Tattoo Endels: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Repost: Eddie Graces Egghead's Shoulder

For Halloween, I felt like re-posting a piece that appeared here back in November 2009. To date, this tattoo is in my Top 10 that has appeared on Tattoosday. Enjoy! And have a safe, happy Halloween!

I recently met a gentleman from England, along with his wife, as they were milling about outside of Madison Square Garden.

He referred to himself as "Egghead," I'm guessing due to his bald head. I first noticed the logo for the band Slayer on the back of his calf, along with several other interesting looking tattoos. He estimated he has about a dozen tattoos.

But, like the best Tattoosday stories, he shared this amazing tattoo on his right shoulder, hidden under a sweatshirt, which he pulled off so I could see it properly:

That's a phenomenal piece, courtesy of his artist Ben Boston at The Tattoo Studio in Bristol, England.

The tattoo is a likeness of Eddie, mascot for the band Iron Maiden, one of the premiere metal bands that came out of England in the late 1970's/early 1980's. I won't bore the reader with the catalog of my Iron Maiden fandom, but it certainly made the tattoo even that more wonderful for me.

I even had a nice chat with Egghead and his wife about concerts we had attended.

I thank Egghead for sharing this awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Mary's Call of the Wild

I met Mary outside of Penn Station on Seventh Avenue a couple weeks ago. She shared this tattoo on her right calf:

Mary explained:

"I got my wolf tattoo at some place on St. Mark's Place, I don't remember, I was drunk, after I read [The] Call of the Wild. I had broken my foot and they let me leave work early, so I went to a bar with my best friend and started drinking. And then, I was like, 'We should get tattoos' and she was like 'I'm gonna go home' and then ... she was like 'I'm not gettin' tattooed'. So we went to some shady tattoo shop where they let me run around without shoes on and drink beer like a crazy girl. And all I remember is him asking me if I like lavender and I said, 'yeah, I like lavender' and that was that."

Not your ideal tattoo story but, all things considered, this came out well.

Thanks to Mary for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Friday, October 28, 2011

A Girl in a Cape and a Book

I met David last month at the Bay Ridge green market at 95th and 3rd. He shared this tattoo on his calf:

David credited this, his first tattoo, to Tony at Citizen Ink on Avenue U in Brooklyn. "I just gave him the concept, and he drew it up," David told me, "A girl in a cape and a book."

Thanks to David for sharing his first tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Celtic & Irish Tattoo Meanings: Pictures & Design Ideas

Irish tattoos are a direct statement of the culture of the Irish people. Celtic tattoos are some of the most stylish of designs around today. The history of these tattoos are one of the reasons that they are so desirable.

Worn as an expression of the pride of their ancestry, many choose the Celtic tattoo because it is surrounded by mystique. This tattoo can actually be traced back to around 500 A.D.

Celtic And Irish Tattoo Meanings
Celtic tattoos have a wide range of styles and designs. The main reason they are so popular is the meaning behind them. They are more than simply a design - the meaning behind these tattoos are symbolic to the ancient Celtic way of life. From swords to crosses, these tattoos are a symbol of the history and religious beliefs of this heritage.

Although some may choose this tattoo because of the intricacy of the design and the universal symbol of the cross, there are many who wear it as a birthright. The Irish cross is different and this is what makes it stand out from other crosses.

Celtic Tattoo Ideas And Design Styles
They are often designed with Celtic knots placed at the points where the parts of the cross meet. The knot is representative of life. The belief that there is no beginning and no end is expressed in the Celtic knot.

Since this is such an intricate design, it requires skill to draw this tattoo. It is not just a series of lines; it is quite elaborate when done correctly.

The cross is actually a symbol that represents the four elements - water, fire, wind and earth - and today's tattoos often have the added features of vines and swirls and intricate geometric designs. The center of the cross represents life, which is surrounded by the natural elements.

Celtic Tattoo History And Specific Meanings
The Irish cross tattoo was placed on warriors many years ago before they went to battle to protect them from their enemies. The claddagh is an example of an Irish tattoo with a meaning that according to Irish culture is a symbol of love and friendship.

The design is two hands holding a heart and contains a crown. There are rings that are made with this design as well that are often given as a token of affection.

The shamrock is another Irish tattoo that is often seen. This is a symbol of good luck and is quite popular. The shades of green that are used for this tattoo can vary, but the basic meaning is still the same.

