A Spot of Hawaiian Ink on the New York City Subway

Earlier this week, I <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2012/01/tattoosday-goes-tribal-on-ink-master.html">posted</a> about my experience on <a href="http://www.spike.com/shows/ink-master"><i>Ink Master</i></a>, getting a tribal tattoo that was inspired by my upbringing in Hawai'i. Do note that I have not referred to this as a <i>Hawaiian</i> tribal piece, which is a whole different thing altogether.<br /><br />Just to illustrate, one of my "leftover" posts from 2011 is this tattoo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO19izVz0RZddy-aOGWpZlkNqSLKQY-GGo0TgxXiAEn467hHzz92Qfx9faKxn9j5cnZ9tsW-knXXRrkNMPDBDJTwvomgz6YWYgahHAkyNSJ_O2G8j6PaUsUK5RbL59MSpKYHDV7vuhmq4/s1600/hawaii+subway+leg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO19izVz0RZddy-aOGWpZlkNqSLKQY-GGo0TgxXiAEn467hHzz92Qfx9faKxn9j5cnZ9tsW-knXXRrkNMPDBDJTwvomgz6YWYgahHAkyNSJ_O2G8j6PaUsUK5RbL59MSpKYHDV7vuhmq4/s640/hawaii+subway+leg.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br />This was a real treat for me, spotting an authentic Hawaiian tattoo, in New York City of all places.<br /><br />Looking back to last June, I had just attended a networking event at <a href="http://www.bowlmor.com/timessquare/home.php">Bowlmor Lanes</a> in Times Square and was headed home to Brooklyn. On the 8th Avenue subway platform at 42nd Street, I spotted a bunch of folks with t-shirts bearing Hawaiian names. I got to chatting with them. Turns out they were affiliated with<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb"> <a href="http://familyprogramshawaii.org/resources/na-keiki-o-ka-moi-canoe-club/">Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i</a>, an outrigger canoe club from Wai'anae, Hawai'i, and they were in town to compete in the <a href="http://newyorkoutrigger.org/press110127.php">2011 Liberty World Outrigger Competition.</a> </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">I was shocked. Outrigger canoes in the East River? I've lived in New York for almost 15 years and never knew that this existed in the Big Apple!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">There was a whole lot of local folks from Hawai'i on the platform, and when an express and local train pulled in simultaneously, chaos erupted as the visitors scattered into both downtown trains.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">I sat down on an "A" train next to a handful of the group and struck up a conversation with a few people. I spoke with one guy, in particular, named <a href="http://www.facebook.com/samkapoi">Sam "Kamu" Kapoi</a>. Go figure, the talk turned to tattoos and Sam stretched out his left leg to show me his ink.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">Sam and I have kept in touch, so I was able to get some additional information on this piece.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">Sam is a filmmaker and was accompanying the group as they competed in New York.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">The art of Hawaiian tattoo has deep roots in the culture of the islands, and every aspect of a tattoo has personal meaning that is often held very privately by the tattooed individual. You just don't go up to someone with a Hawaiian tattoo and ask, "So what does it mean?"  </span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmER7bQdqlS8tCOCNDpVixRe3Vma9OLmXQ3ydsjwVLBLrNbDWjI9WGDcPpkqFJ42VYC-FhwykfMLFesS5nIh7KsZUvTcxlYccV9JBpbOSOyIC5_Xo1dsJsaBnTH-s6COfszVgJSF7BIek/s1600/Hawaiian+subway+tribal+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmER7bQdqlS8tCOCNDpVixRe3Vma9OLmXQ3ydsjwVLBLrNbDWjI9WGDcPpkqFJ42VYC-FhwykfMLFesS5nIh7KsZUvTcxlYccV9JBpbOSOyIC5_Xo1dsJsaBnTH-s6COfszVgJSF7BIek/s400/Hawaiian+subway+tribal+detail.jpg" width="211" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sam said it himself in a message to me, "the tattoo itself ... is my family design, very sacred." He credited his artist as <a href="http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/story-continued/2007/07/keone-nunes/">Keone Nunes</a>, who specializes in traditional Hawaiian tattoos and uses the tapping method.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a nice clip on YouTube with Mr. Nunes discussing the art of <i>kakau</i>:</div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/urWcEGG8ieI" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />The juxtaposition of this illustration compared to my own experience getting a tribal piece on a tattoo reality show is stark. Whereas I love my new tattoo, I in no way hold it in the same high regard as the traditional art of kakau in Hawai'i. I feel honored to have been lucky to come across an example, by chance, in New York.<br /><br />A big <i>mahalo nui loa</i> to Sam for sharing his traditional Hawaiian ink with us here on Tattoosday.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> 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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb"> </span></span><br /><span class="mainButtonSpan" id="mainbuttonspan"></span>

A Spot of Hawaiian Ink on the New York City Subway

Earlier this week, I posted about my experience on Ink Master , getting a tribal tattoo that was inspired by my upbringing in Hawai'i. ...

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Tattoosday Goes Tribal on Ink Master

