TATTOO FOR ALL: 2012

Girly Tattoo Design Ideas - A Man's Perspective

You recognize many people say girls opt to have cute fairy tattoos to represent their caring nature. Where is the fun in that? What would a girlie tattoo design idea be with out a little spice and rebellion? I love nothing greater than women with attractive ink. My list of designs that you can fathom over are below. No order to these mind you.

1. Wings- Freedom, inspiration, memorial,, to name a few. In my opinion, color does nothing for wings, black and grey or solid black work prove to be a good fit for this tattoo. Avoid the back for placement unless you are prepared to choose a full back piece. Nothing looks weirder than a tiny couple of wings on someones back. Add your girly flair, one could be broken for example. Feathers aren’t really the only things that could make up an adequate set of wings, how about black tribal wings or wings crafted from shattered glass, daggers, rifles. The purpose is to be creative. Portraits, Black and grey portraits done properly can look amazing. But to hold the theme alive with girly tattoo design ideas again the creativity has to come alive. Have your artist add a intensely colorful background that wraps the portrait. A Brilliant colorful coy fish & flower mix or perhaps floral and cherry blossoms. The Black and Grey mixed with a strong color background can really be an eye catcher if done by the right artist.

The number of star tattoo designs available for women and men is virtually limitless. This is not surprising. Since tattooing is an art form, the only design limitations are those relating to the level of creativity for any given tattoo artist. So if what you are after is an eagle soaring in front of a red sun off of your left shoulder or a terrifying skull sitting on your left triceps just glaring at anyone daring to look at it, you should have no difficulty finding an artist to do it.

Before taking the plunge, it is important to remember that a tattoo is permanent. So be prepared that there may be repercussions to you as you go through life. You might find the ideal man or woman, only to discover that they loathe tattoos. Your boss may invite you to a day at the beach, see your star tattoo, and find it utterly unprofessional. And years later you should be prepared to field questions about it from your grandchildren.

The popularity of Flower tattoos has a great deal to do with their simplicity, beauty, and additional design elements which meld so well together. They have meanings, symbolism, and an ancient heritage which works well with the delicate tattoos women love so much. Their variety, their capacity for being small and unnoticeable, or large and flowing give flower tats another popular push to forefront of being desirable by woman.

Women love bright colors, delicate designs, symbols of womanhood and femininity; and flower tattoos design structures give them all of that and more. The colors used in tattoos show up well on every skin type and tone. The timeless beauty and classic elegance of flowers only heighten their appeal.

For women who want to be inked, but work in an environment that is not appreciative of the masterful artwork, tattoos can be placed in small inconspicuous places on the body, and never lose their design elements due to down-sizing. The same works for larger flowers and entire areas of the skin which incorporate entire bouquets; these tattoo designs never lose their charm, no matter their size.

Once a woman places a single flower on her skin, she can add to the flower tattoos until she has reached her level of fulfillment. Adding other elements such as thorns, birds, ribbons, and leaves will always showcase the original inked flower tattoos and never detract from their inherent beauty.

Flower tats can also be added to other tattoo designs and change the entire meaning of the original, or simply deepen the symbolism. Adding a yellow rose flower tattoo to the name of a lost loved one, means they are gone, but never forgotten. Learning about the symbolism of flowers can add richness and depth to their designs when they are chosen for a special reason.

If you have a sharp, complex personality you would never want to place white rose flower tattoos on your skin; white roses symbolize simplicity and charm. For a woman filled with hope about her life prospects to the state of the world; snowdrops could symbolize her positive outlook on life. Choosing these tattoos which match your personality can be a way to tell the world you know who you are, and are proud to display your unique perspective on your inner woman.

For the spiritual woman who believes that life changes us, and we are always growing and evolving towards deeper enlightenment; lotus tattoos would be perfect. From the mud of a river bottom, they spring forth, reaching for the light for life, and they burst forth with beauty and fragrance beyond compare in the natural world.