Another reason the Irish tattoo is so popular is that they can be beautiful in any size. Large designs or small, they are so complex and this is what adds to their beauty.

The Irish flag is often seen as a tattoo. This is a symbol of freedom for those who have Irish heritage. One of the more whimsical tattoos associated with the Irish is a leprechaun. This tattoo is often seen on men and is considered somewhat of a good luck charm.

According to Irish folklore, the leprechaun was the guardian of the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. The story is that if you can get to the end of the rainbow before it disappears, you will have found the pot of gold. Perhaps a metaphor for living a successful life.

Collin's Gypsy Snake and Time

I met Collin back in August in the middle of Broadway, between 35th and 35th Streets, sitting at one of those tables that New York City had installed in the middle of the street.

He had a lot of ink, and chose to share this section of his upper left arm:

This piece, a snake with a gypsy head, circling an alarm clock, was done by Grez at Kings Avenue Tattoo in Manhattan on the Bowery. We promoted the shop opening back in May here.

Collin explained the elements of this piece that curves around the arm:

"The clock represents when I was born ... the candle's my life, burning, it's the time I have left ... gypsies are usually known to be good luck ... the snake is for the fucked up parts of my life and the gypsy head is for the good parts of my life, you know, the future."

Collin explained that Grez initially was concerned about all of these elements combined into one piece. "At first he [Grez] thought it was going to be too much," Collin told me, "but it worked out and I'm happy with it."

The clock is particularly remarkable:

Grez's work has appeared on Tattoosday before, here and here. He's a great talent, and I'm always happy to stumble upon his work.

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

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Sue Shares a Werewolf by Deno

A couple months back, I ran into a woman during the afternoon rush hour in Penn Station who had this amazing tattoo on her right thigh:

Turns out her name was Sue Jeiven, and she is a tattoo artist at East River Tattoo in Brooklyn. More of Sue's work can be seen in East River's Flickr stream here.

This was her most recent tattoo (at the time) and was done by Deno, a visiting artist from Spain, who's Circus Tattoo in Madrid is a top-notch shop. The quality of this piece is phenomenal.

Work from Deno appeared earlier this year on the site here.

Thanks to Sue for sharing her amazing werewolf with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Amy and Her Colorful Hot Air Balloon

Today's tattoos are from Amy, who I met a couple weeks ago in Penn Station. First is this stunning hot air balloon on her upper right arm:

This was done by Brian Marsman at Powerhouse Tattoo Company in Montclair, New Jersey. "I just wanted a hot air balloon and I didn't have a picture for him or anything," Amy told me, "he just drew it up for me."

She also had this tattoo, on her inner right forearm,

This is an interpretation of a watercolor by Angelique Houtkamp entitled "Edith Piaf":

©Angelique Houtkamp

This was done by an artist named Giordano who was visiting from Brazil, set up shop in Amy's dining room, and tattooed a handful of friends and family, including Amy's husband and father.

Thanks to Amy for chatting with me and sharing these tattoos here on Tattoosday!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Stu's Sleeve in Progress

One of the drawbacks of approaching folks in Penn Station as I pass through after work is that, if they're waiting for a train, and their platform is called, they're off to the races. Sometimes people reach out to me after I've met them, but other times I don't hear from them again.

Such was the case with Stu, who shared the top part of his sleeve-in-progress:

Stu was able to tell me that his artist is Richie Calascibett at Starlight Tattoo in Rochelle Park, New Jersey.

I particularly love the blue flower and the way that Richie tattooed the wind into the design.

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

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Ed Hardy - Tattoo the World: Contest Winner!

Congratulations to reader Adam, who won the Ed Hardy DVD!

I know this is a flyer for an event last February, but it's cool and worth sharing.

Entrants were input into Randomized.com and Adam got the nod.

Lacking a review here (it will be forthcoming, I promise), check out this blurb over on the L.A.Times.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and congrats again to Adam!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Ysabel's Devil Girl

I met Ysabel last month on 34th Street across from Macy*s, and she shared this tattoo from her upper left arm:

Ysabel got this devilish girl purely as a decorative piece (no hidden meanings here!) and this is one of her thirteen tattoos.

This was inked at New York Hardcore Tattoos by Ronda Biondi. Ysabel told me that Rhonda is no longer there, and I was unable to find her on the web, so if anyone knows where she can be reached, please let us know so we can link her properly in this post. Xanthos.

