Fala

It was pretty uncomfortable, but not terrible. I was nervous but everyone at the convention was really cool. Unfortunately now it is dripping and I don't know why.Yep, first ever. I did my research, and yes it's tebori.Awesome, I can't complain about more opportunities to show people how cool it is.

Nice! Good to meet you yesterday too (I'm the one that asked if I could photograph you!)

Nice running into you @slayer9019!!!!

Horitomo

Horiken, Horitomo, Bob Roberts

Tattooed hipsters watch Shige at work

Miyazo tattoos Yebis

Shige

Back pieces by Shige

Yellowblaze Crew

Horitomo

Shige

Smoking teal-haired woman in kimono

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Don't miss this if you have the opportunity. Last night was pretty cool and today should be also.

Apologies for vertical format; space was cramped and seemed like the best way to get as much of each body as possible.

Hey guys I'm here. I'm the idiot stupid enough to wear shorts.

Oh no! My post definitely wasn't directed at you. It did spark my brain to post what I said, but more because it seemed like a lot of men had been rallying for women the past 4 pages (which is great!) but I felt what I said needed to be said in general so that people don't do the whole "well since I think women shouldn't be victimized for their bodies I'm helping the problem by saying so." It's like racism... there's a difference between saying your not a racist and actually stopping racism. We can't just assume level-headed women are always immune to this type of slander.
I remember seeing a short documentary on rape and one of the interviewees said that she had never met a women who truly loved her self and her body. And that is, unfortunately, so true.
And now I'm jumping off my podium. Commence the troll-bashing! Who the hell starts a jack-ass thread and then abandons it? WTF?!

The problem is... (and I hate to admit it) but you'll find women with a lot of tattoos will exude and air of confidence and not give a fuck what anyone thinks. However... the more close-minded men that pervade realms of society whether it be the news, TV, movies, etc. with these ideas about women, the more women will be raised into a world that holds that mindset and ultimately, will care. Yes, I have, over time come to accept myself and my body, but I can also say that it took me the majority of my life thus far to reach that point. And even my love for myself is teetering on a delicate tight rope because women are constantly fed (even by eachother) how to feel, act.. what to say and how to say it... what we should or shouldn't put onto or into our bodies. It's disgusting and repulsive when you peel back the mask on what is happening all around us, but it is also so difficult to ignore and not be affected by it when you are raised into the ideals of men.
Sorry to get all feminist on you all, but my point is that most heavily tattooed women do not get tattoos to feel attractive, but don't assume we are above feeling "less than". Or experiencing hatred towards our tattoos and our image and being hurt by it and falling into a world of shattered self-esteem. Everyone experiences it in the world we live in and no one is truly immune. Some just learn to roll with it and take it in stride.

I had the pleasure of hanging around while Taki checked the exhibition yesterday and did his press conference.
I don't normally get involved in gallery shows and museums because they usually focus on the paintings tattooers produce which doesn't interest me as much as tattoos but this is and incredible thing for me to be part of. Mostly because of the other tattooers involved.
It's a small-ish exhibit as far as museums go but there's a hell of a lot to see. I'm not going to review it, I'll leave that to others, I just wanted to share a few of the photos I took yesterday. I checked with Taki and he's ok with me posting them here but most of all: Photography is encouraged at this exhibition. If you post the shots to instagram, twitter etc. Please hashtag them #JANMtattooshow
Enjoy.

it's fine I'm sure, it doesn't look infected just healing slowly; I'd tell you if it were a concern. Some new tattoos on some people just get a milkyish appearance for a few days or weeks. It's brand new skin growing back just like any normal scrape that has 'baby skin' after the scab comes off. I've seen some reds look pink after the peel but come back to vibrant red by the 3rd week or so.
Best advice is to just apply the aftercare religiously just as usual. It's a couple of weeks old I'm guessing? Motor City con from your description of recent show in Detroit? I'd say wait a full 4 weeks from the day it was done, and then evaluate what it looks like.
I do NOT recommend asking a doctor for advice. Trust me on this; all too many times I have seen a doctor jump the gun on a slow or poorly healing tattoo (out of pure ignorance is all) and take drastic measures when all it might need is some time to settle down and then evaluate. Some lady got a red reaction (not an infection) on her foot and instead of coming to us to see what we thought she went to a doctor and he gave her a dermal abrasion. It sounds almost as bad as it looks now. Just a horrible spaghetti looking scar now when it could've just waited out a month and then touch it up.
As far as your tattoos not healing like that; everybody's body is different and heals at a different pace.
looks like Graeme summed that up shorter and faster than I did while I plunked out that reply on my keyboard. #beatmetoit

Our office just instated a new "work from home" policy where we get one a day a month to work from home (big whoop... lol) BUT now I don't need to take a day off the day after a tattoo... I can just hobble around my house instead :) ...and save vacation days for something better HA

Instagram
Instagram
Haven't seen pictures of the front of it though...

Instagram
Instagram
Haven't seen pictures of the front of it though...

As an academic who does interview-based research, and who spends a lot of time teaching people how to do qualitative research, I have to agree with many of the concerns raised in the last thread, and question the logic of trying to do this online in this rushed way. I did my own masters in the UK and I know masters courses are short there and make it difficult to engage in sustained, profound research.As this seems to be the case for you, that doesn't mean you can just do the same research project, but accelerated. It means you need to think about what you can accomplish with the time/restrictions you have, and what knowledge you can genuinely generate from that. Thinking you can ask fairly complex questions and answer them through message board focus groups is like the opposite of rigour. You need to find a research question that can be answered in the time and with the resources you have.. At my university, we strongly encourage our students to do literature based masters projects as it is unfair to both researcher and potential subjects to take on something so ambitious is so little time.
Message board research feels lazy. The only time I have seen it done effectively has been when that's the subject of the actual research- I.e. how social media is used in x community. IT CANNOT BE A REPLACEMENT FOR DEEP QUALITATIVE RESEARCH just because you don't have time. Focus groups are great for gathering easier-to-access info--you want to talk about identity? Meaning? Gender? You need to sit down with people. If you have read all of this research literature, then you know that qualitative research is about building trust, relationships, etc. And that there is no research without it.
I am a total self-hating academic so I get why so many folks in the tattoo world are so skeptical of researchers. We can be a really tonedeaf bunch. Many researchers take without giving back. But I just want to be clear that as someone who is very much embedded into this world, the above would not be ok with me, either. In fact, much of my career has been spent trying to push people to rethink what it means to work with people, similar to the stuff @Lochlan has been talking about.
And to the OP: I get that as an MA student this may be some of your first attempts at doing original research, and so this strong reaction may be really painful. I encourage you to listen to it carefully; I have learned some of my own important lessons about how I present myself, why I do what I do, what I hope to gain from my work, and what I'm asking of other people, in these kinds of tense encounters. I encourage you to think about what the goal of this project is beyond it being interesting to you (you want others to share personal moments of their lives with you? That's not enough.) and think especially about what useful, respectful, rigorous research can actually be done with the time and resources you have. If a message board conversation is all that you are able to do right now, it's not enough to credibly try to answer the questions you are asking with the depth that they, and we, deserve. Research with people takes time.
I empathized with how painful such a strong reaction like this must be for you, especially as your supervisors clearly signed off on this plan and no one appeared to realize the problems with it, but I have to say that this:
Pretty much removed any good will I felt for you. The above is basically a threat. If you do, indeed, believe in "ethics", then such a nasty statement would never have appeared in your message. Whether or not our posts are publicly available, threatening us that you could use them if you wanted to, but you're just too nice not to, is a dirty, dirty thing to say. Think about what ethical means.

