Tattoos

On the hand-tattooing front, I got this freehand done by a traditional bamboo tattooist on the Thai/Myanmar border, 5yrs ago. It hurt more (and took longer) than a machine, but healed much quicker... hardly any redness/swelling, one or two drops of blood, and three days later it was fully healed. It's a little more blurry than it used to be, but at the time I remember being really impressed by the light line that bamboo could achieve.

Aww, such a small tattoo :D Which part of Portugal did you go? Please say you went up north as well!

Didn't know the artist so thought keep it small and simple, less to go wrong.

Drove down to stay a few days in Luz, just next to Lagos. On the way there came along the sth coast of spain, so past Faro etc then on the way back rode all the way up the west coast mostly on back roads. If by up north you're talking Porto, Braga and Ponte de Lima then yes I went up north, but only passing. Have to say I would love to visit Porto for longer looked a very cool city with all the hills, bays, bridges and high rises together.

This isn't mine but I'm loving Ben Grillo's microtattoos - check it:

I'm never usually a fan of picking up ink while on holiday (the flight back would be truly horrible) but this'd be small enough that it'd be OK I think. Lovely.

Lovin the ship

so rad!

In 10yrs time though, that'll be just a black blob

yep, they're beautiful, but they're just not going to last.

the convention was awesome.
we got to the rain soaked queue at 10:40, but there were people queuing for valerie vargas since 9am. so by the time vic got to her she was booked, then so was claudia, and others she wanted too. so vic had no luck but i got a nice piece by nico from one love tattoo and chatted to him and phil kyle for a couple of hours. good stuff.
the next day vic and i went to saira hunjan for our wedding tattoos on our ribs. ouch. but awesome.

Those miniature tattoos are cool. Anil Gupta got pretty famous in the 90s for doing amazingly detailed, small tattoos. He did a lot of famous paintings the size of quarters and while I don't think they'll hold up as well as ones with solid lines, I've seen pics of some 10-15 years old that haven't seemed to blur.

Didn't know the artist so thought keep it small and simple, less to go wrong.

Drove down to stay a few days in Luz, just next to Lagos. On the way there came along the sth coast of spain, so past Faro etc then on the way back rode all the way up the west coast mostly on back roads. If by up north you're talking Porto, Braga and Ponte de Lima then yes I went up north, but only passing. Have to say I would love to visit Porto for longer looked a very cool city with all the hills, bays, bridges and high rises together.

:D Fanastic. I've travelled all over Portugal (being portuguese) my dad's from Coimbra, and my mum's mum lives in Torres Vedras, where I'm often found if I go aboard, but have travelled down south and close to the borders. Saw so many beautiful beaches, rivers and waterfalls.
Id like to do a repeat sometime.

This isn't mine but I'm loving Ben Grillo's microtattoos - check it:

I'm never usually a fan of picking up ink while on holiday (the flight back would be truly horrible) but this'd be small enough that it'd be OK I think. Lovely.

That is brilliant. Id love something like that if I wasnt worried about work

Those small pieces are ace but agreed on them not aging well. Amazing find for me at the London Convention was an artist from Barcelona called El Monga. His work's incredible, well worth a look.

Those small pieces are ace but agreed on them not aging well. Amazing find for me at the London Convention was an artist from Barcelona called El Monga. His work's incredible, well worth a look.

http://www.myspace.com/alohatattoos

Thanks! At work so couldn't link that without getting webmarshal'd.

You're welcome, was nice meeting you very briefly, at least to put a face to the name :]

Eurgh -Jodie Marsh becomes a tattooist's apprentice

Out of interest does anyone have any arms with lots of tattoos that are both colour and black and grey? What does it look like, do the colour tats really stand out?

Depends on the colours, but yes

Boyfriend has one arm solid black (he's doing scarification/white ink on top) and one colour dotwork/tribal thing on the other arm. The black one stands out more and gets attention

But if you mean both on one arms, like markyboy said, depending on the colours but they can pop out

Yeah thought they might. Hmmmm

If it's solid black of course it will stand out! I'll be contrary and say I don't think it depends on the colours that much. Try drawing on paper and mix a black and grey piece with something in colour. See what stands out.

It really just depends on the piece. A heavy black tattoo in the middle of colour will stand out, a colour tattoo in a black and grey area will pop. It just depends what you're looking at but it likely will look very similar to how it would look on paper. Get some charcoal and coloured pencils and see what happens.

I really want a tattoo, not a full sleeve or any blackwork or anything, just a small, simple celtic or gaelic symbol on my chest, or collar, or pectoral, I have many things to think about it seems...

a colour tattoo in a black and grey area will pop.

This is what I thought. Got lots of black and grey and was thinking about getting something colour among it. I think it will stand out too much though.

Out of interest does anyone have any arms with lots of tattoos that are both colour and black and grey? What does it look like, do the colour tats really stand out?

I have full japanese style sleeves, the backgrounds being sumi shading water and rocks. The design features are goldfish on one arm and lotus blossom on the other. I think the colour does pop more as a result of the almost austerity of the background. People certainly remark on how bright the colours are, and some of the work is six years old so a little aged. However, I have very pale skin so the contrast may not be as noticeable on someone with more skin pigment.

But thats something that is designed to be like that and it sounds really nice and coherent. None of mine are joined so it would be something colourful thrown in among black and grey. It would look too mismatched in my case I think.

But thats something that is designed to be like that and it sounds really nice and coherent. None of mine are joined so it would be something colourful thrown in among black and grey. It would look too mismatched in my case I think.

There's always that awkward will the happiness it brings you be greater than the aesthetic appeal of complete cohesion though! You could always get someone to marker pen one on. I know that sounds bloody stupid but it really is the best way to look at it and go naaaah for definite. You can make your own transfer using carbon paper from staples ;)