After this post went live, I did receive a confirmation from the artist, Ronda Xanthos, who clarified, "I did do that pin-up (not the back-round)," when she was at New York Hardcore. You can check out some of Ronda's work here on Facebook.

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

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Kim's Floral Arm

I caught Kim in Penn Station one day after work last month, just as she was getting ready to board her train. She shared this floral tattoo that graces her upper right arm:

This bouquet of daisies, sunflowers, and lotus, with a hummingbird thrown in, to boot, was tattooed by Junior Ibanez, who tattoos independently on Long Island.

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

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Two for Tattoosday: Elise Remembers Paris and Shares a Cardinal

These next tattoos would not be here on Tattoosday were it not for signal problems at the Jay Street subway station in Brooklyn.

For it was an e-mail alert about those problems disrupting train service which sent me away from my normal routine and directed me last week to the Herald Square subway station to catch a D train.

It was there on the southbound platform that I met Elise who displayed some cool ink on her arms. We chatted a bit and, because her top partially obscured sections of her tattoos, she told me she'd email me photos. Not everybody who says that means it, or follows up, but Elise did not disappoint and sent me the following photos later that evening.

First, is this interesting tattoo on her upper right arm:

Elise calls this “Paris in a Woman,” which is inspired by the fact that she was born and raised in France. The idea of including the Parisian cityscape came from Charmaine Olivia, an artist based out of San Francisco. Elise included the Eiffel Tower in it. The tattoo was done by John Poverty, who tattoos out of Goose Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Lower on her right arm is this amazing bird tattoo:

Elise explained:

“The cardinal by Mike Adams [of True Sight Tattoo Company in Detroit] was inspired by family. Once all my siblings and I ‘flew the coop,’ my parents took up bird watching, and are now avid cardinal lovers. Mike inked this out of Thicker Than Water in Manhattan, [where he] will have a short residency in the beginning of December.”

Work by Mike appeared over the summer on Tattoosday here.

Thanks again to Elise for sharing these wonderful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Tattoosday Giveaway! Ed Hardy - Tattoo the World

[This Contest is Now Closed]

We here at Tattoosday have in our hot little hands, a brand-spanking new DVD copy of Ed Hardy: Tattoo the World.

It's yours for the taking. All you need to do to win is leave a comment on this post, or on the post on the Tattoosday Facebook page, sometime this week and a winner will be selected from among those entries.

The winner will be announced Saturday along with my review of the movie.

More information about the film, including additional clips, can be found on its website here.

Negative comments will disqualify entries. You are certainly entitled to your opinions, but we want to keep things positive, folks!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Lourdes on Lourdes

Back at the end of August, I met a woman in Borders Penn Plaza who shared this tattoo:

This tattoo depicts Lourdes (officially, Our Lady Of Lourdes) and the woman who shared it, also named Lourdes.

She was in a hurry, so I couldn't get much more information. She credited the artist as "Sugarbear".

Lourdes promised to contact me with additional information, but I haven't heard back from her.

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

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Tattoosday Book Review - Tattoo Sketchbook: Since 1966

We like to review books occasionally here on Tattoosday and wanted to say a little bit about Jim Watson's Tattoo Sketchbook, published earlier this year by ArtKultre, an imprint of Wolfgang Publications.

There's nothing fancy here, just 95 pages of solid tattoo flash by Jim Watson, who came up in the tattoo business long before it was a "respectable" multi-billion dollar industry.

Having cut his teeth in the legendary Cliff Raven's shop in Chicago in the late 1960s, Watson moved to his first shop in Denver, eventually landing in Phoenix, Arizona, where he owns Artistic Skin Designs and where, in 1991, he co-founded Superior Tattoo Equipment.

If you picked this up in a bookstore, it might not be on the top of your list as the tattoo book to buy, as it has a limited appeal to the general reader. But it seems like it would be an invaluable reference to the developing artist who is studying the art of tattoo. The flash is all crisply classic in its execution, and would fit right in with any tattoo artist's reference library.

Wolfgang Publications has a whole series of books that fit this category geared more to the mechanical side of tattooing. This volume fits in nicely to that genre and is a excellent snapshot of the sketch portfolio of the "classic" tattoo artist.

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Joker Tattoo Meanings: Pictures And Inspired Design Ideas

Why are Joker tattoos such a popular design? They are likely more popular among those who are either devout fans of the Batman comic, movie and television series, or get pleasure from the association the joker has with mischievousness.

