Love bonsai? Express it!

[MattA]

I have a few tattoos including a landscape from 'Mustard seed' called 'The Hermits retreat' which has a lovely pine in it.

My next ink will be a cascade pine hanging from my shoulder , the roots dug in & out of the skin and with the cascade eventually falling to about mid fore arm. I just have to save some money & find a tattooist, thats how ya spell it archie

Tho its more likely I will find someone who can do a good portrait of my dane before I find one who can do a convincing pine. As with my bat tattoo, took a while and alot of working with the artist but I have what i wanted, a bat on my arm, not a tattoo of a bat. Might get some pics if anyone is interested, he even has hair

Matt

[Jake]

I was trying to get th 1st bonsai i owned tatd but the missus thought i lost the plot she wont let me get it done, yet she wants her name on my neck go figure

[Jarrod]

I plan on geting one of Nakas drawings on my ribcage. I have a mate who is interested in bonsai who will do it, just need time and it will be done.

On the right you will see my Kombi, and i have a sword/knife through a rose that was done to look like it was done in the 50s, matching one my granddad had. I think it is great to have a close relationship with tattooist as you must trust that they can do the work you want the way you want it.

Cheers

[Jamie]

how true that is Jarrod!

the japanese dragon i have on my spine was done by a very close mate that had been a tatooist for 25 years, it was done in his palour in his backyard shed

you can always tell quality work with how the ink is packed into the skin.

there are a couple on me that i want reworked though, they were done by others at a young age and need fixing it will work fine though!

[MattA]

I plan on geting one of Nakas drawings on my ribcage. I have a mate who is interested in bonsai who will do it, just need time and it will be done.

On the right you will see my Kombi, and i have a sword/knife through a rose that was done to look like it was done in the 50s, matching one my granddad had. I think it is great to have a close relationship with tattooist as you must trust that they can do the work you want the way you want it.

Cheers

Jarrod you are spot on about needing a tattooist who you can trust, my bat took 9mths from thought to action. The artist even went so far as to buy a reference book on bats to make sure he could do it justice, thats dedication to his art. Of all my ink it is my most loved, cherished and shown.

Another thing about ink is that you must be getting it for the right reasons, if its just to be in with fashion then it will show thru in your choice of tattoo & its location. Ink is for life, you have to be happy with what you get as it will be with you forever, barring laser surgery or coverups.

R0013116.JPG

This is my little mate, do you have any idea how hard it is to take a photo of the back of your arm

Matt

[Jamie]

sorry matt, mate thats awesome you actually shave the area around the bat back except where his hair is supposed to be !! great thinking!!

would never have thought of that!

all my tattoo's are on my back/shoulder where they arent in your face, with all three that i have i have always wanted to make sure i can cover them up if need be with work in mind, i love my ink, but i beleive with work that they should be covered up, to me it feels a little un professional to have them showing unless your a tatoo artist i have plans for one on my forearm but that can always be covered with long sleeve shirts if need be, i plan on keeping with my dragon/japanese theme and have two dragons coiling around my fore arm with one head near my wrist and the other on the inside of my bicep, its a little bigger than the fore arm i guess. the only other one i would like is a big tiger in the japanese art work going around my rib cage down towards my belly.

other than that will be my children i reckon, have thought bout kanji as i said earlier but that will need a bit of time to think on..

jamie

[Jarrod]

Gotta be for the right reasons. The kombi is memorial tattoo that reminds me of my mothe, who used to drive it everywhere. And the sword through rose is for my pa. I have big plans for the future like a full back piece and legs but thy will be big and detailed to a lot of planning will go into them!

[Taffy]

Interesting discussion.

Another thing about ink is that you must be getting it for the right reasons, if its just to be in with fashion then it will show thru in your choice of tattoo & its location. Ink is for life, you have to be happy with what you get as it will be with you forever, barring laser surgery or coverups

Matt, you are spot-on with what you said there.
I have a tattoo on my left shoulder of the Welsh Dragon. I drew it myself and got a good Tattooist to do it for me - he actually asked if he could have the drawing to use again.

I thought long and hard for about a year before having it done (back in 1975). I knew it was for life, and I knew I had to be happy wearing it.

When the Artist was going to start, I realized that he was intending on doing it on the outside of my bicep, but I told him No, I wanted it on my shoulder. He said that no-one would be able to see it, and I told him that it wasn't for display purposes - it was for me!

It's only red with a black outline and has faded a bit over the years. But I'm still happy that I got it done - I've never regretted it for a minute.

Although I had half my brain removed to become an Australian citizen I'm still proud of my ancestry - and that is what I got it done for in the first place.

[MattA]

sorry matt, mate thats awesome you actually shave the area around the bat back except where his hair is supposed to be !! great thinking!!

would never have thought of that!

all my tattoo's are on my back/shoulder where they arent in your face, with all three that i have i have always wanted to make sure i can cover them up if need be with work in mind, i love my ink, but i beleive with work that they should be covered up, to me it feels a little un professional to have them showing unless your a tatoo artist i have plans for one on my forearm but that can always be covered with long sleeve shirts if need be, i plan on keeping with my dragon/japanese theme and have two dragons coiling around my fore arm with one head near my wrist and the other on the inside of my bicep, its a little bigger than the fore arm i guess. the only other one i would like is a big tiger in the japanese art work going around my rib cage down towards my belly.

other than that will be my children i reckon, have thought bout kanji as i said earlier but that will need a bit of time to think on..

jamie

Sorry Jamie, BUT you are way off.... the body of the bat is actually a birthmark, I aint that hairy mate.

The best thing about this fella is that depending on the make & style I can still get away with a short sleave shirt or Tshirt and have him covered. Tho some shirts his tail hangs out, I was at a Field day at Horsham a few years back and while looking at a stand felt someone touching my arm, I turned to be greeted by 3 little old dears who thought I had a loose thread when I showed him to them 2 freaked and one was absolutely fascinated, she kept stroking him and talking to him like he was a seperate entity. Now in her memory I introduce him as such and insist that people give him a pat so he doesnt get upset at being disturbed

Other planned ink includes Turtle and Crane islands on my shoulder blades, turtle lower than crane and then Mt Sumeru above with its peak sitting just below the hairline on the back of my neck.

Matt

[Glenda]

I wish I had a picture of my sister's tattoo. Starts high on her right shoulder blade, and hangs out the bottom of her shorts on the left. She used to be a bit of a bikie and hung out with bikies. She has her photo in a bikie magazine showing of ALL her tattoo (the picture is taken from the back and she has her t-shirt pulled over her head and her jeans around her ankles while still wearing a g=string) when she won first place in the OPEN competition at a bikie rally (beating all the blokes). Sorry, but that's as close as I come to a tattoo!

Glenda

[kvan64]

I plan on geting one of Nakas drawings on my ribcage. I have a mate who is interested in bonsai who will do it, just need time and it will be done.

On the right you will see my Kombi, and i have a sword/knife through a rose that was done to look like it was done in the 50s, matching one my granddad had. I think it is great to have a close relationship with tattooist as you must trust that they can do the work you want the way you want it.

Cheers

Jarrod you are spot on about needing a tattooist who you can trust, my bat took 9mths from thought to action. The artist even went so far as to buy a reference book on bats to make sure he could do it justice, thats dedication to his art. Of all my ink it is my most loved, cherished and shown.

Another thing about ink is that you must be getting it for the right reasons, if its just to be in with fashion then it will show thru in your choice of tattoo & its location. Ink is for life, you have to be happy with what you get as it will be with you forever, barring laser surgery or coverups.

R0013116.JPG

This is my little mate, do you have any idea how hard it is to take a photo of the back of your arm

Matt

Matt that's sooooo cool! Was the hair always there or did you git it implanted?

[Greth]

Sorry not to answer sooner Rhiannon.
I have some raw sheep wool here, coloured sheep so all different shades of brown. Couching it down with various chain stitches in brown threads/wool will be the trunk, heaps of texture and interest there. Mental note after first experiments, lanolin leaches into the cloth, maybe should wash it first! Will certainly have to afterwards
Leaves I will probably do in some variety of straight stitches, probably 6 strands of cotton embroidery thread. A mass of French knots in stranded cotton of various colours could make a believable potting mix.
Been looking at pine pads on various forums to work out how the stitches should lie to look believable.
Wont be machine washable, the couched wool isn't really attached at the back, maybe will iron on interfacing to secure it all once finished.
I do have a cross stitch design program, mine was one of the first produced tho, so yours is probably much easier to use and better all round. But this lends itself to creative embroidery techniques more than cross stitch. To use the raw wool, I'm just rubbing the ends of each staple until they fit thru the needle eye, and tucking both ends down under. Stitching over the top with 'normal' thread should secure it pretty well, can also use the couching thread colour to lighten or darken the final effect as needed, and add piney looking scales.

[MattA]

Sorry not to answer sooner Rhiannon.
I have some raw sheep wool here, coloured sheep so all different shades of brown. Couching it down with various chain stitches in brown threads/wool will be the trunk, heaps of texture and interest there. Mental note after first experiments, lanolin leaches into the cloth, maybe should wash it first! Will certainly have to afterwards
Leaves I will probably do in some variety of straight stitches, probably 6 strands of cotton embroidery thread. A mass of French knots in stranded cotton of various colours could make a believable potting mix.
Been looking at pine pads on various forums to work out how the stitches should lie to look believable.
Wont be machine washable, the couched wool isn't really attached at the back, maybe will iron on interfacing to secure it all once finished.
I do have a cross stitch design program, mine was one of the first produced tho, so yours is probably much easier to use and better all round. But this lends itself to creative embroidery techniques more than cross stitch. To use the raw wool, I'm just rubbing the ends of each staple until they fit thru the needle eye, and tucking both ends down under. Stitching over the top with 'normal' thread should secure it pretty well, can also use the couching thread colour to lighten or darken the final effect as needed, and add piney looking scales.

Greth, It is sounding fantastic, look forward to seeing when you finish it. Regarding the pine foliage, I have only ever done cross stitch so cant help there, but I thought if you look at the chinese paintings of the literati school might give you an idea on how you could do the stitches.

Matt

[Greth]

My mum did an advanced embroidery design course years ago and chose a Chinese theme for one semester, so I already have some good examples of how to handle bonsai type subjects on hand.

[NathanM]

I'm sad I missed this topic until now!! I have been seriously thinking/planning a tattoo for a while. Bonsai/japanese themed of course. I don't want to rush it though.
I also will get a tattoo for my grandma, but not a portrait, when she passes, but that won't be for a while!!