jade1955

Congrats @Reyeslv amazing tattoo!!

Back of the thigh is not a fun area!

Haha you're not wrong.

I tend to stick to the regime that works for me over the years. Keep the wrapping on overnight then wash in hot water and Dr Bronners soap. Wash twice a day and then after the dead skin has started to peel a little bit of moisturiser. The least fuss the better.

However I was tattooed a couple of weeks ago by Lal Hardy. The tattoo was in a place that might be a bit problematic, healing wise. He gave me a 7 day supply of pads (these are ones used in meat industry) and some A&D. Lal advised using the pads and A&D on the part of the tattoo that might be problematic. I followed Lals instructions and the tattoo healed amazingly.

Its not a regime that I would normally use but for awkward spots (knee ditch) it hits the spot.

The last 2 tattoos I've had have gone pretty close to the knee ditch. Whoopee that feels like fun.

Here's mine tattooed by Jondix last year.

Painful is an understatement. I broke out into a sweat the moment the needle first came into contact with my palm.

Jondix is such a nice guy though and has a really calming persona.

The healing and aftercare is a bit different as well. I was told it was important to keep the fresh tattoo well moisturised, to stop it cracking. As it heals the dead skin, which is quite thick starts to peel and you've got to be careful not to catch the edges.

Planning to get the other done in the new year.

Got this dagger from Lal Hardy at New Wave Tattoo in Muswell Hill, London. Lal has been tattooing for over 30 years and is as absolute diamond.

Had such a great morning there as well.

The dagger goes through a tattoo from Alex Binnie, which is his version of the first tattoo I had done over 40 years ago.

Got these two pieces at the London convention, Fudo-she-o by Claudia De Sabe (Black Garden Tattoo), Panther-reaper by Bart Bingham (New York Adorned)

As you can see I'm very happy with the trip to the convention this year! :D

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Love that panther reaper

That is outstanding. I saw this tattoo get started and could see that it was going to turn out amazingly well.

Sorry I never got a chance to say hello to you. As soon as I was finished I literally had to run to catch my transport home...

That's ok. Yours from Mike is amazing. We had to run as well. Got to the train with only two minutes to spare.

Got this Namabuki from Henning Jorgensen on Saturday.

No tattoos for me this year (not for the want of trying!) but i did manage to get to the convention on Sunday and have a good look around. Also had the pleasure of meeting @jade1955 who despite his choice in football team is a thoroughly nice bloke :P. Thanks for taking the time to have a chat with me, Roger, it was a real pleasure to meet you and a privilege to watch a master at work on your wife!

Haha, nice one. My leg, wallet and team all took a bit of a battering this weekend. It was a real pleasure meeting you as well, Gareth. The tattoo from Jack took the best part of 5 hours. I watched for a big part of that. It was amazing seeing it come to life. @Jade1959 has got quite a fat arm at the moment, but I'm sure she will post a picture when it's nicely healed.

What @Hogrider said.

Really stoked about this! Flying to London tomorrow with my younger brother. We've rented a place just 10 minutes from Tobacco Dock and we've got tickets for the whole week end. Ready for tattoo overload. Also got booked with Deno at last

@mmikaoj I got tattooed by Deno at last years. It was Denos last tattoo of the 2012 convention on the Sunday.

My appointment was for 6pm and when I went over to his booth at 5:50 he hadn't even started the appointment before me. I thought there is no way he is going to get that done and mine before 8pm. But boy is he fast. We eventually got started at 7:15 he drew the design on and did a palm sized skull & crossbones in less than 45 minutes.

He's a real nice guy. You're sure to get a great tattoo.

Tattooed yesterday by Chad Koeplinger.

It's on the back of my leg

Grrrrroooaaan...

What exactly do you mean by "special" and "not wrong"?! I'm planning my next tattoos to be on both my feet. You two scare me given all the tattoo experiences you've had. Mind you absolutely wonderful ones at that!

Knock on wood, I'm hoping for Horitomo cats. Just praying, sacrificing the neighbor's goats, reading some KFC chicken bone messages and sorta patiently waiting for that special phone call asking when I'd be able to set up an appointment. Fingers crossed.

The good news is that the healing seems to be going really well. Two long 11 hour shifts at work with the constriction of a shoe. The swelling is going down after three days. I have the additional worry as I have type two diabetes, but what the heck.

Good luck with your appointment. I just love those Horitomo cats.

@jade1955, I love that one. He and Bryan Burk both have their own style of girl heads.

The foot is...special, isn't it?

You're not wrong. Haha.

Tattooed by a guy called Steve in Bath around 1970. Don't know what became of him. He gave me two great tattoos though. Got tattooed by Doc Price in Plymouth. He was 80 and has been tattooing since the 1940s, amazing guy and some great tales. I first saw one of his tattoos when I was in Approved School (Reform School) in the 1970s. It took 40 years but I got there. I've a great big framed picture of me and Doc that takes pride of place on the wall in my house.

I've also got a Bristol Tattoo Club bat tattooed by Jimmie Skuse (Les Skuses grandson). Jimmie has been tattooing for a few years I'm not sure if Jimmie has been tattooing since 1985 but the family lineage dates back to the 1940s.

Alex Binnie did his version of my first ever tattoo a couple of years ago. He is such an important person in British tattooing history.

At the London tattoo convention I'm getting tattooed by Henning and in October, on my birthday, by Lal Hardy.

George Bone is also on my list.

Really beautiful, what a great way to spend a Sunday @jade1955

@Jade1959 Hang on a minute you were on your own for most of Sunday. ;)

This happened today. Tattooed by Adam Warmerdam Totally unplanned. Got a heads up on Friday night that he is in London.

Super nice guy and a great tattooer. I absolutely love this.

I'm so jealous! Plus, Henning is a wonderful person. You'll have a blast.

Many thanks Ross.

Can't wait!

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Guess I will see you there then. Henning normally shares a booth with Mike Rubendall. Can't fricking wait!!

Yeah see you there :-)

Booked in with Henning on the Saturday. Namakubi back of the leg.

I'm really looking forward to this one.

Just had confirmation of my appointment on the Sunday, with Mr Jack Rudy. Lady head in arm ditch!!!! Woohoo!!!

I'm florescent green with envy.

Cool! I would definitly have a Shunga in my armpit from Robson some day. Your positive experience makes the decision about getting one a little easier. I am more worried about swelling then the pain, though.. @jade1955

@Wilhell I forgot to mention the swelling goes down pretty quickly too. :cool:

Wow!! That shunga tattoo is supercool! Love it! How painful was it, and how many hours did it take?

Many thanks. It took about three hours. It wasn't too painful, I've had a lot worse. Getting nice and comfortable is the main thing as keeping your arm stretched out in the same position for a long time is no fun.

It does swell up a bit but the good news is that it's one of the quickest healing tattoos I've ever had.

Namakubi is a great choice! Jørgensen makes them incredibly good. I was actually talking with @Iwar, about getting a Namakubi from Matt Beckerich from Kings A. as a backup-plan if the other appointments goes to hell. I really like his way to do them. Do you have a plan b if Jørgensen don´t have any cancellations? Fingers crossed for you too man!

No plan B. We'll see what happens on the day.

Defo getting one of these aswell @jade1955

Do it!