Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog): Eight of Swords Tattoo

Showing posts with label Eight of Swords Tattoo. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Diana Shares Some Cool Tattoos on Her Birthday

I want to wish Diana a happy birthday today! I met Diana last month while walking in lower Manhattan. She had, at the time, "about 13" tattoos, and she was kind enough to share them with us.

Her newest piece at the time was this cool one on her forearm:

This was inked by Zoe Bean (@zoebeantattoo) from Eight of Swords Tattoo (@8ofswordstattoo) in Brooklyn. Diana explained:

"It's just supposed to be a graceful representation of Lilith ... kind of a feminist symbol ... [Zoe] is a wonderful artist to do this. I love her dotwork style but also, we were talking as I was getting the tattoo, she used to be a professor and she kind of made her way as a tattoo artist. She just had an amazing story ... male-dominated field, moving up in her career, it was great of her to do this and to make this feminist symbol on my arm ... It means a lot for me because ... we looked into the story behind Lilith and we have a couple of the flowers that represent her and then the snake, of course... it was really great to go on this journey with Zoe to like get it right."

Diana also has this cool pair of tattoos on her upper arm:

Diana elaborated about the moth:

"I volunteer at a butterfly conservatory at the Museum of Natural History ... I thought this would be a really nice touch I got this because for that reason but also because 8 of Swords was doing a charity benefit for an LGBTQ homeless center in Arkansas [Lucie's Place in Little Rock] ... they raised over 10 thousand dollars in that event and this was one of the designs. Stella [Vlad] (@stellamayvlad) ... made this and did a really great job."

Stella was one of the visiting artists who joined Eight of Swords for the fundraiser. She works at Speakeasy Tattoo (@nyspeakeasytattoo) in Peekskill, New York.

Diana also told me about the woman's head below the moth:

"I got this from Ashley (@ol_ash), she used to work at Magic Cobra Tattoo Society (@magiccobratattoo) [in Brooklyn] ... I'm a Gemini, so there's two different faces in the woman's eyes, so one is kinda happy and the other one is ... kind of sad looking, so it's like the different personalities."

The artist, Ashley Strout, now works at Electric Anvil Tattoo (@electricanviltattoo) in Brooklyn.

And last, but not least, Diana shared this amazing tattoo on her thigh:

Diana explains this wonderful tattoo of the goddess Athena:

"I got this in San Francisco ... on my last day [there] and it took hours to do ... I sat for one very long session... The artist I went to, he does really good portrait tattoos ... my mother loved mythology and she passed away when I was a teenager, so I was like oh this would be a really really cool tattoo."

The artist is Brian Jones (@brianjonestattoos), who did this at One Shot Tattoo (@one_shot_tattoo), but he is now based out of Gold Stripe Tattoo (@goldstripetattoo) in San Diego.

Thanks to Diana for sharing all of these cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! It was great meeting you and happy birthday!

Photo by Diana

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.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Samantha's Cool Cat on the B Train (Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game)

After my initial success on the A train (here), the game continued:

Next stop, I switched at West 4th Street for a northbound B train.

9:04 on Northbound B.

At 9:12 A.M., between 42nd Street and 47th-50th/Rockefeller Plaza, I met Samantha, who shared this cool tattoo:

When she told me this was by New York artist Betty Rose (@BettyRoseTattoos), I acknowledged that this made sense, as Betty Rose is no stranger to Tattoosday, and has made a name for herself as a quality artist who loves to do cat tattoos (or "cattoos," as she calls them). Betty Rose currently works out of Eight of Swords Tattoo (@8ofSwordsTattoo) in Brooklyn.

Next up, I'm headed to the C train...

Thanks to Samantha for sharing her cool tattoo with us on Tattoosday!

Prior installments of Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game are here.

Monday, June 26, 2017

Wildflowers on Ameris

Earlier this month, I met Ameris on Broad Street in lower Manhattan. She was kind enough to share this lovely tattoo:

She credited this beautiful tattoo of wildflowers to Guy Ursitti (@tattoosbyguyursitti) of Eight of Swords Tattoo (@8ofswordstattoo) in Brooklyn.

She chose wildflowers because, aside from their beauty, they represent a theme of freedom.

Thanks to Ameris for sharing this stunning tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2017 Tattoosday.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Two from Jacqui by Betty Rose

I ran into Jacqui a couple of weeks ago in lower Manhattan, across the street from Bowling Green. It was this tattoo that caught my eye:

She credited this awesome tattoo to Betty Rose, who works out of Eight of Swords in Brooklyn.

Jacqui told me, "I asked for a fox headdress and she worked with me to pick out the face and everything ... [she] did a couple different drawings for me and this is what she came up with." Needless to say, Jacqui was very happy with the end result.

She also told me, "I knew that [Betty Rose] did really good cat tattoos, cattoos," which resulted in her getting this piece, as well:

Thanks so much to Jacqui for sharing her beautiful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

The Tattooed Poets Project: Lisa Marie Basile Launches Our Seventh Annual Installment

We are launching our seventh annual Tattooed Poets Project with Lisa Marie Basile. Lisa and I have been talking about her participating since the fall of 2012, so I was delighted when we were finally able to get a post together for Tattoosday this year.

