Lauren's Thigh Tattoo Salutes Mastodon

If you're reading this post and the Tattoosday banner features some wonderfully-inked revolvers, those "hand guns" belong to Amanda and the original post is here.

Just recently, I was thinking that I hadn't seen Amanda in a while and was wondering if she still lived in my neighborhood. Later that day, a much-tattooed woman named Lauren walked into the laundromat where I was packing up the weekly family wash.

I had never met Lauren before, but she knew about Tattoosday because she was friends with the aforementioned Amanda. She told me that Amanda had moved out of our neighborhood (thus explaining her scarcity) and yes, she was happy to share a piece for the blog.

Lauren has a vast array of ink, thirteen tattoos by her count, and she offered up this phenomenal thigh piece:




First of all, we don't show too many thighs here on Tattoosday, partly because they're only visible when it's warm enough for shorts. But more importantly, people with thigh tattoos tend to be few and far between, to begin with.

So what's with this image?

Lauren explained it is the album art for the metal band, Mastodon, off their debut album, Remission:


In fact, Lauren saw them play that same night at Irving Plaza with the bands Kylesa and Intronaut. Check out the awesome blog Brooklyn Vegan here to see a write-up and photos of the show.

This amazing tattoo was inked by Andrea Elston at East Side Ink. Ms. Elston has since departed New York and now tattoos out of Classic Tattoo in San Marcos, Texas. Work from East Side Ink has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Lauren for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! I'm looking forward to (hopefully) showing more of her work here on the site in the future!

As a little extra bonus for Mastodon fans, or for people who want to hear what they sound like, here's the band performing their Grammy-nominated song "Colony of Birchmen" with Josh Homme:

Doug's Colorful Demon

I ran into Doug in Penn Station a couple weeks back and he offered up this, one of seven tattoos:


He said that this tattoo, which represents twelve hours worth of work, is based on a Japanese demon he spotted while poring over a book on medieval manuscripts.

There's no real specific meaning behind it, he just liked the design, especially how different it was from other demons one typically sees in Japanese art.

The tattoo was created at Cross Creek Tattoo Gallery in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Thanks to Doug for sharing this amazing piece with us here on Tattoosday!

Emily's Back Piece Takes Yin and Yang to the Next Level

I spent yesterday at the New York City Tattoo Convention at the Roseland Ballroom.

I'll provide a fuller dispatch later but I wanted to share one of the more visually-stunning pieces that I chanced upon.

This is Emily's back piece:


This represents about sixty (60!) hours of work by Erick Diaz at Asylum Studios in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. A smaller, much less complicated tattoo by Mr. Diaz appeared last summer here on Tattoosday.

What's depicted is the classic battle between good and evil, angels and devils, heaven and hell. Emily went to Erick with the basic concept of the piece and Erick did the rest.

"It's the state of every human being," Emily summarized, "a giant yin-yang".

The "13" at the bottom of the back is a memorial, of sorts, but Emily didn't want to elaborate. She also noted that this elaborate piece covered up two smaller tattoos at the top of the back.

I thank Emily for sharing her marvelous canvas with us here on Tattoosday!

Mike's Lion-Skeleton Tattoo

I met Mike outside of Penn Station after work last Friday. He has five to eight tattoos in all, and he had this pretty cool piece to offer:


This piece is all original artwork by the artist, Doug White, formerly at the Ink Spot Tattoo Studios in Linden, New Jersey, back in 1995-6. Mike doesn't know where Doug ended up, but he believes he's now tattooing out in Texas.

He also mentioned there's a figure at the top of the piece which is loosely based on Eddie, the Iron Maiden "mascot":


This segment of the tattoo seems inspired by Iron Maiden's album cover Seventh Son of a Seventh Son:


The lion is also very nicely done:


Thanks again to Mike for sharing his tattoo with us here at Tattoosday!

Great Balls of Yarn!

A week ago, I met Hobart, who has 14 tattoos. He offered up this interesting piece for Tattoosday readers:


Seems like your everyday run-of-the-mill pentagram tattoo. But it's not.

Hobart is a knitter and he and his friends often attended "Stitch 'n Bitch" sessions where a group of knitters would get together and practice their craft. Hobart said they grew tired of the "normal middle-age ladies" sitting around talking about sex, so he and his friends formed a group that challenged the image of the group of conservative knitters.

They developed the logo above, made it "as gangland as possible" and called themselves "Satani-stitch".

The pentagram is comprised of knitting needles arranged in the star formation, just below the "gang" name and two balls of yarn, which are engulfed in flames, for effect. Below the pentagram are the Roman numerals V I VI, representing the 516 area code of Nassau County, Long Island.

This creative tattoo was inked at Lone Wolf Tattoo in Bellmore, Long Island. Work from that shop has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

For another cool yarn-based piece, check out this previous Tattoosday post, featuring my friend Eryn.

Hobart also shared his knuckle tattoos with me, to be seen at a future date over on KnuckleTattoos.com.

Thanks to Hobart for sharing his knitting-themed tattoo!

April Marching into May

Last Friday, I spotted this tattoo on Seventh Avenue in the 20's:



April was happy to stop and chat about her black and gray tattoo which was a gift from her boyfriend on her 27th birthday.

The piece is fairly straight forward - cherry blossoms bloom in late March/early April. Her birthday is in March and her name is April.

For that alone these traditional tattoo flowers seemed appropriate for her.

The design of the ouroboros, or the dragon forming a circle by consuming itself beginning with the tail, represents the "vicious cycle of life".

This tattoo was inked by Iann at Armageddon Tattoo in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Iann's work has appeared here previously on the site.

Thanks to April for sharing her lovely tattoo with us on Tattoosday!

Milo's Tattoos Honor Family

I met Milo at Trader Joe's in Brooklyn on the first Saturday in May. Working the door as a greeter, Milo's tattoos were peeking out from under a shirt sleeve so I couldn't help but stop to chat. Twenty minutes later, when Milo was on break and my groceries were bought, we continued our conversation.

This tattoo is actually a series of family-themed pieces that make up what is currently a quarter-sleeve. The work to date has been completed over the course of two years by Myles Karr at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn. Myles is now co-owner of Three Kings Tattoo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Each element is a tribute to, and/or inspired by, members of Milo's family.

I generally shy away from larger pieces that circumvent the limbs, but each part, in and of itself, as fascinating.

For example, Milo's grandfather was a doctor and a skier, which is represented by a stethoscope and crossed skis.

Milo's grandmother was a musician and the instrument on the inner part of the bicep is a scaled-down representation of her double bass.


What I originally took for severed octopus arms dripping colorful blood, upon closer examination, and a gentle explanation from Milo, was revealed to be shofars (ram's horns). These are traditional instruments that are sounded on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, to welcome the arrival of another year. They are included in this mix of symbols as a tribute to the
Jewish heritage of Milo's father and paternal grandmother.

The lines of color exuding from tubes of paint nestled in the shofars are a nod to the same two forebears, who were artists.

The top of the tattoo, which features a baby eagle and a crown, represents Milo's paternal family crest.


And finally, on the back side of the bicep, these leaves pop out in a brilliant explosion of greens:


Tattooed are three different types of kale: your basic everyday kale, dinosaur kale and Tuscan flatleaf. Milo explained that, growing up, food culture dominated the home. It was integral to the family and the kale not only pays tribute to family, but reminds Milo to eat right. It seemed
fitting to find a kale-themed tattoo at Trader Joe's, one of my favorite grocery stores, and a standard for healthy food.

I want to thank Milo for taking the time to tell me about the numerous tattoos that seemed so personal, yet universal for so many. We here at Tattoosday loved the uniqueness of Milo's ink.

Check out this other piece, also by Myles Karr at Saved Tattoo, which appeared last May on Tattoosday.