Tattoorism: Tammy from Texas

Last summer, my wife Melanie met Tammy on the staff message board of their company's website, where she and other employees across the country can exchange ideas and feedback. As a leader for Weight Watchers, Melanie often comes across members and co-workers who have used tattoos for inspiration and to mark milestones.

When talking to Tammy, a leader in Texas, she learned that she was inked, as well. She sent her the link to Tattoosday, and Tammy sent us photos of a few of her eleven tattoos.

We'll let Tammy describe them for us:

"I got my very first [tattoo] when I was 21 in Virginia while getting a tattoo for my younger brother but I didn't get another for several years at which time I had my uncle in Arkansas place a rose under the butterfly I had done first. It is old and faded but holds so much meaning to me as my uncle passed away in his 40s about 5 years ago so I have him with me at all times...I then waited a couple more years and had a dolphin put on my left ankle as a reminder of a trip we had made to Florida. About a year later an apprentice in Shreveport added an ankle wave under the dolphin.

I then took a long break from tattoos and the rest have all been done in the last 5 years here in Wichita Falls, Texas, with the exception of the tribal butterfly [seen below]. I had it done in Lawton, Oklahoma, when my son was getting his rib piece finished up [a subject of a later post].

On my right thigh I have the New York Yankees logo:

On my left shoulder blade my husband and I got kanji symbols for Eternity for our 19th wedding anniversary. I have a tribal butterfly (the only tattoo I have ever picked off a wall) put on the top of my left foot and I love it:


When I hit 50 pounds gone, my oldest son paid for the star that everyone sees in pictures I post:

And a Pisspot with my husbands name [pictured left]. My husband just retired with 26 years in the service and was AMMO-I always wanted this but was never brave enough nor skinny enough for that so called "tramp stamp"... it actually looks awesome although this picture is a little blurry.



And of course when I hit Lifetime [when a Weight Watchers member reaches their goal and maintains it for six weeks], my rib piece came alive:

The photo above is the tattoo right after it was completed. Here is how it healed:



Most of Tammy's work was done at A Different Drummer Tattoo Studio in Wichita Falls.

Thanks to Tammy for sharing some of her photos with us here on Tattoosday!

A Roundabout Tale of a Swedish Tribal Tattoo

Yesterday, I joined my friend Janet for lunch at Chipotle on 45th Street.

There was a fundraiser at which a $5 contribution bought you a burrito, chips, a drink, and an opportunity to meet Yankees manager Joe Girardi. His charity, The Catch 25 Foundation, was the beneficiary of all proceeds from lunch. Here's proof I'm not making this up.

Janet and I were dopey enough to go without any Yankees memorabilia to get autographed. So he signed a flier for me and (yes, there is a tattooish point to all of this) declined to sign Janet's skin, above her "I ♥ NY" tattoo (featured on the blog here). It was worth a try.

And no, Joe Girardi didn't offer up a tattoo.

However, Janet and I grabbed the downtown V train after lunch. I got off at 34th Street and figured I'd cut through Manhattan Mall.

Waiting at the bottom of the J.C. Penney basement escalator was Julio, visiting New York from Sweden.

Now, I'm not a big fan of tribal designs, but Julio had this pretty cool one on his upper right arm:


See! There is a tattoo in this post!!

Julio's tattoo was inked for him by an artist at Magic Man Tattoo and Art in Skövde, Sweden.

Thanks to Janet for lunch, Joe Girardi for the autograph, and Julio for the tattoo. Tattoosday appreciates all you did to make this post happen!

Mike Shares Some More Ink

Back in May, I met a guy named Mike outside of Penn Station and he shared this tattoo with us.

Occasionally, contributors who I have met on the street will send me a follow-up of additional tattoos that I didn't photograph the first time I met them. Mike was generous enough with his time and energy to do just that.

First is a piece that was done around the same time that the lion-skeleton tattoo, featured back in May, was completed, back in 1995:

This, like the previous work featured from Mike, was inked by Doug White at the Ink Spot in Linden, New Jersey.