When you are looking to add ink or receive your first tattoo, remember the beauty of flower tattoos lie not only in their color and genus, but their deeper meanings that are more than skin deep; look beneath your own surface, and find the inner woman you wish to express with Flower tattoos. Designs are as varied as the flowers used in flower tattoos, and each as unique as the woman choosing them.

Orphans

Call them what you will, what I will go with is “Orphans”.

I have a handful of posts that have lingered “on deck,” so to speak, that are, by themselves, sad little bits that were never completed, or, for whatever reason, didn’t pass muster with Tattoosday’s editorial board.

However, by packaging them together, I can cross them off my list once and for all, and move on. A Spring Cleaning, if you will.

So let’s get down to business:

Last March 25, I posted this New York’ish piece on Jonathan. A few days later, Jonathan got another tattoo and sent me a preliminary photo:

I asked him if he could send me a better photo of this pretty awesome owl tattoo. I asked again at the end of April, and again at the end of May. I followed up again in October, at which point Jonathan said he would send me a new photo soon.

Look, things happen, and I hardly see Tattoosday as the center of the universe. There comes a time, however, when I’m going to have to assume that it’s fallen by the wayside, and move on. This means, of course, that Jonathan will email me a crisper photo tomorrow.

At the end of last April, I ran into a guy named Nick on the West 4^th Street subway platform. I snapped this photos:

The reason I balked at posting this originally was because the piece is a cover-up of a cross, and the original tattoo is fairly visible in its new incarnation.

I was concerned that a stand-alone post would incur the wrath of the tattoo purists and the story that this was a memorial piece for Nick’s grandfather would be lost.

Thus, it ended up in Tattoosday’s home for Orphan Tattoos.

Thanks to Nick, nonetheless, for sharing it with us.

Also last April, I met a guy named Johnny in Penn Station. I noticed as I was passing by that he had script peeking out from under his shirt at the top of his chest and I handed him a flier and a card. In May, he sent me the following two photos and the accompanying description:

Hey Bill,

We met in Penn Station a couple of weeks ago. I finally got some pictures of a couple of my tattoos. Both of these were done by Krista at Empire Ink in Akron, OH.

The pin-up girl was drawn by my grandmother when she was 16 for my grandfather while they were dating. The other was an original design.

The Latin quote at the top of the heart is a quote from Julius Caesar. It translates to "From the bottom of my heart". Thanks for the interest in the tattoos and letting me share.
Johnny

Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t post these originally. As time passed and the e-mail traveled to the bottom of my inbox, it became an out-of-sight, out-of-mind submission. Thanks to Johnny for sending these in originally, and for waiting so patiently to see them appear on the site.

At the end of June 2011, I met a woman named Christina in Penn Station, whose ink did make the site a couple months later, here. At the time, she was accompanied by two other people, one whose name was Damion. I took a picture of Damion’s tattoo, but it never made the site, until now. Part of the reason Damion’s work never went live was due to the fact that it is an unfinished work, an orphan in more ways than one. Here’s the shot.

Damion loves these wings, calling them his “prize possession”. Why are they unfinished? He credited the artist Carlos Alfonso at Rising Dragon Tattoo, formerly located under the Hotel Chelsea on 23^rd Street. But, Damion informed me, Carlos passed away. It’s not so easy to have another artist finish the work of a deceased tattooist. Damion’s not the only one who was so affected, as you might imagine. The story rang a bell with me, as I had also featured Carlos’ work in a 2009 post with the ink of performance poet Jackie Sheeler here.

A belated thanks to Damion for baring his back and showing off his wings in Penn Station!

As summer waned, I had a couple of unsuccessful encounters in September, in which the quality of the photos I took were substandard, and e-mails to the contributors went unanswered.

For example, Chris shared this cool octopus on his leg:

Can you tell it’s an octopus? There’s the issue. Chris’s leg hair and the glare of the sun renders this poor octopus almost invisible. It was inked by a Thai artist named Tong, working out of Tatudharma in Sydney, Australia. Chris was travelling and he “likes octopi,” recognizing that, “as far as invertebrates go, [they are] probably the most intelligent of them.”

