Hmmm…….Gemma should just get her whole arm blacked out. Or if you want to be feminine about it, go “spray-tan orange”. Solid. Pit to wrist. And you guys should just fuck and get it over with…..I’ll tattoo the ass of whoever’s the top. (and take a photo or two for posterity)

some people are allergic to red pigments. If you are, you’d experience occasional swelling and itching in the area that is tattooed red. Kind of like tattoo shaped hives.

There’s no reason for red to scab more than other colors, though. That is usually due to the application by the tattooist. He may have just slightly overworked it while trying to make sure he has good coverage. Some red ink’s difficult to differentiate from blood rising to the surface so the tattooist has to rely on technique rather than what he can see in the skin. Same goes for yellows. When tattooing yellow the pigment absolutely disappears into the skin and during the process all that can be seen are the puncture marks. If the tattooist keeps working at it until he sees the color he wants, he’s definitely going to overwork the area

two full forearm tattoos in B&G with a few choice highlights here and there and you could get very detailed. Find someone with a “soft touch” who brushes in their greywork with small groupings …as opposed to the big mag scrubbing that works well for large gradations. Alice in wonderland-ish playing card royalty always looks cool too…..?

I have pretty flowers all over me, mixed in with all sorts of other stuff. They make a nice color pattern when you start surrounding them with B&G work, too

the needling hurt differently in different areas (no sh*t, David) but no matter the discomfort I’ve found that the whole “take a deep breath, let it out slowly and relax as you exhale” thing actually will change the sensation from terrible to tolerable. What I can’t relax my way out of is a tattooist that dry wipes the inked skin! A dry paper towel feels just like sandpaper after a couple hours.

just outta curiosity: what was the meaning behind the cartoony, blackwork dragon?

And, yeah, you could throw just about anything around it, but since it’s asymmetrical it’ll look off if you fill out your upper back with a balanced design. Zap it or find yourself a coverup genius.

Future plans for getting tattooed basically revolve around finding someone who can successfully cover up the random crap I had done before I changed my mind and decided that large, flowing work looks a hell of a lot better than a smash of small tattoos! Oh, well: I’m also considering going on a cake diet and packing on a hundred pounds to try and open up some space in between.