Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog): Brooklyn Made

Showing posts with label Brooklyn Made. Show all posts

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Danny's Cab for His Father

Earlier this summer, I was at a barbecue at my friend Danny's house and noticed he had a new tattoo on the back of his leg:

Danny, whose work has appeared on Tattoosday previously (here) told me the piece, which features an old New York City taxi, is an homage to his father, who was a cab driver for many years. The plate even features his dad's old medallion number.

Kudos to Mr. Kaves (@misterkaves) at Brooklyn Made Tattoo (@brooklynmadetattoo) in Bay Ridge for this cool tattoo that is a tribute also to a New York City that is no more. You can read an article I wrote about Kaves and Brooklyn Made here. Work from Mr. Kaves and other artists from Brooklyn Made has appeared over the years on Tattoosday, linked up here.

Thanks to Danny for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Jessica's Spyglass on the D Train (Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game)

The Alphabet Game continues....

What comes after C? That would be D.

10:10 A.M. For the sake of continuity, instead of getting off at 81^st and hitting a southbound B or C, I will go to 125^th Street and get a southbound D train.

10:20 A.M. Switch to southbound D at 125^th Street.

10:48 A.M. Still on the D train, Brooklyn-bound, crossing the Manhattan Bridge.

11:16 A.M. Just moved through the D to the front car. Not a lot of luck. May ride to the end of the line in Coney Island and switch back, unless a chance occurs before then.

11:35 A.M. On the D, approaching Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue. A couple of times I had considered switching back, but was glad I didn’t, because I met Jessica right before the last stop on the D. She shared this tattoo of a spyglass, or hand-held telescope:

Jessica got this spyglass done by Rob Genovese (@robgenoveseart) at Brooklyn Made Tattoo (@brooklynmadetattoo) in Bay Ridge. She explained that she goes to school in upstate New York and the stars always have a calming effect on her. One doesn’t see as many stars in Brooklyn, but with her telescope, now she can always see the stars.

Thanks to Jessica for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, as we play the Alphabet Game!

To see the full experience, head to the original post here.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Carl Wears His Baseball Loyalty on His Sleeve

I met Carl this past Sunday on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge during the annual Fifth Avenue Festival. He has a bunch of tattoos, but offered up this familiar design:

That, of course, is Mr. Met, in the logo for the New York Metropolitans baseball team.

Carl is a huge fan and wanted to wear his team loyalty. He's been a fan since he can remember and recalls that his father took him to his first baseball game.

When I asked what he remembered from that first game, he noted that Joel Youngblood and Dave Kingman were playing.

This was tattooed by Brooklyn's own Mr. Kaves from Brooklyn Made Tattoo in Bay Ridge.

Thanks to Carl for sharing his cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, May 11, 2015

Danny's Bridge Tattoo Celebrates Brooklyn

Earlier this year, I snapped this photo of a new tattoo on my friend Danny's back:

Danny explained:

"I was born in Brooklyn, but raised in Queens. I married a Bensonhurst girl, and we moved to Bay Ridge after being hitched for about twenty minutes.

I quickly fell in love with the neighborhood and the whole borough. Just love the history and the new improvements that are all over. Brooklyn has the urban feel of Manhattan with the small community of Queens.

The Brooklyn Bridge is an icon of both the whole city and recognizable anywhere."

This was tattooed by Bella at Brooklyn Made Tattoo here in Bay Ridge.

Thanks to Danny for sharing his cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Dana's Straight Flush Honors Her Dad

Early last week, I ran into Dana outside of the Third Avenue Starbucks in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. She had some cool black and gray work on her calf:

The tattoo honors her and her father. "He's a huge card guy," she told me. Each card has a symbolic meaning.

She pointed out that the hand is a straight flush, but not a natural one - the ten of hearts sees to that. The King and Jack are karma cards and the Ace represents her father. She said that the Queen of Clubs is a Sagittarius card for her, and is the prettiest card in the deck.

She walked into Brooklyn Made Tattoo and the shop owner Mr. Kaves (a friend of Tattoosday who makes occasional appearances here) took her concept of the card idea and turned it into the final product which she loves.

Thanks to Dana for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Sean Shares Two Circular Tattoos

As we patiently wait for this forsaken winter to end and for the city's tattoos to come out of hiding, my new friend Sean and I were talking about the site recently and he offered up his two tattoos for us here on the site.

First up is this piece on his upper left arm:

The tattoo reads "Blackbird singing in the dead of night...take these sunken eyes and learn to see... all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free ...". This is, for those who don't know, a fragment of lyrics from The Beatles classic "Blackbird."

Sean explains how he came by this, his first tattoo:

"I had my Blackbird tattoo done in honor of my dad whom like myself, loved The Beatles. At the risk of sounding like a weirdo, it started from a dream I had that included the lyrics, 'All you need is love' in the shape of a peace sign. When I woke up, I tried sketching what I dreamt about (I still have the sketch that I drew with my finger on my phone), but it came out looking like shit. However, I was inspired to get a tattoo if I could perfect the design. After playing around with some of the lyrics to Instant Karma! (not the Beatles, but still Lennon!), Blackbird and All You Need Is Love, I settled on Blackbird, since that was supposedly one of my dad's favorites. Anyway, I literally spent months working on the design with my best friend, Darryll Brandwine who is great with graphic art, as he owns his own architecture firm in Las Vegas (D3 Design Studios). During this time, I stumbled upon a 'John Lennon' font which we were able to use in Photoshop. I liked this touch a lot because I felt it gave the tattoo a more 'authentic' feel. After a few different revisions, I brought it into Will [Sheldon at Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg]. Soon after he applied the template to my shoulder, I went out to my wife, Madeline to see how she liked it. Her eyes said it all, which meant a lot since while she was supportive of my decision, she was not really a big tattoo fan. I went back in, Will finished it up and I was very happy with my decision to get my first tattoo."

Sean also has this piece, which I think is really cool, on his inner right wrist:

I'll let Sean describe this Ensō, or Zen circle, tattoo, as well:

"Religion was never something that I felt very comfortable with. However, as I got older, I began to see the value of having one. Coincidentally, over the past few years, a friend of mine has been urging me to try meditation as well as learn about some of the Buddhist teachings. I took to it almost immediately, as it didn't seem as 'restrictive' and 'invasive' as the religions I had come to know. I still joke around with people and tell them that you're not going to see me walking around in a red robe and a shaved head, but Buddhism has taught me a lot and I continue to read books and watch videos on it. Somewhere along the way, I came across the 'Zen Circle' and it seemed like it would make for a simple, nice-looking tattoo. Naturally, people always ask what does it mean and why did I get it. They have no idea what it is or even if it's complete. Like most people who have tattoos, I got it because I like what it represents (strength and enlightenment, for starters) and it IS done...haha. Anyway, Bella [Kozyreva] from Brooklyn Made [in Bay Ridge] did this one and while I envisioned it being smaller on my wrist, I really like how it came out."

Thanks to Sean for sharing his circular tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! Will we see more from him? Sean's final words on the subject were, "I'd say I am done with tattoos, but I said that after my first one too."

I'd add, every tattoo is your last tattoo, until you get the next one!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Vicki's Words of Inspiration Get Her Where She Needs to Go

I'm always interested on what people choose to permanently inscribe on themselves, especially when the tattoo is textual.

Earlier this week, I met Vicki in my local grocery store and she had this inked on her inner wrist:

Her tattoo reads "Motivation Dedication Hard Work."

Vicki explained,

"I'm a marathon runner. So, when you get to, like, mile 20 and have six to go, you need a little motivation, dedication and hard work ... I started living by that about ten years ago, and it gets me where I need to go."

In October, Vicki will be running her 5th marathon.

This script and tattoo was done by Mr. Kaves at Brooklyn Made Tattoo in Bay Ridge.

Thanks to Vicki for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Erica's Tattoos Help Her Through a Difficult Ordeal

I spotted Erica in my neighborhood earlier this month when I noticed a tattoo on her upper right arm. She was actually having some work done later in the week on it, so she offered up this quote on her forearm instead:

When I asked her about these lines, "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars," she explained it was a quote from Khalil Gibran. The original source is unclear, as it is also attributed to a writer named Edwin Hubbell Chapin.

When I asked her why she chose this quote, she elaborated, "I'm going through a divorce right now ... it was a lot of emotional abuse [and] this represents that."

She had that done by an artist at Three Kings Tattoo in Brooklyn.

She also had this on her inner left arm:

She got this done by a visiting artist named Rebecca at Brooklyn Made Tattoo. This, too, has its roots in her past problems with her marriage. "Yoga," she told me "brought a lot of comfort and peace" to her during these difficult times. The flowers and the om on the petal represent that.

She followed up with me the following week with this photo:

The photo is a bit blurry, but you can see the differentiation between the older, larger piece, and the new work that Mr. Kaves from Brooklyn Made added to both the top and bottom of the tattoo. The original work she credited to Vic at Wicked Garden Tattoo in Clearfield, Utah.

Erica is a photographer, whose work can be seen on her website here.

Thanks to Erica for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Ryan Shares an Amazing Portrait of His Mom

I know we've been a little sparse with our posting of late, but we're coming back with a bang.

Last February, I met Ryan in my local laundromat and he shared some of his old school ink here.

I've seen him around since, but today when he walked into the laundromat, he had a stunning new piece.

A couple months ago I had run into my friend John (who shared new ink, which is also forthcoming) who tattoos out of Brooklyn Made Tattoo and he had told me that the legendary Freddy Negrete was going to be in the neighborhood doing guest spots at Brooklyn Made.

A few weeks later I was walking down 93rd Street in Bay Ridge and spotted Mr. Kaves outside of his shop. I stopped to say hello and he pointed out that Freddy and his son Isaiah were hard at work inside. They are both based out of Mark Mahoney's Shamrock Social Club in Los Angeles. I was meeting family for dinner so I couldn't hang around, but it was cool to get a glimpse of a legendary artist at work.

Which brings us back to Ryan this morning in the laundromat. I knew it almost as he told me, he got this sweet portrait of his mother from Freddy Negrete himself that week:

Ryan explained that this portrait is based on a photo of his mother from when she was in her early twenties, when he was around two years old. He elaborated:

"My mother died ... about an hour before her fortieth birthday, so this tattoo means a lot to me. It's the most beautiful work I have on me and I wouldn't have let anyone else do it. Freddy Negrete is a great guy ... he's a humbling guy and he's very humble himself and I am grateful to have met him and his son."

It really is an astonishingly beautiful piece of portrait work, and done by one of the true masters of the art here in our own little slice of Brooklyn.

Thanks again to Ryan for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Mr. Kaves Shares a Mark Mahoney Portrait

A couple weeks back, I ran into Michael Kaves on 3rd Avenue, a couple blocks away from his shop, Brooklyn Made Tattoo. Kaves is also one of the founding members of The Lordz of Brooklyn. I know Kaves from around the neighborhood, and although I've never been tattooed by him, I have been under the needle in his shop and have had the pleasure of seeing him work first-hand and close-up on other clients.

He's familiar with Tattoosday and wanted to share a tattoo with us here on the site. Check it out:

Located on Kaves' upper right arm, this brilliant tattoo was inked by the legendary Mark Mahoney.

Kaves explained he had gone out to Los Angeles a couple months back and worked at Mahoney's renown shop, the Shamrock Social Club. They had a big launch for a limited edition tattoo pigment - "Mark Mahoney's Shamrock Green". He was there, working on St. Patrick's Day for the official launch.

Mahoney, known to many as the " founding father" of single-needle black and gray tattooing, tattooed this portrait for Kaves, which took about twelve hours from start to finish.

And who is the woman tattooed on his arm? "It's my grandmother, Marie," he explained, "from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, right here on Third Avenue, 1945."

Kaves' own tattooing work first appeared on Tattoosday back in 2008 here. Most recently, his work has appeared here. This is, however, the first time we have been honored to share a tattoo by Mark Mahoney.

Thanks to Kaves for sharing this phenomenal tattoo by an American master, here with us on Tattoosday!

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Two, No, Three from Lisa Marie

I ran into Lisa Marie in my local grocery store a few months back and she was happy to share a couple of cool tattoos:

That is, for those who don't know, the symbol of Coney Island's Steeplechase Park.

She got this because she loves Coney Island, one of the most iconic spots in Brooklyn. Lisa Marie later sent me a shot of the tattoo when it was brand-spanking new:

This was inked by Michael Kaves at Brooklyn Made Tattoo.

On her left forearm, Lisa Marie had this whimsical tattoo:

That is a famous golden ticket from her favorite movie, 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the film version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

That tattoo was done by JR Maloney at Vanguard Tattoo in Nyack, New York.

Lisa Marie also sent along a couple of extra photos that she had documenting Mr. Kaves inking another of her tattoos, a cupcake:

Thanks again to Lisa Marie for sharing these cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog)