Molly's Tattoo Rocks (Tattoosday Goes to Baltimore)

Earlier this month I met Molly at a thrift shop in Baltimore County.

She shared this rocking tattoo on the back of her arm:

That's a skeleton hand throwing the "sign of the horns" that has come to symbolize rock and roll, in general.

Molly credited Jen at Ink Wizard Tattoo in California, Maryland.

This seemed like an appropriate tattoo to post as we celebrate Halloween over the next few days.

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

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.

Elonna's Skeleton Represents Two Paths

Last month in Central Park, I met Elonna, who is a friend of my daughter, Jolee. Elonna was joining us in seeing The Tempest  at the Delacorte Theater.

It didn't take me long to notice one of  Elonna's tattoos on her left arm:

Elonna got this about four years ago during her sophomore year in college, at Fat Ram's Pumpkin Tattoo in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

Elonna explained the origin of this tattoo:

"My freshman year of college I was at ... Simmons College studying biology and pre-medicine, and then I transferred to Boston University for costume design. So, I did a huge life shift at that point and I wanted to commemorate my time, both as costume designer and also as what my previous life was going to be ... I was thinking, a dress form, a mannequin, something like that ... and then I realized how popular that was a tattoo in my field of business, it's very very common to have dress forms and mannequins, I don't really know why, but I didn't really want to have just that.  I wanted something that incorporated the previous life that I was going to choose in it ... so I chose the skeleton because it's the human form and the human figure is what draws me in to these careers and that's kind of what interests me in both of them ... even though I don't want to work on the inside of bodies, I want to work on the outside ... and then I also thought him holding a doctor's bag, that's more really like to incorporate the dead dreams of becoming a doctor ... I told [the artist] that I didn't want it to be a very animated skeleton, I wanted it to be like one that's hanging in science classrooms that you had all throughout middle school." 

Out of curiosity, I asked Elonna if the skeleton had a name. She replied, "My mom calls him Mr. Bones, or Rex, because she hates the tattoo, but I don't really have a name for him.

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

This entry is ©2015 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.

Caroline's Tattoo, Traded for a Stuffed Magpie

Last summer I met Caroline on Broad Street, one morning before I was headed into work.

She had this really cool and interesting tattoo on her arm:

Caroline explained that this tattoo was done by an artist who goes by the name Tron who lives in Portland.

Caroline explained her relationship with Tron and how this tattoo came to be:

"She's been a friend of mine for years ... we actually met on a music message board when I was in high school, like a Riot grrrl music message board ... I had seen her designs, I loved them, [and] I saw she did a page of flash for a convention that was all about the band Bikini Kill , which was one of the bands we grew up loving ... I had a taxidermy bird that I bought at a taxidermy shop years ago, I was trying to get rid of it, I could not get anyone to buy it - she [Tron] wanted to trade it for a tattoo, so it worked out perfectly, I traded her this ... I think it was a magpie, for this tattoo, and I saw the picture and I loved it and I actually emailed her about getting it a couple days later .. "Resist Psychic Death" is a Bikini Kill song and the rest of it was designed by her. I knew I wanted something, she kinda does something with those M.C. Escher-style impossible objects, and I was like 'Sure, just throw up [a] skeleton's hand, that sounds like it makes sense.' "

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

UPDATE: On March 13, 2015, I wandered into Three Kings Tattoo's new location in the East Village and discovered Tron there. Her website is www.Losingshape.com and she can be found on Instagram here.

This entry is ©2015 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.

Jenny's Tattoo Speaks No Evil (at the Urban Tattoo Convention)

Last week I posted Erika's cheetah tattoo from the NYC Urban Tattoo Convention at the end of June. When I met her, I also met her friend Jenny, who had this cool piece on her inner arm:

This piece was also done by Splinter.

This is a take on the whole "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" motif, but Jenny said it has the extra meaning for her of "To each his own ... no judgment."

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

This entry is ©2013 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.

Rocco Shares Some Work by Grez

Our previous post featured a tattoo I spotted on Cristine at the Mermaid Parade back in June. Cristine's brother Rocco was also in attendance, and he was kind enough to share this piece on his inner left arm:

Rocco credited this to Grez at Kings Avenue Tattoo. He did this out on Long Island in the Massapequa shop, but now works out of their Manhattan shop on the Bowery. Grez's work has been seen several times before on Tattoosday, including most recently here and here. You can also clcik on "Grez" in the tags at the bottom of the post to see more of his work that's been on the site.

