The Tattooed Poets Project: Micah Ling

Our next tattooed poet is Micah Ling:<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/AVvXsEgV1xHX1lwktMe2Sg1G56z4Hmtnr0C9OPOt7pZn7laN2lwP6IXWLVLXX12m50mcxT8iJH6QL7yO4O48hIvHBuetKnq1TOgZBqqjWsptGecvPfK_wvjcy1-zVa3feZERkHH_XwSs0gQ3eWI/s615/ML.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV1xHX1lwktMe2Sg1G56z4Hmtnr0C9OPOt7pZn7laN2lwP6IXWLVLXX12m50mcxT8iJH6QL7yO4O48hIvHBuetKnq1TOgZBqqjWsptGecvPfK_wvjcy1-zVa3feZERkHH_XwSs0gQ3eWI/s1600/ML.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Michael Edwards</td></tr></tbody></table>Micah has a type tattoo on her inner left arm, featuring the equation "Poetry =  Anger x Imagination." She explains:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"This is a quote from <a href="http://www.fallsapart.com/">Sherman Alexie's</a> poem <i>An Incomplete List of People I Wish Were Indian</i> in his collection <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882413768/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1882413768&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EOne%20Stick%20Song%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1882413768%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">One Stick Song</a>. I've met Alexie several times and he loves the tattoo. It's also an epigraph to my third collection of poems, <a href="http://www.sunnyoutside.com/releases/061/o.html">Settlement</a>."</blockquote><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/AVvXsEjI2dBDS2Rusp8qCx1Dit1DWx-ArH1_vqIcH0L8ZGw9Gm9iYjJyxa1oS_rrvjkzYuVbZw816XBDgQ_ZehBPAtjyAK4Il_Gf4TLP7E-mrvCyfUoEGtiUAROKYNnttWlY9ppOhGd7CvpkYOw/s615/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI2dBDS2Rusp8qCx1Dit1DWx-ArH1_vqIcH0L8ZGw9Gm9iYjJyxa1oS_rrvjkzYuVbZw816XBDgQ_ZehBPAtjyAK4Il_Gf4TLP7E-mrvCyfUoEGtiUAROKYNnttWlY9ppOhGd7CvpkYOw/s640/photo.jpg" width="606" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Micah Ling  and her Tattoo, with Sherman Alexie</td></tr></tbody></table>Micah credited Dan Stewart at <a href="http://luckytats.com/luckytats.com/Welcome.html">Lucky Rabbit Tattoo</a> in Muncie, Indiana, with the working, adding, "he's outstanding: really great with font."<br /><br />Micah sent along the following poem, which is from her collection, <a href="http://www.sunnyoutside.com/releases/061/o.html">Settlement</a>:<br /><br />"Settlement"<br /><br />If ever you've seen a thing dying:<br />a bird or a dog or a man, <br />even an ugly beast, suffering, <br />not wanting to die,<br />putting up a fight of fights,<br />you know that look,<br />because it’s in us all. <br />That not wanting to die look. It’s not fear,<br />not anger, but something<br />else. If ever you've seen a thing seize<br />or bleed or cry out—really hurt—<br />you know that ache. It’s so much<br />like falling in love. Hearing a song<br />that brings you back—one that gives<br />a stomach flip. You've fallen<br />in love; of course you have,<br />and you've seen things fail.<br />Both are unmistakable; both <br />are like going blind.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />There's more information about the book <a href="http://www.sunnyoutside.com/releases/061/o.html">here</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgIa-nyvHTdLvrav4vzYWgklYKNKaHeYQMBkknKupskNQMcRMIdGgvbCWl6FtycvYECTidY3EBVP9VAG7xXDmZQE8q_ecGhC-5uTN_8rHVIAU9dN-1amGs1Ono8Xl4-joHc81CbL8ePCw/s1600/Settlement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgIa-nyvHTdLvrav4vzYWgklYKNKaHeYQMBkknKupskNQMcRMIdGgvbCWl6FtycvYECTidY3EBVP9VAG7xXDmZQE8q_ecGhC-5uTN_8rHVIAU9dN-1amGs1Ono8Xl4-joHc81CbL8ePCw/s400/Settlement.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />Micah Ling lives in Brooklyn, NY and teaches in the English department at <a href="http://www.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/english/">Fordham University</a> in Manhattan. Her third collection of poems was published by <a href="http://www.sunnyoutside.com/">Sunnyoutside Press </a>(Buffalo, NY) in May, 2012. She writes for and manages the website <a href="http://ringsidereviews.com/">Ringsidereviews.com</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Micah for sharing her tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><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=1934513350" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><b id="internal-source-marker_0.6974221630953252" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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 </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 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></span></b>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Micah Ling

Our next tattooed poet is Micah Ling: Photo by Michael Edwards Micah has a type tattoo on her inner left arm, featuring the equation "P...

Read more »

Anja's Ink: Not Your Type-ical Tattoos

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><b id="internal-source-marker_0.546141164842993"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of my favorite tattoo encounters in 2011 has yet to see the light of these Tattoosday pages.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can this be? You’d think I’d be rushing to post wonderful tattoos but, in some cases, I have what can only be described as blogger’s block. I can go around this encounter and “save it for a rainy day,” but those days turn into weeks, which become monrths, until I see an anniversary approaching on the horizon.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Such was the case with Anja, a native New Zealander who I chanced upon last July in front of K-Mart in the Penn Station concourse. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What stopped me dead in my tracks when I spotted her was that she was covered in text:</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Y9bgWreP-_xbj1XJDkEuJYsb2ITKTI6UxhM8mAxFGDVNxfsyBuXSZ1kkvM3r0YjyV5cDeoDEH9DL-E9Q_7WymvQiyN8UMkcVD9YjJ9su7JJp9o5x-nRh5sppepxVjehtVhTWpZGrskU/s615/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Y9bgWreP-_xbj1XJDkEuJYsb2ITKTI6UxhM8mAxFGDVNxfsyBuXSZ1kkvM3r0YjyV5cDeoDEH9DL-E9Q_7WymvQiyN8UMkcVD9YjJ9su7JJp9o5x-nRh5sppepxVjehtVhTWpZGrskU/s640/photo.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She had words inked on her flesh, all different fonts, but not just scrawled, but arranged artistically in a type-setter’s fashion. It was like she was wearing a collection of <a href="http://www.bodytypebook.com/ina/index.html">Ina Saltz’s</a> greatest hits.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And here’s the rub: I think that the complexity of the tattooed words running across her body gave me pause. How would I explain this coherently?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So let me try.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anja’s clusters of words are poetry, but not poems; they are love letters to family members, and they are deeply personal. The photo above was deliberately framed in a way so that the reader could not necessarily see each entire piece. In this way, Anja maintains ownership of the tattoos and their sentiments.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She has these words assigned in different fonts to members of her family, her mother and her sisters. For example, her tattoo for one sister is in a “Loki Cola” font that resembles the Coca-Cola script and reads</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2RWYA4KKjZQ8MeJCaqT1d3GkhH5pIwA5IPn6mv5rX7VbvXsNV-EjIxYQpOTw1-zWdZxo-jNzxtzZPDuCOjnOn_3uFycj_4c8AjArFsbr20B2AQfToDUKdRuKFv0tSwGgnjpGfwcxl2k/s615/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2RWYA4KKjZQ8MeJCaqT1d3GkhH5pIwA5IPn6mv5rX7VbvXsNV-EjIxYQpOTw1-zWdZxo-jNzxtzZPDuCOjnOn_3uFycj_4c8AjArFsbr20B2AQfToDUKdRuKFv0tSwGgnjpGfwcxl2k/s640/photo.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Under/Flesh/Within/Breast/This/Heart/Holds/Heidi”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s a complete piece for her sister Saskia, using the Konspiracy Theory font:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif4OiQk2Zbg5Ob5FUljKWH9XUCW6aopwYuUQ-ulUa1AE3R2_WyBi3kDjFX2eNAKAjfHkGsFOwzU7r8GyjP-z3B9Aqnp7B1-E8Q3Kxt46ZKeOsc-5e4gCUpr8yy3a71bApTmQHQva-DxdA/s615/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif4OiQk2Zbg5Ob5FUljKWH9XUCW6aopwYuUQ-ulUa1AE3R2_WyBi3kDjFX2eNAKAjfHkGsFOwzU7r8GyjP-z3B9Aqnp7B1-E8Q3Kxt46ZKeOsc-5e4gCUpr8yy3a71bApTmQHQva-DxdA/s640/photo.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The verse reads “Saskia/Skin/Belly/Laugh/The/Very/Inside”.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each piece is a work of beauty.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anja came to New York specifically to be tattooed by <a href="http://stephanietamez.com/">Stephanie Tamez</a>, an accomplished artist outright, but whose reputation as a master of inking type is unsurpassed. Stephanie is based out of <a href="http://savedtattoo.com/">Saved Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anja also shared this tattoo on her left hand:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhL-CQkTHw1EsFJEujIqdhNQ_ogOkd6Wck7RRSBVMDcjicbQdFhCpOSzeLu9SeFw64Q9kxk4mBS2tF5RSrRfho0IpsPlM8HUc69Ka5gs0OC1wFztvLRvEOS7o6S_LfAUP4DGGGzRBOes/s775/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhL-CQkTHw1EsFJEujIqdhNQ_ogOkd6Wck7RRSBVMDcjicbQdFhCpOSzeLu9SeFw64Q9kxk4mBS2tF5RSrRfho0IpsPlM8HUc69Ka5gs0OC1wFztvLRvEOS7o6S_LfAUP4DGGGzRBOes/s400/photo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She explained,</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“This is my newest one [as on July 2011]. It’s an egret, or heron. <i><a href="http://www.nhc.net.nz/index/birds-new-zealand/white-heron/white-heron.htm">Kotuku</a></i> in New Zealand … me and my sister got one of these together. [The artist, Gypsy Nation] actually tattooed it on himself as well. He’s Native American and has the heron in his family.”</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gypsy Nation did the tattoo at <a href="http://finelinetattoo.com/">Fineline Tattoo</a> on the Lower East Side of New York, but has since moved on.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks to Anja for sharing these wonderful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday, and for waiting so patiently for me to post them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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</span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 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></span>

Anja's Ink: Not Your Type-ical Tattoos

One of my favorite tattoo encounters in 2011 has yet to see the light of these Tattoosday pages. How can this be? You’d think I’d be rushing...

Read more »

& (Melissa)

I love typographical tattoos.<br /><br />You've read about them here before in <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-event-and-book-review-body.html">this post</a>, among others.<br /><br />Last month I met Melissa, in <a href="http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/map/44995457/new_york_ny/borders.html">Borders</a> at 2 Penn Plaza, and she shared this tattoo, right below her left collar bone:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHDbqhZF3QielDyxn1zMHhRRfGYkwFkkj1a0sd314QhYvDW_Ko0hQJaCv7z9RLWncMFjPo3YhYCxd_BiCVu9ysvK7ioR1DO6uuy4doWVkH_BBfNO4qKJJUh7ldir9fwt1cZRvIxbb/s1600/Ampersand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHDbqhZF3QielDyxn1zMHhRRfGYkwFkkj1a0sd314QhYvDW_Ko0hQJaCv7z9RLWncMFjPo3YhYCxd_BiCVu9ysvK7ioR1DO6uuy4doWVkH_BBfNO4qKJJUh7ldir9fwt1cZRvIxbb/s320/Ampersand.jpg" /></a></div><br />This was Melissa's first tattoo (she now has three) and she got it because it is her favorite punctuation mark.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNYqoexDtmmdT-q0MA0ek7x4Fk3qwJ5KeHo3MRL-HlEiH3MV8N0aQWWL8ockDvD0LMX_ADsslMukewi5C4fi2qAeMmFxU8zba116i-TNo2A5ZNMvfNo5cRW4XabwEdQWz-505z9xP/s1600/amp+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNYqoexDtmmdT-q0MA0ek7x4Fk3qwJ5KeHo3MRL-HlEiH3MV8N0aQWWL8ockDvD0LMX_ADsslMukewi5C4fi2qAeMmFxU8zba116i-TNo2A5ZNMvfNo5cRW4XabwEdQWz-505z9xP/s320/amp+detail.jpg" /></a></div><br />She couldn't recall the exact font, but it resembles old English.<br /><br />This tattoo was done in <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Lauderdale-FL/Babylon-Tattoo-and-Body-Piercing/193968252346?v=wall&__a=4&#%21/pages/Fort-Lauderdale-FL/Babylon-Tattoo-and-Body-Piercing/193968252346?v=info&__a=3&ajaxpipe=1">Babylon Tattoo & Body Piercing</a> in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.<br /><br />Thanks to Melissa for sharing her ampersand with us here on Tattoosday!

& (Melissa)

I love typographical tattoos. You've read about them here before in this post , among others. Last month I met Melissa, in Borders at 2...

Read more »

