iowagirl

Have an appt set up for the beginning of May for...something. No clue what yet exactly. Currently we're discussing continuing the wind on the left, water on the right, so I'm thinking a sea turtle above my right knee or a bee or dragonfly for the wind side above my left knee.

by Alix Ge https://www.facebook.com/alixgp

I've decided I want a la-la-lady head from Nikki Lugo at Tattoo Paradise. I feel like my arms are too puny to put one there, though that's kind of where I want it. Lady heads are one thing I would consider getting in color because they look so awesome in color, but I think I'll keep sticking with all black & gray for now. Nikki has done some pretty black & gray ones -- I really like this one:

Nikki at Tattoo Paradise

Alice by Jennifer Lawes at Pearl Harbor - this may have been my easiest tattoo ever. 

My first session with Theo was great! We got the basic outline done of a full mermaid that runs down my left leg from my hip to my knee. We'll finish it up somewhere, sometime this year (maybe at Pagoda). I'll post a photo when I'm all healed up. Spider Murphys is a magical place.

Dan Dan Dan Dan Skittles and M&M's mixed in a bag? That hurts my head and my heart so much.

Dan Dan Dan Dan Skittles and M&M's mixed in a bag? That hurts my head and my heart so much.

Dan Dan Dan Dan Skittles and M&M's mixed in a bag? That hurts my head and my heart so much.

Yeah, okay, you almost fell asleep in the easiest spot you can get a tattoo and you've already said you get small ones. Go read the "least painful place to get a tattoo" thread and see how many people say shoulder or upper arm. You've had a whopping two tattoos, one of which in a universally easy spot, but want to talk about a high pain tolerance and say that not all tattoos hurt. Come back after you've had more experience and see how your opinion changes.

I thought mine hurt a lot in certain spots, but then again, I was sitting for 7 hour sessions and covered a huge amount of skin. You'll probably come back here and say your slightly-larger-than-hand-sized tattoo in a relatively easy spot of the thigh was no problem. Two people already said certain aspects of the process suck more than others but your tattoo probably won't even touch on those because of size and placement. Not sure what else to tell you. 

I have half sleeves on both arms, and the bicep is excruciating. You don't know anything about pain if you haven't had large tattoos. Sorry. You just don't. @Synesthesia is 100% right.

Husband's next is the end of the month. Then we both go back the beginning of May---tho I have no clue what I'm having done. My brother is going to see if he can get an appointment w/another artist there that same day so we can all be there at the same time. Which, I gotta say, I'm totally stoked about-I get to see him so rarely and he makes me so happy. Three crazy artists and three crazy clients...they'll either love us more or they'll ask us to never come together again.

Probably my favorite right now is Steve Byrne, I'm always amazed at his creativity, crazy colors, and super bold lines. I have nothing by him...yet.
And I guess I can post this here too. I got this Cap Coleman dragon design last night by Wes Garvick in York, PA. I've wanted a dragon for a while now and Cap does some of my favorites. 

under saniderm,here is my latest AM/TR,it's on my upper thigh about 9x8",it was done by Oliver Peck 10/22/16

I've got a tattoo scheduled in about three weeks. Woohooooooo!

I did a search but didn't see anything more than "getting/just got my first tattoo" type threads. 
Wondered about everyone's first ever tattoos. Do you still have it? Do you still like it? Do you feel attached to it? Etc. 
I got my first two days after I turned 18, on Halloween, 1992. My best friend and I got matching tattoos-a rose off the wall. Hers is teal, mine is purple. We were the only tattooed students in high school, and were considered huge bad asses. People remarked about how large it was and I thought, really? It didn't seem large to me, but, yanno, then party dots became like the "cool thing" to do, so if you put my rose next to a party dot it looked like I had a full bodysuit to those people I guess. 
As I've gone along in my tattoo adventures, I had one of mine covered, which ended up turning into this big Japanese wind/water deal, and now I'm looking at my first few from my 18-21 year old self and wondering if I want to keep them like they are, rework them, incorporating them into something new either way..or remove/cover them w/something else that fits me now. 

Went last night to have a peony recolored. It was done by a different artist a few years ago and everything else sort of grew up around it. Now it feels more like a part of the whole shebang and I love the purple. Husband had more work done on his tiger. We were supposed to go before Christmas and ended up w/another blizzard so we had to reschedule..just like last winter argh!
Also spent some discussion time w/my artist about continuing the wind/water theme elsewhere so I'm kinda excited about that.

