Tesseracts

I might have helped open a can of worms when I explained that my husband asked me to get a tattoo.
There is a big difference between your partner making you get a tattoo, and asking you to get one, and there is admittedly a lot of gray area between making and asking. This is quite a delicate subject. I want to be very clear that in my case my husband asked once, with great respect, and made it clear that he would accept "no" if that was my answer. When I finally made the decision to get a tattoo, it was my decision, independently and freely made.
I commented on this issue in another forum on another site (not LST) a while back, and said something like this:
The notion that “it’s my body, and I can do what I want with it,” absolutely has to be the fundamental basis for these types of decisions. However, in a committed relationship, there is an aspect of sharing that I think makes it is more complicated, nuanced, and a delicate than that. In a sense, when you are married or in a committed relationship, your bodies become sort of shared property, although each individual still has absolute sovereignty over their body.
If you truly have a sharing and giving relationship, with open communication, it is not unreasonable for your partner to ask (not force) you to to do something to bring him/her pleasure, whether it be to cook a particular meal, wear a certain article of clothing, get a tattoo, or whatever. However, the key consideration is that your partner can’t expect that you must comply simply because that is what they want.
The the other half of the equation is that in a loving, sharing and giving relationship, I believe that you owe it to your partner to at least consider these requests. In a loving relationship, one should be willing to at least consider stepping out of their comfort zone to please their partner. Maybe after giving it consideration, the you will decide that you are not comfortable with the request and will decline. That’s ok, as long as you gave it fair and serious consideration. Then your partner needs to accept and respect your decision.
I think that this cuts both ways, too. For example, say you want to get a tattoo of a skull with a knife plunged into the top, and blood gushing out of it, in the middle of your chest. Maybe there is something very personally meaningful and symbolic about that image to you. But lets say that your partner finds that image very violent and extremely disturbing. Now, it is still is certainly your right to get that tattoo if you want. After all, it is your body, right? But do you really want to get a tattoo that will make your partner wince every time he/she looks at you for the rest of your life? Is that really how you want your relationship to be?
Remember, you made a commitment to each other, and sometimes that means giving up a little something of yourself for the greater good of the couple. The key is that when you decide to give up a little something of yourself, you must make those decisions - freely, openly, and with out coercion, or intimidation.

I'm going to go through my whole process. This is what my tattoo looked like immediately after got home, about an hour after I got the tattoo. As I was instructed I took off the plastic wrap, and washed it with a tiny amount of soap while gently massaging it. I used very hot water to kill germs and wash off as much stuff as possible. Then I used a tiny bit of aquaphor and re-wrapped it in ordinary plastic wrap.
The next morning I was thinking about the how much my last tattoo scabbed, how much it hurt to stand up, and how I have heard red can take months to heal completely. I decided the Saniderm I bought was worth trying. I washed the tattoo with soap again while massaging it, and I thoroughly rinsed it in very cold water to reduce swelling as much as possible before applying the bandage. I applied the Saniderm. My tattoo dripped a lot and a lot of liquid collected under the Saniderm. The next day I peeled it off, washed my leg again, and applied another sheet of Saniderm. As I said before, I believe this was responsible for a huge reduction in pain and swelling. This morning I felt some tingling when I stood up to get out of bed, but there's no pain at all, and no swelling.
It's been about 4 days since I got the tattoo. I took a long walk this morning and my tattoo started to itch. I decided it was probably due to sweat collecting under the bandage so I removed it, and took the photos that I'm attaching to this post. I have a photo of my leg before taking off the bandage, immediately after, and what it looks like after I used Aquaphor. Now that my skin is bare there is no itching. When I took it off some skin and ink came off with it, but nothing major.
I washed the tattoo without soap and put some Aquaphor on it to prevent the next application of Saniderm from sticking too much, as the Saniderm website recommends. Other than the dead skin that still needs to peel off, my tattoo seems practically healed to my eyes, but I'm going to apply another piece of Saniderm when I'm done with this post to be on the safe side. So far this is going really well and I'll probably use a product like Saniderm on any future tattoos I get.

He does really nice birds. I want one. Your body is a canvas
Also, this landscape thing is cool.

He does really nice birds. I want one. Your body is a canvas
Also, this landscape thing is cool.

He does really nice birds. I want one. Your body is a canvas
Also, this landscape thing is cool.