In a weird twist of this orphan post, the Tatudharma web site indicates that the shop is closed permanently, a result of it having been firebombed last April. The artists can still be contacted through the website, however.

A couple weeks later, my camera was programmed on the wrong setting, so I ended up with these two washed-out shots of interesting tattoos:

The host of these pieces is Lindsey, a Southern Californian who had both tattoos inked in San Diego.

The plant was done about 8 or 9 years ago by an artist named Alethio.

“I had my boyfriend draw it,” she explained, “I told him I wanted a dictionary-style type of flower, so he kinda came up with a design, so it’s not an actual plant, it’s fictitious … I wanted something organic to be represented on me.”

The bird on her other arm was done by Gary at Ace Tattoo. “That was the beginning of a sleeve that never happened,” Lindsey said with a sigh.

Thanks to Chris and Lindsey for sharing their tattoos and for hopefully forgiving my camera for betraying them.

And last, but not least is this piece from December:

Jen acknowledged that it wasn’t done very well, but she said she had a good reason for getting it. I did send an email as a follow-up, but more than one reeks of desperation. Maybe one of these days Jen will find my card or flier and finally e-mail me back to explain what wanderlust means to her. Until then, we’re left with this orphan.

Believe it or not, we still have a few 2011 photos left in the tank, but this entry takes out a good chunk of our backlog. Thanks for giving these orphans a home, even if its just for a minute or two.

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.

Ain't he a beaut?

Cleaning Out the Inbox - Post-Valentine's Day February Edition

Occasionally I will post a handful of items that came my way, in one form or another, that may be of interest to our readers.

For example, the other day my mother-in-law gave me a clipping from the New York Daily News that appeared back on Sunday, November 2011.

TODD MAISEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Michael McLeer of Brooklyn Made Tattoo on 93rd St. in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, designed the label for the new Beaujolais Nouveau and has his vintage 1976 Cadillac decorated the same way.

Readers of Tattoosday and/or residents of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where we are based, will recognize "Kaves," as he is known. I first encountered his work back in 2008 here and, last May, he shared a piece on his own canvas, a portrait by Mark Mahoney here.

Kaves is a true artist on multiple fronts, and the photo above showcases his latest project, a wine label he designed. Read more about him and his Beaujolais in the full article here.

Check out this tattoo-themed wallpaper:

So it's not Valentine's Day any more, but it's still pretty cool. You can grab this on the fFurious website here: http://ffurious.com/index.html?latest.html

Speaking of Valentine's Day, I missed the opportunity to post this love-related tattoo video. Needles and Sins beat me to it, but I'll share it anyway.

That's from Brooklyn comedian Boris Khaykin. Pretty funny!

~

Normally, I like to stay positive on Tattoosday, so I've avoided posting all those "10 worst tattoos" lists and other such web features that mock the less-fortunate in the inked nation. However, this link, is actually pretty clever. It's called "10 Horrible and Unexpected Tattoo Consequences" and can be read here. Writer Molly Mahan elicited several chuckles from this here jaded inkblogger. Besides, you can learn a bit about " the first case of nonischemic priapism following penile tattooing". That's worth the price of admission right there.

~

OH HEY...

SO ITS BEEN FAR TOO LONG SINCE LAST UPDATING THIS AND FOR THAT WE APOLOGIZE. THE ART SHOW WENT GREAT, THANK YOU IF YOU CAME. WE'LL TRY AND STAY UP ON THIS A BIT MORE. HERE ARE SOME RECENT(ISH) JAMMERHEADS FROM RON.

Ivan Shares an Amazing David Sena Tattoo

This post is a straggler from 2011 and readers may wonder why it took so long to appear here on the site.

First, take a gander:

Pretty cool, isn't it?