Mike also sent along this snake:



I love the cross-hatch patterns on the back of the snake. The lines are so finely drawn, I am impressed by the amount of patience it must have taken to get these tiny details just right.

Mike also sent a photo of this gargoyle on his back:


These last two pieces were inked at Tattoo Lou's in Babylon, New York back in 2000. Work from Tattoo Lou's has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks again to Mike for sharing more of his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

A Viking Design Commemorates Brian's Ancestry

Back on June 29, while pacing the 59th Street platform in Brooklyn, waiting for an R train, I spotted this interesting design on the right calf of Brian:


According to Brian, the piece is based on an ancient Viking symbol representing land. He had this tattooed to commemorate his Swedish ancestry.

The piece was done by Rob (who appeared on Tattoosday here) at Brooklyn Ink.

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

Alex's East Indian Tribal Mask

What's fascinating about approaching two inked people talking on a subway platform and asking them if either would like to share a tattoo, is that you never know what you'll get (if anything).

On Saturday, May 23, I found myself in such a situation, and Alex, one of the two people chatting on the 59th Street subway platform in Brooklyn, offered up this, one of his sixteen (16) tattoos:


This piece, which covers the front of Alex's right shin, is a representation of an East Indian tribal mask.

The tattoo was done by David at Dragonfly Studio & Gallery in West Reading, Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Alex for sharing this cool mask with us here on Tattoosday!

The Tattooed Poets Project: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez Presents A Bat from Jersey and a Honeymoon Memento

Today's tattoos are presented by the poet Guy LeCharles Gonzalez.

The first one is a bat:


Guy explains:

"I got the first tattoo, a stylized bat, back in 1995 somewhere in New Jersey; Toms River, maybe? I'd resisted the urge to get one while I was on active duty in the Army, not wanting something stereotypical that I'd hate or regret a few years later, but a friend of mine had finally psyched herself up, and convinced me and another friend to head down to the Jersey Shore and do the deed as a group. Before we got to the Shore, which seemed much further away than we thought it was, we passed a small tattoo parlor on the side of the road and decided to go there instead. Batman has always been my favorite superhero, appealing on a number of levels, but I figured the logo would be too cheesy for a tattoo, and picked out a bat from the artist's sketchbook, tweaked it a little bit, and voila! I still love it to this day."

The second tattoo Guy sent was this:


Guy continues:

"I got the second tattoo, a pseudo-tribal band with my wife's name in the middle, on the second-to-last day of our honeymoon in Cancun in July 1998. There was a tattoo parlor in one of the flea market/shopping districts up near the elbow of the strip that seemed pretty clean -- despite the handful of teenagers getting tattoos they would certainly regret a few years later -- and against our better judgment, we both decided to get our second tattoos, each incorporating the other's name. We'll celebrate our 11th anniversary this summer, and before then we both intend to have those tattoos tweaked; I'd like mine to be bigger and have more of a Mayan flavor to
it as I've always felt a connection to that culture, even before our trips to the Yucatan."

Thanks to Guy for sharing these tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Please head over to BillyBlog and check out one of his poems here.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Cody Todd's Murals - Star Wars and an Interpretive Tribal

Today's tattoos come from Cody Todd, who was referred to me by Carol Muske-Dukes:

The first one is a back piece, still in progress:


Cody explains this as "a Star Wars mural--the Millenium Falcon in front of a meteor pursued by a TIE Fighter, from The Empire Strikes Back with the specter of Boba Fett looming above the chase." He credits an artist named Skip (since retired) at Old World Tattoo in Arvada, Colorado (North Denver). This was primarily done in 1996.

Cody expands on the piece:

...the one on my back is still in progress--I foresee at least 5-6 more sessions and touch-ups before I can say it is certainly complete. I like visual collages and pastiche, just as I like the poetic collage of Eliot's Prufrock and The Waste Land, Marianne Moore's Poetry, or Frank Stanford's "The Battlefield where the Moon Says I Love You" and Joshua Clover's The Totality for Kids, are other examples. Poetry that synthesizes subject matter, speaking voices, speaking subjects, and stitch together otherwise independent and unlike things--unified by the mode of collage.

Why a Star Wars tattoo? Well, I guess I buy the argument lent forth in Joseph Campbell's The Hero with A Thousand Faces, that the mythical embodiments of the epic, the quest, and the hero are not just culturally shared, but I think each generation has their own embodiment as well. Hokey, cheesy, and melodramatic --yes, but I still watch Empire... with great nostalgia, and I don't think enough credit goes to [George] Lucas and his literary homage paid to Aquinas, Emerson, Plato, and Homer, to name a few. However, the revisions of Star Wars Episodes 1-3 are so bad I cannot watch them without getting sick. Maybe I am old now, but I just don't get them at all. Nevertheless, my parents still joke about the fact that I was conceived in the backseat of a Ford Pinto while they were "watching" Star Wars at a south Denver drive-in in the summer of 77."

The second piece is a "tribal-esque mural," of sorts, and was tattooed by a friend of Cody's named Bryan in 1997, at Your Flesh Grappling (now known as Your Flesh Tattoo) in Durango, Colorado. This piece was drawn by Cody and wraps around his left thigh:

Cody added:

"The leg tattoo was a personalized redefinition of the "Tribal" tattoos that were the craze when tattoos were no longer isolated to deviancy. Loosely quoting Mike Ness of Social Distortion, in the 1990's, kids could go to a mall and get their little "parts" pierced or walk out of there with a barbed wire tribal band around their biceps. I took a one-page graffiti collage from a notebook that I penciled of hooks, circles, ovoids, anemone-shaped and flame-shaped patterns with tentacles--my first name is actually on the upper left, and a small skyline of Denver with that wacky cash-register shaped building [The Wells Fargo Center] is just 1:00 o'clock from the family of bubbles or spheres centered in the band. I am going to amend this tat with another piece of similar solid black-ink graffiti to wrap a 4-inch band around my knee. That is the thing about tattoos--they are addictive; they beg to grow new limbs, and in that sense they are like little monsters."

I've been posting the tattooed poets' work over on BillyBlog and you can check out not one, but two of Cody's poems here. One is called "Boba Fett". But, as an added treat, I'm including one here, as well, because it just seemed appropriate:

Tattooed on the Backs of Eight Fireflies:

Under a dark loam of night,

pure barbed wire.

*

Apparitions dancing

dancing and dancing.

*

Some of us just might bite

the apple those cursed birds already did.

*

Old story: cat bats us away

to reanimate or destroy.

*

Words are the ruse, flight

is the guise, and we are the fakers.

*

Return the favor: grace for

sex or salvation for dust.

*

Time is the knife. Gods the size

of thumbs. Men with bloody hands.

*

We captured our god, the sun,

and feasted on him by torchlight.

Thanks to Cody for not only sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday, but for expounding on them at such length. It's always fascinating to hear people go beyond the literal meanings of the tattoos themselves, and explore the deeper significance of the art form as it pertains to themselves and society.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Jackie Sheeler's Swirling Tribal Tattoos

Today's tattooed poet is Jackie Sheeler. The photos she sent me were taken by one of her friend's daughters, who utilized Jackie as one of her subjects in a photography project about tattooed New Yorkers.

Jackie explains:

"I have just two pieces, if by “piece” you mean connected & thematic. I didn’t get them all at once, though.

The big one on my left shoulder was done all at once by an artist named Carlos Alfonso at the 23rd street tattoo shop [Rising Dragon Tattoos]. I told him I wanted a “wing”, and pointed out about half a dozen pieces of flash that were kinda-sorta but not quite what I wanted. he told me to come back in a week, and he had created the amazing design that you see.






The tattoo on the right has come about in stages.


The first bit is the somewhat intricate tribal abstraction on the top back of the shoulder. I got that one around 1993, when tribal was just starting to become popular, and it’s a funny story.

I went to an illegal flash parlor in Brooklyn [tattooing in New York City was illegal until 1997], a basement filled with all guys except for me, and just one artist, a big old guy named Tony, who looked like somebody you’d meet on The Jackie Gleason Show. I had a copy of a tribal piece that I’d Xeroxed out of a tattoo magazine, and I told him I wanted that only bigger. He seemed pretty shocked – “you want THAT?” – and said sure he’d do it for $60, which was a lot cheaper than I’d expected. He ran it through that mimeo machine or whatever it is that they use, enlarged it and stenciled it onto me...

...But then I had to wait. Why? Because a drug dealer came in with his falling-down drunk girlfriend, gold teeth, handfuls of cash, and a gun pretty obviously stuck in his waistband, and needed immediate service. His girlfriend was getting a tattoo “for him." He picked out the flash – a big, ugly bulldog, snarling and all – and had Tony put it on the girl’s abdomen. It was pretty horrible. She was gorgeous, and I knew how she was going to feel when she woke up with a hangover and THAT on her belly. Anyway, my turn was next and tony got the piece done in like half an hour.

I didn’t get another tattoo for 9 years, which is when I got the big one that Carlos did on my left shoulder.


I went back to Carlos (by then he was working at MacDougal Street Tattoo Company [since closed] ... in 2004 and got my “wing and a prayer” tattoo, which is the feathery wing with a peace sign emerging from it that’s just above the crook of my arm. I actually got this piece on July 6, which is George Fucking Bush’s birthday, and I got it in honor of him being about to be thrown out of the White House. (My band also released a single related to that, so it was a big thing for me – though obviously things didn’t turn out the way we’d hoped!) That piece was a standalone for a while, then I went back and asked Carlos to do a few more curlicues up my arm to attach it to the tribal on my shoulder, which he did.

Two years after that, I went back to MacDougal tattoo to get the curlicues extended down to my left wrist, and asked for Carlos. They said he was “no longer practicing” but it was a very strange moment, and the two people at the counter had these looks on their faces. By that time I’d gotten to know Carlos a bit. He was always having girlfriend problems and talking about moving back to Florida, so I asked if he had done that. So sad. No, he had committed suicide a couple months before. He was only 31.

It was very strange for me, all of a sudden my art seemed different. I felt like I was wearing his suicide note, in a way. But that (rather absurd) feeling passed, and I went back to MacDougal in a couple of weeks and had Carlos’ friend, Patrick Conlon, put on the curlicues in Carlos’ style. That session was like in honor and memory of Carlos, and we talked fondly about him while Patrick worked."

Thanks to Jackie Sheeler for sharing her detailed recollections of her tattoo stories.

Please be sure to head over to BillyBlog to read one of her poems here.

You can also read her blog, Get Angry With Me, here, or visit her band, Talk Engine, on MySpace Music here.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Kim Addonizio's Blue Roses

When first embarking on this tattoo project, nearly everyone I asked referred me to Kim Addonizio. I'd venture to say she is the poet most well-known as "tattoo-friendly". In part, this is due to her editing an anthology called Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos.

Graciously, Kim accepted my invitation to participate in Tattoosday's National Poetry Month project. She sent me the photo above, her fourth tattoo. I love the blue roses that set this piece apart from most lower back tribal tattoos.

Kim told me:

"The piece was done ... in Santa Barbara. It was the worst tattoo experience I ever had. (I have five tattoos). In the middle of it [the artist] took a phone call, saying, "Oh, hi. I'm tattooing a crack." I like the tattoo, though. There wasn't any particular significance to the design, for me, though afterwards I thought about Laura Wingfield in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie being called Blue Roses by her Gentleman Caller, and so it's become a bit of a reminder to myself, when I'm feeling fragile, to take a risk rather than withdraw."