The joker meaning is usually one or the other - foolish or full of mischief and a little evil. The popularity of the Joker tattoo is more much dominant among men than women. However, we do see requests amoung women from time to time.

Joker Tattoo Meanings And Personality
They are often associated with having somewhat of an insane personality. The Batman series further popularized this notion. The type of Joker tattoo desired is dependent on the person choosing the design. The focus is typically on the smile because this is the distinctive characteristic of the Joker.

Also associated with a deck of playing cards, the Joker represents the only card in the deck that does not have a numerical value. As such, it is considered the 'wild card.' This is often why people get a tattoo of the Joker. They may see themselves as the 'wild card' in the deck of life. Others may choose the Joker because they enjoy card games or gambling.

Tattoo Design Techniques And Ideas
Colors and shading used to create a Joker tattoo are part of the detail that makes this a highly desirable tattoo. The detail and the mixture of the colors - green, yellow and black - are shaded to give the tattoo the look desired.

The makeup is often smeared around the mouth as well to give the Joker his evil and insane look. It is important that the tattoo artist master the lines and wrinkles around the eyes and mouth to get the right look of this tattoo.

Jack Nicholson And Heath Ledger Joker Portrayal
The Joker tattoo may be chosen because of the popularity of the movie or because the person is a fan of either Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger, who both played the infamous character. The latter is chosen as a remembrance to the actor. There are also plenty of Jack Nicholson fans as well who enjoyed his portrayal of the Joker and have gotten tattoos of his mischievous portrayal of the villain.

The Joker is portrayed as the bad guy, always making a mess of everything, but he is still considered by many to be charming and fun to watch. For many, this tattoo is chosen for the little 'joker' that lives in all of us. Some people get enjoyment out of the scoundrels as well as the good guys. The fact that they have so much fun while creating havoc just appeals to that side of us.

Joker Tattoo History And Popularity
This character first appeared in 1940 in the Batman comics. Since then, movies and television have given the Joker a status that has only grown more popular over the years. Celebrities are even sporting this tattoo. For example, the keyboardist for Bon Jovi has a Joker tattoo on his chest.

The popularity of this tattoo does not seem to be waning in the least. In fact, it is gaining. Jokers are present in Tarot cards as well and this has an entirely different meaning for some who choose this design.

The presence of the Joker in Tarot cards is dependent on the position. If it is facing upright, this is considered to be a sign of a new beginning. If it is facing down, this means there are important choices that must be made before starting the new beginning. The Joker in Tarot cards is referred to as the 'Fool'.

Crystal's Ice-Bat and Gloomy Bear (with a Nod to The Academy Is)

These tattoos, belonging to Crystal, date back to an encounter I had with her on the R train in Brooklyn back in June. She has 14 tattoos, and first shared this one, on her inner right forearm:

What is this? I'll let Crystal explain:

“It’s an Ice-Bat [one of the Uglydolls] with the words ‘Dream of demons / while you sleep / that make you / stutter / when you speak’ – they’re lyrics from a song [“Down and Out”] by The Academy Is, a Chicago band. My best friend and I actually have the same words, different design on her arm. We met in Chicago … it’s kind of a way to show our support for the band but also for our friendship to each other.”

Incidentally, The Academy Is announced just last week that, after eight years, they were breaking up.

This piece was done at The Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Company, but Crystal doesn't recall the name of the artist who did the tattoo.

She also shared this chest piece:

Again, Crystal explains it best:

“I got started on it when I was 19 and I was in Atlanta and had just started college and went through a rebellious phase. … I’m in love with the main character which is Gloomy Bear … Gloomy Bear is kind of the doll that controls the boy…..”

More on Gloomy Bear can be learned on its designer Mori Chack's wikipedia page.

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

Here's a little bonus, The Academy Is performing "Down and Out" at an in-store event:

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Four from Frank

It may be the middle of October, but I am still working with a handful of summer photos, like those I took of Frank, who shared four of his ten pieces with us.

The first one is by Cris Element at Puncture Tattoo Studios in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn:

He was reluctant to share the meaning of this tattoo, saying it was personal, but he did elaborate on three others, done by Taze at Groove Tattoo in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This one, for example, he told me was because "I was born on June 7th [and] I got no luck so maybe I'll get some luck out of this tattoo...".

Frank indicated that the element of time figured into this piece, with the naked woman representing life, and the skull representing death:

And this one, also by Taze, represents that he had "the best times of [his] life skateboarding":

Thanks to Frank for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!