El Dolmago

Enough already. @j144, if you don't tone down you attitude and language you will be banned. @oboogie, namecalling has never de-escalated anything.
This right here is the kinda shit that every forum in the world is riddled with, but LST used to be nearly free of. This thanks to the respectful and reflected tone that dominated throughout our member base. How about we try to get back to our roots, educate the best we can, or just don't reply to posts we don't agree with, and let them die out. 
Not groovy, man... (Sorry, I just re-watched Easy Rider)

Got my the lower part of my sleeve worked on today - Dragon scales done and the colour done on the Jizu and on the Kannon. After 3 appointments of solid lining, I'm happy to have some shading done.

Just so the obvious is not overlooked . . .

WE NEED PICS! :-) :-)

Just want to throw in here that I absolutely love the "Ladies Thread!" I'm going to try to wade through the whole thing at some point. But I just love having a place were we girls can share information about tattoo topics specific to us! :-)

This was my LIFE when I lived in Japan - I was a teacher and a school administrator and I had a weekly ritual of covering the tattoos on my leg and back. The worst was a very old, small, fuzzy tattoo on my ankle that I had cover up with a large bandaid every week - one of my coworkers just about died when he realized that it wasn't an injury that I had to keep covered for 5 years :).

Got my the lower part of my sleeve worked on today - Dragon scales done and the colour done on the Jizu and on the Kannon. After 3 appointments of solid lining, I'm happy to have some shading done.

I remember Dan Smith and Mario Desa running a Tattoo booth at the Hello Kitty 40th Hello Kitty Con a couple of years ago. Two heavy hitters there.

@El Dolmago I loved Mario's Hello Kitty tattoos!  I should modify my original answer to say that the presence of respected tattooers at a non-tattoo convention would reassure me that people weren't being exploited.  I would've gotten a Hello Kitty tattoo...

I remember Dan Smith and Mario Desa running a Tattoo booth at the Hello Kitty 40th Hello Kitty Con a couple of years ago. Two heavy hitters there.

Got my the lower part of my sleeve worked on today - Dragon scales done and the colour done on the Jizu and on the Kannon. After 3 appointments of solid lining, I'm happy to have some shading done.

Got my the lower part of my sleeve worked on today - Dragon scales done and the colour done on the Jizu and on the Kannon. After 3 appointments of solid lining, I'm happy to have some shading done.

Got my the lower part of my sleeve worked on today - Dragon scales done and the colour done on the Jizu and on the Kannon. After 3 appointments of solid lining, I'm happy to have some shading done.

Got my the lower part of my sleeve worked on today - Dragon scales done and the colour done on the Jizu and on the Kannon. After 3 appointments of solid lining, I'm happy to have some shading done.

I sit here, sore, swollen, in a daze... but I have to share my story. I am an apprentice tattooer and have been in my apprenticeship since September of 2014. I have always had a deep respect for tattooing, but it has now been solidified even deeper. Last year at the Lady Luck Tattoo Convention, my teacher was asked to receive a traditional Samoan tatau by Sulu'ape Si'i Liufau of A-Town Tattoo. My teacher has known Si'i for about 10 years through the convention circle. We were sharing a booth with A-Town, so I was preparing for a pretty close view of the event. As they were preparing, Si'i came to me and told me that he only had his apprentice, Genesis, available to stretch skin for the tatau and they would need my help. I have a previous post describing the experience, so I won't elaborate further on it here, but it became one of the biggest honors of my life to be involved in that tatau on my teacher.
Fast forward to this past weekend: We were working the Lady Luck Convention again and had a pretty slow schedule of clients. My teacher intentionally did so, because he wanted to hopefully help stretch on a tatau. It is a huge honor to receive a tatau, but it is an equal honor to assist in one. Saturday night, we are all in the bar, relaxing and having a good time. It was a group of about 20 tattooers from all over the country. Talk of the process of tatau began and I took the opportunity to interject and publicly thank Si'i for asking me to assist on my teacher's tatau. I told him it was one of the biggest honors of my life and I would never forget it. He nodded to me and said, "What are you doing tomorrow?" I said, "No tattoos, just working our booth." He said, "I should give you tatau tomorrow." Without hesitation, I stuck my hand out and said yes. We shook on it and he went over to discuss it with his apprentice. They were making gestures around the lower thigh area and kinda laughing a little. I jokingly said, "You guys are laughing too much! You gonna fuck me up tomorrow?!" Si'i responded, "We're gonna try something new on you, Nate. You're not gonna like it... but you're gonna like it."
The next morning, I went over to the A-Town booth and Si'i had me remove my shoes and put on a sarong. Without discussion, he started shaving my knee area, all the way around. He drew on a couple reference lines, where he then called over my teacher and told him he would be assisting his apprentice with stretching of the skin. I've already written a lot, so I will skip along. It took 3 hours of, by far, hands down, the most painful tattooing I've ever received. Almost my entire knee, and all the way around back, through the ditch. At the end, I was congratulated. I didn't move. I didn't squirm. I made no sounds. Inside my head, it felt as though they were cutting my leg off, but I knew I had to show my respect and gratitude by being silent. It was incredible. To be a part of my teacher's tatau and for him to be a part of mine has bonded us even closer. We are both so humbled and blown away by it all. As he did a final cleaning of my leg, I asked Sulu'ape Si'i what I needed to pay him for this (I was actually kind of worried, because I'm a broke apprentice). He said, "Meaalofa. It's a gift for you. You earned my respect when you sat for hours and stretched for your teacher last year." He also said, "Now Nate, this tatau has the ending placement of a traditional Pe'a, so when a Samoan sees it coming out of your shorts, they are going to question you. When they do, you tell them it was a gift from Sulu'ape and if they have any more questions, they can come talk to me." I'm still in awe. I look at my leg now and it is so much more than a tattoo. It is history. It is honor. It is respect. I just wanted to share my story. Thanks to all that read it. Here are some pictures of the whole thing.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Got this good lookin' little guy yesterday from Ron Wells.