@Devious6 @Gingerninja thanks! My daughter practices as well-she's 13, he's going to be 10. Both of them will be testing for their temporary black belts this June. She's been practicing for a bit longer than my son, but they've both taken time out, she for theater and cross country (her first year, this year, for XC and she lettered in it, and she's only in 7th grade!), and he for football. She's been 1st permanent brown for about a year and he got his a few months ago, so they still come to test but they just help out. It's pretty great. Our instructor started 14+ years ago. Her sons were in it and she thought it would be something great to do w/them..There's three of us parents there w/our kids..well, no, I take that back, four now b/c we had a mom start last month. I'll test for my temporary black next February, and then my 1st Dan I'm guessing December '18. And then we'll see how far I can make it after that!
Those Disney parks...I swear I was about ready to cry every time we first got inside a new one...felt like a little kid and just overwhelmed by the magic of it all. Loved it. And some of those rides kicked ass.

@Devious6 @Gingerninja thanks! My daughter practices as well-she's 13, he's going to be 10. Both of them will be testing for their temporary black belts this June. She's been practicing for a bit longer than my son, but they've both taken time out, she for theater and cross country (her first year, this year, for XC and she lettered in it, and she's only in 7th grade!), and he for football. She's been 1st permanent brown for about a year and he got his a few months ago, so they still come to test but they just help out. It's pretty great. Our instructor started 14+ years ago. Her sons were in it and she thought it would be something great to do w/them..There's three of us parents there w/our kids..well, no, I take that back, four now b/c we had a mom start last month. I'll test for my temporary black next February, and then my 1st Dan I'm guessing December '18. And then we'll see how far I can make it after that!
Those Disney parks...I swear I was about ready to cry every time we first got inside a new one...felt like a little kid and just overwhelmed by the magic of it all. Loved it. And some of those rides kicked ass.

@iowagirl  Congratulations!!!!  It must be extra special to be doing this with your son.
I agree about Epcot - our favorite park. But, I was thrilled to see the faces of my 8 year old grand daughters light up at Magic Kingdom.

Promoted to 2nd Permanent Brown tonight! Learned my new form, Palgwe 6, taught to me by my son, tho he had to do pushups b/c *I* knew the definition of Palgwe and he didn't haha. Didn't break my boards on the first try..second try...third try..frustrating b/c I've never *not* broke first try on a palm strike. Managed to break the two boards on my jump reverse kick-on the fifth try argh! So glad that doesn't count against us at test.
Epcot is SO much fun--hands down our favorite park there.

Promoted to 2nd Permanent Brown tonight! Learned my new form, Palgwe 6, taught to me by my son, tho he had to do pushups b/c *I* knew the definition of Palgwe and he didn't haha. Didn't break my boards on the first try..second try...third try..frustrating b/c I've never *not* broke first try on a palm strike. Managed to break the two boards on my jump reverse kick-on the fifth try argh! So glad that doesn't count against us at test.
Epcot is SO much fun--hands down our favorite park there.

Promoted to 2nd Permanent Brown tonight! Learned my new form, Palgwe 6, taught to me by my son, tho he had to do pushups b/c *I* knew the definition of Palgwe and he didn't haha. Didn't break my boards on the first try..second try...third try..frustrating b/c I've never *not* broke first try on a palm strike. Managed to break the two boards on my jump reverse kick-on the fifth try argh! So glad that doesn't count against us at test.
Epcot is SO much fun--hands down our favorite park there.

Went last night to have a peony recolored. It was done by a different artist a few years ago and everything else sort of grew up around it. Now it feels more like a part of the whole shebang and I love the purple. Husband had more work done on his tiger. We were supposed to go before Christmas and ended up w/another blizzard so we had to reschedule..just like last winter argh!
Also spent some discussion time w/my artist about continuing the wind/water theme elsewhere so I'm kinda excited about that.

If you have someone in mind, maybe stop by the shop and talk to them, bring those pictures along for reference. When we're in getting work done people stop by all the time to ask, and the artists will talk to them for a minute, look at reference material, check out the spot they're wanting to have it done and guesstimate "Ohh around 3-4, four hour sessions give or take" or whatever, and the shop charges 120/hour so then you just go from there.