Lets start a tattoo thread!

[TNGabe]

Hate it up haters. I love this tattoo. Got it when I was 19, almost 15 years ago. One of these years, I'll finally get my High life girl riding the bottle/rocket ship sleeve.

 

[nasty_rabbit]

I'm going back in next month. For me, tattoos need to have meaning. The one I'm getting next month is long overdue.

When I was a child I was very close with my dad's dad. My dad was a jerk, but that's a story for a different day. His brother is a jerk too, so I don't know if my grandparents realized the err of their ways or what, but I had a great relationship with both of my dad's parents.

Anyway, my grandpa always carried around this pocket watch. It had a leather strap on it and the counterweight was a 50 cent piece that was attached to the other end of the leather strap. When I was a kid I was enamored with this damn watch. I blame it on me being a kid and kids being stupid, but I thought it was the coolest thing on the planet. I would always ask my granddad (that's what we called him) if I could see his watch. We'd go on long walks by his house and we'd go down to some railroad tracks that crossed a river. Almost every single time I'd want to see the watch.

He got very sick about 7 years ago and ended up in hospice. I saw the guy once when he was in hospice and vowed never to see him in that state again since I had always remembered him as a strong man. Seeing him in a weakened state due to cancer just didn't sit well with me and emotionally I couldn't deal with it. I refused to see him in that state. He ended up passing on and shortly after he died my Granny (what we called his wife) told me that he'd have wanted me to have his pocket watch. As I'm typing this it's bringing back several memories and I miss the guy. He was pretty awesome. Anyway, this pocket watch obviously has some sentimental value to me.

Every once in a while I would pull the watch out and wind it, spin the cogs and listen to the thing tick(still do). Well, last year I noticed the serial number and decided to look it up. This watch was made between 1952 and 1955 (all watches from that time period had the same number/letter combination for the first 4 digits or so). The damn thing still works to this day. How's that for craftsmanship compared to all the Chinese crap we're inundated with today? I also saw that the watches were selling for $350 even though I could never bring myself to sell it. This got me thinking though... This watch is just sitting in a box most of the time.

Well, I got the idea to fill in a space on my left upper arm that currently has nothing on it (one of the two spots on that arm). So in December I will be getting my granddad's pocket watch tattooed on my upper left arm. It has three hairline cracks in the face of the watch and those will be included in the tattoo along with the leather strap and 50 cent piece. I'm stoked for this piece and it will be tattooed by the same guy that did the poison bottle on my arm that is posted earlier in the thread.

Someone recently asked me what the time on the watch is going to be and it got me thinking. I found out my granddad's time of death and that will end up being the time on the watch.

Whether you like them or not, tattoos are awesome and powerful at the same time.

Great story. My father and grand father both were railroad men and both carried pocket watches. I don't think that my grandfather ever owned a wrist watch.

Why not set it for 1 minute before so he will always be alive for you?

 

[dfc]

Great story. My father and grand father both were railroad men and both carried pocket watches. I don't think that my grandfather ever owned a wrist watch.

Why not set it for 1 minute before so he will always be alive for you?

I like that idea as well, but this tattoo is going to be celebrating him moving on to a better place. The actual time of death seems to be more fitting for that reason.

BTW, a little bit of history I dug up when researching the watch was that this particular model was owned by A LOT of rail men.

 

[dfc]

Today is the day! I'm in the tattoo parlor at this very moment.

 

[splobucket]

Good luck my man!

 

[Bedlam]

Today is the day! I'm in the tattoo parlor at this very moment.

Sending good vibes your way...can't wait to see it!

 

[dfc]

Sending good vibes your way...can't wait to see it!

It's not finished yet, but here is the current progress.

 

[dfc]

The finished product. Never mind my white trash tattoo. I was young and used to get tattoos that didn't have meaning.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

Very nice!

 

[dfc]

Very nice!

Thank you kindly.

 

[borden]

Super cool, dfc. Wish I had something that looked that good and had half the meaning!

 

[Vigo_Carpathian]

Too soon?

 

[dfc]

I LOVE Mr. Cool Ice!

