Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog): Moths

Showing posts with label Moths. 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

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Thursday, September 14, 2017

A Moth and a Rose on the F Train (Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game)

And the Alphabet Game continues...

1:05 P.M. After a bathroom and pizza break at Penn Station, I'm back on an E train to catch an F at West 4th Street.

1:13 P.M. On an F train at West 4th, southbound.

1:16 P.M. I meet Adrien, who shares a couple of great tattoos from Kings Avenue Tattoo (@kingsavetattoo) on the Bowery in Manhattan.

First is this cool moth:

Adrien told me that this tattoo by Grez matches one that is also on another Kings Ave artist, Becca Genne-Bacon (@beccagennebacon) who, incidentally, tattooed this awesome black rose on Adrien, as well:

Thanks to Adrien for sharing these cool tattoos with us on Tattoosday!

Remember, you can check out the whole Alphabet Game experience here.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Andrea's Awesome Arm

I met Andrea yesterday near Federal Hall in lower Manhattan.

She shared the tattoos on her inner right arm:

These beautiful tattoos were inked by Spencer Evans (@spencerevanstattoos) at Easy Tiger Tattoo (@easytigertattoos) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,

Andrea said that the first rose (pictured, far right) is for her grandmother, but that the other rose, the compass rose, and the moth, are all just part of the design on the arm, art for art's sake.

Thanks to Andrea for sharing these awesome tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Three for Thursday - Kirsten Shares Her Tattoos

I spotted Kirsten last month in lower Manhattan after I saw the tattoo on the back of her calf. I had to ask about it but, it turns out, she had other tattoos, as well. Fortunately for me, she was in a generous sharing mood, and took the time to tell me about all of them.

First up, her feet:

Kirsten, who hails from Australia, explained the origins of these tattoos

"I grew up in Canada, so I kind of just wanted to start getting some mystic animals going on ... it's just like nicknames for my parents; I always called my dad Papa Bear and my mom Momma Wolf, so I got them for my parents.

She credited the work to a Sydney-based artist who works under the moniker Sprinkles (@Sprinkles_).

Sprinkles took her to his friend Scott M. Harrison to get this tattoo, on her thigh:

Here's a clearer shot from right after the tattoo was completed, liberally taken, with attribution from Harrison's Instagram (follow him @scott_m_harrison).

Photo via Instagram - @scott_m_harrison

Harrison noted " Really enjoyed doing the background pattern, would love to incorporate them into more pieces."

Kirsten explained:

"I've got like a theme of threes going on with all my other tattoos, so a three-eyed cat, it's kind of sll-seeing eye ... I got it kind of in honor of my friend that I'm visiting [in New York], she was always a crazy cat lady ... so one eye's for her, one eye's for the cat I grew up with [Betty Lou], and [one for] the cat I have now [Runty]."

And, finally, we have the tattoo I spotted in the first place:

She credited this to an artist named Louise that she met at the Australian Tattoo Expo in Sydney. This was one of the designs she had on display and Kirsten liked it.

Thanks to Kirsten for taking the time to share all of these tattoos with me. We here at Tattoosday our very grateful!

Friday, July 29, 2016

Luke's Death's-Head Moth

I met Luke on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan this month. I spotted his tattoos as he was walking toward me and I flagged him down.

Luke was visiting on vacation from Australia, and he had just recently received this Death's-head Moth tattoo on his thigh:

"I knew I wanted the Death's-head moth," Luke explained, "I just got divorced ... and it represents just the old and the new."

He credited the work to Joseph Bryce (@josephbrycetattoo) at Allied Tattoo (@allied_tattoo) in Bushwick, Brooklyn, adding, "he's a fine line artist and he did really well."

Thanks to Luke for sharing his transformative tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! Wishing you well on the new chapter in your life!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

J.R. Gets His Moth On (at the NYC Tattoo Convention)

The Village Voice ran a piece this weekend about the New York City Tattoo Convention, including a slideshow called "What Inspired You to Get a Face Tattoo?" It's worth checking out and I was excited to see that the first photo was someone I interviewed as well!

I first snapped a photo of J.R. while he was getting his neck tattooed by Matt Truiano, who works out of Winky Dink Ink in Valley Cottage, New York:

I was later able to get a shot of the finished product later in the day:

Why this piece on the throat?

Simply put, "I just always wanted a moth," he told me.

It was also interesting hearing him describe the best way to get a throat piece, how one had to modify your breathing with the rhythm of the artist, timing the intake of air with the brief pauses the artist makes with the machine.

As an added bonus, J.R. also shared this thigh piece, one of his favorites by Mike Cann at Folk City Tattoo in Suffolk, Virginia:

Thanks to J.R. for sharing his amazing work with us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Claire's Hemaris Thysbe Flutters on Her Forearm

Butterfly tattoos can be a dime a dozen (no offense, butterfly fans), but moths, on the other hand often get a bum rap, taking a back seat to their more flamboyant insect cousins. To the chagrin of some inked lepidopterists, you don't see as many moth tattoos. This, however, is a lovely exception, perched on Claire's forearm:

This is Hemaris Thysbe, more commonly known as the Clear Wing Hummingbird Moth, a beautiful insect that gets its name from its large size and rapid wing speed.

Claire, who I met in Borders at 2 Penn Plaza, is originally from Vermont and this moth reminds her of back home. There are certainly no Hummingbird Moths fluttering about New York City!

She found a picture she liked and took it in to Yoni Ziebler at Brooklyn Adorned where he recreated this lovely specimen.

Work from Adorned appears here often and can be seen together under this tag.

Thanks again to Claire for sharing her Hummingbird Moth with us here on Tattoosday!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Xrin Arms Explains His Tattoos

I ran into Anthony after work while passing through the Amtrak section of Penn Station.

He was in town to perform in Brooklyn and was waiting for his ride. He performs under the name "Xrin Arms," which he pronounced as "Your-in-arms". He's a techno punk musician currently on tour. Here's the flier for the gig he was playing that night:

He had an unusual series of tattoos which he allowed me to photograph, after he explained them to me.

The tattoos cover a significant part of his upper right arm, as well as one side of his forearm.

First and foremost, as a writer, he had his pen inked on his arm.

He always uses a Pilot Precise V5, he said,

and he produced one to show me, holding it up to the piece to show me that it was tattooed to scale.

The next element of his inked arm is a legion of sperm directed at his elbow. Some of the sperm are traveling from the pen, representing the knowledge that flows from the written word.

At the center of the elbow is a moth in a circle. He said that it represents a "moth in a beehive". When I questioned that image, he acknowledged that that was how he feels a lot of the time.

If you picture a moth in a beehive, you envision many things: solitude and violence. Of beauty and alienation. The sperm heading toward this image reinforce that the creative experience is a birthing process fraught with danger.

Lastly, on the back of the bicep, is an owl with its wings outstretched.

The owl represents to him that he is noctural, and stays up all night.

He has 2 other tattoos but we stuck with these because they played off one another.

They were tattooed by Chris Bragg when he was working out of Hammer's Tattoo & Body Piercing in Canton, Ohio.

Please check out Xrin Arms myspace page here. There's also a cool interview with Anthony over on the blog Digital Liver here.

Thanks again to for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday.

As an added extra, here's a video of Xrin Arms song "Feather Mask":

Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog)