ironchef

Rubendall and Henning said I "buck the Asian stereotype" of having no ass :D

Rubendall and Henning said I "buck the Asian stereotype" of having no ass :D

Rubendall and Henning said I "buck the Asian stereotype" of having no ass :D

Rubendall and Henning said I "buck the Asian stereotype" of having no ass :D

Rubendall and Henning said I "buck the Asian stereotype" of having no ass :D

awesome time with Shannon Pagliarini @ Crown and Anchor in Pt. Pleasant NJ
little collarbone action

And then the following Friday, i headed over to Leeds in England for a pre-planned trip with a mate who was getting his first piece from Lukasz Christopher. I was booked in with Tom Flanagan - both in Oddfellows.
I got a trad ship on my shin and a mandala on my foot (a Tom Flanagan staple). I have to sat, the foot was horrendously sore and not gonna go through it again any time soon!
We had a great time in Oddfellows, Tom is a great guy and the other lads in the shop made us feel right at home.




And the next morning. Swelling on the foot wasn't actually too bad

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The next weekend I was in Boston and in a very hungover and jet lagged state, I landed into Redemption in Cambridge to get a little piece done to fill in an awkward gap on my left sleeve.
Very luckily, Todd Noble (who I love) had a free spot to take the walk in. After some deliberation he drew on this little snake head.
Again, not a great snap...

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So, I've had a busy couple of weeks tattoo-wise. First, Paul Aherne in Dublin started extending me 3/4 sleeve on my right arm down to the wrist. Got the lining of the koi, water and peony done as well as the wind bars in.
Paul is guesting in Salon Serpent in Amsterdam coming up to Christmas so will get the bottom portion finished in early Jan. Then we'll look at relining the old sleeve, touching up the wind bars and just general tidying up the shitty parts (of which there are plebty!).
Apologies for the bad pics...


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Session 2 on Monday with Philip Szlosek at Kings Avenue Tattoo for my Gustave Dore inspired sleeve. Loving the way it's coming out so far!

(Pardon my overly enthusiastic post but I've just recently started getting tattooed, and I've never been tattooed at a convention - this is all pretty new to me so I'm gushing a bit!)
Not great pics, and no good clear ones of the tat yet, but am SO STOKED (and still a bit wonky) from my epic day yesterday with Darcy Nutt at the Richmond VA Tattoo Arts Convention. We emailed about ideas beforehand, but she decided not to draw anything up, wanting to meet me first and collaborate on something after we spoke in person. She had no other appointments, so my simple Japanese koi idea turned into my own freshwater angel fish from pics off my phone, and my beloved peonies.
She freehanded it onto my arm, and including that part of it and one potty break, it was 6 hours in the chair. That is why I look a bit cross-eyed strung out by the last pic! I ate an omelet at 9 am and hubby tried to get me to eat along the way, but I could not do it - endorphins from pain suppress the appetite, I guess. I tried to stay hydrated, though, and found my happy place. It is all about breathing. I knew I'd be leaving with something wonderful that I'd enjoy forever, and it would be worth it.
She won Tattoo of the Day (I guess I won too, but I didn't do anything but sit there), and that was pretty sweet! She finished at 9:25, the contest was at 9:30, and the pic was taken at about 10, at which point I didn't know my own name, lol. That is definitely a long session, I don't care who you are, but I had an opportunity that was not to be passed up, and Darcy is a genius.
When I went up to the judges, they looked at each other, shaking their heads and grinning as they all exclaimed, "Fuckin' Darcy..." cuz they KNEW this tattoo was going to win, lol. Anybody who has the chance to get some work done by this sweet, wonderful, brilliant lady you should definitely do it. She made this design up on the fly, without ever having done this type of fish before. I'll post pics when I get the ones done by the photographer at the show, or the ones she'll post on her IG, showing the fish better towards the back of my arm.



From Darcy's IG:
https://www.instagram.com/p/-ZQEJVMdTl/

not black friday...colour saturday...finished up today...
scott's the best..i'm sooo happy :)

Somewhere between 5 or 6 hours of outlining today with Sam Warren. He ended up going just the tiniest bit bigger than I thought he would, but I am so stoked to get this started. Oh, and this goes into the dreaded butt crease, which had me seeing stars.