 

[dfc]

BTW, I was mistaken. It is a silver dollar that is affixed to the watch strap.

 

[Airborneguy]

Can't post pics now, but I have a few.

My big ones are a tree and deer skull on my left forearm, an eagle that covers my shoulder, chest and right arm and a wizard 'brewing' a spell on my left leg. I plan to finish my right leg soon as the ones there need some touching up.

 

[dfc]

Can't post pics now, but I have a few.

My big ones are a tree and deer skull on my left forearm, an eagle that covers my shoulder, chest and right arm and a wizard 'brewing' a spell on my left leg. I plan to finish my right leg soon as the ones there need some touching up.

I'd love to see pics.

 

[lex990]

i'll play, this is a cover up i had done. two lotus flowers for my girls, rose for my wife and I, and a koi sadly my crappy iphone pics don't do it justice.

 

[Airborneguy]

I'd love to see pics.

When I get home I will for sure. I'm on my phone now.

 

[Bedlam]

Lots of nice work on here! Congrats, dfc...that is a great piece!

 

[dfc]

Lots of nice work on here! Congrats, dfc...that is a great piece!

Thanks!

 

[Malichaidog]

Hard to get a good pic of the full sleeve lady justice tat. (I'm an attorney). Giraffe is for my daughter.

 

[huntingohio]

Im having an issue. I got tattoed about a year and a half ago, the guy was heavy handed and tatooed to deep, but they healed up fine initailly.
Now they are stating to raise up like there inflamed, over a year later. Ine has been itching like mad and the pigment is coming out in dry skin. Is that normal? He was a legit pro just heavy handed. Now the line work is fading as is the shading as it peels

 

[emjay]

I agree that you gotta live in the moment and experience life to it's fullest. But that doesn't mean that you need a skull and crossbones on your neck to reach that goal.

I used to feel the same way. Still do, to a large extent... I'm a pretty anxious person so I probably always will.

Oddly enough, that's actually a big part of WHY I got a tattoo (upper right arm. I'll post a pic when I can find it) - it was basically a giant "**** you" to that part of myself, a constant reminder that I can't always take life so seriously.

 

[lex990]

tattoos should never be puffed up or raised. you body probably scarred because of the digging in. that or it is attacking the ink, either way, not normal. when you rub your hand over a tattoo done right, if your eyes are closed, you shouldn't be able to tell where it begins by feel.

 

[emjay]

tattoos should never be puffed up or raised. you body probably scarred because of the digging in. that or it is attacking the ink.

Inflammation is an immune system response, so it would indicate the latter, if anything. Admittedly, I'm not an expert tattoos so I can't say for certain WHY there might be an immune response though.

Something bad in the ink could do it, but I doubt it would only start causing problems after so long. I'm not sure if going too far into the dermis or subcutaneous tissue could somehow cause an issue over a year later, but it seems most likely.

 

[BadSully]

Memorial tat also theme for Yeti Bros logo (yes this is a home brew).

 

[huntingohio]

tattoos should never be puffed up or raised. you body probably scarred because of the digging in. that or it is attacking the ink, either way, not normal. when you rub your hand over a tattoo done right, if your eyes are closed, you shouldn't be able to tell where it begins by feel.

It wasnt puffed up when it was done [well besides scabbing up very slighly], It is only now starting to puff up and flake [kind of like a sunburn] its wierd, either way I'm gonna call my doc and check with him.

 

[Airborneguy]

The last one was done by my brother-in-law who was trying to get into tattooing. I plan on completing my entire lower right leg at some point with that part being dressed up better. It's a representation of Orion from the 1500's. I've always loved that constellation because it is very prominent over the entire east coast during the fall, my favorite season. The Eagle was still healing in this picture btw. It's 4 years old now.

 

[Airborneguy]

And here's my "brewing" wizard. This is a crappy picture that I just took (I couldn't find a good one on my computer), but within the spell above his head are 4 symbols I drew representing hops, water, yeast and barley. This was a major revamping of one of my first tattoos. The wizard was originally taken out of a Windows 95 book of clip art.

 

[dfc]

Great color on that tree!