Murphy and the Jackalope

I met Richelle last fall near Bowling Green in lower Manhattan. She had some really cool black and gay work, like this portrait of her dog, Murphy:

She referred to Murphy as her "little soulmate" and was happy to wear him on her arm.

She also shared this cool creature:

That is a Jackalope, which is a "mythical creature" that she associates with her childhood. Richelle added that she always "hoped [it] was real" and that it was "my version of a unicorn."

Richelle credited her artist, Anka Lavriv (@anka.tattoo) from Black Iris Tattoo (@black_iris_tattoo) in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with her work. 

I love how the myth of the Jackalope lives on in her ink!

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

This entry is ©2018 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.

Darin and Max, Together Forever

Our next Occidental tattooed alumnus is Darren, who was a senior in Pauley Hall when I entered as a freshman in 1985. Darren and I reconnected on Facebook and when he recently posted this tattoo, I quickly asked him for permission to share:

Darin got this cool piece from Brian (@bolder_brian_tattoo) at Bolder Ink (@BolderInk) in Boulder, Colorado.

Darin explained:

"Brian did a fantastic job capturing Max's character. The idea came from my friend Volkan Soylu whom I met in Mexico in August, and Max provided the inspiration. This is something I feel good about wearing for life."

This is Max, who is an Akita (and the reference for the tattoo):

When I asked Darin if Max was still around, he explained:

"Max is still with us, but it is a memorial in a sense, just the same. Divorce after 17 years - we lost the house and I was not able to provide a good home for him. So it's a very transitional time, hence that duality of the two sides of his face, and a memorial to him in the sense that he represents loss of my previous life. That being said, I'm on to bigger and better things now and couldn't be happier. Except of course for the fact that I don't have Max, but I do have visiting rights and that's good."

This is Darin checking out the stencil after Brian put it on:

And the finished product:

Note how much it lightened up after it healed.

Thanks so much to Darin for sharing his cool tattoo with us this week on Tattoosday's Occidental week!

This entry is ©2017 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.

Little Darling's Ink: Pinups for Pitbulls

Last spring, I met Deirdre, aka Little Darling, as she was leaving Penn Station to cross Seventh Avenue.

I snapped these pictures of her upper right arm:

Deirdre explained that she is the president and founder of a non-profit organization called Pinups for Pitbulls.

The two pups pictured are portraits of two of her dogs, as interpreted by skin artist Jon Clue.

Little Darling invites people to check out her company's website PinupsForPitbulls.org if you are interested in supporting the ongoing effort to help fulfill their mission of working "to educate the public about the history and temperament of the American Pit Bull Terrier and pit bull type dogs [and] to raise awareness about Breed Specific Legislation and Breed-Specific abuse."

One of the ways that Little Darling and her company strive to "reestablish the defamed reputation of pit bull type dogs as America's premier companion animal, war hero, and therapy dog," is through fundraisers and the sale of Pinups for Pitbulls merchandise, such as their annual calendar. Many of these products can be purchased through Amazon (see link below).

Other Pinups for Pitbulls Merchandise can be found by clicking the hyperlink in this sentence.

Thanks to Deirdre for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday, and for waiting so patiently for this post to appear.

This entry is ©2012 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.

In Memory of Tama

Yesterday, my DVR finally managed to catch an episode of "Tattooed in Detroit," on Animal Planet.

Marisa over at Needles and Sins talked about the show here.

In a bit of a coincidence, shortly after watching the hour-long episode, which featured several memorial tattoos for owners' pets, I learned, via Facebook, that my nephew Ikaika, was getting more ink on Saturday.
Back in April 2010, I was back home in Hawai'i and I got a chance to take pictures of his tattoos, along with my other nieces and nephews. His post originally appeared on Tattoosday here, and since all the planets seemed to align (maybe it was the lunar eclipse), I thought I'd share his new tattoo with Tattoosday.

This is a portrait of Ikaika's pit bull Tama, who lived with him for 12 years.

The tattoo was done by James Cacal at Tattoo Krew Empire in Waipahu, Hawai'i.

A big mahalo to my nephew for sharing Tama's portrait with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 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.