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of information on it, as I snapped this on the subway one evening last June, and I wasn't able to record a lot of details. This is what I do know: the host of this tattoo is Ivan, and the piece took 2 sessions and approximately 15 hours to complete. The talented artist behind this is David Sena from North Star Tattoo in New York City.

The detail in the piece is wonderful:

And the scale of the tattoo as it wraps around the arm is impressive:

Unfortunately, there's not much more I can provide in terms of what went into the work, but the quality of the tattoo speaks for itself.

Thanks to Ivan for allowing me to snap these shots on the subway and consenting to sharing them here on Tattoosday!

Dmitry's Sleeve and Invader Zim

We still have a handful of posts from 2011, including this one, which features a sleeve from a guy named Dmitry who I met in Penn Station back in July. Take a look:

This sleeve is a collaborative effort with Dmitry and his tattoo artist, Gene Coffey, from Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

He explained that he has spent a long time working on it, and that it is based on a animated series called Invader Zim, which was created by Jhonen Vasquez and originally aired in 2001.

Dmitry told me "I've always been a big fan of [the show] and I've always loved the artwork." He brought Gene "a few pictures from the show and we put together the piece".

The sleeve starts on the upper arm, featuring Zim at the very top,

The bottom section of the sleeve features other characters from the show, as well.

The back of the lower section of the arm has this illustration:

There's a whole catalog of the characters from the show listed here. I'd venture to try and identify every one seen in Dmitry's canvas, but I would most likely misname one or two. He told me the show has achieved a kind of cult following so, if any fans would like to add comments below, feel free to do so.

Thanks to Dmitry for sharing his fantastic tattoo sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

Jon Paul's Three Cities

Last August, I met Jon Paul, writer and content producer for the web site Poptimistic (http://www.poptimistic.com). He shared this tattoo, one of three he has, from his upper right arm:

Jon Paul's focus on Poptimistic is travel and food. He credits the work to the artist Friday Jones, who does custom tattoo work out of Senses New York Salon & Spa in the Flat Iron District. I mentioned Ms. Jones back on Tattoosday in 2009 here.

Jon Paul explained that he originally met Ms. Jones in New Orleans when she did "the very first tattoo [he] got ... the compass that the rest of the tattoo is built around." About a year later, he elaborated, "I went back to her and said, 'Now I want you to build a whole piece around my three favorite spots in the world.' So she designed it custom from that." She did it over three sessions.

Represented among Jon Paul's three favorite places are New York City, where he calls home:

The Big Apple is represented by the Statue of Liberty and by the iconic Art Deco style of the landmark Chrysler Buillding.

Paris is represented by the Eiffel Tower:

Sydney, Australia is represented by it's recognizable Opera House:

Jon Paul said " Sydney I love just for the sheer beauty of it and the people ... are lovely." Jon Paul elaborates further on why he loves Australia in this post, which includes another photo of his tattoo.

Thanks to Jon Paul for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 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.

Richard's Mayan Calendar Honors His Heritage

Just two weeks ago, back in the first month of the current year, 2012, which as many may have heard, is the last year in the Mayan calendar, I met Richard in Penn Station. He has this amazing tattoo on his upper right arm:

He had just finished the last section of the tattoo a couple weeks earlier. The piece is a cultural tribute to his and his family's Mexican heritage.

This was done by Chuck Bondo at Station 1 Tattoo in Huntington, New York.

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

Kristina's Ambigram - Dream/Believe

It may be warm here in New York today, but last month we had a typical January day where temperatures were seasonably frigid. Not necessarily great inkspotting weather, but I ran into Kristina in Penn Station after seeing this tattoo on her calf:

This is an ambigram, which is a design that reads differently, depending on the way you look at it. It appears as the word "dream"

If you flip your perspective, you see a similarly-inspiring message:

That says "believe".

