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My front front teeth can wait, all I want for Christmas is a gnarly back piece!

Tattoo by Stuart G. Cripwell at Spider Murphy’s Tattoo Shop in San Rafael, CA

We posted the first step of Graham’s back piece, and below is the second, third, and fourth step. At two minutes each, these videos are a must watch for anyone who really appreciates a large scale tattoo. I don’t know how many more sessions Graham has, but I can’t wait to see this tattoo finished.

Special thanks to Luke Holley for sending these into us.

Tattoo by: Darcy Nutt at Chalice Tattoo in Boise, ID

Listen: I love woodcuts, I love tattoos of woodcuts, and I love Alice in Wonderland. Based on these three facts, clearly I have no choice but to love Holly Azzara for this tattoo.

Tattoo by Holly Azzara at Always and Forever Tattoo in Watertown, MA

Here’s a great video from Luke Holley of Darcy Nutt outlining a full back piece. This is obviously just the start of the back piece, but hopefully Luke keeps us up to date on the progress of everything.

Tattoo by: Darcy Nutt at Chalice Tattoo in Boise, ID

From Mike Devries’ blog:

First pass: Back to back days collab with Josh Duffy and I… Dude sat like a champ! 8 hours then 6 hours the following day! The morning of we took a few hours of figuring out what we were gonna do exactly, making stencils and did some freehand work and then started goin’ at it, we switched sides about every hour so everything on his back was tattooed by both of us. There was a small tribal piece in the center of his upper back that we covered…We are still going to get back into this one more time for a final run thru, there’s still a lot of loose ends. We’ll post healed pics when we get em too.

Collab tattoo by Mike Devries and Josh Duffy at MD Tattoo Studio in Northridge, CA

Kevin beat me to posting a piece from Hannah Aitchison during Women’s Week. Which is fine, because I’ve been holding onto this beauty of a story (and the accompanying photos) ever since. Time to share!

I was looking for a female artist who would help me create a masterpiece on my back to cover up some very bad old tattoos.  I attempted a laser removal session and alas the process was way too painful for me.   I decided I have to find someone who has the talent to cover up all my old tattoos rather than go through the painful laser removal process.

I live in the Chicagoland area and is very fortunate we have so many talented tattoo artists located nearby.  I did lots of research on the web, bought tattoo mags and looked at many designs on line to help me pinpoint who can handle this challenge.  I had always admired Hannah Aitchison’s colorful pinup girl tattoos and as she was featured on LA ink (not a fan of the show) I was drawn to her style of tattooing but more so drawn to her spirit and energy she possessed.  I always wished I could be tattooed by her but quickly put that out of my mind since she was located in LA and was totally booked with clients.

Upon her return to Chicago, I joined her Facebook page and one day in December of 2009 she placed a post stating she was going to be taking on new clients.  I thought to myself what the hell, so I contacted her through email and was so very impressed how quickly Hannah responded to my email and the fact she was willing to take me on as a client.   I walked into the shop 5 days later and sat down to discuss what my how we could cover-up the old tattoos.  After she looked at my tatts, she looked at me and said, “No problem we can cover those up and leave you with a beautiful tattoo.”

I almost cried–my fear was she was going to ask me to get some more laser sessions completed in order for her to begin her creative journey with me.  Instead she designed a beautiful tattoo which took 37 hours over the course of 4 ½ months to complete and I now am the proud owner of her beautiful masterpiece.  She created a beautiful ocean scene with a merman and mermaid incorporated as well as some elements of my livelihood.  I work for a technology company and asked her to add a PC, adding machine and old style telephone to show the mermaid was coming up to the surface from working to check out what’s going on.  The tattoo covers my entire back and so glad I never have to get my back tattooed again because I have a one of a kind masterpiece from Hannah Aitchison.  I love the fact no one can tell it is a cover up!

As you can imagine, spending  37 hours with your tattoo artists provides you a great opportunity to chat and chat we did. She is not only my artist but I can call her a friend. We are currently working on a design for my right sleeve; I look forward to another masterpiece from Hannah Aitchison. Hannah ROCKS!!!!

Couldn’t have said it better myself, Connie.

Tattoo by: Hannah Aitchison at Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago, IL

Photo by: Esarejaykay Photography

It seems like every time I see new work from Jessie Smith, it’s a ridiculously massive piece.

Seriously, I’m not exaggerating. Look at his portfolio – it’s monster piece after monster piece.

Tattoo by: Jessie Smith at Ghostprint Gallery in Richmond, VA

We have a ton of entries to post about fund raisers and special events that various tattoo shops and artists are doing to help those in Japan. Rather than pile them all in entry, we decided to hold a pseudo theme day to help spread the word.

If you know of a special event that we fail to mention here today, please e-mail it to us right away. We’ll do whatever we can to help spread the word.

Tattoo by: Chris Pchelka at Divine Tattoo Machine in Buffalo, NY

It’s hard to find a tattoo that justifies posting multiple pictures, but I don’t have to think twice with this back piece.

Check back later this week for an interview with Markus Kuhn.

Tattoo by: Marcus Kuhn in Portland, ME

Back in July, we posted this bird back piece tattoo by Guy Aitchison. I said I wanted to know more about what had been covered. Is it just me, or does Guy do a really good job of photographing the progress of large-scale tattoos?

Check out the rest of the photos (and many, many more) over on Tattoo Education.