<span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What’s the hardest thing about being an ink-blogger and getting a tattoo on a televised competition show? Keeping my mouth shut for almost six months about the experience. </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2R2c-vx0SewZPGiikWuUNlQNUVFcvDLt9C4n72gR1OqvJN8Xofcoe6QSgcT8SifoOCEosTO2jTwDFAiCxdq4t7AI4t5IvjSBOKt_DmVvKZA0Wx8zMxZ11rImFzymuq281YAu4_dj7nc/s1600/Honu+Tribal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2R2c-vx0SewZPGiikWuUNlQNUVFcvDLt9C4n72gR1OqvJN8Xofcoe6QSgcT8SifoOCEosTO2jTwDFAiCxdq4t7AI4t5IvjSBOKt_DmVvKZA0Wx8zMxZ11rImFzymuq281YAu4_dj7nc/s400/Honu+Tribal.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is the tattoo that  I received back in August in the course of my stint as a "human canvas" on  the set of Spike TV's <a href="http://www.spike.com/shows/ink-master">Ink Master</a>.</span><br /><br /><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What you didn't see on the show (if you watched last night) was the consulting session in which I sat down with the artist and hashed out the ideas and concepts that I wanted represented in this tribal piece that ultimately ended up on my left thigh.</span><br /><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The two main elements are the <a href="http://coffeetimes.com/aug97.htm">honu</a>, or Hawaiian sea turtle, and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus">hibiscus</a>, which is the state flower of Hawai'i. Having grown up in the Aloha State, I wanted something that represented my childhood home.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA-7z4t5dKp22UPUE227mhIa7cmvq8HqLzzDTREJ6hCSOd6mvyUJqg-LnpEknJ_Dy026UzDOAXbR2KXgGhqEXQeKTB7Qefzl5_29Q3tW5W1sW7bPd7t6CxH7sAoGO-te70Qy5gKdYDxfg/s1600/HeatherSin-blog-thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA-7z4t5dKp22UPUE227mhIa7cmvq8HqLzzDTREJ6hCSOd6mvyUJqg-LnpEknJ_Dy026UzDOAXbR2KXgGhqEXQeKTB7Qefzl5_29Q3tW5W1sW7bPd7t6CxH7sAoGO-te70Qy5gKdYDxfg/s400/HeatherSin-blog-thumb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The end result far exceeded my expectations. I want to again thank <a href="http://www.theartofheathersinn.com/">Heather Sinn</a>, my artist, for giving me an exceptional tattoo under less than ideal conditions. </span><br /><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7983786932645566" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I also want to share a little bit more about how I lucked into being tattooed by such a wonderfully talented artist.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The episode that aired last night was dubbed “Botched Head Tattoo” by the network. Fortunately, mine was not the botched head tattoo, although I have stayed in touch with the human canvas who chose to have his scalp inked and can say, with 100% confidence, the only thing botched about it was that it wasn’t completed in the five-hour time limit. The artist, <a href="http://www.bilivegas.com/bilivegas/Home.Blog/Home.Blog.html">Bili V</a></span><a href="http://www.bilivegas.com/bilivegas/Home.Blog/Home.Blog.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">ë</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bilivegas.com/bilivegas/Home.Blog/Home.Blog.html">gas</a>, ultimately finished the piece at his shop in New York, and Ryan, who shared one of his other tattoos with us <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/08/ryans-tattoo-commemorates-life-of-dolly.html">here</a> on Tattoosday back in August, is very happy with the end result.</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7lJSksrof7fViBh7bNtU-AVks2F6Ky1ivQdrTMOV7oFQiwi6CO2HimkOl67ywbv3Fu8PV6SqJa1Tc5qvsGDbN4GlBRz6_rYu17QF1L-ovN5q0VReXAVeNIuz5rmRrTHWASr5VS0mts_Q/s1600/ryan+head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7lJSksrof7fViBh7bNtU-AVks2F6Ky1ivQdrTMOV7oFQiwi6CO2HimkOl67ywbv3Fu8PV6SqJa1Tc5qvsGDbN4GlBRz6_rYu17QF1L-ovN5q0VReXAVeNIuz5rmRrTHWASr5VS0mts_Q/s400/ryan+head.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of <br /><div class="MsoNormal">Bili Vëgas @ <a href="http://www.bilivegas.com/">www.bilivegas.com</a></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Back in July, I wrote <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/07/chance-to-cover-up-reality-style.html">here</a> about Ink Master’s call for candidates looking for a cover-up.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Shortly after posting the piece, I sent in my own idea for a tattoo for the show, thinking it was a long shot.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Within the hour, I got a response asking if I could come in and discuss the idea in person. Fortunately, I was off that day, and I went into Manhattan and met with production staff, discussing what I wanted in terms of a memorial piece for my step-father, who passed away in April 2010. This discussion also included a mention of my almost having been tattooed with a Hawaiian tribal memorial band.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Things moved quickly from there and after a series of phone calls, my original idea was scrapped and I was confirmed to be a human canvas on an episode dedicated to tribal tattoos. I am not generally a fan of tribal ink, but I thought that if I could get something with a Hawaiian influence, I would be cool with that. Having grown up in Honolulu, and with family still in the islands, it made sense to get something along those lines. I was concerned, however, whether whoever was tattooing me would approach the challenge with an understanding and respect for the culture of Hawai’i.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On the designated day, I met at the rendez-vous point with three other human canvases near Times Square to be transported to the set by shuttle. The studio was set up at an old church building in Newark. We were shown to a holding room with five other canvases and, as is typical in television production, we waited.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We didn’t know who the judges were until moments before being led to the set, which was quite impressive, as is evident on the show. I was initially happy to pick the skull with artist Heather Sinn’s name on it and, after our consult, during which I threw idea after idea at her about what would be ideal in the tattoo, I was excited to see what she would come up with overnight.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On the shuttle from Manhattan to the set the next day, we all chatted about our artists and talked about how we thought it would go. Ryan, who was about to have his head inked, was chowing down on a big bowl of red jell-o, a trick some tattoo artists recommend to minimize bleeding (the gelatin aids with blood coagulation). We were also still abuzz about the one canvas who was dismissed because of his psoriasis. The guy had been a veritable comedian in the holding room, and his absence was surprising.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After getting miked up and led to the set, we met with the artists in their work rooms and saw our designs for the first time. I was blown away by what Heather came up with, especially having looked at her online portfolio the night before, and noticed that she wasn’t an artist that did a lot of tribal work.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There was one glaring concern that I did have, however. Heather was not a happy camper. This was episode 2, so they had just started production, and one show was already in the tank. Mind you, they don’t wait a week between episodes, they are often shot in succession, and the hours are long and grueling, even to artists who spend hours on delicately maneuvering a vibrating machine doing meticulous work on a canvas that moves.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Heather did not hide this sentiment from me, the client, and I was concerned, especially since the challenge was rigorously timed, and had dropped from 6 hours to 5 hours after the initial cover-up challenge of episode 1.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She assured me that she was going to do her best under the not-so-ideal circumstances. I would direct readers to <a href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/stylecouncil/2012/01/heather_sinn_ink_master_3.php">this interview</a> that recently ran with Heather in the LA Weekly. She wears her emotions on her sleeve and does not back down from her feelings.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Heather told me she would not be very talkative when she was doing the initial line work as she was not accustomed to this type of tattoo. Fine by me. The cameras were around us constantly and Heather was very concerned that she would not have the time to finish the piece. She also expressed to me that she was not very fond of any of the judges. After seeing the flash challenge that preceded our meeting, I can see why.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When all was said and done, however, she powered through it and knocked it out with time to spare. The result left me with an awesome tattoo, and I have nothing but praise for her craftsmanship.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As for the show itself, so much footage went unused, including scenes in which the human canvases saw their tattoos for the first time in a full-length mirror, met with the judges, and did candid interviews with the producers.</span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I can say that, despite all the tattoo flaws picked out by the judges in the show, none of the canvases on my episode were disappointed with the final result of their sessions with the <i>Ink Master</i> artists. And, as much as I would like to bemoan the massive amount of "canvas" footage on the cutting room floor, ultimately the artists were being judged on the quality of their work, not on the stories behind their clients' tattoos, or their feelings about the final product.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I think that this is one of the compelling aspects about <i>Ink Master</i> that makes the show so interesting from a technical standpoint. Sure, there's the reality show drama involving the artists' personalities, but the show seems committed, more than most of the other "reality" shows out there, to celebrating the tattoos for art's sake.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I'm not on any more episodes, but I'll keep watching.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>

Tattoosday Goes Tribal on Ink Master

What’s the hardest thing about being an ink-blogger and getting a tattoo on a televised competition show? Keeping my mouth shut for almost...

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Wesley Shares Two Significant Blossoms

I met Wesley in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, earlier this month, and she shared these two tattoos from her forearms:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEIgG2H824vZu-8o8_SsxpSoDEj6t2JOadBx03R-28RyGo-PqnlYKUzY4Cg4FyJV3kodkQ7tWtEAmfHCLB3-Dzk04dKzn1SwtSDgSh_YXFCyuuENi6Agk3vHiRbuAteSSy4VGP3qd8Ys/s1600/wesley+flowers+1+rotate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEIgG2H824vZu-8o8_SsxpSoDEj6t2JOadBx03R-28RyGo-PqnlYKUzY4Cg4FyJV3kodkQ7tWtEAmfHCLB3-Dzk04dKzn1SwtSDgSh_YXFCyuuENi6Agk3vHiRbuAteSSy4VGP3qd8Ys/s640/wesley+flowers+1+rotate.jpg" width="596" /></a></div><br />These two flowers are (pictured from left to right) a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_laevigata">Cherokee Rose</a>, which is the state flower of Georgia, and a Nile, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_lotus">Egyptian Lotus</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvhnXGBwYJunbnm-qZrhE-Dxn8oWxVCkfJj70Xt29ps-WAcdRBzaXPKclHkmz4TNrUvCenMm_tag8MI0h_devihAorWCBX88ZuImDaX6W0Q8kBR4vpigKJKm3JHawYadzkhwuMHRPUyk/s1600/wesley+flowers+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvhnXGBwYJunbnm-qZrhE-Dxn8oWxVCkfJj70Xt29ps-WAcdRBzaXPKclHkmz4TNrUvCenMm_tag8MI0h_devihAorWCBX88ZuImDaX6W0Q8kBR4vpigKJKm3JHawYadzkhwuMHRPUyk/s640/wesley+flowers+2.jpg" width="608" /></a></div><br />Wesley explained that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_laevigata">Cherokee Rose</a> is generally white in color, but white flowers don't generally translate well to white skin. Fortunately, they can occasionally grow pink, so that's the shade she chose for the tattoo.<br /><br /><br />Wesley explained the whole process of these tattoos in detail:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I was born in Macon, Georgia and my dad's from Georgia and the whole myth is that when the Cherokees were driven out ... by the white people, they cried ... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears">The Trail of Tears</a> ...and the flowers that sprang up where their tears [fell] were the Cherokee Rose. And [the flower on the left arm] is a Nile Lotus ... an Egyptian lotus, you see it a a lot on the sarcophagi ... Egyptian tombs, and it's about death and rebirth.... I got them ... in 2005 ...in Seattle by a guy ... Ian at <a href="http://www.luckydeviltattooparlor.com/">Lucky Devil Tattoo</a> in Capitol Hill, Seattle ... it was a year almost since I had been diagnosed and treated for cancer and it was sort of my celebration of 'I'm okay'  and I had some whole elaborate - I was going to have insects on the inside of my wrist and flowers on the outside, and there was a possibility of a snake, there was a whole big thing and ... the great thing about this artist was that he was like, 'here, let me do a temporary version of what that would look like,' and I was like, 'that would look really cluttered and ridiculous' ... and I realized that I really wanted them to be something I could see and I was more attuned to the flowers ... I wanted something that was close to home from my past and then something that was from another culture from farther away - there's the birth thing and the death thing. Yeah."</blockquote>Thanks to Wesley for sharing her beautiful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Wesley Shares Two Significant Blossoms

I met Wesley in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, earlier this month, and she shared these two tattoos from her forearms: These two flowers are (pictured...

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Will Is Well-Armed for the Opera

Occasionally, one of my posts will fall through the cracks and I only discover it by chance.<br /><br />For example, earlier this week I was passing through K-Mart in Penn Station when it struck me: the guy I had met several months earlier in there never ended up on the site! How did that happen? I'm still scratching my head over that one, because how could I forget this tattoo?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmEQXJMOi_JvaqOil_01cGplZeUUwLiFIuv4hURoJE72_fYEPy6lLnh48EBStY-pP5UFdRpzQOjYebfigTkWrcVQuP27ErN-JtAFE4eHbiLv9axDWNsMszb4sbrESmJoY4RaO731E-nrA/s1600/Opera+Arm+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmEQXJMOi_JvaqOil_01cGplZeUUwLiFIuv4hURoJE72_fYEPy6lLnh48EBStY-pP5UFdRpzQOjYebfigTkWrcVQuP27ErN-JtAFE4eHbiLv9axDWNsMszb4sbrESmJoY4RaO731E-nrA/s640/Opera+Arm+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Will explained to me that he has the signatures of twenty-seven female opera singers that have, in some way, touched his life. The photo above is only a fragment of the whole array, which covers his left arm and runs down the side of his chest.<br /><br />"I'm a big opera fan ...[it's] just a form of music and expression that has always meant a lot to me," Will told me. He explained how he had waited for two hours for a singer to emerge from a venue after a performance, but she never came out. That missed autograph opportunity gave him the idea to recreate the signatures of an array of great singers on his flesh.<br /><br />Among the names visible in the photo above are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Callas">Maria Callas</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Bumbry">Grace Bumbry</a>.<br /><br />The signatures were inked by <a href="http://www.dcwallin.com/">Dave Wallin</a> at <a href="http://www.8ofswords.com/">Eight of Swords Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn.<br /><br />Thanks to Will for sharing his operatic arm with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>

Will Is Well-Armed for the Opera

Occasionally, one of my posts will fall through the cracks and I only discover it by chance. For example, earlier this week I was passing th...

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Ink Master Premieres Tonight!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbsqSxtuKEIrX73eBdT1j7iV3ZdlWdN-_Rs86ehiC_ElC29tqqfpNgUZRLGeCQ7e2LMyOdqXQ6nMzQ0wMdHPdK8afxz_zQWiFyFGX__9xHaIdX4hAYmUTeW4TWhDaT50p2Qf9kThnTgk/s1600/InkMasterPreview_header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbsqSxtuKEIrX73eBdT1j7iV3ZdlWdN-_Rs86ehiC_ElC29tqqfpNgUZRLGeCQ7e2LMyOdqXQ6nMzQ0wMdHPdK8afxz_zQWiFyFGX__9xHaIdX4hAYmUTeW4TWhDaT50p2Qf9kThnTgk/s640/InkMasterPreview_header.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span id="internal-source-marker_0.587453026887015" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Regular readers of Tattoosday may recall <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/07/chance-to-cover-up-reality-style.html">this post</a>, last July, when I mentioned that a production company was looking for volunteers to get tattoos on a new reality tattoo competition series.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That was six months ago and the first installment of that project, <a href="http://www.spike.com/shows/ink-master">Ink Master</a>, is scheduled to debut tonight on <a href="http://www.spike.com/">Spike TV,</a> at 10:00 PM (and 11:00) EST. </span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I strongly encourage people to watch, as I’ve seen the line-up of artists competing, and know for a fact that they are a talented crew. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9rhjItQjKvFNM_ntZPTSG35igr-cI54UQZMhQ6LmQ0Tr6z6m3BJ7lOW-V4Zsvm047eBKN6f2iSfbwNXSG-x2N9jogu5ZnlkcT3v4b7-Q-doY8PiaHE4sY6jMtRLwtP3iozg3EispOq-Y/s1600/cast_blog_ink_master.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9rhjItQjKvFNM_ntZPTSG35igr-cI54UQZMhQ6LmQ0Tr6z6m3BJ7lOW-V4Zsvm047eBKN6f2iSfbwNXSG-x2N9jogu5ZnlkcT3v4b7-Q-doY8PiaHE4sY6jMtRLwtP3iozg3EispOq-Y/s640/cast_blog_ink_master.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Unlike <a href="http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/ny-ink">New York Ink,</a> which seems to have evolved very quickly into a faux-drama in a tattoo shop that just happens to have great tattooers, the focus of this show is about creating body art in a reality-competition setting.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That’s not to say there won’t be interpersonal conflicts - even shows like <a href="http://www.fox.com/masterchef/">Master Chef</a> and <a href="http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway">Project Runway</a> have their share of drama. But, I am optimistic that this series will not disappoint.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Check out the trailer below:</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="340" style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; font: 11px arial; width: 512px;"><tbody><tr style="background-color: #e5e5e5;" valign="middle"><td style="padding: 2px 1px 0px 5px;"><a href="http://www.spike.com/" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SPIKE</a></td><td style="font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align: right;"></td></tr><tr style="height: 14px;" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 2px 1px 0px 5px;"><a href="http://www.spike.com/shows/ink-master" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Official Ink Master Series Trailer</a></td></tr><tr style="background-color: #353535; height: 14px;" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align: right; width: 512px;"><a href="http://www.spike.com/" style="color: #96deff; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.spike.com</a></td></tr><tr valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 0px;"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allownetworking="all" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#000000" flashvars="autoPlay=false" height="288" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:arc:video:spike.com:" style="display: block;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="512" wmode="window"></embed></td></tr><tr style="height: 18px;" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 0px;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr valign="middle"><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.spike.com/full-episodes/" style="color: #333333; font: 10px arial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Spike Full Episodes</a></td><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.spike.com/video-clips/" style="color: #333333; font: 10px arial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Spike Video Clips</a></td><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/Spike" style="color: #333333; font: 10px arial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Spike on Facebook</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And here’s a bit of a tease ..... I know with 100% certainty that at least three of the volunteers on a couple of the episodes have appeared previously as subjects on Tattoosday. I’m looking forward to not only seeing who wins each week, but as <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2012/01/ink-master-searches-for-the-greatest-tattoo-artist/1">USA Today</a> put it, “who on earth decides to get inked as part of a reality competition?”  </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This won’t be the last you hear about Ink Master on Tattoosday. Trust me.</span><br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Ink Master Premieres Tonight!

Regular readers of Tattoosday may recall this post , last July, when I mentioned that a production company was looking for volunteers to g...

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Meister's Memorial Sparrows

Last month, I was leaving the <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/muhlenberg">Muhlenberg branch</a> of the <a href="http://www.nypl.org/">New York Public Library</a> when I spotted a woman with two birds on the backs of her calves:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpJmmfOn8ZpHDgNOquBAZsoKHY3R7Od5_Njd9BqoIWvQ7pemSo43mb1V4Ez-eLiNwU0hyphenhyphenhsnvZZVzCgQ1FqK04qpkP2D5O9DIourlXjphZGirpp1bq2Sv_GCoBSTOUpoX0dStR-F_tz0Y/s1600/meister+sparrows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpJmmfOn8ZpHDgNOquBAZsoKHY3R7Od5_Njd9BqoIWvQ7pemSo43mb1V4Ez-eLiNwU0hyphenhyphenhsnvZZVzCgQ1FqK04qpkP2D5O9DIourlXjphZGirpp1bq2Sv_GCoBSTOUpoX0dStR-F_tz0Y/s640/meister+sparrows.jpg" width="632" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These two sparrows belong to Meister, who is also known as <a href="http://www.thenervouscook.com/">The Nervous Cook</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I love how these are not your typical tattoo sparrows, but are more lifelike than the traditional bird flash that is much more common.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She explained that these, two of her eight tattoos, are memorial tattoos, that she has "for three people that I lost, roughly around the same time." Meister elaborated:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"A best friend of mine passed away in a scuba accident - she's the female sparrow [on the left calf] ...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWlMtZkvERGmRjI4xp48HeuWoM0addCQikTP7-PZgbVvfobJl6fdtl3m5Y8ygjTHATdFK9R2qKm0L01uNarGXRanYLk1Jkk7mMlgqH2jy5xEIhW4TtpwCEQFt3NSQA738LlFrlDuPtB-M/s1600/meister+sparrow+left.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWlMtZkvERGmRjI4xp48HeuWoM0addCQikTP7-PZgbVvfobJl6fdtl3m5Y8ygjTHATdFK9R2qKm0L01uNarGXRanYLk1Jkk7mMlgqH2jy5xEIhW4TtpwCEQFt3NSQA738LlFrlDuPtB-M/s640/meister+sparrow+left.jpg" width="414" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">...and then two good friends of mine died within two weeks of each other ... totally just a a devastating series of unfortunate accidents." </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7DHEn6oK2AIs4N71NxdYmo70S__4-k6g-nUmhcd-yPawXWwzb-a9rA2zNjZDscIhseJrSh_XYUvrSO7jM0Gyneq_I6ksRme4O5sBF5Wlf6gtUp-XyPlj1bUWRNFeLcRsStyFaV42C78/s1600/meister+sparrow+right.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7DHEn6oK2AIs4N71NxdYmo70S__4-k6g-nUmhcd-yPawXWwzb-a9rA2zNjZDscIhseJrSh_XYUvrSO7jM0Gyneq_I6ksRme4O5sBF5Wlf6gtUp-XyPlj1bUWRNFeLcRsStyFaV42C78/s640/meister+sparrow+right.jpg" width="382" /></a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These, along with most of her other work, were tattooed by <a href="http://myleskarr.com/">Myles Karr</a>, who works out of <a href="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/site/">Three Kings Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn. Meister indicated that these sparrows were done a while back, when Myles still worked out of the now-defunct <a href="http://www.boweryboogie.com/2009/03/developing-story-334-bowery/">334 Bowery Tattoo</a>. Work from Myles has appeared previously on Tattoosday <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/search/label/Myles%20Karr">here</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks to Meister for sharing her beautiful sparrows with us here on Tattoosday! Be sure to visit her over at <a href="http://www.thenervouscook.com/">The Nervous Cook</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Meister's Memorial Sparrows

Last month, I was leaving the Muhlenberg branch of the New York Public Library when I spotted a woman with two birds on the backs of her c...

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Tattoosday Loves Friday the 13th!

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.....<br /><br />My lovely bride is a Friday the 13th baby, so it's a lucky day for me, in general.<br /><br />As for Tattoosday, my visit stats have already been robust since December, but this week they have shattered the records, with yesterday being the best ever. My sitemeter points out that folks are visiting our old Friday the 13th posts in droves this month, which is fine by me, but I thought I'd link them here for fun.<br /><br /><br />Our first Friday the 13th adventure was in 2009, on Melanie's birthday, as documented <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/03/friday-13th-tattoosday-adventure.html">here</a>.<br /><br />And, in 2010, we got the readers involved, and started <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/08/great-friday-13th-tattoo-experiment.html">here</a>, and documented my first (and so far, only) Friday the 13th tattoo <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/08/tattoosdays-trip-to-hand-of-glory.html">here</a>. And followed up with another one for Melanie <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-last-friday-13th-post-for-melanie.html">here</a>.<br /><br />There was only one such day last year, back in May, and we missed it, but this year we're starting early and, I just realized, thanks to the Leap Year, there are two additional Friday the 13th observances in 2012! <br /><br />We're planning on getting inked today at <a href="http://www.handofglorytattoo.com/">Hand of Glory</a> in Brooklyn, and there are plenty of other options, as well, including <a href="http://www.daredeviltattoo.com/">Dare Devil</a> in Manhattan and <a href="http://threekingstattoo.com/welcome/to_threekingstattoo.html">Three Kings</a> in Williamsburg.<br /><br />If you know anywhere else, in New York City and elsewhere, please post in the comments section so our readers can find a place to go.<br /><br />Check back tomorrow or see when <a href="https://twitter.com/tattoosday">our Twitter page</a> may light up for more details later today.<br /><br />Have a safe and lucky 13th!<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Tattoosday Loves Friday the 13th!

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..... My lovely bride is a Friday the 13th baby, so it's a lucky day for me, in general. As for...

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Little Darling's Ink: Pinups for Pitbulls

Last spring, I met Deirdre, aka Little Darling, as she was leaving Penn Station to cross Seventh Avenue.<br /><br />I snapped these pictures of her upper right arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMrLDLXHa-8QGRwvZrZWw6cDIv2_gQ6_YcgOWjCASelGMIDOxk2QbUF9xfHaWrz0OhwFOgfJX2PoADLe59yhbk97MbQst9hA5uYMsMWNlvK4zVy3J_uYIboOy2U864csp47dMfrOobqPs/s1600/pitbull+collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMrLDLXHa-8QGRwvZrZWw6cDIv2_gQ6_YcgOWjCASelGMIDOxk2QbUF9xfHaWrz0OhwFOgfJX2PoADLe59yhbk97MbQst9hA5uYMsMWNlvK4zVy3J_uYIboOy2U864csp47dMfrOobqPs/s640/pitbull+collage.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br />Deirdre explained that she is the president and founder of a non-profit organization called <a href="http://pinupsforpitbulls.org/">Pinups for Pitbulls</a>.<br /><br />The two pups pictured are portraits of two of her dogs, as interpreted by skin artist <a href="http://jonclue.wordpress.com/">Jon Clue</a>. <br /><br />Little Darling invites people to check out her company's website <a href="http://pinupsforpitbulls.org/">PinupsForPitbulls.org</a> if you are interested in supporting the ongoing effort to help fulfill their mission of working "to educate the public about the history and temperament of the American Pit Bull Terrier and pit bull type dogs [and] to raise awareness about Breed Specific Legislation and Breed-Specific abuse."<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiez_WBKgLOO97_99LUAvygi4I3UAvV0dqtCLS0HXjnnR-upLfp4n70w8k4w5VeD6d1x_bg0g3s6HQiEH-m2khq0NnEV-UuJa5JVzaGeRR8z_voaY6EMYPNhoon0auErdh08zx4eI8fceY/s1600/pitbull+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiez_WBKgLOO97_99LUAvygi4I3UAvV0dqtCLS0HXjnnR-upLfp4n70w8k4w5VeD6d1x_bg0g3s6HQiEH-m2khq0NnEV-UuJa5JVzaGeRR8z_voaY6EMYPNhoon0auErdh08zx4eI8fceY/s400/pitbull+detail.jpg" width="373" /></a></div><br />One of the ways that Little Darling and her company strive to "reestablish the defamed reputation of pit bull type dogs as America's premier companion animal, war hero, and therapy dog," is through fundraisers and the sale of Pinups for Pitbulls merchandise, such as their annual calendar. Many of these products can be purchased through Amazon (see link below).<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B005HAYANG" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div><br />Other <a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search/?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=aps&tag=bill03-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Pinups%20for%20Pitbulls%2C%20Inc." target="_blank">Pinups for Pitbulls Merchandise</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=ur2&o=1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> can be found by clicking the hyperlink in this sentence.<br /><br />Thanks to Deirdre for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday, and for waiting so patiently for this post to appear.<br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Little Darling's Ink: Pinups for Pitbulls

Last spring, I met Deirdre, aka Little Darling, as she was leaving Penn Station to cross Seventh Avenue. I snapped these pictures of her upp...

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Meghann's Ink Inspired by Nikki McClure

This past November, I met Meghann in Penn Station and spotted this tattoo on her arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnvRqIa4Pyd8BPw6iqYdzO4e2_TtmVN59h-fyJ_1_gU2D5thNEP11VTAY3SnB8wn2ulmJwAoxen9hxX9cUTN511fqbW6Ize6asDx1p1ACZ3Lr91mF6MxqF7xMf_BPmdQIJOTA2oKsL1w/s1600/woodcut+collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnvRqIa4Pyd8BPw6iqYdzO4e2_TtmVN59h-fyJ_1_gU2D5thNEP11VTAY3SnB8wn2ulmJwAoxen9hxX9cUTN511fqbW6Ize6asDx1p1ACZ3Lr91mF6MxqF7xMf_BPmdQIJOTA2oKsL1w/s640/woodcut+collage.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br />Meghann explained that this work is based on a paper-cut by an artist from Olympia, Washington named <a href="http://www.nikkimcclure.com/bio/">Nikki McClure</a>.<br /><br />There's no real deep meaning behind this. Meghann is just appreciates the art for art's sake: "I just liked the design a lot. I really like [McClure's] work."<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYAtIXKbkOZSOxm0Zy7r3QrS2ckUom6cdf2TnQeYMjsl58PZJokKNm3cK-OAY5P-2pOnT9mppxDBxhw4gbxG1WYT2oG8CtuVfNzZIdfinfqo94n5d_yN2_6ijIlO510Q7MvaeYu5Zx-ho/s1600/woodcut+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYAtIXKbkOZSOxm0Zy7r3QrS2ckUom6cdf2TnQeYMjsl58PZJokKNm3cK-OAY5P-2pOnT9mppxDBxhw4gbxG1WYT2oG8CtuVfNzZIdfinfqo94n5d_yN2_6ijIlO510Q7MvaeYu5Zx-ho/s640/woodcut+detail.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><br /><br />The tattoo was done by <a href="http://www.samuelgossonart.com/site/">Sam Gosson</a> at <a href="http://www.oddballstudios.com/">Oddball Studios</a> in Portland, Oregon.<br /><br />Thanks to Meghann for sharing this cool work with us here on Tattoosday!

Meghann's Ink Inspired by Nikki McClure

This past November, I met Meghann in Penn Station and spotted this tattoo on her arm: Meghann explained that this work is based on a paper-c...

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Cecelia's Trio of Bats, or, The Girl with the Dragonlance Tattoo

Back in October, I met Cecelia on the D train in Brooklyn, and she shared these tattoos on her left forearm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-_ZNGy6zTEYk8BYih9KBj59PeSQeNOMjFvadiYP4ZTiq7XMSjiYbo8SYYInJPIBO0lRz7Uje2kRUHU32LHfwjq7RTRD5QFHGECoeuMP7Ko1O29hDrFy5Wre68dxzm7bDFMFc-4eY5_0/s1600/three+bats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-_ZNGy6zTEYk8BYih9KBj59PeSQeNOMjFvadiYP4ZTiq7XMSjiYbo8SYYInJPIBO0lRz7Uje2kRUHU32LHfwjq7RTRD5QFHGECoeuMP7Ko1O29hDrFy5Wre68dxzm7bDFMFc-4eY5_0/s640/three+bats.jpg" width="472" /></a></div><br />Those three bats, named, from top to bottom, Ralph, Roberto, and John, were a birthday present from her friend Dan. Roberto, in the middle, was named after a fruit bat that appears in a couple of books by <a href="http://www.chrismoore.com/">Christopher Moore</a> (namely, <a href="http://www.chrismoore.com/love_nun.html">Island of the Sequined Love Nun</a> and <a href="http://www.chrismoore.com/stupidest_angel2.html">The Stupidest Angel</a>).<br /><br />The bats were inked by Steve Kane, owner and artist at <a href="http://alistindustry.com/">A List Industry Tattoo</a>, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.<br /><br />Cecelia also told me about another tattoo she had, but it was not one she could show me on the train, as it wasn't the day of the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/culture-in-new-york/no-pants-subway-ride-2012-photos">No Pants Subway Ride</a>.<br /><br />Fortunately, she did send us a cell phone photo later with this piece on her left thigh:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt0iH9Y_Jsn6DcMeovkhKX49O1xEwncjjY2LT70wOyORsNOkpCkxfUBxPAbN4iLsuYyLQ3lelLP_TWS_SwdpZ6R7_x0sKIF6GRa9ZUyxAinWc6bTuJV1eh6lAvjVZAf8DsVz9BcsKtPoU/s1600/Dragon+Thigh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt0iH9Y_Jsn6DcMeovkhKX49O1xEwncjjY2LT70wOyORsNOkpCkxfUBxPAbN4iLsuYyLQ3lelLP_TWS_SwdpZ6R7_x0sKIF6GRa9ZUyxAinWc6bTuJV1eh6lAvjVZAf8DsVz9BcsKtPoU/s400/Dragon+Thigh.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><br />She explained:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"This tattoo was inspired by a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonlance">Dragonlance</a> book, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons_of_Winter_Night">The Dragons of Winter Night</a>. Started in '95 by an artist from Buffalo, it was finished 10 yrs later by Seven O'Brien @ <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tattoo-Mania/159070824106090">Tattoo Mania</a> [Staten Island]. He is now at another shop.  He came up with the fantastic background and border."</blockquote>Thanks to Cecelia for sharing her trio of bats and her dragon tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0786916095" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Cecelia's Trio of Bats, or, The Girl with the Dragonlance Tattoo

Back in October, I met Cecelia on the D train in Brooklyn, and she shared these tattoos on her left forearm: Those three bats, named, from t...

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Cleaning Out My Inbox: January Edition

One of my New Year's resolutions is to share more of what gets sent to me from various parties looking to promote their tattoo-related projects. What follows are a few items that have been lingering in my inbox, and may be of interest to our readers:<br /><br />This is "Pencil and Ink: A Film About Justin Klein":<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/34169922?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/34169922">Pencil & Ink : a film about Justin Klein</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/dannygregory">DannyGregory</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br />Justin Klein is a New York-based tattoo artist. You can see some of his work <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.399667026356.206770.699381356&type=3">here</a> on his Facebook gallery.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~~~</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Occasionally I get e-mails introducing me to new shops, or at least shops that are new to me. Suzanne Sawyer is co-owner of <a href="http://www.relentlessink.com/">Relentless Ink Custom Tattoo</a> in Newburgh, New York. She writes:</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: left;">"...Thought Id let you know about a newish (March of 2011) local tattoo studio in Orange County, NY, that my husband and I own. Not sure how you get your inspiration for the blog posts and I notice you do write several! Just wanted to point you over to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/RelentlessInkTattoo" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>RelentlessInkTattoo.</a> We have several artists, a couple of whom have been published in tattoo mags or become Featured Artists on sites like <a href="http://www.inkarmy.com/">Ink Army</a> (Check out owner and my hubby <a href="http://nybodyart.com/artist/tattoo-by-hal-sawyer/">Hal Sawyer</a> & also <a href="http://www.facebook.com/JackHammerTattoos">Jack Hammah</a>) and do tattoo conventions all over, soon Hal and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1635643502&sk=info">Keith Zahra</a> will be working <a href="http://www.tattoolapalooza.com/">Tattoolapalooza</a> in Miami." </div></blockquote>Tattoolapalooza, actually, is going on this weekend.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~~~</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Alexei Nunes, a scriptwriter and producer for Mellow9 Productions, reently pointed me to a video of their interview with well-known Tattoo Artist, Lou Molloy, as part of there "9 Scoop" Interview Series. Check it out here:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AlEcsvYf2C0" width="500"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">~~~</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">I received a heads up from NOWNESS.com, which is presenting an exclusive extract from filmmaker Ryan Hope’s documentary Skin. The film follows five skin-art collectors on their journey to be tattooed with designs created by major contemporary artists like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Richard Prince. Check it out <a href="http://www.nowness.com/day/2011/12/17/1777/ryan-hope-permanent-ink">here</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~~~</div><br />And finally, a fan named Shannon messaged me:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">You might dig these videos - photorealistic animated tattoo adventures!<br />The making-of video is pretty cool too. <br /><a href="http://www.joshuafrankel.net/Kabar.html" target="_blank">http://www.joshuafrankel.net/<wbr></wbr>Kabar.html</a></blockquote><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~~~<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks for checking these out, and have a great weekend!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div></div></div>

Cleaning Out My Inbox: January Edition

One of my New Year's resolutions is to share more of what gets sent to me from various parties looking to promote their tattoo-related p...

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Tattoorism: Naveed's Cobra

Occasionally we'll post a reader submission, referring to it as "tattoorism," as this is, for the most part, a New York City site. There are plenty of websites that cater solely to reader submissions but, I figure, once in a while, it's nice to see someone making the effort to send me a photo with a narrative.<br /><br />The following submission comes from "across the pond":<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs0poPdmuXSeWysKQMCdNkIKf1pqylVKB2RtwyWOWyIZGPP0mQ5rGZUZmiGCNzNoT8nqdK7tj46U_boCl5gHxuKJk2-Zm_J2xdaQnxvaRLzkhesPZr4VcX1786O7QrB-JGQTOZxenEYXk/s1600/cobra+tattoo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs0poPdmuXSeWysKQMCdNkIKf1pqylVKB2RtwyWOWyIZGPP0mQ5rGZUZmiGCNzNoT8nqdK7tj46U_boCl5gHxuKJk2-Zm_J2xdaQnxvaRLzkhesPZr4VcX1786O7QrB-JGQTOZxenEYXk/s640/cobra+tattoo.jpg" width="382" /></a></div><br />This cool tattoo belongs to Naveed, who writes:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I am 18 years old currently a student in the UK and I live in Bristol. I would like to submit a tattoo, I know you prefer to upload tattoos from people you've met but I am particularly proud of this tattoo as it is my third. It is a king cobra wrapped around a harp with jasmine flowers surrounding it. They are all national symbols of my ethnicities, the king cobra is the national snake of India, the jasmine flowers are the national flower of Pakistan and the harp is the national symbol of Ireland. It was done by Phil Webster at <a href="http://www.tattoohouse.com/Main/tattoo_house_home.htm">Tattoo House</a> in Dewsbury."       </blockquote>I should note that Phil Webster is not on the Tattoo House website, but is currently be co-owner of Integrity Tattoo Lounge in Ossett, West Yorkshire. I was able to find a much crisper photo on his Facebook page, so I am reprinting it here for the sake of fully representing what a nice tattoo this is:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLCjl1XlZi-fwvNvIzzBuT6My-FmDN34RCIB5fHwRuYaSz3xHR_r9shqU6wySPo57mmfI3Y1hmBQl5IvxeqSy9pbzS1G6UeoIaxgStWFGI6Gfyg4j-GfHqM_jv39jhKjw8DC3rF-TI8A/s1600/cobra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLCjl1XlZi-fwvNvIzzBuT6My-FmDN34RCIB5fHwRuYaSz3xHR_r9shqU6wySPo57mmfI3Y1hmBQl5IvxeqSy9pbzS1G6UeoIaxgStWFGI6Gfyg4j-GfHqM_jv39jhKjw8DC3rF-TI8A/s640/cobra.jpg" width="532" /></a></div><br />Thanks to Naveed for sending along this tattoo to us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Tattoorism: Naveed's Cobra

Occasionally we'll post a reader submission, referring to it as "tattoorism," as this is, for the most part, a New York City s...

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Michael and The Legend of Zelda

I was walking up Seventh Avenue back in August when I spotted Michael, taking on break on the sidewalk, soaking in the summer pedestrian traffic.<br /><br />He is a video game programmer who works for a firm called <a href="http://www.atomapps.com/">Atom Apps</a> and has his own company called <a href="http://brokenhomestudios.com/">Broken Home Studios</a>.<br /><br />I noticed he had tattoos and, given his vocation, it made sense that the ink he shared with me had a gaming theme:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-myU3oMN7iLo/TwV_ikxkJcI/AAAAAAAAMF4/2a8r5QGjBes/s1600/Two+Zeldas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-myU3oMN7iLo/TwV_ikxkJcI/AAAAAAAAMF4/2a8r5QGjBes/s640/Two+Zeldas.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />These logos are from the classic video game, <a href="http://zelda.com/universe/?ref=http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CEQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fzelda.com%2F&ei=UIUFT4TOJsTV0QGbkpmWBg&usg=AFQjCNEP9nnpaINdS66MRs-tGFBPaEX6hA&sig2=driSqmFtTcPYKajcy2U3Cw">The Legend of Zelda</a>, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2011.  When I asked why he had an affinity for Zelda, Michael explained:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"It helped me get through a very violent parent thing. It was like, the little boy, sent into the world, by himself, alone, to fight all the bad things coming at him. And, he didn't do this on his own. He was put into this against his will, like I was, with my situation. He was able to survive and fight and conquer and have a happy ending, and that's why I have that affinity for that character and that game - because I vicariously lived through that character to escape my own issues."</blockquote><br />He got both Zelda pieces at <a href="http://www.screamininktattoo.com/">Screamin' Ink Tattoo</a> off of Route 4 in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.241113099426.137820.239821659426&type=3">Ian Shafer</a> did the piece on the left<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CbKbtRsda1Y/TwWAMD7tl0I/AAAAAAAAMGY/hqmlPmCBfO0/s1600/zelda+left.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="377" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CbKbtRsda1Y/TwWAMD7tl0I/AAAAAAAAMGY/hqmlPmCBfO0/s400/zelda+left.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />and he attributed the piece on the right to an artist he only remembered as Bob.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x_Cf5GmlkA0/TwWAd-dwAHI/AAAAAAAAMGk/nU3fcWO6Ib0/s1600/zelda+right.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="327" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x_Cf5GmlkA0/TwWAd-dwAHI/AAAAAAAAMGk/nU3fcWO6Ib0/s400/zelda+right.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I'm familiar with the artists at Screamin' Ink, having witnessed their work up close at the last two NYC Tattoo Conventions. In fact, the work highlighted in <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/dispatch-from-nyc-tattoo-convention.html">this post</a>, by Ian, is among the more amazing tattoos I have had the privilege to see up close.<br /><br />Thanks to Michael for sharing these tattoos with us here on Tattoosday, and for being so forthright about the inspiration behind them as they related to his difficult childhood.<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Michael and The Legend of Zelda

I was walking up Seventh Avenue back in August when I spotted Michael, taking on break on the sidewalk, soaking in the summer pedestrian tra...

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Escher, Anyone?

I met Justin in Penn Station last month and snapped this quick photo of his right forearm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oq66R17b3YM/TwQ8EIsALGI/AAAAAAAAMFk/ZqtBKAi5kxM/s1600/Escher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oq66R17b3YM/TwQ8EIsALGI/AAAAAAAAMFk/ZqtBKAi5kxM/s640/Escher.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br /><br />Justin said he was familiar with Tattoosday because I had previously featured work by his friend <a href="http://www.redemptiontattoo.com/3/gallerymain.asp?GalleryID=71208&AKey=XAPSX3K7">Erick Lynch</a> at <a href="http://redemptiontattoo.com/3/artist.asp?ArtistID=28105&Akey=XAPSX3K7">Redemption Tattoo</a>. He was likely referring to this <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/05/our-1000th-post-davids-mermaid-and.html">post</a>.<br /><br />This work on his sleeve is based on the work of <a href="http://www.mcescher.com/">M.C. Escher</a>. The tattoo artist responsible is <a href="http://www.chrisdingwell.com/">Chris Dingwell</a>, whose amazing work has appeared previously on Tattoosday <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/03/erikas-ink-something-old-and-something.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Justin for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Escher, Anyone?

