cltattooing

it's coming out wonderful.  I like it.
 
 
Also, confirmed consultation date earlier this week.
June 4th with Tim Hoyer. 
 

Finished my full back piece last Friday. I plan to write something about the experience but need time to collect and organize all my thoughts.
by Mike Rubendall at Kings Ave:

BAM

I've only had one short lining session on my back, but I've had a few other gnarly-sits (a few 7+ hour sessions on ribs/full shin in one sitting etc).
When I know I've got a big-sit coming up I try to "stack the deck" in my favor with a 2 week anti ritual of: no caffeine, no sugar, no booze (in fact I'm in one of these phases now for a back session). All in my head? Probably. But I like the discipline leading up.
Small snacks (during) with some protein and fat make a difference for me too. And, most importantly, THE STOKE WILL PULL YOU THROUGH (someone on here said that about sitting multiple sessions/days in a row...can't remember who or the context or I'd give credit. Its one of my favorite quotes).
It's been my experience that the day after a big session is worse than getting the tattoo. Your mileage may vary ;) Good luck!

I am by no stretch of the imagination even half as tattooed as most of the people here, but even my personal experience has taught me that all of these things are really individual and there just aren't any rules about it. Examples:

The tops of my thighs didn't hurt, really, but the outside, over the IT band, hurt like a sonofabitch. All of them healed REALLY well, though -- no scabbing, not really any pain, and they barely even peeled. Contrarily, most people's complaints about where they've been tattooed on their backs, the worst spots, were not the worst spot for me; mine was in a weird spot between my shoulderblades -- not even the bit in the crease of my butt/thigh could compare with it, and that was no picnic either! My back has also taken a shockingly long time to get to a 'settled' heal state, where the lines aren't super raised, too...it's all just depends on the person. Trying to predict what anybody else is gonna feel seems like a fool's game to me. Plus, some people just do not feel pain like other people do, and that is science fact.

Anyway, this thread is about thigh tattoos, so here are mine! I'm including a healed pic of the one that @cltattooing did on me, too, since I don't think I ever sent her one!
It's very difficult to take pictures of your own thigh tattoos without warping them.
 
 
 

I completely agree. I don't even care who reads this, I think that dude is a talking dickhead. Like obviously both Oliver and Chris are well-versed and talented tattooers, but I think the crucial difference between the two is that Oliver is pretty comfortable in his position, whereas I feel that Chris is always kind of pushing it in your face and the finale was a fantastic example of that.

Inside of my right upper arm. Adding more floral elements to connect the inside and outside at my appointment next month. We both got tired, and the shop was closing. :-) Hurt like a fucker. That unexposed baby skin inside my arm (as you can see, I'm very, very pale) was excruciating.

WARM-UP:
Get a good sleep the night before.
Eat a good meal before.
Drink lots of water before. Water during (or hot water/tea)
STRETCH - it's not just about stretching the part getting tattooed, but stretch out your whole body to get through the weird positions and strain you may find yourself in...people underestimate this.
DURING:
Bring a meal for the mid-point break. Not junk food, like an actual meal. Or healthy snacks like nuts, fruits, veggies.
RELAX - get your head in the right space. Worrying will make it worse. Relax the feet, the body will follow. And don't forget to breathe. Hold your breath and you will pass out.
and when you finally hear "ok i think we're done"...just chill and enjoy the moment before you get up slowly. Jump off the table to quickly, guaranteed you will get a blood rush and possibly pass out.
Don't be a pussy - it's just a tattoo, you can do it ;)
POST-TATTOO..
Drink a couple beers and smoke a joint, Guaranteed to make you pass out !
Relax. The pain is over...for a few hours until you have to peel that damn tape off the bandage and the shower water hits the fresh tattoo a-o !

I can't explain why this one had such an impact, but it really struck me. By Troy Trujillo

Hey guys...I'm not on the boards too much lately because frankly, I'm kind of tired of even thinking about tattoos at the moment. This current project I'm working on is the most grueling yet. Once I finish this piece, I think I'll go back to traditional one shots on my arms, because this thing is burning me out. Anyway, I met with Sam Warren recently to work on doing some coloring (so far we've done one for lining, one for black and gray shading, and now one for color). One more session to go next month to finish coloring and maybe do some touching up. Sorry the pic is horrible but have you ever tried taking a picture of your own thigh? It ain't easy.

Here's some close ups of the key components:

Started the line work on my lower sleeve today with a Jizu - will be adding a Kannon on a dragon line work on the other side of the arm in a couple of weeks. Than moving on to filling in the gaps and colour. so it begins.

Arm by Dan Innes at Pearl Harbor

Just got a wee elbow banger from Franz Stefanik

Having started 21 months ago I am unbelievably happy to say that my back is done. It took 59 hours, at least a dozen tubes of bepanthen, lots of cups of coffee and bacon sandwiches, and at least one ruined set of bed sheets. Thank you very much Mr Ian Flower.

I've been gone for a while. I'm stoked to see so many great tattoos being done.
Started my back with Horitomo in December.

I know it's hard to not think like this especially if you are new to getting tattooed or prone to getting star-struck (me), but you shouldn't! Tattooers are just people with a specialized skill set. We owe our lives to the clients and have no valid reason to think that we are better than you. Don't get tattooed by people who think that you owe them something, can't stress that enough. You will find that the more you get tattooed, the experience is just as important as the art. Get tattooed by people who not only do awesome work, but who are friendly and humble people that you will want to spend however many hours in close proximity with. If you aren't comfortable in your tattooer's presence, you probably shouldn't get tattooed by that person. Hope that helps :)

I know it's hard to not think like this especially if you are new to getting tattooed or prone to getting star-struck (me), but you shouldn't! Tattooers are just people with a specialized skill set. We owe our lives to the clients and have no valid reason to think that we are better than you. Don't get tattooed by people who think that you owe them something, can't stress that enough. You will find that the more you get tattooed, the experience is just as important as the art. Get tattooed by people who not only do awesome work, but who are friendly and humble people that you will want to spend however many hours in close proximity with. If you aren't comfortable in your tattooer's presence, you probably shouldn't get tattooed by that person. Hope that helps :)

So since pretty much forever, I'd been bugging my mom to get a tattoo. She can be really socially conservative and definitely came from the "tattoos are trash" generation. After enough bugging, it became pretty clear that she's never going to be tattooed, so I started bugging her to come with me to get a mom tattoo so she can be a part of the process and get a feel for how rad the shop environment is. That kept getting pushed back farther and farther until I realized again that it wasn't going to happen. So basically, I gave her the "you're going to be part of tattooing whether you like it or not" talk, and told her that if she wasn't going to participate as a third party, she can participate as a first party and tattoo me instead.
So she did. :cool:
isn't it terrible? I love it so much. It's supposed to be a bear, looks kind of like a weasel, 100% precious and motherly. Moms rule!

Kore posted a picture so I thought I'd share it here
Shou from 36 Ghost by Horiyoshi3
Made by Kore Flatmo
About 30 hours so far

I know it's hard to not think like this especially if you are new to getting tattooed or prone to getting star-struck (me), but you shouldn't! Tattooers are just people with a specialized skill set. We owe our lives to the clients and have no valid reason to think that we are better than you. Don't get tattooed by people who think that you owe them something, can't stress that enough. You will find that the more you get tattooed, the experience is just as important as the art. Get tattooed by people who not only do awesome work, but who are friendly and humble people that you will want to spend however many hours in close proximity with. If you aren't comfortable in your tattooer's presence, you probably shouldn't get tattooed by that person. Hope that helps :)

It's been a while. Went back to Mexico for a visit. Done by Juan Arreguin "El Super" at Superfly in Leon Guanajuato Mexico.

The fact the majority of people now think of the swastika as primarily a racist and Nazi symbol speaks volume to the impact cultural appropriation can have.

Ta Moko designs are based around genealogy, social rank and status, accomplishments, and so on, so I could see a hypothetical situation where you got a Maori tattoo because "they have the most badass warrior culture on earth" and ended up getting a tattoo that describes somebody else's life and family. Would Maoris be offended by this? I don't know, but they'd probably think you're a dumbass for getting a tattoo of something that you're engaging with so superficially.
I do think the same goes for Viking stuff. If you're going to get magical staves tattooed on you, it's probably best to understand what you're getting and what it means. The trend a few years ago of people getting Masonic imagery is another example of this: you might think it looks cool and mysterious and occult, but people who know how to read the imagery know you have gibberish on you and you come across as a moron as a result. I don't see how getting a tattoo just because it looks cool and having no understanding beyond that is any different than somebody getting kanji while not understanding the language.

I should really know better to engage with this topic on here, but here it goes, in the spirit of fostering an intelligent discussion about tattoos:
There's a Canadian Inuit filmmaker who made a documentary a couple of years ago about trying to learn about the virtually forgotten tradition of Inuit tattooing before she got tattooed herself using the traditional skin sewing methods. Why were the traditions forgotten? Because there was a concerted effort on behalf of the church and the state to eradicate indigenous culture, that was deemed to be "cultural genocide" by a recently-concluded Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Families were torn apart, countless lives were destroyed, languages were all but lost, cultural practices vanished. The legacy of this endures. There are people who are trying to revive the languages and traditional practices like tattooing. I mentioned the filmmaker in particular above because she has deliberately limited the distribution of her documentary precisely because of fears of cultural appropriation. Her reasoning is that the revival of traditional Inuit tattooing is so fragile that if this style of tattooing is appropriated it might discourage the people who are rediscovering their own traditions. I can see why this woman might think it offensive that a non-Inuit person would get an Inuit tattoo just because they like the style, and I don't think she'd be wrong. It's certainly not "childish".

This is an interesting topic with a lot of grey area. As a tattooer, it's pretty disheartening and insulting when someone blatantly rips off your work. As a client, well.. I was talking to Mr. Campise about not putting my piece online as to skate around the biters and he laid it out pretty simply. Nobody is ever going to do the original justice, and it's pretty much just free(albeit really obnoxious) advertising. Nothing can ever outshine true authenticity, and whoever ends up with the copy ends up walking around with a permanent bummer. So that's kind of where I sit on that matter... It sucks, it's inevitably going to happen, don't do it if you tattoo, and don't get down on it as a client.

I don't think it's awkward to ask that at all. Definitely good to just straight up ask the hourly and the amount of time expected, which imo is a bit more graceful than asking for a $ amount. If someone can't answer that for you, they are probably extremely stuck up or shady.
The "if you have to ask then you can't afford me" attitude is bullshit, tattooers need to understand that tattoos are a luxury and there are lots of other expenses in life that take priority to getting tattooed. Also how are you supposed to build a returning clientele if your clients leave feeling like their business wasn't handled with full transparency?