She had this tattooed in 1994 and has added one more to her collection since then.

Be sure to head on over to BillyBlog to read one of Kim's poems. And although not every poem written by an inked poet appearing on BillyBlog this month is tattoo-related, Kim's is.

Thanks very much to Kim Addonizio for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Cat's Ink Pays Homage to Her Experience on the Ocean

Over the last few months, I have reconnected with old friends through Facebook, many of whom I haven't seen in years. In so doing, many have discovered my burgeoning interest in tattoos, and the manifestation of that in Tattoosday. Many of these old friends are inked and I've posted their work here (i.e. this one form Michael).

Today's post comes to us from Catherine, the only person with whom I went to high school and college.

After college, Cat returned to Hawai'i, where she re-connected with the ocean, paddling and, among other things, taking a voyage on the Hōkūle‘a, traversing the sea in the style of the ancient Polynesians who settled on the Hawaiian Islands. That's an oversimplification but, rest assured, the journey is quite different from booking a ticket on a cruise ship.

So, it made perfect sense to me when Cat sent me an e-mail with the subject line "Cat's Tat," accompanied by the photo of her ink:


This amazing tribal piece on her lower back pays homage to her love of the ocean and Polynesian culture. I'll let her explain the rest, in her own words:

I had this done for my birthday a few years ago by Tricia Allen, who is well recognized for her knowledge of Polynesian tattooing. She's pretty much in demand for work, and is often on the BIG big island for jobs and conferences. I had known her a little bit while I was taking classes at UH, and met her again on Rapa Nui - we had a mutual friend there. Anyway, she did it in her living room in Palolo. I was sitting on a stool, bent over, with my face in a pillow. I was beginning to feel somewhat like Pavlov's dog, because ever time the buzz started, I'd get tense. She also seemed to enjoy pointing out where nerve clusters were located (owww).

Here's the story/reasoning/rationale: I had gotten a small one after our canoe club won the state championship in 1993 - my crew won the "blue ribbon" race for women, having been second all season. Anyway, once I really got into sailing, I wanted to design a new one that represented what I had seen and done in terms of canoes (both sailing and paddling). Canoes and canoe related activities have taken me all over the Pacific: The Society Islands (including Tahiti), The Marquesas, Mangareva, Rapa Nui, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji. It took 7 years of my trying out different designs before I found the concept I liked. I went for a consultation with Tricia, who gave me the idea; the Marquesans often use the idea of the human face, where each feature is a symbol in it's own right. Tricia had given me a diamond-shaped example, and from that I immediately saw what I would do.

So - the Marquesan concept, the shape of the hihimanu - ray - represents the twin-peaked mountain of Mangareva. As we approached it from the sea, it looked like a ray emerging from the sea. The eyes are Hawaiian honu - sea turtle, the wings are New Zealand Māori-style naia - dolphins, on the sides of the eyes are Rapa Nui makohe - frigate birds (separate story here - not getting into it), the mouth and nose are a double-hulled canoe and sail, with waves on either side, and the tail is supposed to be moons (for navigation and tides) and fishhooks done in a Tahitian style. Kinda ran out of room at the tail end, though! The whole represents Tangaroa/Kanaloa, who is the Polynesia-wide god of the sea. Not that I've been out there a LOT, but I have been out there...you see the myriad incarnations of Kanaloa: the good, the bad and the truly frightening. I guess the design is in homage of what's out there...

Now I'm contemplating the next one. I have some Cook Island Māori ideas, but I want to go there first. Have also had a few people ask me to design things for them. I have also met maybe three or four others with hihimanu on their lower backs...you see LOTS of tattoos at canoe regattas!

Mahaloa nui loa to Cat for sharing this awesome piece with us here on Tattoosday, and for providing such an in-depth explanation. Truly fascinating and inspiring! We're loking forward to seeing the next one!

