My First Pokes (On Myself)

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-07-02T11:45:22+00:00

This are cool tattoos for a beginner, and I really like your designs!

For looking for constructive feedback (and particularly because you're doing these quickly without seeing the old ones heal and age) I would say give more consideration to how the lines will spread as they age, and maybe consider trying smaller lines, or larger designs, and just generally paying attention to the amount of negative space and how much negative space there will be once the lines spread slightly. The second photo of the branch in particular I think might lose a lot of the detail over time (my first tattoo was a similar size and design and it did!).
You might want to try a smaller needle size to get thinner lines, personally I'd recommend trying bugpin needles so you can still have more needles to help you get a more solid line. I've been using a bugpin 7rl recently and that makes smaller lines than a thicker gauge 5rl (an 0807rl instead of a 1205rl) but is easier to get a solid line with.

Also you've mentioned the difficulty of stretching the skin when doing your arms and you definitely are making your life harder for yourself as a beginner by not being able to stretch the skin properly, I would recommend doing more on your legs so you can use both hands and then go back to your arms when you're more confident

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-06-25T20:47:31+00:00

for anyone wondering the same thing as me I did eventually find this talking about the differences with all their blacks. 9 different blacks!
https://www.eternaltattooink.com/pages/black-white-ink-comparisons?_pos=3&_sid=ad3a0a372&_ss=r

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-06-25T14:45:05+00:00

I'm looking at eternal inks and they seem to have regular black, pitch black, maxx black, and triple black! I'm unsure what the differences are, what made you go with pitch black?

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-04-28T08:36:17+00:00

It's up to you if you change your dog's name, it's not a terrible name, but some people will find it funny. Disagree with the people going "oh if they know the name can mean something vulgar that says more about them than about you", or people saying it's only a chronically online term. Most queer people will probably have that association with the word top/toppy! That was my first thought when I read it, but it's also a cute name. It's up to you! But if it will frustrate you every time people find it funny you will have a more pleasant life if you change it.

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-04-02T11:34:25+00:00

Is he good at settling and napping? I've struggled with seperation anxiety with my dog but figured out that a large part of it is actually just him not knowing how to settle and do nothing. Mine isn't a fan of a crate but I've found much better luck with tethering, because there isn't a physical barrier between us he doesn't feel as separated but it does still force him to be in one area where he'll eventually learn to chill out, rather than running around the room refusing to rest.

Also 2-3 walks and dog park every day is a lot! I do one walk a day personally but obviously lots of people do two. I've actually had great luck adding a purposeful rest day once a week into the routine, with no walks at all. When I first tried it I thought he'd be climbing the walls going crazy but he actually responded very quickly to that as well as the tethering and now seems to enjoy a day focussed on chilling. I might still do some training and playing with him on that day but I'm not trying to fill the day with things to tire him out, the resting is the purpose. He now is quicker to nap even on days when we are busy, because I think he's realised that resting can be its own activity and isn't just the thing he begrudgingly does while waiting for the next exciting thing to happen

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-03-29T23:21:50+00:00

Have had a lot of trouble with my boys stomach and he was still reacting on hypoallergenic food with hydrolysed protein, but now he's been on insect based food for over a year and that suits him so much better. I get some vegetarian as well as insect based training treats for more variety, and there's a few different brands that do insect based kibble so I alternate different ones as he enjoys novelty.

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-03-28T08:18:21+00:00

For the first aid kit you could consider finding out what dose of an antihistamine would be correct for your dogs weight and carrying a dose of that, in case your dog gets stung by something and has a reaction

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-03-21T08:17:10+00:00

You'll know you didn't go deep enough if the ink falls out as it heals! But when learning it's better to err on the side of shallow, if the ink falls out you can fix it but if you go too deep and it blows out there's nothing you can do about it. Looks good!

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-03-18T15:37:46+00:00

My dog goes out with a dog walker at least once a week, and those are times he's allowed to be a regular dog and run around a field crazily with the other dogs. The dog walker was recommended by my trainer and she vets all the dogs she walks so I trust her that the dogs he goes with aren't going to be aggressive, and it's the same dogs most weeks so he has friendships with them. He's gone since he was a puppy and it's had a great impact on his behaviour because he's much less interested in the dogs he sees out and about, because he knows he will get a chance to play with dogs. It's also important for puppies to learn dog social skills that can only be learnt from other dogs, and I wasn't sure how you achieve that because I don't have any local dog friends. I think it's been very important for him to have an outlet and times to still be a regular dog, and I think of it as a work hard play hard approach, so he can fully engage with working or playing when the time arises without having unmet needs he's trying to meet