In six days, I'm going back for the next stage in this sleeve.
Has anyone had their linework done and grown attached to it? Don't get me wrong - I'm eager for the next stage... but I've grown fond of my linework and in a weird way am kinda gonna miss it.

Getting the sleeve shaded and scales added (perhaps colour too) next week - hopefully my spring sleeve project will be wrapping up before summer hits! 

Getting the sleeve shaded and scales added (perhaps colour too) next week - hopefully my spring sleeve project will be wrapping up before summer hits! 

Getting the sleeve shaded and scales added (perhaps colour too) next week - hopefully my spring sleeve project will be wrapping up before summer hits! 

Getting the sleeve shaded and scales added (perhaps colour too) next week - hopefully my spring sleeve project will be wrapping up before summer hits! 

by Robert Ryan @ Electric Tattoo in Asbury Park NJ

Funny I don't have enough hair to bother shaving and my forearm itched like crazy!

UPDATE: Well, today was the day!
What a long, but great day! It began a little before 11:00am. I was the first one in the shop with Scott (most of the day, there were 10-15 people there, and at one point six artists were tattooing simultaneously). He had been working on a few designs based on the sleeve length I wanted. Over the week between today and our consultation, I had decided to ask him to put the dragon's head somewhere on my arm instead of with the head in the more traditional chest area. I was a little worried to be asking for this, as Scott has a relatively new sleeve with the head in the center, and the last thing I wanted was for him to think I was trying to copy his own tattoo. Luckily, when I got there, he informed me that the last several dragons he had done had the head on the chest, and he was dying to do something new. Perfect! His sketches had just what I wanted. It was a really good sign.
However, getting it right took some time. Using thin paint brushes, he created the design over four separate layers. The dragon's head had to be moved several times, and the unique swirl of the dragon we decided on what difficult to get right without looking like the head was plopped onto the center of the body... but Scott is a perfectionist, and after a lot of erasing and revising, and then relining, and revising, etc... we were finally done with a design ready to be inked at 2:40. With only a few short breaks, it took a lot longer than I expected. But the result is something that works specifically with my body as opposed to just slapping a template onto my arm. I love it.
Here is a quick snap of Scott somewhere between layer 2 and 3 of sketching on me:

I haven't had a tattoo in nearly 20 years, so I had no idea what to expect from the pain, especially over so many areas. Tattooing in the ditch was no treat, but not as bad as I had come to expect from reading. The outside of the elbow lived up to expectations. But the worst was around my collarbone, where any wincing or tightening of my face would risk pulling the skin under his needle. And there was one spot on my chest where I could clearly feel the vibration on my pec, but the pain was in my neck. I could have sworn at the time he was tattooing my upper-middle neck.
Long story short (yeah, right), we finished up the linework a little after 5:00pm. I am absolutely thrilled with the result... and was getting tons of compliments on it by the many artists and clients in the shop throughout the day. Here is a front shot:

It is a little difficult to see from this angle and with only linework, but the dragon's body actually goes out the back of the head and swirls up and around the shoulders through the clouds and comes out belly showing under his head before turning again towards the end of the sleeve. It makes a little more sense visually if you can see the back. I also have the dragon clutching a pearl with his talons on the back on the sleeve and will actually be filling the pearl with a significant flower logo in the next session.
Overall, a fantastic day. I couldn't be happier that Scott got all the elements I wanted into the design, was able to keep it very traditional, but also with a great deal of uniqueness built just for me. If any readers are in Austin, Triple Crown Tattoo on Chicon Street (right around the corner from Franklin's BBQ!) is a must-visit.

Had my next appointment with Dan at the Pearl. More outlining - this time elbow and ditch. Honestly once he hit the elbow I think my nerves went on vacation and the rest of the sitting felt like licking kittens! Dragon section was drawn on with no stencils.
Next session scales and shading.