Mercedes Honors Family Members with her Ink

Mercedes doesn't remember the specific shops where she got her ink, but each piece honors members of her family, both living and gone.

Mercedes is a make-up artist that has very close ties to her family, and these relationships have manifested themselves on her tattoos.

The piece I first noticed, on her right arm, was this one:


This is actually comprised of two parts, the rose and the ankh. The rose was her first tattoo, inked because her mother and grandmother were both named Rosa. The ankh and the name "Iggy" were done as a memorial for her brother who had passed away.

Her neck/upper back piece is actually three tattoos inked in succession:


Mercedes started with the top segments, which she described as tribal dolphins. They are in honor of her niece, who is a Pisces.

Next is the piece below the dolphins, which is a representation of fire that corresponds to Mercedes' birth sign Aries, whose zodiac element is fire.

Below that are flames rising from the number 3. This is for her nephew. The flames correspond to his sign, Leo, whose zodiac element is also fire, and the number represents that he is third in the family line.

Thanks to Mercedes for sharing her ink with us here on Tattoosday!

April's Tribal Piece

No offense to people with tribal tattoos, but they (the tattoos, not the people) generally don't generate much interest from me.

Unless they are incorporated into a bigger design concept (like this tiger lily piece), they don't seem particularly interesting. I know, I know, that's a sweeping generalization, and there will always be exceptions.

But tribal arm bands, anklets, or lower back designs are just that: designs. Often aesthetically pleasing, sometimes not. These tattoos (again, generally) are more about the look of the piece and the desire for a tattoo, than about a deep meaning about a specific person or event. Sure, you may have got that tribal piece to commemorate the time that your dog Lassie saved your son Timmy from a rattlesnake in the bottom of a well, but how does such a blogworthy event translate into an inked pattern?

But, I digress. The title of this post is "April's Tribal." On occasion, a tribal piece does call out to me, as April's did last Friday at the 86th Street subway platform in Bay Ridge. Again, there is no earth-shattering story behind it, and had it been smaller in scope on an ankle or lower back, I may have kept walking.

But April's tattoo is bold and striking:


She had this inked in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, by a friend with whom she has lost touch. He was just starting out as a tattooist.

She had initially envisioned having a short sleeve, but after the initial back piece was completed, she just never finished it off. April didn't seem too concerned, though: "It's on my back, so I never see it," she smiled.

Thanks to April for sharing her tribal piece with us here at Tattoosday!

Massimo Shares A Tribal Design

I met Massimo on the plaza in front of Penn Station last Friday and talked to him about this cool piece he has on his right foot.

He was visiting from Milan and, according to him, designed and tattooed this himself about seven years ago. He had a friend who was a tattoo apprentice around that time, who taught him the basics of tattooing.

He began by saying this was Hawaii-inspired, which is understandable, as it has the "look" of a Hawaiian tiki in its design.

He also said that the top part is inspired by the fact he had been doing a lot of cycling, which
lot of cycling, which influenced the top half of the tattoo. A closer look reveals a resemblance to a bicycle wheel:


He was also very candid with me and said that he was smoking a lot at that time and he would wake up the next day and find incredible designs lying around. This was one of them.

After I took the picture, Massimo had second thoughts, hesitating about letting me post this on Tattoosday. He was worried that his design would be copied. I appealed to him and I must have been convincing, as he changed his mind and assented.

Thank you, Massimo, for sharing this design with us here at Tattoosday!

Krystynna Shares Her First Tattoo

Krystynna walked by me on 7th Avenue on Monday, and her tattoos on her wrists, behind her right ear, and her left bicep were totally cool.

When I realized a sidewalk photo of her quarter-sleeve wouldn't do it justice, which she confirmed when she later told me it ran up onto her shoulder, I asked if she would rather have me take a picture of a different tattoo.

Kristynna surprised me by offering up her first tattoo, a large lower back piece. Remember, folks, I never take a lower back tattoo unless its offered, according to the Tattoosday Code of Conduct.