That's a lovely tattoo, @growltiger! I'd suggest adding more peonies and then bringing it all together with a traditional Japanese-style black & gray background (wind bars, waves, clouds, etc.) for a more cohesive look.

Oh my goodness, how do you people take such nice photos of yourselves?! I've contorted myself into the most ridiculous poses and these are the best I can do. So apologies for TERRIBLE photos in advance. I tried, I really did.
Anyway, so here are some healed pics of my arm. I've got myself another appointment with the same artist next week. I'm thinking that I would like him to add more flowers, probably pink peonies. He does amazing flowers, and I am more than happy to let him just draw them on as he thinks best. I was thinking that I'd like him to go up onto my shoulder a bit more at the back, and then underneath my arm and maybe a bit lower down but not too far (down to the elbow). But now I'm excited and want to talk about it and started thinking that maybe I should ask you, oh wise LSTers, if you had any other ideas that I might want to consider? Is this a good idea? Something else? Different layout?
I want to make sure that I've considered all options, as I never intended on getting this tattoo on my arm at all, so haven't really had much time to think it all through! I have an accidental cohesive arm tattoo :D

...so you made go look at some Yelp reviews of local shops around me. One in particular looks like the ratings were a concerted effort to get 5 stars. Most of them talk about 1) it's clean 2) people are nice 3) they came around and asked if anyone wanted coffee, 4) the art deco is cool (unlike the "shady parlors in NYC") and 5) everyone is very professional. Very little about the actual tattoos. This is in a new area and clearly caters to those who are very afraid to step outside their comfort zone. Nothing wrong with that, but the reviews always seem to be about the shop rather than the tattoo. What also screws up the ratings are the drama queens who go in for piercings - "XYZ was very rude and spoke to me in an arrogant tone." Too bad there isn't an outlet to review particular tattooers and leave the shop and drama out of it.

me and my mates all got these fun little felix tattoos today, mine was done by Adrian Hing at Frankie Lee's tattoo parlour in Melbourne.

Chrome bodysuit=robocop reboot.
Don't worry everything repeats itself as far as trends go. New means, you just got exposed to it. Be ready for the 90's reboot because it's coming. Not limited to just tattooing. I've been seeing weird and frightening fashion statements being made on a regular basis. Some hybrid high waisted Mc hammer pants, just one example. Lots of 90's movies being remade too.
I'm ready to start doing that chrome tribal robocop bodysuit on the first new trendsetter.

I like to use Yelp for regular businesses like restaurants and stores. For tattoo shops it's not useful, because people who complain never give specifics and their problems usually sound small. They always say something like "tattoos are good but the vibe is snobby" or "very bad service, they refused to tattoo the idea I had, which was a great idea but of course I'm not going to tell you what it is in this review." They don't seem to respect the tattooer's right to not take on work that doesn't interest them/would look terrible.
Honestly, I like the fact that Yelp exists so I can get back at people who screw me over. For example this dog boarding place recently failed to take care of my dog by walking her outside of the enclosure, something they assured me they wouldn't do. She escaped and ran across a highway. They also did many other things wrong but I won't get into it. I didn't actually write a bad review on Yelp for this (yet...) but knowing I have the ability to makes me feel a bit less like a worthless pawn in the system.

