Swifty

I might actually try to go to this one with the wife, she's itching to get work done and the list of artists going there is pretty damn awesome.

Went to my first tattoo convention this weekend and won best sleeve, pretty pumped to go to Boston's next month, especially since my artist will be there this time. Would be awesome to go to three conventions in a row.

I wash mine until I'm pretty confident most of it is gone, it doesn't really matter if there's still plasma on there as long as you keep it lubed and wrapped, the plasma won't dry and you won't get scabs.

I keep rewrapping for 2 days and by then, it stop leaking plasma and at that point you gotta make sure you wash off all the plasma. Don't want scabs. It'll start shedding skin a day or two later.

Healed my entire sleeve that way and it's vibrant and I haven't needed any touch ups.

Well that was a brutal last session but damn the result is worth it:

@Swifty that is awesome who is the artist?

Thanks! It was done by Jesse Rix out of Keene, NH.

I didn't realize until today that this was the place to post new work. I'm going on Friday to finalize the entire sleeve(at least that's the hope). We'll be filling in all the background that wasn't finished yet and then go over the entire piece to add highlights and really make it pop.

So far, this is what's been done:

https://instagram.com/p/yaAYr2Ry_X/ (This was 3 appointments, I just didn't want to throw a bunch of pictures in, mostly finished top half of the sleeve, there are still some sections that need to be finished).

Started work on the bottom half, finished most of the lioness(about 70% done) in one sitting:

And finally, about 2 weeks ago we did the inner forearm piece, the cubs:

I'm so fucking happy with how the whole sleeve turned out. One more to go on Friday and I should be all set. I can't wait to post a shot of the entire sleeve, finished and healed.

Well Friday we added the cubs, it took a grueling 8.5 hours of gritting my teeth through this one.

That is one sensitive tenderloin, that inner forearm... Holy balls of awesome.

Jesse is so fucking amazing, I can't even.

I wish the picture captured the image better as the top cub is kind of chewing on the bottom cub's ear, it looks amazing in person.

This thing needs to heal well and fast, going back in 3 weeks to finish the entire sleeve. We'll be filling in all the gaps and blasting over everything that he hadn't quite had a chance to finish just yet. We'll be adding more highlights, more darks and just give the overall piece a better feeling of fitting all together the way it was meant to be from the start.

So pumped with the way the sleeve is turning out, it was a great decision to wait as long as I did to be absolutely certain of the choice I was making both with the subject and the artist.

Jesse has captured everything I had in mind and blew it out of the water with this piece, I can't stress enough how talented he is. The only downside is everybody giving me side glances to peek at it when out and about or asking me questions/wanting to see it, but hey, comes with the territory, plus it looks amazing so I'm glad to show it off when asked... just a strange new interaction I wasn't dealing with before lol.

For those of you who might be curious, he's Jesse Rix, you can find him easily enough through google.

Thank you! The artist is amazing and that is correct, always wanted sleeves or nothing, this is my first. I mean I guess it's multiple tattoos in the end but yes, just started this year with the whole lion sleeve.

I forgot to add an update after the last appointment, so here's the quick video of the half sleeve all healed up, that was another killer 8 hours:

Instagram

I also got more work done yesterday on the bottom half of the sleeve, lioness is about 70% finished(7:30 hours):

Instagram

Next appointment will consist of finishing up the lioness and hopefully get both of the cubs done on the inner forearm.

Once that's done there should be one or two final appointments to go back over everything. So pumped, Jesse is fucking amazing.

Really happy with the progress

3rd session done, 3-4 more to go to finish the top half and start/finish the bottom half:

3rd session over, that one felt even more brutal than the last.

Completely finished the top of the shoulder and under part of the arm all the way to the armpit of doom(fuck my life that shit hurts).

Top half of the sleeve nearly finished, this is the only pic I have for now, will have to post more once it's healed.

Bienvenue!

Meh.

Ordered a 3-pack, can't wait!

Ya know mate, this is how I see it. Weather you sit for 8 hours or 2, the thing about being tattooed is there ain't no short cuts. It's all time under the machine. If ya working on a 30 hour back tattoo, or a 10 hour rib panel, ya still gotta come back to it, ya still gotta work for it, ya still earn it.

There ain't no shame in in any time under that hammer man. :)

That's a very good way to look at it, thanks!

