spookysproul

"what does the heart with a knife tattoo on your ribs mean?"
It means I'm going to stab you. now please go away. I'm eating breakfast and what are you doing in my living room?

What does it mean?
"It means I like tattoos".

How about just say, "It's open to interpretation. It means whatever you want." I think I'll go with that next time and leave it at that. That's art. What they mean or don't mean to you can be personal--you don't have to explain yourself to anyone. The last person who asked me why I got a tiger I just said, "I liked it." There are things that I associate it with but I just didn't feel like saying any more. Isn't that enough? That we get images that we like. Yeah. I think so.

My first is from my buddy who is an apprentice. Second is from Craig Brown at Historic Tattoo in Portland. And I just got this from Beau Brady at State of Grace in San Jose.

That's the only photo I have uploaded at the moment.
Jill Bonny at State of Grace. I'm counting down the days!

wow great pics everyone. @Graeme "squidmitts"! Hah!
I don't generally seek out dotwork so those Jondix, Weisbeck, and Hooper hands are completely blowing my mind right now. Amazing!
Unfortunately if I am ever able to get my hands done, it won't be for several decades. But in the meantime, here's a couple more on other people.
Rich Hardy

Grez

The answer to this question is, of course, "it depends on your skin tone" which leads to "talk to an artist". "Talk to an artist" is usually a good suggestion. But to add some more interesting content, here are a few of mine to see how some color works on my skin:


I'm on the lighter side, though, so again, exact skin tone will be key.

definitely about the exact skin tone... the former vocalist from Killswitch Engage has a bunch of color tattoos, but i've also seen a tattooer put a tiger on a guy that was invisible, until he came back and threw in some white highlights. the contrast afforded popped it right out.
for clarification, the tattoo was invisible, not the gentleman being tattooed. that'd be a completely different story.

Hello there! Be careful - there are hundreds of sub-par shops up here. Then again, coming from the SF Bay Area I'm a little spoiled.
I would recommend the aforementioned Derek Noble at Luck Devil (which is about to be renamed Dark Age or Dark Ages), he did my neck which you can see in my gallery.
Also everyone at Fist Full Of Metal up on 85th & Phinney are wonderful people and accomplished tattooers.
If you like the no frills classic look of traditional work, the folks at Liberty (just moved to Queen Anne) are all top notch.
There's Slave to the Needle that a few of my friends swear by, but I personally have no opinion of one way or the other.
If you're interested in black work there's a cat over at True Love in Capitol Hill named Thomas Sinnamond who does fantastic black work from what I've seen.

That wretch! She was supposed to let me know that she was on her way so I could take her place!

So today's Father's Day and my dad is celebrating the only way he knows best...by spending the day at the mah-jong parlor. My lady is working so that leaves me with a free day to my own devices to which I decided to mount and hang up the Horitomo cat prints I have accumulated. I love the entire series and the various ones that are not in print but posted on Horitomo's Instagram. Patiently waiting for more prints to come out and the much rumored book that collects all of the various tattoo cat incarnations. Hopefully one day I make it out to the west coast to get a tattoo cat from him...would be an awesome experience.

@Gregor that sounds delightful to me, actually! My wife and I - both native Californians - moved to Seattle because we've always heard what dreary and wet weather was the norm. Come to find it's sunny and pleasant about 40% of the time. It looks like the UK, preferably Scotland, is the place to be.

i know i'm like a phantom here these days, but here's a picture of me from when i was still working with/fostering kittens (and before the giant beast of a pup came into my life).

hope this helps.

Haha @spookysproul swap !! , its been raining for about 2 weeks solid now !!

That wretch! She was supposed to let me know that she was on her way so I could take her place!

Ha, I guess we are all cheesy at Frith Street Tattoo. Bummer.
We have about 4 different designs each year, in small runs. Most are never re-printed. Designed by people we respect. Why would I not wear them? I hardly ever wear the shirts I design, because they suck. I wear the other guys designs as well as shirts from other shops and tattooers we like. In the past we have had a limited run of 15 shirts printed just for the guys and girls at the shop and their friends.
I agree with pretty much everyone else. I didn't start tattooing to wear a uniform.
But if you enjoy wearing the same outfit to work every day, that's awesome. It worked for Seth Brundle!

I'll second this. And I'll add yet another echo of "If the shop doesn't have the flash, you shouldn't be getting tattooed there." @Synesthesia I personally don't see any qualm with you bringing in a print-out just in case, especially if you're going to a shop that would most likely have it anyways.

That wretch! She was supposed to let me know that she was on her way so I could take her place!

San Francisco is literally filled with dorks, don't worry about it too much :p
but in other words, I hear the actual coffee is good!

I love flowers on the hands and I also really like this ...
Jondix

Gerhard Wiesbeck

Paul Aherne is a really good, young, Dublin tattooist (About the only one in the city I'd recommend to people actually).
I would hazard a guess that he's been tattooing for a bit longer than 5 years, but I think he fits the brief for this thread all the same.
He's a street shop tattooer in the sense that he seems to be able to have a stab at anything, from traditional to Japanese style to tattoo portrait.
Instagram

last few days

I've decided to take my stuff in a more defined direction, here is a new piece along the lines of where I'm trying to go.

Had heaps of fun with latest effort, definitely was not easy to do

@Genie of the West If you don't want the number 13 on your body, possibly a Friday the 13th special isn't the time to get your tatttoo.
You may have unrealistic expectations on this.