Sorry for the delay between posts. I had to cancel a few 
appointments so I'm a little behind schedule. Also, lately I've been a little preoccupied with my new toy. These pictures are of work done about a month ago. You'll notice the outline on my right are is basically finished, and we also did a bit more on my torso area around the koi there. I think the next session will be the last outlining session - after which I'll post some pictures of the entire completed outline on right side.
As someone pointed out in the comments of my last post, there's a documentary out on Japanese tattoo which features Horitoshi. I watched the internet trailer, and it left me a little underwhelmed. I guess I was put off by the fact that the trailer seemed to be more about
Mario Barth than it was about Japanese tattoo. But I guess a guy who Inc.com says is looking to build the "Starbucks of tattoo parlors" is no stranger to a little self-promotion. At any rate, I'll probably end up buying it anyway since coverage of Horitoshi is hard to come by, especially in English.
5 comments:
Mike,
In an answer to one of Horizakura's clients about the healing. I had a recent section hair on my kara shi-shi that took almost 5 weeks to heal, looks sort of like the hair on Kintaro's head. The area was raised bumps in the end. Also I get raised sections of heavy black areas, but mostly happens after too hot of a shower. Happens a lot like areas of "moss/rocks" like on your right tricep where the line is heavily shaded near the 3 teardrops. But this is after its already healed. Happy healing to all!!
Mike,
I was curious as to how long the outline on your arm took?
As always, the work is amazing. I applaud you for enduring this awesomeness.
Cameron
Cameron - I'd say 4-5 hours total.
Just to shed some more experience with healing...
My large back Koi was completed with only a little black and I did not have any discomfort. Now Shinji is adding the "frame" of air bars around the back piece.
Now I'm getting some raised areas and itchiness.
Here is the reason as I understand: Sometimes the skin becomes scarred underneath and it's pretty unnoticeable.
But, during the summer time especially, the heat and humidity naturally cause our bodies (i.e. skin) to swell and expand a bit (if you wear rings you'll notice this). Most of the time our skin adjusts and no problem.
Throw in some minor scarring though and it's a different story. The scarred skin is not as flexible as regular skin and so it can't expand as easily. This causes the swelling and irritation. Using calamine lotion helps as does medicated "cooling" powder.
My advice: during the summer months, use a dehumidifier to keep the humidity down and keep your housing cool ;-)
However, why this all seems tied to Shinji's *black* ink is a good question.
Anyone know if he still uses traditional sumi ink or is he using off-the-shelf stuff now? I remember I used to see him mixing the powder himself, but haven't see that in awhile.
ps Mike, funny about you getting a motorcycle. I just took my MSF basic ride course at the beginning of August and I'm awaiting the arrival of my 2009 Ninja 250. Something in the ink drives us to get bikes, evidently (or early midlife crisis). lol
He still uses sumi ink as far as I know, which is probably as close to "all natural" as tattoo ink gets. Also, I've had some minor scarring in areas other than just those with black ink. My take on it: a little scarring is a very common thing with tattoos. The larger the tattoo, the more likely you are to see it. Also, since my tattoo is mostly black, it's statistically more likely that scarring occurs in a black area.
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