AverageJer

Finishing my left sleeve next week!

NY State Fair, not MN. There must be a lot going on all over the country. 😛 I'm sure I can find something just as good at the one here though. I think I'm still going to go but really take it easy and not do a ton of walking, take breaks, etc.

A lot of my experiences have been with people who are heads down and quiet.  I can take the lacking conversation in exchange for wearing a better piece of art for the rest of my life time. Kiku is the only person I had a good time with and got a good tattoo from, we took a lot longer to do the tattoo but came away having much more fun.  I always book with the end product in mind, I can't form an interesting conversation during the experience anyways, I'm concentrating on not dying.

Well, playoffs and finals are over. I was kind of hoping Cousins would have a chance to redeem himself for a good contract next year, but that didn't happen. Then all the trades changed the leaque without even considering in the new recruits. I prefer college ball, anyway.

I doubt you will get a great tattoo from an artist or atmosphere you don't like. Even if it were to turn out as great art, the experience would be so hard to wipe out. I had one bad piece and the artist was either rude, talking to others (a friend of his came in and talked with him for 15 minutes while he was working on me), yelling at an apprentice, or silent. The shop was clean, but the receptionist only spoke to me once and went back to her magazine (even though I had complimented a recent piece she had on a shoulder). The apprentice did seem friendly when i took a break to pee. He was copying flash in the hallway. I ended up getting a tattoo there that I disliked soo much that I had it lasered down to where another artist could do it right. Even if the ink had been perfect, the experience tainted it in my mind.

Best post I've seen on LST yet. 

Just my mother.  🙂
I ignore her.

No such thing as a perfect tattoo. 😉

I feel lucky because I think I found the best of both. HOWEVER, I would much rather spend several hours with a f**ktard and get a perfect tattoo than the opposite.


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The experience is EVERYTHING in tattoo, at least to me.

Hi all-
I thought I'd start a little discussion about something I sometimes think about. Essentially this question boils down to the question of the extent to which a spending money on a tattoo equates to spending money on a thing or an experience? 
I'll frame it this way- to what extent is the experience of getting a tattoo important to the overall product? Would you rather get a tattoo that is perfect in everyway from an artist that is no fun to spend a few hours with (maybe even actively an asshole) or are you willing to wear a tattoo that is a little lesser in quality from an artist that you have a great time enjoying your time with? 
Obviously the idea is to get great quality AND have a great time- and I have been fortunate to hit this ideal many times. I guess I'm just more curious how others here think about this issue- if you do at all. Getting a tattoo is an intimate experience in a lot of ways but it also produces a piece of art that we carry with us for the rest of our lives. 
What do you think? 
 
Bonus topics: 1) Have you discovered any new music lately? 2) Who do you like in the NBA playoffs? 

I don't dry heal, but I've reduced the amount of aftercare exponentially from what I did when I started getting tattoos. I don't notice any difference in healing. The only think I do that has really helped from a comfort level is that I take a really hot bath as soon as I get home and again the next morning. My artist got this from Filip Leu's shop when he was being tattooed by him. Apparently it's also very common in Japan, although for some reason it's frowned on in the US. My tattoos haven't healed any differently since I started doing this, but there is a huge difference in the amount of discomfort. 

It won't be done healing for quite a while. Give it a few months. 

I definitely understand the exhausting thing, when I go to bed after I've been  tattooed I'm out like a light, the shorter the time the less sleep I get but after my recent chest piece that took 5.5 hours I crashed for over 16 hours.
 
 

Well, it releases adrenaline and endorphins, so...yeah, it hurts and yet it can be exhilarating. I enjoy being tattooed, both the experience and the perma-art. 

I was explaining to my daughter that it's both exhausting and exhilarating in a weird way. I find the first cut hurts and then it doesn't hurt for a while and then after awhile it hurts again. I also find the shading worse than the lines but my wife disagrees with this. I think the longest I've sat for a tattoo is about 3-4 hours but I don't have anything at all on my left arm so maybe someday. 
 

Hi, it is therapy in a way for me, getting tattooed is such an intimate experience,the entire process from consultation to mentally preparing and physically preparing the day before and the day of,eating good,pre-hydrating,good sleep the night before,mentally over coming the pain,to the after healing,etc,etc. is a process I enjoy.

Cool thanks guys
Most of my twitches are my head only so fingers crossed it's ok for my big piece.

I have a tic disorder- pretty minor one admittedly- but in general I don't sit completely still ever. I usually tell my artists up from that I am twitchy and I know I am twitchy and then I work on being still while they are tattooing and allow myself to move a little while they are getting ink ect... So far I haven't had a problem but off course there are degrees of this insatiable need to move around and I think some tics are more involuntary than others. Good thing to be thinking about in advance and best of luck. 

I've got an appointment for my next on 6/29.  It's just one hour to add a frame of nails to my first saw blade tattoo.  The shop where I got my first does a Veteran's benefit each year right around July 4th.  They donate ALL their time and all the money goes to the VA hospital in Ann Arbor, MI.  The last couple years they raised over $10k each year.  You get a t-shirt and after care products and local restaurants bring in the eats.  Really looking forward to be able to help out some folks that really deserve it.

Totally, sometimes the Cost Cutters I go to gets mad when they find out I went to the other Cost Cutters I sometimes go to...

Thanks everyone, I'll stop worrying about it and book with the artist I want.

It's not a big deal. I have work from different artists at the same shop. Go for it!

MichealShane....  thanks - we've released a load of stuff over the last few years - there's an Album called The Golden Section on iTunes/amazon etc...  but you can listen to a bunch of free stuff on Jo's soundcloud page (Jo is the singer) - theres some of her solo stuff on there but if you scroll down there's some Kodiak Island tunes also....
https://soundcloud.com/jobartlett
 

Good comments. It's interesting to me that Trampled by Turtles has gotten big outside of Minnesota. I think they really have gotten better over the last few years. 

Great subject.  I really enjoy a talkative, friendly artist.  I really enjoying talking to the artist while they work, it really helps keep my mind off the pain and makes the time fly by.  I also like getting to know someone with completely different skills and abilities than I could ever hope to have.  That being said, I guess if I had that choice, I'd take the quality work.  The artist that did my japanese half sleeve told me during the consultation that he doesn't like to chat while he works, preferring to concentrate on what he's doing.  At first I was a little put off, but he was friendly and chatted while putting on the stencil and sketching.  I appreciated his committed attitude and his work is the best that I've gotten so far.
Music. I've been listening to indie folk and bluegrass on Spotify lately... Dead South, Trampled by Turtles, Colter Wall, The Devil makes Three, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, The Bridge City Sinners, etc.  When I'm feeling especially neanderthalic I listen to Heilung.