieces from one artist or many, a full body tattoo has people mesmerized and going "what in the fuck" because it is not a common sight to see in public. It's going to look cohesive because it's YOU!
And I am very happy I waited. It has made the experience more exciting, I'm more tuned into what's going with the tattoo-process and most important of all it has made it all more meaningful to me.
so @knucklehead211 to answer your inquiries and add some other points:
1. how to prepare? MANIFEST the idea of tattooing your back. the subject/theme/motif will come to you in time.
2. acne? i can't comment on that, see a dermatologist and deal with your issue now in preparation.
3. Do from shoulders to at least below the belt and onto the bum. No biker backpieces (jokes)! You don't need to do your front either.
4. Don't sweat the cohesiveness, as I wrote about above.
5. Let the tattooer make it fit your body, an experienced tattooer will.
6. Don't rush! See #5, I know a lot of dumb-dumb friends who I pointed in the right direction and vouched for to get proper tattoo, but people these days get very impulsive and gratified, so they rush out and get some half-baked poor tattoo because they can't wait a month or a year.
7. Know what you want and be able to articulate it. Keep it simple. Manifest the idea until the idea is solid enough and you are 101% behind it.
8. Start saving now so when it's go time, you've got money in the bank to keep up with the progress i.e. weeks between sessions not months.
9. Get inspired! And I don't mean scrolling instagram every hour or even LST. I mean get inspired by the real world. Go to the library, research old wood block prints and illustrations, go to the museum when the samurai armour exhibit is in town. Spend time in the mountains and rivers, go to the gardens in your city. Travel. Go to the art gallery.
10. Try and get the piece started in the fall so it will be worked on/healing in the winter, done by summer.
11. Plan long-term, plan in advance and be patient.
12. Have fun and enjoy the whole process.
There is a reason why not everybody wears a backpiece and even fewer have finished backpieces. It is a big commitment.
It took 2 full years of correspondence to make mine happen. The most rewarding things in life are the things you work for and wait for.
cheers

My advice on acne is like Mr Toby's, don't pick, let it run it's course. Like beez, I've also seen less acne pop up under tattooed skin so hopefully that all works out for the better.
For coverage and cohesiveness, you have a few options for Japanese style. You can just do the kame-no-koh, which is the shoulders to thighs, then call it a day. It's okay for a back piece to just be a back piece, you don't have to blend it into the shoulders.

When it came to me planning my back piece my thoughts were quite simple. I want one and I want it to be big. The result is that I have a full Japanese back piece in progress. With this as an on going project I have been a little aware of the possibility of spots especially across the top of it as I can get some big spots on my shoulders. The way I have approached it has been the same as the healing process for a new tattoo... whatever happens don`t pick the spots... All that's gonna do is make any damage worse. So far this has served me well.
With regards to combining a back piece with existing tattoos I feel it is something that happens pretty frequently and a good artist will be able to balance and work with what is already there and make it look good. And certainly there is no necessity to expand a back piece in to a full suite. Mine stops half way across my ribs and doesn't look strange or unusual. In fact it is quite a traditional Japanese design to stop with an almost straight line running down either side of the body.
My advice would simply be find a subject matter you like and and an artist you want to work with and just go and speak to them. Simple as that.

Panthers! LST Panthers!!!!!

At the end of the day, all your tattoos will look like they belong there. It sort of takes care of itself, coverage wise!
Re back piece - really gonna depend on what kind you want (and you already know you wanna go to the thighs!) and the artist you work with. definitely don't stop considering how it will all look in the long run - your thoughts will matter when it comes down to it! - but it will also work itself out in general. IMHO w my own tattoos at least!
- - - Updated - - -
@knucklehead211 re acne - sometimes i have bad back breakouts too. None of my pieces have been ruined. Actually seems like I have fewer pimples in the areas of coverage.

This is an interesting topic. While I typically roll my eyes at all the kids getting face tattoos, I've also seen a few that I like. Here's one done by Boris:
Now about the life consequences part. When I was in my late 20s and doing a fisheries degree at UBC, I went and got a small anchor under my eye. I already had half a bodysuit. Aside from the occasional person asking me about it, there were zero life consequences. I went on to work as a biologist for the federal government in Canada and then the same in the US. Never was it an issue.
I think we often judge facial tattoos because we often see them on street people or really trashy people who are trying to repulse us. However when someone more integrated into society gets one (which is rare), the consequences are often nil.
Before i got my hands tattooed, everyone told me how big of a deal it would be and how there would be "consequences". Afterwards I found there were zero consequences. Then the same thing happened with my neck. I was a dorky college student getting all of these job stoppers while continually getting good jobs (research, consulting, education). It got to a point where I felt it was all horsecrap, so it was as simple as wanting that little anchor and then getting it - and again, no consequences and no problems with job prospects.
Now, getting your entire face tattooed...i think that's bat shit crazy. And I strongly dislike the script above the eye, and also the little trinkets under the eye, which I have haha! Whenever I see someone else with an anchor under the eye I think " oh man look at us unoriginal losers!"

I have only tattooed two peoples' faces and they already had facial tattoos so I was alright with it. Fucking difficult type of skin to tattoo though, so thin and delicate! I'm generally not a big fan of face tattoos, although the two people in my opinion who do pull them off well are Sonju and Freddy.
As a general rule though, the face is the last place on a person that I would tattoo. Like for instance I would way rather tattoo your dick than your face and even that's a stretch (do you see what I did there?). I also won't tattoo your face unless you have significant coverage on your hands/neck/head.

Man, so many killer tattoos that I saw on Instagram in the last few days. Of course they belong to members here. Haha. Great work everyone.

Sold. I was going to do Judge hammers, but I would need to be made a moderator before gettin' that. That is a promotion which I am not expecting any time soon.

@beez Thank you a lot! Mindset has a lot to do with it, it's really fascinating to think about. Actually now that you liked my other post I realized I put this one in the wrong thread.. Going to fix it.