SeeSea

@SeeSea...instigator!
and yea i agree :)

I do, too. It's a nicely executed black and gray rose--one of the most iconic tattoos around. And I think that your complexion is perfect for it.

I think its beautiful.

Most of the outlining done today. Next appt is Christmas Eve, so will outline the underarm and then do all the shading. I don't think there will be time for color so that will be later. There is a mum at the bottom that curves around to the front of my arm, to tie in w/the mum on the opposite side. Then wind/water meet and swirl in the middle.
Sadly, I am not bad assed enough to handle this becoming a full back piece. That very bottom bit of wind/water he added today was the clincher. Yikes.

started today...finish next month...
can't go wrong w/snake and rose right? didn't have either...ScottSylvia's the best :)

piss poor excuse for a picture of the actual tattoo, I'll get you guys a better one when it's healed and not completely crusty.

Freddy Corbin, Temple Tattoo Oakland

I have been crazy-busy and absent, but you guys have been getting some killer tattoos! That tiger on the ribs, SeeSea's monmon cat, and omeletta's lion all made me super-jealous!

meh ok here is a pic :)
from the amazing Steve Boltz
totally good time talking mostly golf
turns out Steve is an avid golfer and pretty good
I'm neither but I love stogies and beer with friends
and lets face it - thats more important than a decent backswing ;)
anyway - funky fish on my bicep...

good times at smith st. yesterday with steve boltz - loved the shop and had a great time - steve is a good convo and eli was there as well and also seemed very nice as well - would love to see those guys do a LST interview - no pics yet - i take crappy ones and steve doesnt post often so i'll wait until it heals and see if i snag a decent one
i got a funky fish on the inside bicep - not too painful a spot imo - plus steve was pretty quick

So I went for my appointment with Tomas Tomas today.
Trying some different styles :)
Had me toes done lol, wasnt a lot we could do really with just toes but I think once it settles down and its the same colour as the snake, should fit in great.
He showed me a vid and said this pattern is from some tribe from the Amazon. Now all I need is some animal skin leather pants ;p
Hes a fucking awesome crack :)

At last, a picture with color. The lines are healed and the color is fresh. After it's all healed I'd like to take a photo in better light. This was done by the amazing Gilda Acosta at Fatty's Tattoos in Washington DC, working from photographs of the actual flowers. They are botanically correct!

Thinking of adding a bird to the other shoulder blade next. Or continuing the flowers across my arm. Or both...

Yeah, I see what you mean about the streaks in the orange. But I don't see what is missing or needs to be finished. I think it looks great. Not much you can do about the areas in orange unless you wanted to make some big changes, or get in there with some accents in a darker color to distract from them. Although that could make the overall tattoo design look worse. It doesn't sound like you've had it for very long - I'd suggest giving it some time to heal and see how it turns out. It could settle in better, who knows. But I do like it!

#Eevee - good luck with your decision. I certainly understand. The tattoo I got last month was the same deal - waited over a year and was told from the outset that what he designs is what I get. That made me pretty nervous, but I like his art and I shared a LOT about what I was looking for, and then I just took the leap of faith. I didn't know what to expect and what he came up with is probably not what I would have drawn. But I am not an artist, and what he did was amazing. I'm pretty type a on some things, so it was a big leap for me to relinquish this control. But I liked putting that control on someone else because I wanted HIS interpretation. I suppose if I hated it then we would have to have a conversation, but luckily that did not happen. It's also on my thigh, so it is easy to cover. That probably made it a lot easier, too. Fox - that is cool. I like foxes. Sometimes they run in the backyard but screech like banshees when the boys start territory battles.

I felt like this has to be posted somewhere on this board, since I can't be the only one who nerds out over stuff like this: BBC One - Life Story, Courtship, Pufferfish 'crop circles'
Pufferfish mandala. Animals are amazing.

^ and I love your tattoo, I saw it on the other thread!
I think I too am quite type a so this is a challenge for me. But I'm going to think it over a bit more and see what instinct says.