I didn't really understand much about yelp until I opened my shop & a month or so ago a girl who'd gotten tattooed (also a business owner on my block) made a yelp profile for my shop, which I was happy about. She wrote a nice review, then I found the page, and began to customize it as the owner of the business (which involved several steps, one of which was getting called by a robot & entering a special code to verify I was actually at the shop).
I encouraged customers to write a review, most of them had never heard of yelp; just trying to stay apace with all the other shops, most of which in the area have about 20-60 reviews. Soon I had maybe 7 or 8 reviews, and I was pleased. Then I noticed they started to vanish. Upon looking further I found that they had been "filtered" by yelp, supposedly in the name of fairness. Yelp tends to filter people who it deems "not totally trustworthy" users, mostly new users, or people who join yelp to write about a single experience or business. Might sound strange, but yelp is also a social networking site, like facebook or myspace, where people make profiles, upload photos of themselves, make friends etc. So while it seems normal to most of us to review a business or two and be done with it, there are people with thousands of yelp friends and hundreds of reviews. these are the "trusted" yelpers
now out of 12 reviews that people who've been to our shop took the effort to write (and time spent participating in yelp's own money making endeavor), 9 are filtered, including the review from Felicia who created my yelp page. Someone who reviewed later is now labeled as the "first to review", and I'm not really interested in participating anymore.
BUT, and this is why I think it IS relevant to tattoo shops as well, at this point if you DON'T have dozens of non filtered reviews, and a score of 5 stars, you're below average in your city. Almost every shop in LA has 5 stars, as do most businesses. If you've got 3 or 4 stars, people who don't know better might assume there must be something wrong with your shop (when maybe someone just didn't like you, or the price). I found a low star review on the page of the shop I used to work at because someone came by for a walk in and we didn't have time, so they gave us I think a 2 star review? They're not even a customer!
Also, I'm not sure most people know that businesses CAN NOT opt out of yelp. So, a hardwood floor refinisher in LA might be the best at his craft in town, but perhaps he's a little grumpy; suddenly there's 20 people on yelp, who may have tried to reach him on the phone and couldn't, or didn't like the fact that he was quiet or reserved while giving a bid, giving this guy a bad review, when they may have never even done business with him.
I had a window replaced in the front of my shop for an amazing price, they did a great, quick job, everything was great about my experience with Superior Glass Co. On yelp, all kinds of people who merely called are talking about what assholes they are there. Today I was having coffee at a diner that's been open for 30+ years. After joking around with my waitress about some kids that wanted their check broken up into $5 pieces on different credit cards, she came back to me and said "look what that guy wrote". This shitty kid had written "$2.75 is too expensive for coffee, I'm telling yelp!" on his check. what a fucking dork!
A tattooer friend of mine yesterday made a very good point when we were talking about all the online things tattooers do today just to keep up, something I've never even thought of, though I think is very true. He said these days, no one goes to shops to look at photo albums to decide who to get tattoos from, they do it all online. Why would young people get in the car, waste time and gas, look for parking, deal with walking into an intimidating environment, where they might be ignored, when they can do it all on facebook, myspace, blogs, tumblr, websites etc? Then once they find an artist they like, they can go to yelp and read about what an asshole they are.
It's a necessary evil, but unlike facebook or twitter, if you own a business, you're forced to participate!
I remember being at Spotlight when I got "the call" so many articles about yelp talk about. They told me that for $300, they'd make it so that when people searched "los angeles, tattoo" or something similar, our shop would "come up first". How they do this for multiple people paying, I have no idea. If you search for businesses on yelp though, you'll noticed they are placed in a numbered order (#1, #2...)
I do know that businesses that pay get placement at the top of other people's pages (when I view my page, sometimes it'll say "check out this tattoo shop" with a link to another local shop). I've check those pages, and paying doesn't un-filter their reviews, get rid of low reviews, or seem to let them arrange the reviews themselves. A local shop I know pays still has over 50% of their reviews filtered.
My opinion is that this is a bullshit racket that should be banned. I'm sure their lawyers cry 1st Amendment when pressured, but where're the rights of people who's reviews are filtered out? (After a prior lawsuit, you can now read filtered reviews, but you have to enter a code, and they're hard to find, as is any contact info for yelp itself). Some robot, or asshole behind a desk shouldn't get to randomly decide who gets a say and who doesn't. The website touts itself as some kind of grass roots "for the people" consumer advocate, when in reality it's a money making machine created by a former corporate officer at Paypal.

Here's a new watercolor piece from Tattoo Paradise in DC, posted on Facebook today, done by David Cavalcante. It's interesting because it looks like it's actually a black and gray tattoo, with color around it. So I guess when the watercolor fades, you'll just have a b&g tattoo. Not a bad idea?

It will be interesting to see what happens with watercolor tattoos. If they do go out of style will it be due to style or not holding up over time ? Same thing with photo realism ?
I think it's kinda cool new styles and options are coming out. Seems like tattoos are evolving as artists push the envelop and people who previously would never get a tattoo are getting them now because because they like the new styles.

I like to use Yelp for regular businesses like restaurants and stores. For tattoo shops it's not useful, because people who complain never give specifics and their problems usually sound small. They always say something like "tattoos are good but the vibe is snobby" or "very bad service, they refused to tattoo the idea I had, which was a great idea but of course I'm not going to tell you what it is in this review." They don't seem to respect the tattooer's right to not take on work that doesn't interest them/would look terrible.
Honestly, I like the fact that Yelp exists so I can get back at people who screw me over. For example this dog boarding place recently failed to take care of my dog by walking her outside of the enclosure, something they assured me they wouldn't do. She escaped and ran across a highway. They also did many other things wrong but I won't get into it. I didn't actually write a bad review on Yelp for this (yet...) but knowing I have the ability to makes me feel a bit less like a worthless pawn in the system.