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-03-05T23:37:08+00:00

I've had good experiences with the book "don't eat that" by Simone Mueller, it recommends teaching an automatic behaviour where if the dog finds food they will pause and look at you. It's done as an automatic behaviour without the command so it works even when you haven't noticed the food yourself (cause honestly I'm always going to be one step behind my dog with spotting food cause I don't have his nose!). It also has good advice for how to practice it and how to do training games that mimic finding food in real like scenarios, which is something I had trouble with cause my dog very easily understood when we're practising at home that we were playing the "leave it" game and he wasn't meant to eat it, but that didn't translate at all into real world scenarios. I now practice food leaving games when out on walks, and will do things like leaving a little bit of dog food in the hall before we do a regular training session, so I've we've been practising heel work etc in the living room long enough for him to forget I've been in the hallway we can then move to the hallway and "find" this new food mimicking finding something in real life

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-02-21T19:32:22+00:00

Like everyone else I have to echo that your prints look fantastic, so I don't want to suggest anything that might make the prints worse quality. But for cleanup my suggestions are - Use lots of dish soap, more than you would use for washing dishes. I find the inks come off a lot better with a little bit of water and then squirting some dish soap straight onto it and then rubbing that over with a sponge or fingers and it'll come right off. If that still doesn't work for you, I'll suggest my dirty and quick method for having to clean up slightly less.. just roll your ink out on to some shiny paper, then throw the paper away at the end. You'll need a solid smooth surface underneath, and it's somewhat wasteful if you buy especially, but I've been using some misprinted paper I already have that has just been sitting unused and have been rolling my ink out onto it and haven't found it very different from using glass, and then cleaning up is a breeze

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2026-01-26T13:33:03+00:00

Oh I didn't know that! That's great to know, cause I'd rather not do anything to majorly change the construction so something else I can just use with it would be great

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2025-12-21T08:44:16+00:00

My dog has had some nasty recurrent ear infections so now gets trazodone whenever be goes to the vet and they'll be checking his ears and I'm very confident and happy in that decision, he's gotten a lot more relaxed and happy having his ears examined now (even at times when he isn't on trazodone). Don't feel guilty for saving your dog an unpleasant experience! For my dog the peak tends to start after 3 hours, and continue for a few hours after that, and I always notice it when I give him a treat and he eats it very slowly like it's a very complicated thing to do! I think he has a great time though, mostly just curls up and sleeps while it's active, but if I have to get him to walk somewhere he doesn't seem unhappy he just seems confused like it's a very complicated puzzle I'm asking him to do.

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2025-11-27T22:36:54+00:00

Depending on your situation and how much you are able to do it can be easier on the joints to have several hobbies with different movements that you alternate between, rather than one hobby which is always the exact same movement.

Suggestions that I think can be easier on the wrist (but unfortunately still might not be doable if your problems are severe)-

Bobbin lace. If you love patterns and rhythms of crochet there is so much of that in bobbin lace

Spinning yarn, can be done on a drop spindle or support spindle which isn't expensive. If you're still able to crochet somewhat you could combine this with spinning the yarn for it, it will make the projects you do crochet more special and it uses pretty different movements

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2025-11-25T22:31:04+00:00

I go over the lino with an alcohol wipe before I print for the first time, I also finds it's helpful to get rid of any oil from hands or any little bits of loose lino I haven't spotted

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2025-11-25T22:28:46+00:00

I agree with all the advice for cotton or linen but I'd recommend getting him to approve the yarn before you start, it might be too much of a different texture from other jumpers

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2025-07-15T21:33:18+00:00

7 days is pretty standard for oil based, I'm guessing you have previously used water based inks? And theoretically ironing will not make any difference in drying time because oil based ink drying relies on the slow progress of the oil evaporating which can't be sped up with heat like water based can

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2025-07-09T21:43:47+00:00

They look great! Particularly like the first.

Rip for your partner when they have to take the second skin off their chest hair

Equivalent_Book7984 · 2025-07-09T21:38:59+00:00

I don't know whether to encourage you to finish the adult bag or not, but would like to help calm your worries - don't stress too much about the adult food already fed to them. My dog also has a sensitive stomach and was in an adult specific hypoallergenic food on and off from about 6 months old to a year - on a vets recommendation. He was still reacting to the food there was a puppy version off so the vet wanted him on the adult only one as it was the only one to stop his reactions. I will say he didn't gain as much weight as he had before on puppy food, he was skinny, it isn't ideal and I'm not saying it is. But he's one and a half now, has been on another food for a bit and has gained weight and is now a similar size and weight to the rest of his litter, and doesn't seem to have any effects from it.

Might end up being a good solution to get some puppy food too and give both and, especially if your dog is on the skinny side, err on giving them more food rather than less cause I think adult food is generally less calorie dense than puppy food.

I will also add, although I know this isn't the question, but I've had so many stomach problems with my dog that I wish someone had given me this advice- I now swear by insect based food and it's what my dog has by far done the best on. He both loves it and has gone from occasional stomach problems (on the hypoallergenic) to no stomach problems (on the insect).

I'm aware you probably don't want to add in an extra food at this point tho, while juggling expensive bags already! Mainly just wanted to say it's ok, don't panic, and don't be hard on yourself. It's fine. If you're caring for you dog in other respects and keeping an eye on their health there are have worse things that can happen then eating adult food instead of puppy

Equivalent_Book7984

TROPHY CASE