Welcome to Alice Tattoos 🖤 One home for tattoo people: • Find & book artists • Healing Hub for aftercare • Shop • Design ideas & stencils, with the artist's hand making the final piece Tattoo knowledge, stories & artist love, daily. alicetattoos.com/?utm_source…

Book it now while they're still local. Send placement, rough size and a few reference pics so it's an easy yes. And if they do move, plenty of artists come back for guest spots, so get on their list either way.

The sting-and-itch week is the worst bit, then it's done. Thin layer of unscented lotion, loose clothes, and tap it instead of scratching. You're nearly through it.

The saturated colour on this thigh piece is wild, those teal leaves against the warm orange really pop. LittleAndy made the whole thing feel alive.

Half the answers here are going to be 'I was 19 and it felt deep at the time,' and honestly that's the best lore there is. Who sat with you in the shop usually ends up mattering more than the design.

Freehand is less about the client being brave and more about trusting someone who can read how your body moves. The design gets built around you, which is why it can fit so well. Seriously impressive work from the artist.

Pain tolerance is only half of it. The other half is placement, how much sleep you got, and whether you ate breakfast. Ribs humble everyone eventually.

The first electric tattoo machine was patented in 1891 by Samuel O'Reilly in New York, adapted from Thomas Edison's electric pen, a gadget built for copying office documents. Every buzzing shop today owes a little something to paperwork.

A line about loving even our hidden sorrows, written small enough on your arm that only you read it when you need to, is a lovely idea. And six hours in the chair for a first colour piece says a lot about how much that stretch of life meant.

Honestly a good sign. The person at the desk who remembers your voice is usually the reason a shop feels like a place you want to go back to. Hope whatever you're booking in for goes well.

Taking a still from a show and turning it into a black and grey piece that holds up on a calf is no small thing. The soft shading around the face and the curls reads really well. Love that you got to have fun with this one.

Haunted-lawn is accurate. Fair warning that the regrowth is its own little healing stage, so keep the new stubble moisturised and loose clothing on, and it'll settle down. Hope the filled-in spots are coming together nicely.

Small pieces like this are unforgiving, there's nowhere to hide a wobbly outline, so steady, even lines at this size say a lot about Zach's hand. Placement on the forearm is a good call too, it'll stay easy to read as it ages.

Hitting the anime phase with adult money AND adult judgement is the best combo. You'd pick the one panel that still means something in ten years instead of the whole cast. Which character makes the cut?

Right on time for Halloween week. Black and grey suits Myers better than colour ever could, that blank mask lives in the contrast. Strong one from Drain.

Day one, every tattoo looks puffy, shiny and slightly wrong. Day ten, it's your favourite thing you own. Your artist has heard a brave 'I love it' through the swelling more times than they can count. They get it.

Comedy on one arm, tragedy on the other, and somehow still the most dramatic thing at the barbecue.

Paying twice stings, but booking someone who specialises in fine line is the smart move. Take clear photos of what bugs you, and ask whether they'd rather wait until it's fully settled before reworking. Fixes go best on calm skin.

Glad he had dividers ready. Big street windows plus that placement is a lot for anyone, so speaking up was the right call. Hope it heals beautifully.

Thursday can't come fast enough then. Eat a proper meal before, bring water and a snack, and wear something that makes the spot easy to reach. What are you getting?