#Eevee - good luck with your decision. I certainly understand. The tattoo I got last month was the same deal - waited over a year and was told from the outset that what he designs is what I get. That made me pretty nervous, but I like his art and I shared a LOT about what I was looking for, and then I just took the leap of faith. I didn't know what to expect and what he came up with is probably not what I would have drawn. But I am not an artist, and what he did was amazing. I'm pretty type a on some things, so it was a big leap for me to relinquish this control. But I liked putting that control on someone else because I wanted HIS interpretation. I suppose if I hated it then we would have to have a conversation, but luckily that did not happen. It's also on my thigh, so it is easy to cover. That probably made it a lot easier, too. Fox - that is cool. I like foxes. Sometimes they run in the backyard but screech like banshees when the boys start territory battles.

#Eevee - good luck with your decision. I certainly understand. The tattoo I got last month was the same deal - waited over a year and was told from the outset that what he designs is what I get. That made me pretty nervous, but I like his art and I shared a LOT about what I was looking for, and then I just took the leap of faith. I didn't know what to expect and what he came up with is probably not what I would have drawn. But I am not an artist, and what he did was amazing. I'm pretty type a on some things, so it was a big leap for me to relinquish this control. But I liked putting that control on someone else because I wanted HIS interpretation. I suppose if I hated it then we would have to have a conversation, but luckily that did not happen. It's also on my thigh, so it is easy to cover. That probably made it a lot easier, too. Fox - that is cool. I like foxes. Sometimes they run in the backyard but screech like banshees when the boys start territory battles.

In unrelated news, it's coming up to our first wedding anniversary and I've been looking at the photos again- I love the glimpses of ink I've got in some of them.
For example, this one! Hope no one minds me posting it.

@MrToby - this is amazing - the blue is so piercing and the fade to white is a great idea. Your back is really shaping up. I'm enjoying following your progress.

Oh thanks so much guys, I feel better now! My artist does..ugh I don't know how to spell it. Mai Thai. Mui Thai? One I think is a drink tho..shoot, it's some sort of martial arts he does anyway, so he should have some input for me too. And I will ask my instructor-she's really laid back about that stuff and I know she sees how hard I try so I think she'd let me sit out part of class for a couple days. What really makes me sweat is when we do combination kicks. (part of it I admit is "brain sweat"..crap what two kicks are we doing? which way am I turning first?) I had a laser peel done on my face a couple times-the first time was after I'd just started so she and I stood in the back by the fan and watched the class, and worked one on one w/some techniques.
I've got three forms to do for test, Dan Gun and Palgwe 1 and 2, so I could work on those for a while I bet. And I've got one step sparring I could work on as well if she gives me a higher color belt to work with. I'd saran wrap it for sure b/c the top is heavy and thick. It would be nice if I could leave it uncovered and wear a tank top but take one shoulder off..but that might be pushing my luck into disrespect and I don't want to do that. For the first class she lets you wear whatever b/c that's when she works w/you and you decide if you're going to like it or not, then you get your uniform your next class if you come back. I know you're not supposed to wear things on your feet but she had told me for my plantar fasciitis if I needed to wear an arch support around my feet she would allow that. (I've not had to so far) But I don't want to push the boundaries either..
I probably could work on basic techniques and things too, trying to tighten and clean them up, work on my pivoting for kicks. It's hard for me to rotate/pivot my feet.
Haha tattooed ninja, I like that.

So... not been on to post anything in a little while. I had to miss a session last month for medical reasons. I would absolutely have preferred being tattooed for 3 hours compared to going to the doctors. Anyway I made up for the missed session yesterday. We did the blue on the back of the left leg and then started to put some green in the leaves around the blossoms. I have another session in a couple of weeks time which will complete the scales. We talked about maybe slowly fading the blue towards the tail so that it ends up super pale, almost white, which I think could look amazing. We are then definitely going to be on the home stretch. After 45 hours it is really coming to life and I am incredibly happy with it.

@polliwog, we got the Derby Girl book in the mail today. She is already nearly halfway through it. She's always been a pretty good reader, but I've never seen her this enthusiastic about a book! :D

I have got another horror short story accepted in an ezine publication xD

started studying History at the University of Leiden, the netherlands, this year. This grands me acces to their library. Just found out they have about 2000 books about tattoos from one quick search. Everything from tribal studies to russian prison tattoo research. My life is now complete, holy shitballsmctitfuck this is awesooome!