Tattoosday Goes to Rochester: Christina's Knuckles Are Reminders

Earlier this week, I was in Rochester for business and, while grabbing breakfast at a cafe in an office park, I noticed one of the employees had some knuckle tattoos. I  introduced myself to Christina and she happily shared her ink:

Chrstina, explained that these are, in part, in memory of her ex-boyfriend, who passed away.
She told me, "We're all ticking time bombs and he's my diamond in the sky."

And the crown? Christina smiled, "This is to remind myself never to be treated anything less than a princess."

These were inked at one of the tattoo shops on Lake Avenue in Rochester.

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

This entry is ©2016 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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Nick Comilla

Our next tattooed poet is Nick Comilla:

Nick tells us:

"I got this tattoo in August 2012 before I moved to NYC from Montreal. The idea was inspired from the Banksy piece that shows a man throwing a bouquet of flowers as if it were a Molotov cocktail. 

The piece, which I think of as Bouquet Bomb, was designed by Sylvie le Sylvie at Tatouage Royal. Sylvie did an amazing job of taking my concept and giving it a design... it looked a bit different in my head, but I love the actual image as it came to be. As for the back story... In Montreal (and still today) I was very much into the idea of living an intense, radical, creative and honest existence. I felt that was a key part of my work as a poet. I had a lover or two who were seriously emotionally repressed, shut off people, and I was tired of the way they would try to make me feel guilty/ashamed/bad about being a bit a firecracker of a boy. So, I thought of the piece as kind of a symbol of defiance and rebellion against those tendencies in our society - the tendency to kill the creative/radical spirit, to tell me to 'calm down.' Appropriately enough, when the piece was being colored in, my one best friend/lover was there with me, and he was one of the only people in my life - sort of the antithesis of the others - to never make me feel that way. So I was happy he was there with me, and he just so happens to be covered in tattoos as well, and always changing his hair color, resisting a monochrome existence."

Nick sent us this poem:

Nick requested his poem be removed, as it was being published as part of a manuscript. Congrats to Nick! In the meantime, we're waiting for a replacement poem.

~ ~ ~

Born on a military base turned ghost town in Rome, NY, Nick Comilla currently lives in NYC. His poems have appeared in Assaracus, Poetry is Dead, Lambda Literary and HOMO Magazine. He is a poetry/fiction MFA student at The New School where he is currently working on his first book project, Ghosts of Montreal.

Thanks to Nick for his contribution to The Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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.

Colin's Left Leg is Traditionally Flash-y

I spotted Colin one afternoon while I was waiting for another tattooed individual to get off of her cell phone.

(Not only have I come up with individual terms for things that are associated with inkblogging, but I follow a code, as well. One of its tenets is to never bother someone talking on a cell phone.)

Colin ambled by and I bounded after him, stopping him and asking about his tattoos.

His left leg is covered with traditional flash, from swallows and bombs, roses, death's head moths,


and a pin-up girl, done in the Sailor Jerry style.


He explained that the sleeved left leg is a result of being "overzealous and excited" about tattoos.
Usually I try to talk about one or two pieces, but because most of his work is just flash, I captured most of his calf.

No fascinating stories to tell, just tattoos.

Thanks to Colin for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Untouchable is Something to Be

John had much ink and, as often happens when I ask, a previously unseen tattoo is revealed which is just as impressive as all the other visible work.

John offered up this right upper arm piece, a pin-up straddling a bomb. It's exceptional work and I found the source material on which this is based, a concert poster for the Against Me!:

The poster is from a October 14, 2005 gig in Portland, Oregon at Loveland, with the bands The Epoxies, Smoke or Fire and The Soviettes. The designer is Mark McCormick Lee Zeman* who is associated with the company Mad Pakyderms.

A little more detail from the tattoo:


John said that the art, and hence the tattoo, represents to him the sentiment that "untouchable is something to be". He had this done when he moved away from home, went out on his own, and started taking care of himself.

The detail in the tattoo is incredible. His wife Liz, who was with him, made sure I took a shot of the top of the piece and captured the detail and shading in the planes:


This was inked by Chance Kenyon out of Jack Brown's Tattoo Revival in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

John was on his way back home from New York where he was spending his honeymoon with his new wife Liz. See the post below to see the tattoos John and Liz got to commemorate their union.

Thanks to John for sharing his awesome tattoo here on Tattoosday!

*I initially reported that Mark McCormick designed the poster, as it was attributed to him on the poster website, Expresso Beans. I e-mailed Mark through his company's website to tell him about the post and he wrote back:

Hey Bill!

That is AWESOME!!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I am Mark McCormick, but Mad Pakyderms is myself and Lee Zeman. That particular poster was created by Lee. If you could credit him accordingly that would be amazing! I'll be sure to let him know about it and direct him to your site to see it for himself. I'm actually moving to NYC myself next month. Perhaps you'll see me on the street someday and ask me about my own tattoos. HA! Awesome site, man! Thanks again! Battle on!

CHEERS!
Mark
http://www.markmccormickart.com/

I have amended the post to give proper credit to Lee Zeman. You can see more or Lee's work at www.gigposters.com here. If you've never checked out the gigposters site, do yourself a favor and go exploring. It's fun!