Kristynna got the initial piece on the lower back, some flash art on the wall at Armageddon Tattoo when she was 17, ten years ago. She subsequently added little bits and pieces to make it into a larger piece over the years.

She has 9 tattoos in all, all done by Iann at Armageddon. Kristynna works as a Special Needs Educator for kids and acknowledges that the children love her tattoos, and the parents have no issues with them, either. This is good news, because the tattoos she has visible are extremely well-done, and I am looking forward to her sending me shots of the arm that do the piece
justice.

Thanks to Kristynna for sharing her ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Two for Tattoosday: A Break-Up Tattoo and Some European Tribals

Sure I'm posting Wednesday but both of these volunteers were MSG plaza-dwellers on Tuesday and, rather than save then for separate days, I thought I'd put them together.

First up is Erik:

Sorry I cut this off, but I couldn't see the screen in the sun's glare. Erik has a 3/4 sleeve (left arm), his mother and grandmother's names inked on, a small back piece, a leg piece, and a diamond on his chest, but we went with this design, on his left forearm, because it is more recent.

Tattooed by Eric Newman at Silk City Tattoo in Hawthorne, New Jersey (the shop was credited previously only two days ago here), this piece, a dagger through a flaming skull, was purchased for Erik by an ex-girlfriend, after she broke up with him. It is meant to represent a new beginning.

At the end of the day I met Cesar, also in front of the Garden. This is the tattoo that caught my eye:


I'm not a huge fan of tribal pieces, but this one on his right calf is one of the nicer pieces I have seen in a while. I especially like how it is not a solid black design, but resembles a textured wood. Cesar, who is from Italy, is in New York for only two days, and we had some difficulty communicating. This tattoo was inked in Brescia, in Northern Italy, and cost $40. (He offered, I have decided asking is not polite.)

He then showed me a tiki piece on his inner right bicep:


There are two faces, one representing good, one representing bad, juxtaposed on the tattoo, which was inked on the island of Ibiza, which is part of Spain.

Cesar told me the name of the shop was Sara, but I couldn't find a listing. However, considering the type of tattoo he received, I am going to go out on a limb and guess he got this piece at Tahiti Tiki Tattoo.

Thanks to Erik and Cesar for making Tattoosday a true Tat-twos-day!

Chalk it Up to Teenage Angst

Sunday morning I was leaving Rite-Aid when a woman walked in. She had several visible tattoos so I turned around and walked back into the store. I introduced myself, Tattoosday, etc., and Courtney was happy to share her tattoo stories with me, offering up one of her seven tattoos:


All of her work is in black and gray. This piece is a tribal design, and is Satanic in origin. Courtney explained. She was a lapsed Roman Catholic who became involved in the Church of Satan. This piece is about 5 years old and was inked by Richie at Tattooing by Richie in Elmont, Long Island.

Incidentally, Courtney is no longer affiliated with that lifestyle and has returned to the Catholic Church. She says she was going through a phase and was experiencing teenage angst.


I had a nice chat with her about tattoos and how she is finding it challenging because she has a corporate job now, and finding attire that covers her ink appropriately can be tough. This almost limits her in her choice to get any more work done.

From what I can recall from our conversation and from seeing what was visible, she has three or four pieces in all on her legs, a tribal design on the lower part of her neck, an ankh on her lower back, and another piece on her right biceps. She did not show the biceps or lower back tattoos.

I explained to Courtney my policy is generally not to ask people, who are generally women, if I can photograph their lower backs. If they offer (like this woman did), I will snap away.

Thanks to Courtney for being so cool, talking tattoos with me, and sharing her Satanic piece with Tattoosday! Here's hoping she'll make a return visit here in the future!

Anger Management

It is my practice, when someone is heavily inked, and they've agreed to let me take a picture, to ask them to offer up the piece that means the most to them.