I like to use Yelp for regular businesses like restaurants and stores. For tattoo shops it's not useful, because people who complain never give specifics and their problems usually sound small. They always say something like "tattoos are good but the vibe is snobby" or "very bad service, they refused to tattoo the idea I had, which was a great idea but of course I'm not going to tell you what it is in this review." They don't seem to respect the tattooer's right to not take on work that doesn't interest them/would look terrible.
Honestly, I like the fact that Yelp exists so I can get back at people who screw me over. For example this dog boarding place recently failed to take care of my dog by walking her outside of the enclosure, something they assured me they wouldn't do. She escaped and ran across a highway. They also did many other things wrong but I won't get into it. I didn't actually write a bad review on Yelp for this (yet...) but knowing I have the ability to makes me feel a bit less like a worthless pawn in the system.

revisited my guilty pleasure of reading bad yelp reviews of good shops/artists.
This reviewer gave 5 stars (a positive review!): "Called to make an appointment. The receptionist (guy) was polite enough. Definitely sounds like he's capable of being a douche bag but he was informative. I can't wait to go get my tat on Saturday."
It appears complaining about the receptionist/phone answerer is the "cool" thing to do on yelp.

I'm just saying that we should beware the hubris of mocking how ugly a former tattoo trend while thinking that our current tastes are timeless and will never seem outdated to anybody. I love my traditional tattoos, but I also know that they will look very much of their time and uncool to people somewhere down the road. Tastes change. No one and no style is immune.

So we bought one of these wrappable ice packs when my husband started getting his leg sleeve, and it's rad
Perfect to take down swelling alongside some anti inflammatories and elevation.! It's a flexible gel pack that sits in a sleeve with stretchy elastics to velcro it on. Well worth the 20$ or whatever I spent on it.

Just returned from another trip to China.
I was actually shocked at how much enthusiasm and positive response there was to our tattoos this time around.
Everywhere, literally...like, here are all these cultural relics, history, ancient landmarks, wonders of the world that are hundreds of thousands of years old...but wait rook! It is a crazy foreigner with all these tattoos. "WOWEE So very beautiful" was the typical praise. Chinese all wanted to get photos with our tattooed kung fu team, kind of fun to be a spectacle in China for a few weeks.
The young kids at the Shaolin Temple were super hyped because I have lots of different animals tattooed. I would use the tattoos (and kung fu poses) to help practice their English vocabulary. Dragon, monkey, crane, tiger, eagle, frog, turtle, snake...and my miniature preying mantis tattoo was the obvious favourite, it got tonnes of laughs and what I assume translated from Mandarin into "what the...crazy foreigner...mantis...look how so tiny...funny!" I told my Shaolin friends the tattoos were Canadian chi gung, funny to hear a shaolin monk grimace about "much pain" from tattoos when you just watched them bust metal and sticks across their body.
This photo below makes me laugh. Buddy Beijing was so pumped on the tattoos on my forearms I had to hulk hogan my shirt for him. He then got so amped and insisted we take a photo with him and his baby. And then with grandma and gramps. And then the whole family. And then individually. It was a pretty magic moment and victory for international tattoo relations!

There was some confusion and disappointment though that I had near everything on my body tattooed...except for my back! Well there's always next time...starting my backpiece journey next month :cool:
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my Instagram is "dennis_kool" if anyone is interested in pics from Shaolin and China

The penultimate example. Guy Aitchison. 1992.

As long as they're good tattoos, I don't really care what suddenly takes off as a trend. What sucks is that trendy stuff invites a lot of imitators who copy without knowing what they're doing (there's a lot of really wonky mandalas out there, for example). But I find it hard to care, particularly as a client, what images are "trending" as long as they're done well. None of us are all that original.

http://instagram.com/p/jXmpkuMVAH/#

You TOUGH. When I was a preteen and wanted to start shaving my legs, my very Old Country mother was absolutely anti-leg shaving and compromised by buying me one of these. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch.

Sleeve-y sleeve being done in Beijing. Chinese Opera/flower/bat freehand jazz.