Fala

Session two with Horitomo! Almost done with the lining and am looking forward to the shading. 

ya I know,it's in 2 threads,but I love this one I got from Alycia Harr at Classic Tattoo in Grass valley today.
It was an early birthday present from my wife.

I had dinner with @suburbanxcore and felt 100% plainskinned. You all are an amazing inspiration! My good tattoos are a result of seeing your good tattoos. <3

Same here.  I felt distinctly un-tattooed.

traveled to Boston and back today to get this toad from Todd Noble - also had beers with @polliwog and @BrianH - pleasure to meet you both thanks for stopping by for that LST meetup

by Robert Ryan in Asbury Park, NJ
spur of the moment walk in :)

@oboogieWait, is someone being a jerk about your Johnny Cash tattoo?  For what it's worth, I think I prefer that approach to a portrait tattoo. 

The young rebel Johnny Cash.

I've been busy recently! First up I got this really cute cat and umbrella from Wendy Pham at Brighton Tattoo convention. I've been after this piece of flash for years so happy he's now mine! 
Next up (and also at Brighton), I got the side of my knee done by  Jody Dawber. This was the most painful tattoo I have ever got. I was whimpering like a baby (and I usually never make a fuss). I had to dig deep to get through it! Thank god she's fast.  
And last but not least, my latest addition (again on the side of the knee) from my super talented co-worker Lucy O Connell. Had my eye on this babe for well over a year, so happy to finally give her a home. 

I will be there Friday through Monday morning.  I'm going by myself so would be up for coffees and things like that.  Tattoo on Saturday night!

that should run $100 to $2200 USD

J and I are in @Graeme  Looking forward to seeing everyone!

J and I are in @Graeme  Looking forward to seeing everyone!

I'm going to suggest a Saturday pre-convention brunch as an LST meetup if anybody is interested.  I have an appointment right when the convention opens at 11, and my kid has an appointment for a vaccination in the morning, so it will have to be early-ish, like 9-9:30 near my place, which is a quick metro ride away (about ten minutes) from the convention.  Let me know if you're interested and I'll make a group reservation.

We can always grab a drink or a coffee at the convention too.

My boyfriend and I are hoping to drive up at least one of the days from VT! Haven't booked with anyone yet, as I am waiting until my BF definitely has his passport (hate that they changed that law haha). But I keep seeing Jim Sylvia has time still... so tempting...
Anywho, if we do make it, would love to meet up with folks!

If you want to get tattooed by somebody specific, make an appointment, but there will always be opportunities to get a walk-up.  I wouldn't expect some local tattooers to be completely booked and there are a lot of tattooers here making quality tattoos: check out Arno Schultz, Nick Oaks, or Joel Marlo to name three.

In my experience the Friday is probably the best to get tattooed because it isn't as busy as the Saturday, but it's all good.  Honestly, I would rather get tattooed in a shop if there was the option, but this is an opportunity to get tattooed by people locally that I'd otherwise have to travel for, so it's fine.  It's cool getting to meet and talk to new people and there's a good energy at the convention.

There are so many good restaurants in Montreal.  It's an amazing food city.  If you want fine dining check out Park (I heard about this place when I got tattooed by Chad, he said it's the second best sushi he's had in his life, I don't have as much dining experience as him so it's the best I've had), Maison Publique, Joe Beef, or Au Pied de Cochon.  We also have smoked meat and the best bagels in the world.  Plenty of vegetarian and vegan options if you're into that too.  There are also some great public markets well worth checking out.  I know the food here better than I know the hotels but there is plenty of accommodation in the city.

Think about it!

I'm going, so is my husband.  Not going to get tattooed though - I filled my quota for the year back in January, and I'm trying to save $ to go back to school, so there's that too...  It's a great excuse to finally get up to Montreal, and to hang with some great people. 
 

Hasn't this question already been asked several times in the past, with lots of advice already given??? 

The first thing you absolutely need to do is take a few deep breaths and try to relax. Worrying and driving yourself crazy with anxiety over it is only going to lead you to a panic attack. You applying Purrell is a direct result of you over thinking this. After you calm down you should seriously smack your friend upside his head for mentioning to you the absolute worst case scenario. 
The possibility of contracting MRSA from a gym bench is highly unlikely. A majority of MRSA infections happen in hospital type settings. Gyms are routinely cleaned and offer sanitary wipes to patrons to wipe down equipment before and after each use. In reality the bench that you laid on was most definitely wiped clean at one point or another by someone. It's not like the bench was constantly being used for months without it being cleaned so thinking logically I'd say that your in the clear. 

Worrying isn't going to help anything at this point, but it is going to stress you out so don't worry about it.  You're going to need to let the tattoo heal and judge from there what, if anything, needs to be done. If you have any questions about healing the best person to answer them is the person who did the tattoo.

Welcome!  I think you have a cool idea if you can find the right artist to execute it.  The way you're describing it and the way you want it to fit your body, the first thing I thought of is finding someone capable of doing kind of the more organic type of biomech on you (bio organic?).  I don't really know any tattooers in the Philadelphia area so I can't recommend anybody, but for inspiration check out Jeff Croci in SF because I recently saw an in progress sleeve he's working on that's this really cool bio-woodland thing and it was super rad.
 
As far as wanting the artist to connect with the personal aspects of the tattoo, I'd advise you not to concern yourself too much with that.  I've once had an artist ask me about what I wanted to get from a tattoo, and I view that as exceptionally rare.  You want somebody you can get along with as a person, because you'll be spending many sometimes challenging hours with them, and you need somebody who has the artistic skill set to capably pull off what you want, but I'd not get too hung up on making sure that the artist gets every last personal aspect and what it represents.

@polliwog LOL once you get the tattooer excited it's on!! My next session with Junii is Aug 26th.  Stoked! I also plan to be down for the convention again this year.  (hmm i should see if that thread's been started...;p)

@beez I didn't mean "bad" in the sense of, oh, I hate my back fat (though I can roll with the best of 'em). It's more that picking begets picking, because compulsive pickers tend to worry away at the same flaws in their skin, which picking will obviously create more of. (Except that your fucked-up brain tells you that you're fixing the skin while you pick at it, plus it feels good in the moment.) So it's really a challenge to let the skin heal for long enough that it can then be tattooed. It also feels somehow lamer to have to explain than maybe self-healing scars, though I guess it is a variety of that. "Hi, my back looks like shit because I should probably be on Prozac."

Thinking of putting some badass fighting birds on my back, which is my other bad spot.