Lisa Marie has six tattoos, and shared four with us, starting with this one:

The tattoo on her forearm reads "recuerdo la eternidad," which roughly translates to "remember eternity," comes from a line out of a Marosa Di Giorgio poem. "She's my favorite poet," Lisa Marie explains, "and I find the way she talks of nostalgia and good/evil so beautiful." She adds,"This line immediately hit me, and I wanted to always have it with me, in its original language."

Her other arm has a couple tattoos:

Lisa Marie's ampersand (&) sits on her wrist and she explains, "I not only love the shape of this little one, but I think the idea of the ampersand connecting this and that is beautiful."

As for the phrase, "le soleil et la mer," translated as "the sun and the sea," Lisa Marie elaborates:

"[It] comes from The Stranger by Camus. This is one of my favorite books, and I felt very connected to the rage and fear and sorrow the protagonist felt when he was on the beach, under the sun and near the sea. This was my second tattoo and I feel closest to it."

Then there's this word on the back of her upper arm:

Lisa Marie explains:

"witch is a playful one that I got with a friend at midnight in Miami on Friday the 13th. It was all very kismet, actually. We both have the same tattoo (poet Joanna C. Valente) and it, for me, represents the idea of women living through being hunted, scarlet-lettered and hated. It was an impulse tattoo."

She believes that the "&" and "le soleil et la mer" pieces were inked at Whatever Tattoo in Manhattan. The "recuerdo la eternidad" tattoo was done at Eight of Swords in Brooklyn.

The "witch" tattoo was from Salvation Tattoo Lounge in Miami.

By way of a poem, Lisa Marie sent us this work, which first appeared in Stone Highway Review:

Lisa Marie Basile is the author of APOCRYPHAL (Noctuary Press, 2014) and a chapbook, Andalucia. She is the editor-in-chief of Luna Luna Magazine and her poetry and other work can be read in PANK, Tin House's blog, Coldfront, The Nervous Breakdown, The Huffington Post, Best American Poetry, PEN American Center, Dusie, and the Ampersand Review, among others. She’s recently been profiled in The New York Daily News, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, Poets & Artists Magazine, Relapse Magazine and others. She’s been nominated for the Best Small Fiction 2015 and Best American Experimental Writing 2015 anthologies, and she holds an MFA from The New School.

Lisa Marie's first full-length just came out: Apocryphal can be purchased on Amazon or at Small Press Distribution.

Thanks to Lisa Marie Basile for helping launch the seventh annual Tattooed Poets Project 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, May 15, 2014

Ladies, Ladies! 3rd Annual Art Show, Opening Tonight in Brooklyn!

Looking for something coo to do tonight in Brooklyn? Head over to the Ladies, Ladies! Art Show 2014 at Eight of Swords Tattoo in Williamsburg.

Curated by Miss Elvia and friend of Tattoosday, Magje Serpica, this art show kicks off tonight with an opening party, from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm.

This is the third incarnation of this event that celebrated women tattoo artists and their work.

Artists include Rose Hardy, Ashley Love, Kate Hellenbrandt, Kit King, Drew Linden, Karen Glass, Alix Ge, Anna Melo, Mina Aoki, Marie Sena, Alexandra Skarsgård, Debra Yarian, Lara Scotton, Bruna Yonashiro, Gillian Goldstein, Miss Marshall, Lola Garcia, Viola von Hell, Zoe Bean, Dana Melissa Dixon, and many more.

The event is sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Jack From Brooklyn.

There will be an after party held at Passenger Bar (S3rd and Roebling). Drink specials all night with the show flyer, so be sure to pick one up before you leave!

Come one, come all, and celebrate some amazing female tattoo artists!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Will Is Well-Armed for the Opera

Occasionally, one of my posts will fall through the cracks and I only discover it by chance.

For example, earlier this week I was passing through K-Mart in Penn Station when it struck me: the guy I had met several months earlier in there never ended up on the site! How did that happen? I'm still scratching my head over that one, because how could I forget this tattoo?

Will explained to me that he has the signatures of twenty-seven female opera singers that have, in some way, touched his life. The photo above is only a fragment of the whole array, which covers his left arm and runs down the side of his chest.

"I'm a big opera fan ...[it's] just a form of music and expression that has always meant a lot to me," Will told me. He explained how he had waited for two hours for a singer to emerge from a venue after a performance, but she never came out. That missed autograph opportunity gave him the idea to recreate the signatures of an array of great singers on his flesh.

Among the names visible in the photo above are Maria Callas and Grace Bumbry.

The signatures were inked by Dave Wallin at Eight of Swords Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Will for sharing his operatic arm with us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Two Peacocks for a Tuesday

Back in June, I met two women on separate days who had peacock tattoos.

First was Charlotte, a filmmaker who I spotted on the uptown 3 train. I snapped these pictures when we got off the subway at 72nd Street:

Charlotte credited Daniel Albrigo as the artist, who did this when he worked at Brooklyn Adorned. He now tattoos out of Three Kings in Brooklyn.

She explained that she "wanted something beautiful to offset the Kali tattoo on her right shoulder".

A week later I met Emily near Penn Station, who had this different perspective on the peacock, inked on her calf:

Emily explained:

"My mother used to work at a school in Dallas, Texas, where I'm from, that has peacocks that roam wild on campus ... when I was a child I used to go play with them (or just watch them)."

Emily told me she "drew it and designed it with the help of Dave Wallin." Dave tattooed this when working at Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but he now works out of Eight of Swords Tattoo Studio.

Thanks to both Charlotte and Emily for sharing their very different peacocks here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog)