At the last session we worked on the left side of my chest a bit. I think today we're going back down to the leg. For this appointment, I must admit there is a bit of dread as I bring out the fundoshi (or as I like to call it, my "tattoo thong") for the first time in a loooong time.

Totally Stylin' Tattoo Barbie?!?!

As you can see, we're now working on the bottom left end of the tattoo, in the middle of my left thigh. A decent place to start after a long break in sessions, as it is not very painful. Although I'm already dreading the slow movement toward my pelvic area over the next few sessions. There's a bit of healing left, but I figured I'd get a picture out before today's session.
I've definitely been tempted a few times over the years, and more lately, to get other small tattoos separately from the bodysuit. It's fun to get little tattoos occasionally, and get new work by different artists. But I just love the purity of my tattoo at the moment, and I don't want to get anything else which would interfere with it. I guess this makes me a tattoo monogamist, har har har.

Tattoo appointment tomorrow! YES! Excited to get back to it. More soon updates soon, hope all of you out there getting work done are still going strong.

Just a quick update: I'm almost fully healed from my motorcycle accident so I went ahead and made an appointment with Shinji for next month. My appointment is still a ways away but I'm very excited to start back up again. I guess I could have made it a little bit sooner, but after months of being in casts and having my jaw wired shut I still just need a few weeks to relax before it's tattoo time.

Just a quick note to say there may not be any updates for a little while as a couple of weeks ago I was in a nasty motorcycle accident. Once my bones heal I'll make an appointment but until then please wish me luck! By the way, I had jeans and a leather jacket on so it seems the tattoo did not end up as pavement decoration thank God!

At the last session we started to tattoo on the top of the left side of my chest. You can see we also finished the background on the top of my left arm/shoulder. I changed my tattoo bandaging and aftercare routine up a bit and the results were a dramatic improvement in healing. After just a few days my tattoo was looking pretty good, which is amazing considering I have some spots from over a month ago that are not 100% yet. Hopefully I can replicate those results after my next session - I have a vacation to Florida planned 10 days after the session and I want to be able to do a little swimming and get out on the beach (after heavy sunblock applications of course).

Oh, I also checked with Shinji and confirmed he does not have a website outside of the Adorned site.

Thought I'd share an amusing article I saw here. A woman is suing a tattoo artist who she claims mistakenly covered half of her face with star tattoos when she feel asleep during the procedure. Apparently she only wanted a few stars but woke up with 56. I have to call bullshit on this one - I think it's a case of buyer's remorse. Part of the reason I'm so skeptical is I can't imagine falling asleep while getting your face tattooed. Many tattoo artists won't tattoo your face if you ask, and with good reason: it can change your life and most people are not happy with the result.

It's all starting to come together! As you can see, my left arm is almost completely connected to my back. The background on my arm is also very close to completion. The most recently tattooed areas are not fully healed yet, but I have time today to get pictures posted and I don't want to miss another session's worth of pics before my upcoming tattoo appointment.

Looking at my back with the arms attached makes me realize how far I've come. Strange how things can move along steadily right underneath your nose but it's a rare occasion that you're able to step back and see the progress for what it is. Sometimes this process can be a little trying but moments like this renew my commitment to getting the tattoo completed.

In response to Ryan's question in the previous post - I don't believe Horizakura has his own website aside from his section on the NY Adorned site. I'll have to ask him next time I see him. I did however come across this set of pictures (appears to have been taken when Shinji still worked out of the 2nd ave location) and this site that has an awesome t-shirt he designed. I just noticed my picture is in the background of the second site - that darn pic pops up all over the place!

Here's a great interview with Horitoshi from '00, please check it out if you'd like to learn more about him.

It's 7AM and I'm out of bed, I gave up on hopes of sleeping in today. I had a tattoo session yesterday and I almost never sleep well after a session. You just can't get 100% comfortable if there are parts of your body you can't move or roll over on without discomfort. I also had a session 2 weeks ago, sorry I didn't post pictures but the tattoo just wasn't far enough along in the healing process. Over the past two sessions we've been filling in the background on my upper arm, most of it on the inside near the armpit and yesterday where your arm meets your back. This area takes a bit longer to heal since it is in constant motion. But it's exciting to see the tattoo on my arm starting to be connected to the tattoo on my back. I should be able to get more pics up before my next session in a few weeks.

