Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog)

Friday, September 28, 2018

Jennie's Timely Tattoo

I'm going to keep this simple. My daughter's friend Jennie got this tattoo on Friday:

Credit to the artist Jennifer (@valvntin) from Abuela's Tattoo Parlor (@abuelastattoo) in Brooklyn.

Thanks Jennie for sharing!

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Wednesday, September 26, 2018

A Wolf on the S Train (Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game)

Last year, when I played the Alphabet Game, I quit at R. But this year, I ventured into uncharted territory. The alphabetical trains at the end of the sequence. Wonder what the hell I'm talking about? Go here and come back when you're done.

My concern with the S train is that S stands for "shuttle" and it runs regularly between Times Square and Grand Central station. One stop, back and forth. How long, I wondered, will I be on the S train trying to interview someone in a short window of time?

Side note: I know that there are other versions of the S train, notably near Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, but that is isolated and out of the way.

Back to the Alphabet Game, at 1:56 PM, after checking off the R, I hopped off at 23rd Street, exited near the Flat Iron Building, and hopped on a northbound W to 42nd Street. Once there, I utilized one of the restrooms and then headed to the S train.

Remember how worried I was that the S would be a challenge? You should, that was only three paragraphs back! Well, I need not worry, because on my first pass of the S, I met Devin, who shared this wolf tattoo:

Devin credited Angel Garcia (@caballonegre33) from Black Horse Tattoos (@blackhorseink) in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Devin for sharing his cool tattoo with us as Tattoosday rides the rails!'

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

A Texas Tree on the R Train (Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game)

Last year, when I played the Alphabet Game for the first time, I finished on the R train. I was beat, it was the end of the day, and I called it quits having run through a dozen other train lines. If you want to know what I'm referring to, head to the "master post" here.

This year, I was much more efficient. So, when I hopped off the Q at Union Square at 1:15 PM, I was way ahead of last year, and quite pleased with myself.

And then it took twelve minutes for a northbound R to arrive.

And then the R train was not offering up much in terms of tattoos. At 1:40, I was at 57th Street, looking to reverse directions.

At 1:42 PM, I hopped on a southbound R and finally, between 34th and 23rd, I met Nicole, who shared this unusual-looking tree tattoo:

Nicole hails from Texas and explained that this is a representative of a tree from the Lone Star state, she couldn't recall the name but gave me a couple of clues. It's a tree indigenous to Texas and, she explained, her mother's ashes are buried underneath one in Odessa.

I am going to go out on a limb (intended) and call this a Disospyros texana, or a Texas persimmon tree. I could be wrong, but the point is, it's tattooed on Nicole and it reminds of her home.

The tattoo was done by an artist named Jason at True Blue Tattoo in Austin.

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

Monday, September 24, 2018

Sour Head on the Q Train (Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game)

We're continuing our subway experiment, trying to get through all of the lettered trains, in alphabetical order, in one day. We're in pretty good shape, having just finished on the N train. You can see the master 2018 Alphabet Game post here.

At 12:56 PM, I jumped from the N to a northbound Q train (there is no "O" or "P" line) and then, three minutes later, switch to a southbound Q at Lexington/63rd.

It was on the Q that I met Katie, who had a lot of tattoos, and was kind enough to share this awesome piece on her thigh:

Katie obviously likes sour things, as represented by this cool skull design with lemons. She credited the artist "Purple" from Devils Ink Tattoos (@devils_ink_tattoos) in East Harlem, New York. It was Purple's design, she told me, noting he is"great with skulls."

I love this design, especially because I had never seen anything quite like this before.

Thanks to Katie for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, as we continue on with the Alphabet game!

Sunday, September 23, 2018

A Rose on the N Train (Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game)

We took a day off for fall yesterday, but we're still playing the Alphabet Game, my one-day journey through the subway system, in alphabetical order. Need to catch up? The whole journey is recapped, A through M here.

After the M, I hopped on a D to 34th Street where I could switch to an N train.

At 12:47 PM, I board an uptown N at 34th Street.

Eight minutes later, I meet Fatima, who shares this rose tattoo:

Fatima told me little, just that this was done at a shop in the Bronx.

Thanks to Fatima for sharing her rose with us here on Tattoosday!

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Solo's Tattoo on the First Day of Autumn

A little less than a month ago, I met Solo, in lower Manhattan, near Zuccotti Park. I was struck by the tattoo on her back and was happy when she agreed to let me share it here:

This cool tattoo depicts a tree, half flush with leaves, the other half bare branches, with a pile of fallen leaves at the base of its trunk.

It seemed an appropriate tattoo to share on the first day of autumn.

Solo got the tattoo from a small shop in Fujian Province, in China, after she graduated from college.

She elaborated a little about what was going through her mind when she got it done:

"It’s like seasons, changes in life, ups and downs in life. So when I got it, I was sort of going through a little bit of a crisis in my life … for me personally it was like a whirlwind experience ... so I needed to give myself time and the mindset to accept the changes and not just to take things for granted ... things are going to move the way I want them to move forward."

Thanks to Solo for sharing this tattoo with us as we celebrate the autumnal equinox!

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Letters on the M Train (Tattoosday Plays the Alphabet Game)

Continuing our alphabetical adventure through the subways, I set my sights on the M train (Wonder what's going on? I recap A through L here).

I took the L one stop to 6th Avenue, where I switched for the M.

12:27 Waiting for the M.

12:35, on a northbound M, when I met Casey.

Casey had some tattoos marked on his hands which I found interesting:

Looking at the visible tattoos in this image, you'll see four letters. From left to right, there's a "C" on his index finger, a "T" on the middle finger, another "C" on his ring ringer, and a "K" below the knuckle of his pinky. Casey explained that the letters were initials of his siblings, and they are all based on fonts from French childrens' books. So, the first C and T are based on the font in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. The second C and the K are based on fonts from Edmond à la plage.

These tattoos were also on his hand:

He pointed out that he tattooed the word "love" himself and the "R.O.T." stands for "Right On Time," a nickname he got from kids he was counseling that refers to his punctuality.

Thanks to Casey for sharing these interesting hand tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Come back tomorrow to see what happened on the next train!