ironchef

I always told myself that I'd wait to be dating someone to get a full back piece (so they can lotion my back hahaha), but then I thought to myself, "Hey I can reach back there. I can just do it myself I guess."

Or could I just dry heal it?

Decisions, decisions.

An extra hand never hurts :p

@ironchef, beautiful work, nothing quite like traditional Japanese, perfect flow. Do you plan on having full legs? What's your plan for the rest of your body?

Nothing planned below the knees for the moment. Kicking around some ideas but don't relish the pain associated with knee caps and knee ditch, haha. No plans for anything on my front torso either. My right thigh is open at the moment and already have some ideas. Will probably see Henning towards the end of this year for him to color in the phoenix.

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@Russ Your Vargas piece is INSANE! LOVE LOVE the details and the colors. WOW!

Final session on my back with Rubendall today. It's bittersweet. So happy to have this portion of my back finished but will miss the fun times with Rubendall. Great gentleman, incredible artist and shrewd businessman. The complete ball of wax and then some. I still have some appointments booked and I'm thinking about starting something new with him. Henning will top things off end of this year when he'll be visiting and doing his usual guest spot at Kings Ave! Enjoy the pics!

Eyes, spine, and the orb/pearl

Filled in some more flame work as well

Rubendall said when after the orb/pearl is full healed, it'll lighten up to a bit of an iridescent affect.

Full moon close-up :o

I hope they make the exhibition catalog available to the public online/mail. Otherwise I would ask a big favor of anyone attending to help me grab a copy. I saw what look like a sneak preview of it on FB and it appears to be a bound hardcopy:

I am asking for opinions, or artistic thoughts....as I know what I am about to ask will be answered with a "get whatever you want"

I have a samurai fighting a dragon on my arm, wind bars, cherry blossoms and a koi fish swimming down my chest as a chest panel. I will post a picture later but am trying to paint a picture of a somewhat traditional Japanese theme that is a chest panel, covers my shoulder and is a half sleeve.

So enough background, I am looking to get a substantial amount of ink on my other side to balance out things. Thoughts on people completely switching themes from one side to the other? Side completed is full color and I was thinking of going black and grey on the other? Thoughts on going to a completely different theme?

I am curious on some peoples thoughts.... My thought is they are two different sides of the body and could reflect different tastes

@Killercook76 has half Japanese work on the left side of this body and on the right side of his body is more American traditional work. Let's see if he can chime in here on his own experience and maybe share some pics as well.

@cltattooing More on this:

Police Release Video Of Bed-Stuy Tattoo Parlor Rape Suspects: Gothamist

In NYC

Woman Raped At Bed-Stuy Tattoo Parlor: Gothamist

In case it wasn't mentioned....KINGS AVENUE. Seriously there is also Da Vinci's as well. Civ does amazing work as well.

State of Grace Tattoo Webstore

My wife just ordered three more.

Just ordered the new prints. Looks like I'll need more frames! WOOOHOOO!

Pardon the naivety and the rhetorical question, but how does anyone get through the sore/swollen healing stage of an ass tattoo? I'm a side sleeper and had a hard time not rolling onto my arm, but presumably you can't choose to not sit...

First and second day are probably the most tough as you're still swollen. I had to basically force myself to sleep on my stomach which is hard and tiring to do over the course of several nights. I usually call in sick or take a couple vacation days off from work. Spend the day mostly on my stomach or on my feet. By the third day I'm generally good to go to sit down, though gingerly.

I've had several sessions on my back, ass and back of thighs now which I've gotten use to it oddly enough.

Nathan Kostechko

I fell in love with this the other day. I would totally consider doing something like this for filler, very neat!

Very nice!

A tiger, maybe fighting a snake, maybe not, from Dave Cummings at PSC Tattoo. We're scheduled to start at the end of July, maybe earlier if he has cancellations.

I vote TIGER

If you do finish it during your next session, with your remaining appointments available are you planning or able or even allowed to start something new? Just thinking. I mean you do have them booked already.

Yes, definitely thinking of a couple of things to start up since I do have the appointments. Depending on how things go, one of the future slots might take a few hours for touch-ups but I'll discuss details with Rubendall.

So who's next? I'm headed in on the 13th.

28th might be my last session with Rubendall. He thinks we're going to wrap things up in the 6 hours I have booked. I have additional appointment times booked so we'll see. :D

Okay, per request, one Monmon Cat by Horitomo.

HORITOMO (@horitomo_stateofgrace) | Just finished | Intagme - The Best Instagram Widget

These are AMAZING! Bet it was an AWESOME experience.

you should enter it in the tattoo of the month contest

@huggernaut agreed with the above! Beau does some great tattoo work and his posts on Instagram are hilarious!

@Fala Slightly off topic but looks like Shinji and his client made it out to the annual New Year's Polar Bear swim in NYC

Hi guys,

I'm new here. My name is Ryan and I'm looking for some feedback on my new website. My website is Tat Fund We are a crowdfunding website for tattoos. Basically what everyone can do is make an account, then make a campaign. The campaign tells the story of your tattoo idea and how much you need to get funded. Then you let everyone know through social medias and anyone with or without an account can donate to your campaign. Once your campaign is funded you will receive the funds. Its simple! The more people that get on the website the more likely you will get your campaign funded!

Any questions just ask! [email protected] Please give me feedback, thanks guys!

Spamming the threads on this forum isn't the best way to make friends nor a good way to get people to jump on-board with your idea.

Anybody heading to the DeVita event at Kings Ave in two weeks?

@suburbanxcore and I will be attending.

Depending on what day I might drop by since I live about a 15-20 minute walk from the shop. :D

Saw this on their Facebook:

Takahiro Horitaka Kitamura: Sharing the Legacy and Artistry of the ... | Articles | Discover Nikkei

Merry Festivus and Happy Kwanzaa!