Thanks for mentioning that, @bongsau, and here's another pic of the person with the tattoo. This is a person who just sat for 6 hours or so in constant pain, hour after hour, but looking pretty dang fresh in the end, and you know why? A FUCKIN GOOD TATTOO! That puts a smile on one's face, no? Good tattoos are worth it, and you know it when you've got it!
@CultExciter, speaking of Rodney Raines, this is his photo below, from his IG. He and Darcy have been collaborating on pieces lately and he was next to us the whole time working on an EPIC foo dog that would have been a major contender for the prize that night if he'd have been finished in time. He's a great guy and does awesome work himself. I was certainly in the presence of greatness that day. He threw in a suggestion or two here and there, so I'd like to say he has a little bit to do with this tattoo as well.
Oh, and I think I need to march right out and get myself #1) more tank tops and #2) Platform shoes or stilts or something.

Robert Ryan!

Sandor Jordan finished my Shoki today! It was going to be on my calf, but i decided i wanted to go big and put it on my thigh.
He's a kickass dude and an awesome tattooer!
Jordanist on Instagram

Finally started my sleeve based off Gustave Dore's Crowned Virgin. Got most of the outline done, still have to add the dragon with the rocks/water. Can't wait to go back in two weeks!

Just got this bad boy from Shaun Martinson. https://www.instagram.com/pantherreaper/
6 hour sit. so painful.

haven't been on here in a while. I enjoyed seeing all the great work everyone has gotten recently!
Had an appt with Chad Koeplinger on 11/14. I thought I was in for one more painful, albeit short, back appt for some touch ups in case he felt they were needed. After taking a look at my healed back, he said some very wonderful words "rob, I think we are done". I emphatically replied back, "thank GOD!"
So, I had him do some filler on my wrist. He tattooed a flail and a fly and I am absolutely loving them both. I really enjoyed getting these, but I will admit, the ball of the flail, on the inside of my wrist was a bit more painful than I would have thought. Felt like it was sending electric shocks into my hand! Still, easier than the back for sure!
Included a pic of my healed back, and a photo off of Chad's instagram of myself and a seemingly GIANT Andrew Stortz . Andrew's back piece is insanely good.

This is a bit of a joint effort. The Dagger, Collar, Angel and Reaper (2-6 weeks old) are by Fergus Simms - Melbourne Tattoo Company, and the Eagle Snake fight (2.5 months old) is by Jess Swaffer - Chapel Tattoo.
Wanted to wait until the whole spot was done before i posted them up! Super happy with them, and two of the nicest tattoo experiences (bar the pain!) I've ever had.

This happened Saturday:

Went to see Delphine and Laurent in London, it was intense but completely amazing at the same time, those guys are the best! 12h in the shop, around 7h of actual tattooing simultaneously on both knees, ill admit it was rough. It was such a great experience though so we decided im just going to let them have the rest of my lower legs at least.
Pic is from Laurent's instagram (https://www.instagram.com/darkbabamaina/) and theres a bunch more on Delphine's https://www.instagram.com/delphinenoiztoy/

Sorry to spam guys... but I am so stoked with how the scales are turning out (Eastern diamondback, Crotalus adamanteus).

I figured it was time to contribute! I've really enjoyed all your pics/post the last couple years...good stuff.
This is my mountain goat piece. I'm into it 60 of estimated 70hrs but who we kidding...I'll keep going. I've been flying down to Guru Tattoo in San Diego from the Pacific Northwest every other month since March. The artist is Aaron Della Vedova. I've been doing two 6 hour sessions each visit accompanied by a miserable flight home. I had an existing shoulder piece/mountain scene that he tied into.
I'm heading down next week for another beating. This is where I'm at so far...

Well it's been a year since I've had my back worked on and per our usual fall schedule, Henning was in town and this time we FINISHED my back! Some of you might have seen the updates via Instagram. So happy with this collaboration between Henning and Rubendall being completed! WARNING, PIC HEAVY!!! Put your browser on FULL SCREEN!
The master himself, Henning Jorgensen. Such a great artist and humble man.

Filling in the phoenix...tail feathers, breast, head and a few touch ups here and there.

Such a pleasure watching Henning work. I was so stoked with the zebra/tiger striped pattern he chose for the remaining tail feathers.

Touch up on a tender spot...the spare tire.

Slowly getting there.

Details details details...

Close-up of the phoenix...beautiful!

Full view from my right side. There was poor lighting inside since it was dark out, so they propped me up on a table and surrounded me with lights.

A quick reminder of the work Mike Rubendall did on the lower half of this collaboration. LOVE his water!

Another angle of my lower half.

Here's the finished top half.

Finished full back in all it's glory. My back is a sea of colors! Hope everyone enjoyed my show and tell! (don't mind the feet on the left or right, hahaha)

i love this thread! this is our boy ninja, 7 year old purebred Siamese.
he has heart disease and chronic heart failure but he is stable and doing really well!
he's a beauty :)