Couldn't agree more Mick, I have a coworker who's been trying to talk me into using numbing cream because "it's awesome, I can't feel anything". I've been going out there and took the pain as part of the experience, it's satisfying after 9 hours when your artist tells you you earned it... and it wrecked me when I tapped out after 7 and a half hours on my 2nd appointment, felt some serious shame and now, 6 days later I want to kick myself for not sitting the last hour and a half.

I was just saying that ultimately, it comes down to personal preference, if some people can't take pain but still want tattoos, they'll do whatever they gotta do to get it done, that's all.

^THIS

I agree, but at the same time, if you were to get plastic surgery, or have your tonsils removed, you're not just toughing it out because that's something you want... I understand why some people chose to take medicine to help with the pain... it comes down to personal preference and pain thresholds.

In full disclosure, I take 3 Advils at the start, and also 1/2 a 7.5 mg Vicodin pill at the start and the other half around hour 3. It is prescribed while I work through some very painful pelvis/spine problems that make it impossible for me to sit without a lot of discomfort. This very low dose makes sitting in a massage chair vaguely possible, and I find it does nothing for the tattoo pain.

That's interesting, I was thinking about taking Advil while getting tattooed, hoping it would reduce the swelling and maybe reduce the amount of pain I get from excessive wiping in areas where the artist is going over and over... that's probably the worst part for me sometimes... the damn wiping with a dry papertowel... feels like sandpaper on a sunburn. Blergh.

I would've figured the Vicodin and Advil would take the edge off, pain-wise... good to know it's not going to do anything lol

I was getting the top of my shoulder done Friday and he kept hitting a spot that was shooting pain straight up into my neck all the way up into my ear lobe... ugh. Can't wait to go back so he can finish that spot... definitely reconsidering getting the other arm done.

Yeah it's pretty crazy, I really wanna finish this thing. 3 or 4 more sessions to go

2nd Appointment done. This one was freaking brutal, he worked the back of the arm for a solid 4 hours and I was completely tapped out on any kind of pain management my body could muster... we spent another 3 and a half hours on the background/sky and I gave up... the shame. I just couldn't keep going, the back of the arm and the top of the shoulder is some serious, serious business. I'll provide better shots once its healed, of the back showing the finished mane and hopefully a better shot of the sky, although it's no where close to finished.

Going back in on December 1st, can't wait!

Yeah I've had the same issue with my ditch last time and this time around, trying to make a seal around the shoulder/armpit is damn near impossible... this thing is leaking from everywhere. Everytime I move my arm, it pushes air into the top of the shoulder so I've got air bubbles floating around in there... I've given up on trying to contain the leaks on this one... hoping it'll be fine in a couple days cause there's no way I could pull this thing off right now... it'd be like pulling skin off a fresh sunburn.

The first one healed amazingly so I'm hoping for similar results, even with all the leakage and air on this one.

My first session to start the sleeve took about 9 hours, I honestly didn't think it was all that bad. Seeing tattoo shows on TV just made me think it was going to be this horrendous pain and I would be dieing the whole time.

The wife was bringing over snacks & candy and soda throughout the session and it was pretty easy/laid back. He hit a couple spots where it felt really awesome(ditch/elbow/a weird area running straight down my arm that felt like he was drilling right into a thick ass nerve that runs all the way down to my fingertips) but for the most part, I almost fell asleep while he was shading.

And then we reached the last hour... where he was going in, doing fine detail work over areas he had already covered/shaded... I was starting to consider choking him, not even going to lie. Felt like he was going over a fresh, really bad sunburn with a razorblade attached to a vibrator. Holy balls of awesomeness.

On the drive back home, I ended up power napping for like 45 minutes hahaha, guess it takes its toll on your body.

Going back in for the 2nd session on Friday. Starting at 10AM and will go till we're both exhausted again... we're going to be doing shoulder, back & under parts of the arm and more ditch/elbow work... I have a feeling another 9 hours session isn't happening this time.

Is there truly such a thing as a universally accepted perfectly executed tattoo by a best artist, etc.?

No.

And no, we're not "in a a way" wearing shitting tattoos using this comparison that has odd criteria.

What does "perfectly executed" mean to you? To others?

Who is the master of all tattooing? To you? To others?

@Mick Weder mused above about shitty tattoos on his brother that had great meaning. Are they shitty? To you? To others?

/end list of rhetorical questions

Argh.

/end postingB4coffee

That's pretty much my point though, it's all based on opinions and perspective. A shitty tattoo to you might be a great tattoo to the wearer and on the opposite end, a tattoo you might consider to be perfect, some other person might think is terrible. It really doesn't matter and I don't really get why people fuss over other people's taste in tattoos.

