Dusk

Jut finished my Valkyrie tattoo a week ago. While at work the other day one of my coworkers asked me if the girl tattooed on my arm was supposed to be me...

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My newest tattoo is currently in the peeling stage. Can I just say that I hate putting lotion on peeling skin it feels so icky ugh. I put lotion on it in the morning and that's it.

Thankfully my artist instructions were no ointment, and start putting on a light amount of lotion after 3 days. Easy, low-maintenance healing routine. Can't argue with that.

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My artist and I were just talking about this last weekend. She was excited to get to be doing a cool tattoo and that I let her take the reins on design. She said most people come in with an overcomplicated idea packed with meaning and symbology and they usually want it to be small, or smaller than it should be; it's hard to get them to understand that it won't all translate into a good tattoo. She even had someone stop in while I was there who wanted a very specific tattoo in a specific (small) size and she had to tell them that in a few years it would just look like a blob.

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Finished up my Valkyrie tattoo yesterday. Couldn't be happier with how it turned out! Beautiful work by Megon Shore at Fist Full of Metal in Seattle.

Getting my Valkyrie finished tomorrow! That month between sittings was a long wait!

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Reading 'Abbadon's Gate' by James SA Corey, on the strength of it's endorsement by George RR Martin.

It's the first in a big space opera series about tensions and intrigue between 'inner' planets and a colonised 'outer belt' in our solar system. I was worried that it looked a bit dry but so far it has really hooked me... Very very readable and feels a bit like there are elements of everything from 'Total Recall' (the underrated movie) to 'Bladerunner', 'Star Wars' etc.

When I was getting tattooed in Tokyo I read Larry Correia's 'Monster Hunter: Nemesis'. Don't judge! I just wanted something easy and distracting. This is like childhood Saturday morning cartoon action in a book form for adults.

I will have to check out this book. I like a good space opera.

Larry Correia's books are a guilty pleasure of mine. I've read all his monster hunter books lol

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Yeah ever since I got my Valkyrie, which takes up almost the entire upper half of my arm, I've had to change my wardrobe a bit for work. I don't have to search out all long sleeves but I now have to wear longer sleeves than before, and I didn't realize how many of my work shirts just had those shoulder cap sleeves. Oh well. It's worth it.

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Fist Full of Metal in Seattle has some great artists

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I just got a crow tattooed, well a Valkyrie with a crow sitting on her shoulder. I say go for it!

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I have an appointment coming up with Megon Shore at Fist Full of Metal. Really excited about it. Doing a viking warrior woman (or shield maiden, if you prefer) with a crow on her shoulder. It will be my first color tattoo! And she does awesome color.

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Nice! For me the actual tattoo on the foot was worse than the healing. I'm not much of a sweller (is that even a word?) but I think a lot of that is because I drink lots of water. I didn't have pain problems after either. The knee was worse, felt like I had road rash for a couple days.

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After this most recent episode with the "hannya" mask.

That thing was pretty bad...I couldn't get past the egg-shaped negative space on it's forehead.

That elephant definitely had a cut and paste feel to it but I would rather wear that then have that horribly drawn melting mask tattooed on me forever. An ugly drawing tattooed well is still an ugly tattoo.

I pretty much listen to Bob Marley and Jack Johnson all day, or more accurately the Jack Johnson station on Pandora. Music has to be office-safe while at work.

Bioshock Infinite is worth every penny, great game. I enjoyed it as much as I did the first.

I'm planning on picking up Infamous, if not just because it is set where I live. Unfortunatly, I need to wait for my next paycheck! Haven't tried Theif, the reviews were mixed so I haven't bought it yet. Maybe once the price drops.

Honestly, all these games are just filler for me until Elder Scrolls Online comes out.

Piercings are much more high maintenance. I used to have a lot and now I just have my rook and a few in my lobes. I'm not much of a jewelry wearer, so I'm not in much of a rush to get more. I've been considering getting an industrial done, but healing cartilage is such a pain in the ass, so we'll see.

@Dusk I grew up in Dallas and OKC - would never wear shorts growing up, and instead dealt with being hot and sticky and fucking miserable all the time.

Now I see we both live in Seattle...coincidence? Hahaha - welcome to the forum and the cool pacific northwest!

Great minds think alike!

I hated my chubby, pale legs until I started getting them tattooed. Like, always wearing pants even though I lived in Texas, hated. Life is better now with my tattoos.

I found the cost to be negligible. A $16 roll of it will likely last through my entire leg. I'm okay with that cost and it certainly isn't driving me to a cheaper artist because of the expense. I like it for the convenience mainly, and while I've never had scabbing issues with any aftercare, I had significantly less peeling when I used the Saniderm for this last tattoo. And not having my pants or bed sheets gunked up with A&D ointment, not having my pajamas stuck to my fresh tattoo when I wake up in the morning, not having to jump in the shower 3 times a day to wash it, and not having to touch it 3+ times a day potentially introducing bacteria was worth the cost.

I think people research the crap outta aftercare because most of us want to make sure we are doing our best to protect our investments and make sure we don't jack up our tattoos.

I'lll throw my recent experience out there. I bought a roll of Saniderm to try out on the tattoo I got last weekend. Before this I always washed 2-3x's a day/ointment 2-3 days/then lotion method. Worked fine, but was annoying as I am getting my entire leg done and having ointment all over it for days at a time was pain.

So last weekend I got a tattoo pretty high on my thigh, unwrapped and washed as soon as I got home, put a really thin layer of ointment on and went to bed. Next morning I applied the Saniderm. It was not hard for me to apply, but it was harder for me to cut a piece from the roll (I was wishing at that point I would have just purchased the pre-cut pieces). I kept it on for 4 days. I had hardly any fluid seepage I think because I waited 12 hours before applying it. After 4 days I removed it, slowly, in the shower while using soap and water. It was a tad tender while removing it from the tattoo. But my tattoo looked great!

It started peeling the next day, but it was barely any peeling (i usually peel really bad). I was impressed!

Overall, the process was so low-maintenance and easy that I was really happy! It seemed counter-intuitive to throw a bandage on and ignore the tattoo for 4 days, but this is the best heal I've had so far, and the easiest by leaps and bounds! I'm definitely glad I gave it a try and will continue to use it for future tattoos.

I just got a revolver tattooed on my thigh this weekend when I was supposed to be just finishing up some shading. So now I'm officially a concealed carrier ;)

I've decided to try this with my next tattoo. Gimmick or not, I'm tired of my work pants getting greasy, and I'm especially interested in trying it with my foot since I can't wear sandals to work. I ordered the Saniderm because I liked the different size options (my tattoos are not small), and upgraded the shipping to priority so hopefully it'll be here by the weekend so I can try it after my next sitting (which is on Friday).

I've never had scabbing issues, but I hate the peeling, and my last tattoo peeled really bad. I am interested to see the effect using this will have.

I spent some money on some "tattoo lotion" once and wasn't sufficiently impressed enough. Especially when 4oz of the stuff cost the same as 16oz of my regular unscented lotion. I do buy the Provon soap to wash with instead of Dial though. I don't know if it makes any difference in the long run but it seems to be less harsh on my skin. Been using it for my piercings for a while too.

Welcome! I dig your Princess Mononoke avatar.

Thanks! I love Miyazaki's films. I've thought a lot about getting a whole Mononoke themed sleeve, would make for some killer tattoos.

I've been lurking here for a while and finally decided to jump into some of the action. I just started getting tattooed again after quite a long break. Got my first tattoo at 18 out of a friend of a friend's house. Ha! We'll it didn't turn out bad, just crappy placement. Poor thing was stretched to the max when I was pregnant with my son. No more tats on the tummy for me for a while!

Now I am in my thirties and I've finally decided to get some serious tattoo work done. I love black and gray and I'm a huge fan of horror and dark fantasy (major bookworm here) so I stopped by a few shops pitching some vampire/demon themed stuff and met an artist as excited about it all as me. I'm having a blast pitching ideas around with him and sitting down to get some of the work done. I'm just kind of doing this a chunk at a time rather than planning the whole leg in advance, I am having more fun that way.

Anyway, I just had a 5 hour sitting last weekend and now I'm in that peeling/itchy phase. For me that's the worst! To manage it I've been distracting myself with your lovely forum. Super informative! You guys are rough though, so no way am I posting a pic of my poor deformed tiger of ages past lol. I did upload a few snapshots of my leg though, for those curious.