Thanks to Rocco for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 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.

Repost: Michael's Mariachis

Well, it has been a repost sort of week, and as it is All Soul's Day, a.k.a. The Day of the Dead, this only seemed fitting. It's from my college friend, Michael, and it appeared here originally on December 30, 2008. Enjoy!


In reconnecting with old college friends through Facebook, my old friend Michael who I haven't seen in almost twenty years sent me an amazing tattoo he has on his right arm.

He sent me before and after shots so we can see the transformation from outline to spectacularly colorful body art. First, the before shots.....



The detail and the line work is exemplary and breath-taking. As someone with a guitar inked on my arm, I can appreciate the intricacies of a finely-drawn instrument. The detail on the mariachi's jacket cuff is incredible.



And now, for some color:




Michael explains the basic premise of this tattoo:

In a sense, this piece is a "memorial" tattoo, although I hate to call it that. Since I grew up in the Southwest, Day of the Dead was a regular thing, so I've always been drawn to that type of imagery, plus I like the meaning -- honoring the dead, and reminding us to live life to the fullest. I picked the mariachis partly because I am so into music, and partly because of the celebratory aspect of mariachis.

Like many intricate tattoos with multiple elements, every part has significance. The tulips, for example, that are growing at the mariachi's feet, "are an actual heirloom varietal that I have in the garden" [and] are for my wife -- tulips are her favorite flower".



And the angel at the top of the piece (and the top of the post)?


Michael informs us that "the angel is for my mother, who is no longer with us. The angel holds a purple iris (my mother's favorite flower), and looks down over the whole scene."

This amazing piece was inked by Susan Behney-Doyle who works out of Jinx Proof Tattoo in Washington, D.C. Mexican folk art is one of her specialties (see a gallery of her work here) and Michael says he "gave her a few reference pieces to look at, but she basically drew it after a consultation". He continues, "we made just a couple tweaks after I saw the drawing, but it's a one-of-a-kind custom piece".

The whole tattoo was crafted back in 2006 over a five-month, seven-session period. Michael notes that one of those sessions was devoted solely to shading the guitar. A closer look at the instrument reveals an incredible complexity of brown variations that truly makes the guitar jump off the skin.

Thanks again to Michael for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday - twice!

This entry is ©2008, 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.

Kate Reminds Us: Two Calves Are Better than One

I met Kate last month and she shared these two, of her eleven tattoos:

Kate says these don't have specific meanings behind them, she "just liked the art". Nothing wrong with that at all.

On the left calf, Kate has an exquisite black and grey piece by Benjamin Moss at Apocalypse Tattoo in Seattle.

The romantically morbid idea of two skeletons sharing an eternity in the same coffin is a haunting image.

On her right calf is this dagger:

The phrase "MORTE PRIMA DI DISONORE" translates to the expression "Death Before Dishonor". This tattoo was created at Addiction NYC on St. Mark's Place in Manhattan.

Thanks to Kate for sharing these great tattoos 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.

Cenk's Skeleton Tattoo Pays Homage to Yukio Mishima and St. Sebastian

I met Cenk where I meet so many Tattoosday volunteers, outside of Penn Station on the plaza adjacent to Madison Square Garden.

He shared this, one of his four tattoos:

This is an interpretation of the depiction of St. Sebastian, as seen by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima, one of Cenk's favorite writers. A variation of the St. Sebastian imagery graced one of the many covers of Mishima's Confessions of a Mask:


Mishima even posed for a publicity photo as the martyred St. Sebastian:


This piece was tattooed by Myles Karr at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn. According to his website, he has since left Saved, and opened Three Kings Tattoo Parlor. Mr. Karr's work has appeared previously on Tattoosday here and here.


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

Skeleton Emerging

I met Javier outside of Madison Square Garden back in July and he shared this incredible tattoo on the back of his right calf:


He had the idea in mind and took it to Uccio, a tattoo artist in a shop in Salamanca, located in western Spain.

This amazing piece has an incredible three-dimensional feel, with a skeleton emerging through the torn flesh of Javier's leg.

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

UPDATE:

Javier was kind enough to clarify for us that the shop where this was done is called Stres Tattoo in Salamanca.

He also sent me images of the sketches upon which this amazing tattoo was based:




Thanks to Javier for the update!

Carrie Returns with Some Matrimonial Ink

As this blog has evolved from a weekly installment over at BillyBlog into a full-time appreciation of the Tattoo, I have gained an immense appreciation of the way Mexican folk art has been absorbed into the medium.

The celebration of Dio de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is a perfect match for tattooing, as it is associated with bright colors and what I call a "pleasant morbidity," in the form of skeletons and skulls.


Some of my favorite posts here at Tattoosday have been related to the Day of the Dead (see here and here).

So it was with great pleasure that I learned that Carrie, of the amazing ship tattoo, was sending me new ink photos, and moreso when I saw they were in the Dio de los Muertos theme.

Carrie sent a slew of photos relating to two tattoos she and her new husband, Ryan, received as a wedding gift from their friend, Evan Lindemann, who is a tattoo artist at Revolver Tattoo in New Brunswick, NJ. This is the same shop where her pirate ship was (and continues to be) inked.

The couple were married on Halloween of 2008, and honeymooned the following week, which coincided with the Day of the Dead celebrations:

"We had a masquerade ball for our Halloween wedding...our cake topper was a Day of he Dead skeleton bride and groom folk art bride and groom


and our toasting flutes were hand painted from Mexico and had day of the dead bride and groom skulls as well [see photo above]....Going to Mexico was the icing on the cake to finish out our awesome wedding....In Mexico we went to Playa del Carmen, shopped like crazy on 5th ave and ... found some beautiful Day of the Dead figurines and shadow boxes.....

For our wedding gift, ...Evan...wanted to give us a tattoo each.

We love tattoos, so it was one hell of an offer....so...we decided that I would get the Day of the Dead figurine that is the skeleton in the tux representing the groom


and Ryan would get the Day of the Dead woman figurine which represents the bride:


So, we have a piece together and they are beautiful!"

Carrie concludes, that these tattoos "symbolize our love, marriage and honeymoon".

She added that this may "sound kind of corny," but she is right when she says they are beautiful.

A belated congratulations to Carrie (and Ryan) for the marriage, and their incredibly cool (and romantic) his-and-hers tattoos. In a day and age when so many married couples tattoo each others' names on their bodies, it is heart-warming from an artistic perspective to see the level of creativity and thought that went into these pieces.

And a hearty thank you to Carrie (and Ryan) for sharing their work here on Tattoosday!

Michael's Mariachis Celebrate Life with a Burst of Musical Color

In reconnecting with old college friends through Facebook, my old friend Michael who I haven't seen in almost twenty years sent me an amazing tattoo he has on his right arm.

He sent me before and after shots so we can see the transformation from outline to spectacularly colorful body art. First, the before shots.....



The detail and the line work is exemplary and breath-taking. As someone with a guitar inked on my arm, I can appreciate the intricacies of a finely-drawn instrument. The detail on the mariachi's jacket cuff is incredible.



And now, for some color:




Michael explains the basic premise of this tattoo:

In a sense, this piece is a "memorial" tattoo, although I hate to call it that. Since I grew up in the Southwest, Day of the Dead was a regular thing, so I've always been drawn to that type of imagery, plus I like the meaning -- honoring the dead, and reminding us to live life to the fullest. I picked the mariachis partly because I am so into music, and partly because of the celebratory aspect of mariachis.

Like many intricate tattoos with multiple elements, every part has significance. The tulips, for example, that are growing at the mariachi's feet, "are an actual heirloom varietal that I have in the garden" [and] are for my wife -- tulips are her favorite flower".



And the angel at the top of the piece (and the top of the post)?


Michael informs us that "the angel is for my mother, who is no longer with us. The angel holds a purple iris (my mother's favorite flower), and looks down over the whole scene."

This amazing piece was inked by Susan Behney-Doyle who works out of Jinx Proof Tattoo in Washington, D.C. Mexican folk art is one of her specialties (see a gallery of her work here) and Michael says he "gave her a few reference pieces to look at, but she basically drew it after a consultation". He continues, "we made just a couple tweaks after I saw the drawing, but it's a one-of-a-kind custom piece".

The whole tattoo was crafted back in 2006 over a five-month, seven-session period. Michael notes that one of those sessions was devoted solely to shading the guitar. A closer look at the instrument reveals an incredible complexity of brown variations that truly makes the guitar jump off the skin.