As I mentioned in my last post, I received a copy of Mario Barth's "Under the Skin" documentary which features Horitoshi. After watching it, I'd have to give it mixed marks. In the documentary Mr. Barth makes his way over to Tokyo for the annual Sanja Matsuri festival, which if you've been following me you know I also visited (I believe I was there the year before Mario, you can check out the archived post with a few pictures here.) The interviews with Horitoshi and family are short, but a picture emerges of the artist as exceptionally committed to his craft and refreshingly humble. A few of Horitoshi's clients are featured and the work they display is just incredible. At the end of the film you also get a taste of the festival, which is just insane - I highly recommend checking it out someday if you can. I suppose what bothered me about the film is that I got the feeling that in the end it is just another promotional tool for the Mario Barth marketing machine; that staking out his rather dubious claims to be the "only Westerner welcome to immerse into this highly guarded world" and thereby raising his own profile was secondary to exploring the world of Horitoshi and Japanese tattoo. But perhaps I'm cynical, so please, check it out yourself and draw your own conclusions.

The other day someone remarked my tattoo was "quite an accomplishment". I reminded them I don't actually do anything, I just lie there. The accomplishment is all Horizakura's.

During my last session, we started to shade some of the water on my left side. It's a nice change of pace, the light shading heals a little faster. I'd forgotten how the area just around my nipple can be so sensitive...

I stopped by the New York Tattoo Convention yesterday. Usually conventions aren't my thing, but I figured, "what the heck." Actually, I was bored as hell and there was nothing better to do yesterday afternoon. I've attached a picture of some of the business cards I picked up as I made the rounds. Lots of great artists there, I really enjoyed looking at the portfolios. Funny, a friend of mine made the following observation: "strange that you see so many great portfolios at these events but you rarely see really good tattoos on the folks at the convention." Very true! I am always surprised that attentive tattoo artists can always pick up on the fact that my tattoos were done by hand instead of machine. Only a little bit of my sleeves were sticking out from my t-shirt, but time and time again people were calling me over to their booths to ask questions and have a look. Some of them immediately recognized it as work by Horizakura, others just knew that it was tebori and were curious to see more. By around 5PM the place was packed and they were gearing up for the competitions of the day (Best Chest / Back, Best Black & White, etc.) But the crowds were starting to get to me so I left for the day before anyone took the stage.

Edit: I almost forgot, the folks at the Starlight booth were nice enough to give me a copy of Mario Barth's "Under the Skin" documentary which features Horitoshi. I'll post a review once I get a chance to check it out.

Here you can see the results of my last two sessions. We've been filling in the inside of my arm. I think there's probably only one session left until all the background on my left arm is done!

Random thought: you'd be amazed how many people think I have pot leaves tattooed on my arms! I suppose the differences between a Japanese maple leaf and a marijuana leaf are lost on most, but wow..this is annoying. Especially if it's say, my girlfriend's parents or a coworker. I'm trying to have a sense of humor about it, perhaps responding with something like "DUDE! If ya like that, you gotta check out this tattoo of a bong on my penis. It even grows when you.." (by this point they are walking away rather quickly..)

Sorry for the long delay! The last month has been hell. Moving into my new apartment was a huge pain in the ass, so I've spent my days either moving future and boxes or dealing with completely unreliable brokers / supers / managment / movers / etc. I also had to take some time off from tattoos to let my body heal. My left arm was absolutely not happy, at one point with a month and a half's worth of healing tattoo, rashes, minor infections, etc. My theory is the stresses of moving and my upcoming unemployment did a number on my immune system.

Anyway, I'm finally feeling normal and fully healed. I have an appointment today so I took some picture before the new work is done. Last time we did more work on my arm, and I believe we'll start on my leg today.

No new pictures today, but I should have some up in a week or so. I've had two appointments since my last update, but unfortunately the last bit is taking longer than usual to heal and the pictures don't due the tattoo justice - which is why I'm not posting them. At this point, the background on my left arm is filled in up to the elbow.
Until next time, I'll leave you with this bit of tattoo humor.

Hope you had a pleasant New Year! I also had a birthday in there, so the past month has been one of many festivities. These pics are from work done at the end of December. I have a series of appointments starting this week, so I hope to have more regular updates for at least a little while. The bottom edge of my left sleeve is now starting to take shape. I'm glad he's starting with the shading on my arm as the imbalance between and the left and right sides of my body is particularly noticeable there.
One of my Christmas gifts this year was a copy of "Under Way Is The Only Way" by Grime and Horitaka, which I previously mentioned here. I found the book very good and I'd definitely recommend it. Aside from the great pictures, there are interviews with each artist that are in-depth and go a long way towards exposing a more personal side of the artists. I learned a lot of interesting things about Horizakura in there. Funny that after years of regular appointments I hardly know the guy, but I guess that's not too surprising considering neither one of us is very chatty. (Plus I always thought it was a bit rude to talk his ear off while he's trying to work).