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My mother passed away six years ago on 11/17/2004. For a long time I wanted to get a tattoo in memory of her without doing the RIP MOM thing I’ve seen so many times before. I think it’s nice, but it is not my style. A little over two years ago my sister and I were going out with some friends for dinner and my sister was wearing this very Victorian-style blouse. Pinned to the front collar of the blouse was a cameo that has been in my family for many years. It was passed down from my Grandmother to my mother and now to my sister. As soon as I glanced at it, it hit me! I will get a tattoo of this Cameo and then realized it would not only be for my mom. My mother, my sister, and I are obsessed with the Victorian era! We love everything Victorian. My grandmother loved the Victorian times as well.So I decided to bring the cameo with me to Twin Moon Tattoo shop [in Floral Park, Long Island] and had the artist Cindy sketch the cameo ... I love this tattoo so much, not only because it represents an era that I love but it also represents the three most important women in my life: my Grandmother, my Mother, & my sister! [Cindy] thought it was a little strange that I wanted it just below the inside wrist of my right arm and suggested I put it on the back of my neck or make it really big and put it in the middle of my back. I had explained the meaning behind the tattoo and how important it was for me that I see it everyday....That being said, she agreed and sketched it the actual size of the cameo and tattooed it on the inside of my arm right below the wrist.
I met Cat earlier this week at Borders, which has been the go-to locale for inkspotting during a very sparse winter.
He has fifteen tattoos, but we discussed the two I noticed, on the tops of his hands:
The tattoos are variations on Celtic pagan designs that he modified to make his own.
The right hand represents the chalice of the goddess, who represents expressiveness and creativity. Wiccan principles acknowledge that the goddess is the source of all expression.
Cat's other hand is decorated with a Celtic triquetra. The three markings around the design are letters drawn in the Theban script, each corresponding to the first initials of his three children.
Cat says that these, as well as his other tattoos, were inked by Neo at Village Moon Tattoos in Jackson Heights, in the borough of Queens.
Readers interested in these tattoos may also be interested in checking out our old friend Livia Indica's site NeoPagan Ink.
Thanks kindly to Cat for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!
I met Frank in the Penn Plaza Borders yesterday and stopped to ask him about his tattoos.
"How many do you have?" I asked and he responded vaguely "a lot". That generally means at least a dozen, if not more, and he offered up this two-part tattoo, from his right arm:
This is a Transformer. More specifically, "Laserbeak," a Transformer that does reconnaissance.
This is one of the first tattoos that Frank got and, as one would expect, he had this done because he likes Transformers.
He credited the tattoo to Cort Bengston at Cort's Royal Ink Tattoo Studio in Patchogue, New York.
Thanks to Frank for sharing these cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!
Today's tattoo comes to us courtesy of Sal, who is making his third appearance on Tattoosday. We first met him in 2008 when he shared this Guns N Roses tattoo, and then again, in 2009 with this quote, inked on his forearm.
Both times I ran into Sal at the video store where he works in Brooklyn Heights. He alerted me to the fact that he had new ink, so I just had to stop by and see in person:
The collage might not bring out the finer details as seen in a closer view:
The bird is an American Robin. Why this particular bird? Sal explains: "Robins mean a lot to me - not just for their beauty, but for their meaning of hope and new beginnings".
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| American Robin -- Humber Bay Park (East) (Toronto, Canada) -- 2005, by en:User:Mdf |
The tattoo artist is the phenomenal Mark Harada at East Side Ink in Manhattan. Work from Mark and other East Side Ink artists has appeared previously on our site here.
Thanks again to Sal for sharing his awesome new tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
A couple weeks ago, I ran into Vinny at a Duane Reade on 86th Street in Brooklyn.
He had several tattoos and shared this one, on his left forearm:
Thanks to Vinny for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!
I met Ashley in the New Jersey Transit section of Penn Station last week after I spotted this tattoo on her right foot:
Now, if you've not read the Harry Potter series, perhaps it is best to skip the rest of the post, because it might not make a lot of sense.
