polliwog

I hope this isn't presumptuous, but I get the sense that maybe people are biting their tongues & what's gone unsaid is leaking out in odd ways. There's always been shenanigans on here, from what I can tell, but it was once balanced out by more substantive tattoo talk. I'm newish and probably haven't contributed much beyond YAY TATTOOS though.

The execution of these tattoos does make me squirm, but I don't feel great about calling this person out.

What does sheet music printed on a man's butt in Hell sound like?

via Hieronymus Bosch painted sheet music on a man's butt and now you can hear it | GlobalPost

That's awful @bongsau. My heart goes out to his friends and family.

Yup. The dismissal of the nanny's tattoo bothered me, too.

I think Jezebel used to publish some interesting essays (like, this is a vague memory)...but a lot of the writers I liked fled in advance of the rising tide of it's-all-about-me crap.

Dan has responded to this with such class that I'm sure he'll be getting some new clients out of it -- hopefully I'll be one of them some day. Really, really like that he's telling people not to use misogynistic insults on his behalf.

You know what would be a fantastic way of getting a tattoo that honors both your daughter and your commitment to feminism? How about putting your trust in one of NYC's many amazing female tattooers and taking her advice on design and placement? If you want to support women, that can certainly include supporting female artists and craftspeople by paying them for their work. It seems like this turned into a feminist issue after she didn't get what she wanted...when it could've been a really cool and memorable experience had a little more thought gone into it. No comment on whether she was or wasn't condescended to, but public shaming of the artist doesn't strike me as a good or productive way of dealing with it.

I would say that I feel bad for Dan Bythewood, but that woman comes across as so awful this article seems to be working to his advantage.

@pidjones, I'm sorry to hear about your son in law and I hope his wife makes it through. @Synesthesia, how frightening...I'm glad the fire didn't spread. Have you been able to manage the smoke smell??

Here's a weird question, but I haven't been able to get a straight answer from anyone else, so why not. I sort of suspect that my neighbors are up to something. Sometimes, in the summer when the windows are open, this really awful burnt toast/melting plastic smell drifts into the apartment and makes my boyfriend and I want to gag. What the fuck is this? There's no visible smoke. Has anyone here had the bad luck of living near people who are making meth or crack or something else? This is a quiet, well-off old neighborhood so you wouldn't necessarily expect anything, which is probably the point.

Making a solid plan and following through with it is something I haven't been very good at so far -- usually because what I'm interested in involves travel. I daydream a lot, though. I want a descending tiger from a specific artist but haven't quite managed to go about asking him yet, knowing that it will be a bit of a commitment. Impulsive one-shots!!

Sorry, I was being a bit facetious out of excitement over how cool that tattoo is!

The expression on that dog's face is so perfect.

@marley mission more as in the rest of the back? Poke, poke.

I'll be sure to DM pics to the LST folks on instagram when the first session is done but I probably won't post anything here (sorry) as I'm sure it won't go over well.

::immediately dies of curiosity:: (but fair enough, though)

This just prompted me to dig out the Perseverance book again and wow. Lucky you.

What pushed you to take out the snake? I hope this isn't nosy but I'm curious!

See this thread.

There's also a poster on here who did a full back (not including butt, if I remember correctly, it seems weird trying to recall what's on a stranger's butt but I guess that's what happens here) with Erin Chance in 3 days. I don't think she's been active recently, but maybe someone can remember her username and tag her??

Edit: tagging @CaitlinBurnett10 if she cares to chime in.

Ron Wells put a snake on the back of my arm earlier today. I'll try to get a photo when it's healed but it wraps quite a bit. Somehow this is turning into my almost-tribal arm (except for my first tattoo, which is sort of orphaned on it but hey). In case it needs to be reiterated, Ron is great and you should get tattooed by him.

If you're getting tattooed in or near Providence I can recommend this as a fantastic post-tattoo meal (unless you like to eat vegetables or something). Olneyville New York System Restaurant Get the hot wiener special with coffee milk. Perfect balance of salt, sugar and fat.

Edit: worst burps ever, though. I was warned and...yup.

I hadn't meant that passive-aggressively. More that there's a lot a person could say about the tattoo you were referring to, but that I didn't have the energy to try to say it and it might've been sorta navel-gazey anyway.

A couple times now I've flown with (what seems to me) a largeish amount of cash, and it's made me nervous. I also have a pretty low maximum amount of cash I can withdraw from an ATM, so I need to plan ahead for a trip to the bank. I like having the option to pay with a debit card. I would feel weird buying tattoos on credit, though.

@Graeme, I've also struggled with the question of tattoos as status symbol. I work in a part of the state that's very much defined by status symbols, and while my tattoos aren't the "right" ones for this area, they definitely signal that I have disposable income. (On the other hand, my laptop is 7 years old and my car looks like shit, so: tradeoffs.)

Who did your friend's backpiece? It's stunning. (I'm sorry if this is in the piece and I missed it - my French comprehension isn't what it used to be.)

I find it a lot easier to sleep on tattoos covered with one of the adhesive -derms. I imagine re-wrapping with plastic wrap and medical tape that first night would help a lot, too. Obviously check with your tattooer about aftercare first. It still swells but at least you don't have to deal with the raw feeling of fabric rubbing against abraded skin. Sometimes I take Benadryl to fall asleep and I wonder if this would help with the inflammatory response.

Almost all of the tattoos I've gotten so far are on my preferred sleeping side because I'm an idiot.

One thing I've found useful is to carry a physical sunscreen like beez mentioned in a stick form in my bag. I don't have a lot of surface area to cover, tattoo-wise, but it's useful for emergency touch-ups of super-exposed areas, like my upper arm. I have an Aveeno Baby one which I assume contains nanoparticles, but there are plenty of non-nanoparticle ones out there, too if that's a concern.

Excited to be going to The Torchbearer to add to my arm soon. It's nice to be going back to someone who's already tattooed me.

The colors of the maple leaves are so perfect. They're making me notice elements of the design that I hadn't seen before.