Elizabeth's Alphabetical Ink

Imagine me in Penn Station. I see a woman with a small letter tattooed on her. Interesting. Then I notice that she has them everywhere, in no apparent order, on her legs, on her arms, on the back of her neck. Not something you see every day. I had to ask her about them, and Elizabeth was kind to indulge my curiosity.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ihearttype.com/">Elizabeth</a> is a typographer, by profession, and she works with letters as part of her trade. Over the course of three years, she had the entire alphabet tattooed, two or three letters at a time, all over her body.<br /><br />Here's the one photo I took that captured two letters in one frame:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxR7lJIFO_6VfRVMI-ZGG1WZYY4SbCl2J-hCoJsbfV7027oCPaM5ml4fkgf-7r6TiQxLa8cusSC-tAsDhZYE04_dWAua-dmtWBA_zn4HEcSeYYAndayXf5UXSdjOExSEtTEobmwVZkIU/s1600-h/type.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379030426893845794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxR7lJIFO_6VfRVMI-ZGG1WZYY4SbCl2J-hCoJsbfV7027oCPaM5ml4fkgf-7r6TiQxLa8cusSC-tAsDhZYE04_dWAua-dmtWBA_zn4HEcSeYYAndayXf5UXSdjOExSEtTEobmwVZkIU/s400/type.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />I asked her if she went in alphabetical order and she told me she hadn't. Whatever letters she was working on at the time, she would have inked. In other words, she'd head into <a href="http://nyadorned.com/">New York Adorned</a> for her appointment with <a href="http://stephanietamez.com/">Stephanie Tamez</a>, and whatever was at the forefront of her consciousness, that's what she had tattooed.<br /><br />I was familiar with Stephanie Tamez for, most recently, <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/04/eileen-myles-poet-take-my-measure.html">this tattoo</a> on the writer <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://www.eileenmyles.com/home.html">Eileen Myles</a>. So I sent Stephanie an email and asked her to comment on this particular twenty-six part tattoo.<br /><br />Stephanie wrote:<br /><br /><blockquote>"I...remember the alphabet on Elizabeth, she is sweet and lovely as well. As you may or may not know I have had a reputation for tattooing many a letter, many a word, many a sentence and many a paragraph. I bet I have in all filled a few novels. Ha. Anyway from what I can recall with Elizabeth, it was very simple and fun and straight forward. I have done several alphabets throughout the years on mostly graphic designers who are captivated by fonts. I have done words on graphic designers from France to Mexico and done many a word on many a writer. I wish I could remember them all and had been logging all their tales..."</blockquote><br />Elizabeth had also mentioned to me that she was meeting with <a href="http://www.bodytypebook.com/">Ina Saltz</a>, an art director, designer, writer, photographer and professor at <a href="http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/">City College of New York</a>. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Ms. Saltz had written a book called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0810970503?tag=bill03-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0810970503&adid=12T728898D9Q8RHAGYMP&">Body Type</a>, which is a study of typographic tattoos.<br /><br />Having since read the book (highly recommended to all), I related to Ms. Saltz's quest, that began with a chance spotting of a word tattoo on a crosstown bus several years ago. Of course, I have featured <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/search/label/Words">numerous word tattoos</a> over the past couple of years, but <u>Body Type's</u> chronicling of the vast array of typographic tattoos is certainly entertaining to anyone who appreciates the art. In fact, Ms. Saltz goes out of her way to acknowledge Stephanie Tamez as one of the premier word tattooists. In all fairness to Ms. Tamez, one look at <a href="http://www.blogger.com/stephanietamez.wordpress.com">her website</a> will reveal that, although she is acknowledged as a skilled tattooer of words, her skills and artistry go far beyond the inking of letters!<br /><br />Anyway, back to Elizabeth, who followed up our encounter with an e-mail discussing the font she used for her tattoos, but also with (per my request) an alphabetical catalog of all her letters:<br /><blockquote><br />My tattoos are in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garamond">Garamond</a> (for the real font nerds out there, it's a few different cuts, mostly Garamond 3 and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stempel">Stempel</a> Garamond, a couple are in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Systems">Adobe</a> Garamond). I'm a typographer and I've always loved Garamond — the first Roman font to be used on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg">Gutenberg's</a> press. The typeface has been in existence since 1530, and still embodies so much of what we perceive as 'perfect' in letterforms today. Yes, they're all in lower case. No plans for capitals, or punctuation...no plans for any more tattoos, in fact.<br /><br />Below is the catalog of letters. although I will say I didn't get them in alphabetical order, and I got them slowly over a few years. It was usually whatever letters I was drawing a lot at the time, or thinking about.<br /><br />a: front-facing left shoulder<br />b: left thigh<br />c: inside left arm<br />d: right upper right arm/bicep<br />e: sternum<br />f: right calf<br />g: inside right wrist<br />h: inside right calf<br />i: inside left thigh, just above knee<br />j: inside left wrist<br />k: left upper left arm/bicep<br />l: left forearm<br />m: right forearm<br />n: collarbone<br />o: inside right bicep<br />p: inside right thigh<br />q: nape of neck [pictured]<br />r: top of right shoulder<br />s: top of right foot<br />t: left shin<br />u: back<br />v: back<br />w: back<br />x: shoulder blade<br />y: left calf<br />z: behind left ear [pictured]<br /></blockquote>Thanks to Elizabeth for her cooperation and participation here on Tattoosday. Also, much thanks to Stephanie Tamez (see her official website <a href="http://stephanietamez.com/">here</a>) for her chiming in on the experience.<br /><br />Do look into <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0810970503?tag=bill03-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0810970503&adid=12T728898D9Q8RHAGYMP&">Body Type</a>, as well. It's a lovely book indeed.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0810970503&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /></div>

Elizabeth's Alphabetical Ink

Imagine me in Penn Station. I see a woman with a small letter tattooed on her. Interesting. Then I notice that she has them everywhere, in n...

Read more »