I met Justin in Penn Station last month and snapped this quick photo of his right forearm: Justin said he was familiar with Tattoosday becau...

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Jenn's Lily of the Valley

I stopped Jenn outside of Madison Square Garden when I noticed the cool floral tattoo wrapping around her right ankle onto her foot:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P3Kz64DxZsw/TwLkT7cEeyI/AAAAAAAAMFE/gxeso0vhT90/s1600/lily+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P3Kz64DxZsw/TwLkT7cEeyI/AAAAAAAAMFE/gxeso0vhT90/s640/lily+1.jpg" width="272" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gRqXDududaw/TwLkZneCKdI/AAAAAAAAMFM/Rv9QopD3knc/s1600/lily+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gRqXDududaw/TwLkZneCKdI/AAAAAAAAMFM/Rv9QopD3knc/s640/lily+2.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><br />Jenn identified the artist only as Roland, at a shop in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego. "I had the idea for the design and he drew it," she explained. The flower depicted is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_of_the_Valley">Lily of the Valley</a>.<br /><br />When I asked why she chose this flower, she elaborated:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I'm not super religious, but there's a story that, whenever Mary cried after Jesus' death, a lily of the valley would grow. I happen to believe that, through tears and feelings, that it really brings a person to life."</blockquote>Jenn is a therapist, and this expression of emotion leading to new life goes hand-in-hand with her vocation. The full context of the flower in a religious context can be read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_of_the_Valley#Christian_legend">here</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Jenn for sharing her lovely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div>

Jenn's Lily of the Valley

I stopped Jenn outside of Madison Square Garden when I noticed the cool floral tattoo wrapping around her right ankle onto her foot: Jenn id...

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Tattoosday at the Cincinnati Airport: Patrick’s Ink

Happy New Years from us here at Tattoosday! We still have some old 2011 encounters to recall which, for one reason or another, got postponed until now.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Regular readers may recall that I went briefly to Covington, Kentucky at the end of April and I spotted a few tattoos in my travels.</span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On my way back to New York, I was navigating the maze that is the TSA security checkpoint when I spotted a guy with a lot of interesting ink. However, common sense dictated that a crowded airport checkpoint was likely not the best place to start taking pictures and interviewing people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So I put on my shoes and headed off to the gate. I just missed the little shuttle that transports travelers 150 yards or so from one section of the airport to the gate section of the terminal, so I waited, and who should walk up and stand next to me, but the guy I saw at the security checkpoint.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Knowing I couldn’t possibly ignore a clear sign from the fates that this gentleman should be on Tattoosday, I started up a conversation about his ink and five minutes later we were at the airport bar, talking about his tattoos, as I snapped photos of his sleeve, between sips of a very tall frosty glass of <a href="http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/39908">Shocktop Ale</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Patrick was kind enough to not only answer all my questions, was also nice enough to buy my beer for me. He works as a bartender on a river barge in the Cincinnati area and has a full sleeve, along with a separate piece on his left biceps. The work was finished in 2004 and took about four to five years due to the fact that he took some breaks between ink sessions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Patrick is a Christian, and many of his tattoos are reflective of his faith.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f5tXfabTPtc/TwHjzLaFMTI/AAAAAAAAMC4/gf4-ZnlWlmc/s1600/love+the+lord+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f5tXfabTPtc/TwHjzLaFMTI/AAAAAAAAMC4/gf4-ZnlWlmc/s400/love+the+lord+large.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> For example, this quote, that reads, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart/with all your soul/with all your mind/ And with all your strength”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GTgq5qenjxE/TwHkKCSaKBI/AAAAAAAAMDM/p_nEmM-1xDg/s1600/Love+the+Lord.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GTgq5qenjxE/TwHkKCSaKBI/AAAAAAAAMDM/p_nEmM-1xDg/s400/Love+the+Lord.jpg" width="207" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The text on the forearm says “that was/to the/Rose/make/tenfold”.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c6dlRxjj4Ns/TwHkhBAD_DI/AAAAAAAAMDk/AqTqTQ3RjVU/s1600/red+rose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c6dlRxjj4Ns/TwHkhBAD_DI/AAAAAAAAMDk/AqTqTQ3RjVU/s400/red+rose.jpg" width="215" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AOJEJbtxS-g/TwHmGTe4XcI/AAAAAAAAMEs/m7jwy_ygVDo/s1600/black+rose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AOJEJbtxS-g/TwHmGTe4XcI/AAAAAAAAMEs/m7jwy_ygVDo/s640/black+rose.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The roses reflect the rose of Sharon.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zEpPkmVeDgc/TwHk7dMnBwI/AAAAAAAAMD8/lL67DfPt8Ps/s1600/kanji+dove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zEpPkmVeDgc/TwHk7dMnBwI/AAAAAAAAMD8/lL67DfPt8Ps/s640/kanji+dove.jpg" width="372" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The kanji on Patrick's right biceps, he told me, symbolize “truth, love and happiness.” The bird inked nearby is a dove.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CQIaZeMmTbY/TwHlVKvBErI/AAAAAAAAMEU/CeTmUd7ss9U/s1600/pyramid+and+cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CQIaZeMmTbY/TwHlVKvBErI/AAAAAAAAMEU/CeTmUd7ss9U/s640/pyramid+and+cross.jpg" width="276" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The triangle at the top of the arm represents Christianity’s Trinity. And obviously, the crosses are also representative of his faith.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The tattoo on Patrick’s left biceps is a design representing the eye of God.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4H2vwrRvX8g/TwHf0VuIg9I/AAAAAAAAMCY/HIaz9trceJM/s1600/left+arm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4H2vwrRvX8g/TwHf0VuIg9I/AAAAAAAAMCY/HIaz9trceJM/s400/left+arm.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He got that tattoo in 2003 from Kenny Smith at <a href="http://www.karmictattoo.com/">Karmic Tattoo</a> in McDonough, Georgia. Kenny Smith and Kenny Thompson, also of Karmic, are the two artists responsible for all of Patrick’s ink. It should be noted, however, that both Kennys are not listed as staff on the current Karmic website</span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Thanks to Patrick, not only for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday, but for buying me the beer, and helping me pass the time at the airport.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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.</span></div></div>

Tattoosday at the Cincinnati Airport: Patrick’s Ink

Happy New Years from us here at Tattoosday! We still have some old 2011 encounters to recall which, for one reason or another, got postponed...

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