Last week I approached a guy named John in front of Madison Square Garden. He had numerous tattoos on his arms and looked like an excellent Tattoosday candidate. However, when I asked him what tattoo was the most special, he raised his right pant leg to show me this interesting design on his calf:

John described this "biomechanical" design as a shield that keeps his demons locked inside. The tribal symbol is an anchor that keeps him grounded. He was very open and acknowledged that he had anger management issues. The tattoo gives him strength to control those issues.

This tattoo is one of 15 that John has. It was inked by High Roller Tattoo, in Hicksville on Long Island, NY.

After thanking John, I asked the woman standing next to him if she had any tattoos she wanted to share. She did. Donna has two kanji characters on her lower back that I wasn't able to get complete photographs of. I asked her to, at her convenience, send me better pictures, if she was interested in joining these pages. She said the kanji meant a lot to her, so I am interested in finding out why.

Thanks John, again, for your participation. Here's hoping Donna will e-mail me about her tattoos.

Tattoosday #6: Going Mobile

Sorry for the delay in posting, I was worried I would have to improvise, but found two participants today. Last Friday I had my first rejection: a guy at 53rd and 6th Avenue sitting on a bench was the first person to decline. He had many colorful tats on both arms and seemed open at first, but was adverse to my taking any photographs.

On Tattoosday Eve, Labor Day, I still had nothing for the post. I stopped someone in front of my building yesterday with a really cool Hellboy tattoo. He seemed receptive but wanted to check out the blog first.

I found myself with many opportunities but passed, not necessarily out of lack of nerve, but because the tattoos were not so nice, old, faded, or blurred by too much sun. I
have seen a handful of dolphin tattoos like the one the Ancient One sent me.

Today was the kids' first day of school, so I took off from work. Around 11 AM, I decided to ride my bike, eventually making it to Coney Island, where I guessed I could find some good ink. Yet it was still sparse, I had ridden down the Boardwalk and had circled back when I found my first subject.

I approached two young ladies who were taking pictures. One of them had a tattoo on the back of her neck:


The Japanese characters spell out the woman's name, Fernanda. Unlike on the recently-aired episode of VH1's "Rock of Love," in which one of the contestant's gets Bret Michaels' name tattooed on the back of her neck, as a show of devotion, Fernanda has inked her own name. I see a lot of people that do their own names on their arms or legs (I work with many who have done so), and have never really understood the phenomenon.

But in Fernanda's case, I get the artistic expression a little more. These are Japanese letters that have a greater aesthetic impact than Roman letters. When I asked Fernanda why she tattooed her name, she merely expressed that she loved Japanese letters and Japanese culture. She was born and raised in Brazil and has only been living in New York for a year. She did not remember the name of the shop where she had the tattoo done, but narrowed it down to the Astoria section of Queens for me.

I have to agree, it's a pretty cool tattoo.

I made another pass and headed back home. Once I made my way to the Shore Road promenade, where I do the majority of my cycling. I have several spots along the several-mile route from which I can head home. I decided to go down to the 92nd Street footbridge. Standing on the bridge was a gentleman who seemed to be cooling off from running. He had earbuds in and a large biceps piece. He also had an ankle piece and another tattoo on his triceps.

I passed him while walking my bike and then headed back and said loudly, "Excuse me!" He removed his earbuds and I explained my mission. He was game. His name was Mike and he had 6 tattoos in all and didn't mind which one I photographed. I asked him which one was the most special and he held up his arm and pointed to the piece on his triceps. This one:


He explained it a tribal Native American designed mixed with the American flag which he got as a tribute after 9/11. The piece was done by Craig Cooley at Abstract Tribal Tattooing in Brooklyn. I asked him if he was a fireman, and he said, "No, a police officer." I thought, with the 6th anniversary of September 11 just a week away, it was a perfect punctuation mark to end a week of tattoo-spotting, and begin a week of reflection on this somber anniversary.

Thanks to Fernanda and Mike for their participation in this edition of Tattoosday!