jimstanley

I don't get asked these questions. I also don't draw attention to my tattoos.

The annoying ones for me are "Show me your eagle!" to which I reply "Let me see your chest too!"

If someone is asking for meaning they're trying to feel included and fuck them for not being able to stay in their own damn lane

amalia makes a good point... Might also give clues to how the subject is viewed or treated by people in or out of our tribe

I think it's a thing... I mean... Getting a tattoo is a decision made by a psyche just like any other decision. As for what it signifies? Probably nothing universally agreed upon

Guy here. I don't like (or own) shorts so my leg tattoos are hidden by virtue of that fact, and I don't wear v-necks or unbutton my shirt far enough to see my torso, so most are hidden by virtue of their placement... But I wear long sleeves whenever I need a person to think I'm a positive tax-paying citizen. I answer disapproving looks with my regular scowl and stare back when people stare. Never gotten a negative comment on them... Usually the "dont fucking talk to me" message I put out is well received and only my friends really compliment them.

As far as showing them off: hidden until you need to scare somebody ;)

get it over your nipple. hopefully after seeing it daily for a couple years youll notice that it has become your nipple and you cant scratch it off. "oh, shit! so that really wasnt a painful sticker!"

the ends of extremities (ankles/wrists) or somewhere central (try the top of your spine instead of your shoulder). also wanna say that certain designs make sense as stickers and certain designs make sense as tattoos

Evolutionarily I like to equate tattoos to the coloring on venomous animals. And the mating habits of birds. Not necessarily essential for the individual, but an inextricable part of effectively living a good life... My body doesn't need it but my soul does

@Graeme makes a good point about tattoos not having an exchange value... There is no real economic interaction between clients and tattooers except for flash. The thought of tattoos appreciating in value, though, makes me wonder how much the stuff from tattoo city and what back in the days would be worth now

To call them a luxury item is a bit silly to me... Anyone can tattoo themselves or someone else for free, with an original image or with some old flash. I guess theres kind of a division between tattoos and luxury tattoos.

Is spending thousands on a backpiece part of the human experience? Or is finding a friend/being a friend who will tattoo you part of the human experience? Or is receiving/wearing the tattoo part of the human experience whether you paid admission or snuck in?

This'll be REAL interesting

Only wear watches from chief keefs jeweler

@Tesseracts VERY well put. Once tattoos can be put on by xerox machines the world as I know it is over

Pretty harsh, but, I gotta ask if she really wants a tattoo out of love for her daughter, or one that makes her look like a celebrity?

The disillusioned tourists used to get robbed... I pray she gets it lasered and is left with a horrific squiggly scar

The hours thing is interesting... I got a walk in once like at closing time, kinda made me feel like an asshole, but it was a good time and a pretty small tattoo. I figure if he would've rather gone home he would've said so... I know that's rude to do at a restaurant but it's not like I'm keeping the whole crew there late at a shop right?

There's more ways to tip than with money! If you're just in a business transaction then sure throw some %%s on that but I like the idea of gifts way more than tips. They always seem more appreciated than tips too.

Fuck a tough guy attitude just sit well. silence speaks volumes

shouts to @Dan S for validating my shop visits when I'm too broke to get tattooed... Was worried I was annoying them but that's ridiculous... I'd generally like to think if I was doing something wrong a tattooer wouldn't be afraid to tell me

Surprised at how casually the money issue was discussed here... If I had been giving someone money for (things that I deemed) necessities like rent or school, and then I saw them cruising around town in a brand new car, or with a brand new tattoo... That's super disrespectful. It's like being in debt to a drug dealer and blowing all your money on other shit... you're gonna get hit...

If a person can afford this nonsense they should be able to afford everything else. Getting tattooed while still living under a financial security blanket is childish

I've asked about hourly rates & estimates and given a rough budget on all my custom tattoos. Makes it very easy for both parties. For flash I get a quote and my budget is irrelevant.

The way I see it, my tattooer is as worried about getting paid for his work as I am about paying for his work, and I've never had a tattooer ask for more than I said I could spend on it or be dishonest about his rate/how long he expects. I got a bigger piece where the pricing was a little vague but it seemed fair for both of us to me at the end. I tipped him with some other goodies

@LizBee Yeah it was still sort of a big deal to have anything visible in high school when I was coming up, but myspace got these kids going crazy. Maybe the hand and wrist tattoos came from people being comfortable with piercing and stretching

If he'd just not played at the bar I'd feel that, but no shouts for going just for the sake of getting in one of your fans' business... I guess I don't get it like someone else does.

This thread's been on my mind. First of all, I definitely didn't credit the influence of the spectrum of metal music on my taste enough in my last post. Second, the punk rock scene was fucking huge and that's probably why it's echoed so much on this thread. But I'm curious about the personal particulars.