Thank you for your apology though I must question, "limited time scale"....going into grad school you know you need a thesis so by a good advisors advising you should be encouraged to begin developing your thesis at the beginning. Of course it is going to take different shapes and forms while being modified as you go through your lit review and intro classes though people tend to stay close to their original thoughts and reason for seeking a higher education...ie you think your work contributes to a specific missing element, a unique pov, etc so you seek to add to the subject.
I do not know the specifics to your program/department so don't know how long your program is but I do know your university and some of their work so believe you have longer than a "limited time scale" unless procrastination got the best of you? Or other variables which I am not privy to.....
Once again welcome to the site and hope you find it useful if you decide to stick around and you can contribute as other LSTers have. You can always PM me or respond here or elsewhere. LSTer are truly a unique, devoted, and caring bunch in the world of tattoo forums and in person (at least those I have meet) and we are blessed to have them here!
Online research is a new thing where very few researchers have seen desired results and those who have, have had to put large amounts of money into it. The ethics and ways of doing it are still developing, it's in its trial and error phase if you will. I have found your joining the site useful for me professionally (not LST) as I am currently out of the country for a few months working on furthering a research infrastructure we have used successfully with large research funds to become available at an affordable price for the everyday person including grad students. So thank you for teaching me and helping me further my desire to be a better researcher that I am grateful for.

I'll take the survey if I can be assured that this quote makes the final paper in some fashion.

It's because they didn't get a panther.

Nobody is entitled to have anybody participate in their research. If this poster was an active and contributing member to this forum, was getting tattoos, had experience, photos, and stories to share, then posted that she was taking this course and wanted to do this particular assignment about tattoos and could we help her by doing this survey, then maybe I'd be willing to help. Doing what she did, however, by coming here and asking us to take a survey with no indication of who she is, what her research question is, what her interest or involvement in tattoos is...what does she expect? If she ends up with shitty research because she doesn't understand what she's trying to study and how to approach it, that's on her, not on me or anybody else here for not participating.

You can be disloyal to the guy you work with--assuming you aren't married to him. There's a whole wide world of amazing artists out there...but only limited skin space and cover-up-ability...

I have the same thing happen to me, still, with a 2+ year old tattoo. Changes in weather (specifically increased humidity), sweating/heat, all that good stuff. Usually goes away. I've asked others about this too - they have similar things happen. If it doesn't bother you (hurt, etc) then I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Why don't you email him? He probably has a long waiting list but that gives you time to save your money. Sounds to me like a dream that is perfectly attainable.

Black can cover red.
Black it all in. Have a large solid black star. A year or so down the line, don't ask anyone what you can cover a black star with. Live with the solid black star the same as the 1000s of people who also didn't take my, or other tattooers advice. They probably have very happy lives right now.
Just because you're convinced that it can be fixed, that doesn't mean the resulting fix-job will look better than what you have.
I'd love to be a dick because this thread is 6 PAGES deep already but I won't. For future reference I'll just say:
As a rule of thumb, any coverup needs to be AT LEAST twice the size of the original tattoo. Meaning, a slightly smaller than palm-size tattoo would need at least a hand-sized tattoo to cover it if the original were light or open enough. In the case of dense geometric designs (ie: stars) you may need to go much larger. To cover what you have, you would need to get a full sleeve. Not an arm filled with tattoos, a full sleeve. Executed by someone who is competent with coverups. - Ask to see healed photos.
Or just get that bit of black thickened and swap one kind of wonky for another. Either way, life goes on.
Here's more arrogant words from someone who's just another stranger hammering at a keyboard:
Stubbornness is one of the greatest enemies of cover-ups and fixing tattoos.

Don't know if this is helpful at all, but it has been a fun trip down memory lane for me. The progression of how my nautical star changed... Based on your drawing, I'd say that the thicker line would not make it look better, but there is still hope for making it better if it's in the hands of the right artist.

If everyone here, including several well-rounded tattooers, are giving you the same advice worded slightly differently each time I would have say that the answers are not going to get much different.
Telling people that they are wasting their time and effort trying to give you sound advice in a thread asking for advice just because it's not what you want to hear is kind of a dick move.
All in all, the BEST advice here is to go into a shop whether it's this artist or a different one, and go with them. We have given you some ideas and advice and that was the point of your thread. Take it from here and seek out a consultation in person with an artist.

Black in your arm. Nobody here really gives much of a shit about the tattoos you get.