pidjones

I' am NOT saying that any of them are bad - just not to my taste, and that you should look at more photos than what the artist themselves are advertising with. Photo-real means it looks like a photograph on your skin. People get copies of photos of their children, pets, etc. copied as tattoos, and it often ends up disappointing. I didn't like Biex's photo-real (particularly the dogs and child) but, that may have been what the photo looked like. Also, the text with watch looked way too light to me. But, I'm no expert. Maybe he is the best.

Three weeks for me and she seems fully healed. I moisturize a couple times a day with a light rub of the Gold Bond Ultimate Healing with Aloe. The first week I slept in a clean tee shirt (tattoo on my shoulder) each night to a) keep the sheets from staining and b) see how much flaked off inside each morning (yech). I did have to take the shirt off (veerrry carefully) in the shower after letting the water free it from the skin on the first morning, but after that I had no issues. I plan to wear UV shirts (I have several fishing shirts that I bought for motorcycle riding) from 10am-1pm daily and micro fiber shirts the rest of the time while on our beach vacation in a couple weeks.

For their style (not my favorite style), I'd think Chirita for that new style stuff or Volken for dotwork/geometric. I'd want to see the photos that Biex (some of those I really was not happy with) and others did photo-real FROM to see if they are true to their subjects. That is why I don't like photo-real. and artist's impression of what someone might look like in a certain pose (someone well documented like Marilyn or Johnny Dep as Jack Sparrow) has much more freedom and can do so much better. Even a movie still can be made good - but a photo of a child or the like is so much harder to portray accurately. I'd rather see something produced by the artist from a video. My own tattoo of my wife was done as a cameo so that those imperfections in the art would only add, not subtract from the beauty. And I write this as someone who picked the wrong artist. Once. He might have been good with the styles that you show here, but he totally mis-read my request and I am still not well pleased even after corrections. Although there are sooooo many great artists in the traditional styles, and also in the newer styles, there are some that are very hit-and-miss. I would like to see some of their BAD work, too. I'm sure the very good artists don't hit it perfect every time, but they will produce a LOT of great art. Be very careful of small, select portfolios.

A hand reaching out? Simple and goes with the other two.

B&G owl or wolf, but colored eyes - yeah, that can be very dark and menacing. I like that.

Chicken is sooooo easy to turn into sparrow on a gas grill! I'm no cook, but I think one thing is to keep the top open and watch it carefully.

For full disclosure, I'd like to request photos of post and healed laser results.

Vanity have anything to do with body art? NO! Really?!? I had a schoolmate in High School that although very thin and attractive otherwise, she had very thick ankles - I thought they were sexy as hell! Just wait, Curvy Girls are the fashion trend now - cankles may be next! If you really want to see what a tattoo would do, let me suggest two options: 1, get someone to take a couple good unobstructed photos of your ankles and then Photoshop some tattoos onto them, or 2, Henna - my tattoo artist also has a henna artist in her shop. It doesn't have to me a traditional Indian or mid-East design to be done in henna. Whatever your idea, have an artist do it for you and judge by your own feeling (and other's comments if you care). But, either way - if you do get it, you MUST post the photos here!

Like LizBee, I have a few allergys - pollens, dust, dust mites, dog dander (although the daughter's dog doesn't seem to bother me) and take daily prophylactic doses of Benedryl and Chorophenremine Maleate along with NasalChrom sprays and Generic Flonase. This combination has managed to lead me through a pretty bad allergy season here in East Tennessee with nothing but a little runny nose. My food allergys are few - primarily bell peppers give me huge headaches. But tattoo itch? Only vary mild and occasional that goes away with a mild slap (three weeks in and I had to slap the cameo tattoo of my wife in the face a couple times at Bible study last night). I have caught myself scratching through my shirt, and just changed it to a slap. I use Gold Bond Ultimate Healing with Aloe after the first peel, and I think it really helps. In winter, my calves itch like crazy at night - sometimes keeping me awake for hours. I have found that this Gold Bond Ultimate Healing works much better and longer than cortisone creams.

@sophistre, you are just a couple years older than my youngest daughter. I consider myself a "Bull Geek" now - I teach people how to be cyclotron engineers. And, after working previously at Oak Ridge National Lab for 21 years - "Big Bang Theory" is more true-to-life than any "reality" show on TV!

I have seen many great looking pieces of work from Eastern Europe. I'm terrible with remembering names and countries, but just do some searching (maybe try searching the site with country names).

Laser still seems the best. Lactic acid and dermabrasion by any method would remove skin and all pigment, leaving the scar. Follow the LST slogan: 'Get good tattoos', and you won't need it.

Looked like (if the picture was fairly recent) she and her tattoos held up better than I expect to. Still, remember that there is a person there - with the same things to deal with in life and death that we all do. Prayers for her family.

The world-wide transportation industry has us by the short-hairs, but weather doesn't help.

What a geek I was in the 60s. Not that great on grades - except Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Physics. Physics major in college but hated it, dropped out after one year and joined the Navy for eight years. Got out and started a career in particle accelerators. None of this drove my desire for ink. Still don't know what it was. I just wanted it!

This is my plan for our family beach vacation in two weeks. I picked up a Coppertone Sensitive Skin SPF 50, but it looks like white paint, so I'll just cover with a micro-fiber shirt and use the Coppertone when I mow and to protect my face and ears.

Son-in-law passed away this morning. Not unexpected, he was 71 and had been in hospice care at home for about the past month. Still sucky for the family.

I slept in a clean tee shirt each night for the first week to keep the flakes from getting all over the bed. Didn't think I had peeled or flaked much until I looked inside one of the shirts - yech! I normally sleep on the left side (the side I had my shoulder recently tattooed) but tried to sleep on my right this time. I woke up on the left each morning, though. There was only some very mild itch after ~10 days on the edges of it where it had scabbed a tiny amount. The whole thing burnt like a mild sunburn for a day. I washed 2-3 times a day, let air dry and applied Sarah's ointment until it had finished most of the peeling (about a week), then switched to Gold Bond Ultimate Healing with Aloe. I never put on more than a light coat, then blot off all that I can with a Kleenex. It is now two weeks old and looks and feels great! I just want a whole month to go by so I can shave it again (I have really gross shoulder hair).

Oh, I do hope so! At 62 I can use any help I can get!

You guys know that you just ruined my measly ham sandwich that I just ate for lunch, don't you? I'm a pork fan, but have had some awesome beef ribs, too. There doesn't seem to be a particular style for this area (East Tennessee). We get a mixture of North Carolina vinegar-basted with spicy sauce and slaw on top (sorry, not a fan), Memphis sweet and spicy, Georgia sweet and spicy, and South Carolina mustard-based sauces (really not a favorite, but their pig-in-the-ground meat is awesome!). My favorite is from Dreamland in Birmingham, Alabama. I love the Hickory smoky meat, but it shouldn't be so strong that it gives me heartburn!

I wanted it.

I'm just going to leave the arm with my not so perfect tattoo uncovered with no sunscrean this summer. maybe it will fade enough to get it corrected.

Great! Even the wife recognized it (she's been to a few conferences with me, including a couple at WHOI)!

I guess Mercy Hospital (now gone, I believe) was the nearest to Centerburg (we had a farm near there). We moved to Kentucky when I was almost 8 (~1960). Great neighbors on the farms around there. I still remember their warmth and helpfullness. I have vivid memories of neighbors helping dad plant corn one year, try to beat a storm we could see rolling in.

@Isotope I love the AMS rig! As a lifetime "accelerist", it is right up my alley! Oh, yeah, the harpoon and roses are obviously monster good too!