I guess the ftw mentality of punk rock & tattoos force them together in one way, the supermassive self-destructive vacuum of punk rock sucks tattoos up, among other things. But I'll admit there's at least a part of my metal side that looked up to tattooed musicians. I think my passion might have also come from baggage from the punk scene of a meth town. You either did or didn't "claim edge" and you either had a couple tattoos or were warped-toured to the teeth.

Theres a great story about a straight edge kid yelling at Minor Threat for drinking coffee, caffeine is a drug after all, and getting the shit kicked out of him. My town saw a lot of that

I remember being really young, listening to my dad's old eclectic mix of an 80's weirdo records, and reading comics and d&d books. My brother watched me when I was young so I used to skate with him and when he went to the comic shop to play magic I sat in the front and read whatever I could get my hands on. My parents would never let me buy comics. We actually weren't allowed to go to the comic shop. Weird. Whatever music taste I have independent of my dad's started developing with RATM. That was when I started writing and drawing. I draw less now but still write. Then the ambiguous "they" got worried about me so I got stuck in band which I guess worked out. I started playing trombone and then picked up guitar, started listening to a lot more music. Then in high school I started a pseudo-psychedelic desert jam/cover band with some friends and I've been in that world ever since. Everyone raps now, but. Dust blows forward and dust blows back. Whatever textbook sub-cultures I was into were basically me becoming attached to things my dad remembered from growing up in east LA. Mostly kustom kulture and motorcycle stuff I saw from afar. There were communities of people around everything I was into but I'd hardly call them sub-cultures. More like packs of desert refugee kids.

As far as whatever paved the way for the passion... I'm still too young and destructive to care too much. Tattoos have been around my whole life and I always thought they were cool, I dont know if me reading comics, skating, playing magic, liking punk rock, or being into old cars and ed roth had anything to do with that. All those things definitely influenced my taste in art and what exactly is visually appealing to me though. I guess it's a question of correlation and causation.

Money/size and artist availability. Start attaching your ideas to artists so you can make concrete plans to move on. Then whichever one is the most convenient for you to go into is as good as any if youre getting them all right? My issue is deciding exactly where I want each image. Which seems annoying for tattooers

Mine did this and they look fine, just was a long and weird process.

I've gotten a few more that I washed just as often with a tiny bit of A&D (way less than before) then lotion every few days when it gets rough (rather than constantly keeping it wet). Thats been more intense but ultimately quicker and easier than before. Generally leaving them alone now

Day 6 off my chest eagle "dry" healing like this and almost entirely peeled and healed without issue. Scabbiness came off a couple nights ago. Stopped the A&D entirely and didn't lotion at all for a couple days after day 3

I'm not too invested in any of this but it's a bummer to see conversation get steamrolled. I'd rather let the bigger fish talk and look for scraps

I love traditional tattooing. I like a lot of stuff though. Had that deutsche sleeve up on my browser for a minute. I'm into it. I don't mean to say that it isn't going to last or that it isn't incredible because I don't have any authority. I think it looks awesome, but it doesn't resonate with me psychically like traditional tattooing does for whatever reason.

I've always loved traditional tattooing because of how it ages. Ive seen in person a lot of underwater super colorful shit and it never looks good old. I've also seen in person a lot of old biker tattoos that look like shit. Never seen any old traditional tattoos that I had to stop and ask "what is that,' because even when they look like grease stains, they look better than any other kinda grease stains.

And now for the circle jerk: the higgs druid. That elder who does the same goddamn thing every day and has been doing it for hundreds of years and will keep doing it for hundreds of years. Thats fucking cool man. Thats power. Real spiritual mental power. Also the first tattoo time got me thinking about them this way. As far as art and the evolution of tattooing and tattoo art... I got a lot of devo records from my dad when I was a kid and i dont know if we arent men

Thats a pleasant thought. That the eyeWatch can't monitor us tattooed miscreants. Bodes well for the eventual dystopian future

I'll be there. Look for the sketchy kid who probably smells too loud

Makes me laugh to think about people getting ambiguous words tattooed. something like "BK" could go one of five ways

Celebrities aren't helping shit by being as dumb as they are. Wish I had a link to the story, but theres this italian scratcher whos tattooed mad celebrities for mad expensive with absolute garbage. Bullshits ignorant philosophies and generally raises my hackles. Feel like most shit tattoos are basically people that dont "get it" and are tryna look like they do.

note: peeped the word "entitled" being used to defend a persons tattoos... so...

My worst tattoo -- going to a charity event, but I didn't much like anything on the sheet. Yeah I shoulda dipped, lesson learned, but it was a "cant afford anything huge and rad so tiny and dumb is chill" deals. So I just told my girl to pick. Still like it, dont regret it, but its admittedly a shit tattoo and I ain't gonna do that again. Was 18 in a childish rush for coverage.