I get when people get pissed off at shops/artists who crank out horrible stuff non-stop every day, that's totally justified, the quality sucks... but to knock people for their taste in tattoos is pretty stupid and self centered. I'm not a fan of american traditional but I wouldn't sit there and talk shit about some dude's eagle/panther/dagger/skull/othergeneric7thyearolddrawing, I know a lot of people love that shit and it's been around for a very long time.

Respect other people's choices & tastes.

Ultimately who cares, it's not your body. We'll be wearing that shit for the rest of our lives, who are you to say what other people should get tattooed? Everybody's got opinions and tastes, just because you like something doesn't mean everybody else does also. If they like what they got and they're happy with it, isn't that what's important?

I mean unless you're decked out in the best, perfectly executed ink done by the master of all tattooing on the entire planet, aren't you in a way, wearing shitty tattoos as well in comparison to what those perfect tattoos would be? Does that make them any less awesome to you? Didn't think so.

So I healed my lion arm tattoo with tegaderm for 4 days and everything went super smooth, almost done shedding skin now.

It was my first tattoo so I babied the shit out of it and stressed out over every tiny detail like a new parent with his kid.

I live with 2 heavily tattoo'ed people(wife and her father), neither of which used Tegaderm so I had to deal with plenty of eye rolling everytime I asked dumb questions.

• Friday: I was originally tattooed on Oct 10th, got home, cleaned up, applied Aquaphor, rewrapped and went to bed.
  
• Saturday: Woke up all gunky and juicy, cleaned up, applied a thin layer of Aquaphor and applied tegaderm.
  
  Protip: don't do that. The aquaphor prevents it from sticking properly so basically only the outter edges where it was applied to non-tattooed skin stuck, the rest filled up with yummy juices until it just kept leaking out from everywhere due to the Aquaphor acting as an awesome sauce lubricant to make the Tegaderm unstick.

  
  

• Sunday: I decided to take it off in the shower since it was a leakfest and the area was compromised since the seal was broken in a couple spots. Washed it again and reapplied a fresh layer of Tegaderm.
  
• Monday: All good, tattoo is warm to the touch, bit of juicyness, pretty irritated and sensitive.
  
• Tuesday: Still good, no leaks, a bit less juices, not too sensitive.
  
• Wednesday: No longer hot to the touch, feels really tight. Around 9PM, the elbow/ditch is killing me from the Tegaderm sticking to the skin & being tight when bending it and whatnot, can't take it anymore, hop in the shower and begin the removal process.
  
  9:05PM: Wow, that is sticky.

  
  

  9:20PM: Holy Amaze Balls of sticky awesomeness that shit was fun times. Ugh, lots of soap, lots of water, wOo wee. Oh hai, there's a lion face on this sticky film of doom.

  
  

• Thursday: All good, still a bit tender, starting to peel, I just kept reapplying Aquaphor and wearing my shirt sleeve as a nasty 2nd skin layer. Bleurgh.
  
• Friday: Feels much better today, switched to Lubriderm.
  
• Today(following Thursday): Been using Lubriderm ever since and it's almost done peeling now, healed like a baws, no scabs, no nasties. Looks just like when I left the studio. It doesn't really itch... I don't know if that's going to come or if somehow the Tegaderm made me skip that stage but I only just get the occasional itch every couple hours, rub it a little and it's done.
  

Honestly I'm going to use Tegaderm again once I go back in on Nov 7th and will update again once I peel it off. I'll definitely skip the whole aquaphor+tegaderm bullshit though, that sucked... made the 2nd application a bit sucky since there were no natural juices in there to keep it moist and prevent it from getting too tight. I have to say too, applying that shit on a joint is no joke... the ditch & area that bulges out when you bend your arm were fun times, after a couple days I felt pretty irritated in those spots. It would definitely be amazing if it was applied to a flat area though, I honestly couldn't feel any of the film on my bicep/triceps area, the elbow is where all the fun was happening.

Anyways, hope this helps people who are considering it, I'm sure the old method works just as well, it's tried and true but this process made healing so much easier, I basically didn't really have to worry about it for 4 days, no gunking up shirts, no having to wash/reapply and wake up to nasty bed sheets. As a first time tattooed person, it made the obsessing over everything a bit easier to deal with.

Here are fresh and healed pictures, the angle, contrast and quality of the pictures are quite a bit different but hopefully this helps too: