Elsa's Ouroboros

I met Elsa on Wall Street back in the fall. Born in the Netherlands, but now living in New York, she was kind enough to share this tattoo on her forearm which has a distinctly international backstory:

Elsa explained that she got this from a friend of a friend at a tattoo shop in Istanbul. She elaborated on the meaning of this simple design, as well as the bracelet below it:

"This is sort of an ancient sign of a snake eating its own tail, ouroboros, and a lot of people have that as their tattoo....and it means, I think, a lot of different things in all these traditions that have used this symbol ... one of them being self-sufficiency ... this idea that you can ... rely on yourself only for how you see the world and how you interact with yourself, as well ... I think most people really aren't there  ... we all rely on our exteriors and I think that's something that I want to remind myself of ...  to be more self-sufficient at times. That's why I have this.

And the bracelet is kind of connected to it because I was in Nepal a year ago and I was looking at jewelry on the street in Kathmandu, in the capital, and this guy comes up to me and he grabs my arm, and he's like 'so when are you going to close the circle?' And, you know it looks kind of like [the tattoo] and ... it was the moment when I was looking at this bracelet."

 Thanks to Elsa for sharing this cool tattoo and the story behind it!

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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.

Tattoosday Giveaway! Eddystone Designs' Tattoo-Engraved Charms!

Occasionally, we here at Tattoosday like to partner up with folks and give away goodies, just to keep things interesting.

We've been working with the good folks over at Eddystone Designs and we've come up with a contest to promote their new products that have a tattoo-like theme, using these really cool laser-engraved colors on titanium jewelry.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, these are some groovy gift ideas, whether it be their anatomical heart dog tags

 Or their heart pendants:

As they say over on their blog, they "don't think of [their] laser printed titanium tats as a replacement to traditional ink, but rather an accessory to supplement your body art."

They continue:

"We love the art of tattoos but also realize that Valentine's Day inspired tattoos can result in regret.

As a result we've designed two two 'ink' inspired designs, Real Love, Anatomical Heart and Winged Love, that we tattoo with lasers on titanium heart charms. This allows you to show your real love with an anatomical heart bursting through your rib cage or a whimsical heart spreading its wings to take flight, without the having to worry about the impending laser removal or coverup if the relationship doesn't work out."

To help promote these cool new products, we're partnering with Eddystone to give away four (!) of their products:

1) Their Real Love, Anatomical Heart Dog Tag:

 2) Their Real Love, Anatomical Heart, Circular Charm:

3) Their Real Love, Anatomical Heart, Heart Charm:

and 4) Their Winged Love, Heart Charm:

So, how do you win?

Either comment below, allowing time for the comment to be approved and published OR
comment on the Tattoosday Facebook page.

Plus, you can increase your chances of winning by "liking" Eddystone Designs on their Facebook Page.

You can also enter via email by sending your name to TattoosdayContests@gmail.com.

The deadline to enter is Thursday, February 7 at 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time. We'll determine the four winners on Friday, so we can send the prizes out the week of February 11th.

In the mean time, if you want to get these as gifts, you can visit the Eddsytone online shop here and even add personal engraving.

Good Luck to all and thanks to Eddystone Designs for working with us on this promotion!

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.

Tattoosday Weekend Recap

I just wanted to share some interesting tidbits that have come my way over the last few weeks:

First, someone has been sharing links in the comments section anonymously on several recent posts. As is my custom, I only approve comments if they are related to the post in question. Nonetheless, the links point to a YouTube channel for Sullen TV. I thought I'd share one here, which features the artist Nikko Hurtado, and interested parties can explore their YouTube channel here.

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The other day I came across a cool site called FreshTrends.com that has a really nice collection of body jewelry, a lot of which would look great with a new tattoo. It's definitely worth a look!

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Last June, I featured this tattoo by artist Scott Campbell. I was recently told about this short film on the site Nowness.Be sure to check it out!

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And finally, we're about a month away from April, and our third annual installment of the Tattooed Poets Project. I wanted to give a shout-out to one of last year's poets, Erica Rivera, whose tattoo was featured here. Her new book Maneater is available on Amazon:

Visit the Man Eater Facebook page for a taste of Erica Rivera's writing.