Kristina credited an artist named Scott in Farmingdale, New York. ~~I will take a leap and assume this was done by Scott Trerrotola at Tattoo Ritual. It should be noted that Scott recently opened a new shop in Bellmore called Alchemy Tattoo Arts.~~ The artist is otherwise unknown.

Thanks to Kristina for sharing this, one of her four tattoos, here with us on Tattoosday!

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. Do note that I have not referred to this as a Hawaiian tribal piece, which is a whole different thing altogether.

Just to illustrate, one of my "leftover" posts from 2011 is this tattoo:

This was a real treat for me, spotting an authentic Hawaiian tattoo, in New York City of all places.

Looking back to last June, I had just attended a networking event at Bowlmor Lanes 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 Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i, an outrigger canoe club from Wai'anae, Hawai'i, and they were in town to compete in the 2011 Liberty World Outrigger Competition.

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!

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.

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 Sam "Kamu" Kapoi. Go figure, the talk turned to tattoos and Sam stretched out his left leg to show me his ink.

Sam and I have kept in touch, so I was able to get some additional information on this piece.

Sam is a filmmaker and was accompanying the group as they competed in New York.

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?"

Sam said it himself in a message to me, "the tattoo itself ... is my family design, very sacred." He credited his artist as Keone Nunes, who specializes in traditional Hawaiian tattoos and uses the tapping method.

Here's a nice clip on YouTube with Mr. Nunes discussing the art of kakau:

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.

A big mahalo nui loa to Sam for sharing his traditional Hawaiian ink with us here on Tattoosday.

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 six months about the experience.

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 Ink Master.

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.

The two main elements are the honu, or Hawaiian sea turtle, and the hibiscus, which is the state flower of Hawai'i. Having grown up in the Aloha State, I wanted something that represented my childhood home.

The end result far exceeded my expectations. I want to again thank Heather Sinn, my artist, for giving me an exceptional tattoo under less than ideal conditions.

I also want to share a little bit more about how I lucked into being tattooed by such a wonderfully talented artist.

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, Bili Vëgas, ultimately finished the piece at his shop in New York, and Ryan, who shared one of his other tattoos with us here on Tattoosday back in August, is very happy with the end result.

Photo Courtesy of

Bili Vëgas @ www.bilivegas.com

Back in July, I wrote here about Ink Master’s call for candidates looking for a cover-up. Shortly after posting the piece, I sent in my own idea for a tattoo for the show, thinking it was a long shot.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

She assured me that she was going to do her best under the not-so-ideal circumstances. I would direct readers to this interview that recently ran with Heather in the LA Weekly. She wears her emotions on her sleeve and does not back down from her feelings.

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.

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.

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.

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 Ink Master 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.

I think that this is one of the compelling aspects about Ink Master 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.

I'm not on any more episodes, but I'll keep watching.

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 from left to right) a Cherokee Rose, which is the state flower of Georgia, and a Nile, or Egyptian Lotus.

Wesley explained that the Cherokee Rose 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.

Wesley explained the whole process of these tattoos in detail:

"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 ... The Trail of Tears ...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 Lucky Devil Tattoo 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."

Thanks to Wesley for sharing her beautiful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

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 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?

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.

"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.

Among the names visible in the photo above are Maria Callas and Grace Bumbry.

The signatures were inked by Dave Wallin at Eight of Swords Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Will for sharing his operatic arm with us here on Tattoosday!

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 get tattoos on a new reality tattoo competition series.

That was six months ago and the first installment of that project, Ink Master, is scheduled to debut tonight on Spike TV, at 10:00 PM (and 11:00) EST.

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.

Unlike New York Ink, 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.

That’s not to say there won’t be interpersonal conflicts - even shows like Master Chef and Project Runway have their share of drama. But, I am optimistic that this series will not disappoint.

Check out the trailer below:

SPIKE

Official Ink Master Series Trailer

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 USA Today put it, “who on earth decides to get inked as part of a reality competition?”

This won’t be the last you hear about Ink Master on Tattoosday. Trust me.

TATTOO FOR ALL