Those in the know will understand what I mean when I explain that the ghostly creature on the top of Ashley's foot is the patronus of Severus Snape, as described in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment of the seven-part series by J.K. Rowling. The patronus takes the shape of a doe.
The quote above the doe is "It's real for us..." as remembered by Snape when speaking with Lily Evans, the girl at Hogwarts who became Harry's mother. Identical creatures appear when they cast the patronus charm.
Ashley's friend drew it up and she had the piece done at Tattoo Nation in Wayne, New Jersey by Matt "Monty" Montleon.
This is one of two tattoos that Ashley has. The other resides on her left foot:
The snowflake was also inked by Monty and is a memorial to Ashley's grandmother, whose last name was Snow.
Thanks to Ashley for sharing her two tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!
A trip to the laundromat on Saturday yielded a meeting with a young lady who had a couple visible tattoos on one of her feet and an ankle. Fortunately, my curiosity got the better of me because, when I asked her about them, she revealed much better work, namely this phenomenal Marilyn Monroe portrait on her inner right forearm:
This stunning work was created by the incomparable Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned. I have been fortunate to encounter Ms. Elwood's work previously here and here.
Melanie is a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe and she is proud to wear this icon on her sleeve. Clicking on the tag for Marilyn Monrow below will reveal other Marilyn tattoos that have appeared previously on Tattoosday.
Thanks to Melanie for sharing this phenomenal portrait with us here on Tattoosday!
Last month I enviously watched as the good folks over at TattooSnob had a contest in which they gave away some really cool items from Bonafide Bags. I reached out to the good people at Bonafide and asked if they'd like to do something with our readers, and they were very receptive to the idea.
So check these out:
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| Bonafide's Japanese Koi (left) and Traditional (right) Designs |
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| Bonafide's American Pride (left) and Day of the Dead (right) Designs |
They're very sturdy and look really cool - perfect for a trip to the supermarket or the beach. They're made from recycled plastic and my lovely bride is already rocking her Japanese Koi bag. There are two sizes of each design. Check out Bonafide's website here for more product specifics, including close-up views, as well.
How do you win a set? Leave a comment on the post below and winners will be randomly selected and receive a matching set of these Bonafide Bags. That's one large all purpose bag and its matching lunch/gift bag counterpart, or a $15.00 value. I have three sets of each of the four designs, so that's twelve winners in all.
Now, let's see if we can outdo the readers at TattooSnob. They garnered 63 comments/entries in their giveaway, so our goal is 70 reader comments by Saturday, February 19, at 11:59 PM, EST. Tell us which one is your favorite design, or any other related comment, and you'll be eligible to win!
Note: I have a filter on comments so if you don't see it right away, it's because I need to approve each submission to make sure it's not spam.
Normally I would have prefaced this as a "Tattoos I Know" post, since the contributor, Jenise, has been a friend of mine since 1984. However, since we haven't actually seen each other in person in over twenty-five years, I've never actually met her tattooed self in the flesh.
Nonetheless, Jenise has been a fan and supporter of Tattoosday since its inception and has, from early on, told me that "one of these days" she'd send me shots of the tattoo circling her right wrist. Imagine my surprise when, out of the blue, the pictures finally arrived this week. So here it is:
Jenise credits Clay at Willie's Tropical Tattoo in Daytona Beach, who inked these in February 2008. The piece was "designed to reflect [her] Hawaiian bracelet and it took [the artist] 2 hours to get it just the way he wanted it before he put the stencil on...". As for the words "Peanut" and "Shellfish," the tattoo also acts as a quasi medic alert bracelet, indicating two foods which make her seriously ill. So there's a practical aspect to the piece, as well.
On a humorous note, she added "NO... these are NOT the nicknames of my children, I have been asked that more times than I can count".
Thanks to Jenise for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
