Mario Reveals the Soul Beneath the Skin

I met Mario outside of Madison Square Garden and he shared this, his first tattoo, which he had inked on his eighteenth birthday:


His friend did the design and he took it to Coney Island Vinny's Tattoo and Body Piercing in Brooklyn.

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

Subterranean Zombie Encounter

The photo above is a tattoo from the back of Sara's left calf.

I spotted her on the West 4th Street platform back in August.

This zombie girl was inked in Pittsburgh. Sara just loved the design and added it to her body's canvas. She estimates that she is about 10-15% covered in ink.

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

TTattoos for Girls Beauty

Tattooing is the technique which was used by the ancestral thousand years ago. In those days tattoos were meant for describing a tribe, or a particular religion like pirates had skeleton image as the tattoo. The reason why the tattoos don’t become old is that they are made of the ink that resides under the skin, with the placement of the pigments between the derma and the epidermis. Butterflies, flowers, dolphins, stars and fairies are the most popular tattoos for girls these days. It is wise to go with the fashion, but a girl should be careful to choose the design of the tattoo. She should go with the design she is comfortable in as it will last for the lifetime.

There are other options of creating tattoo for girls, if they don’t want to have a Permanent one. Presently most of the girls of all ages are opting for tattoo designs. This has become the latest trend and is being adopted at a faster pace. This upcoming fashion of tattoos has given rise to temporary tattoo needs. Most of the girls who don’t want to affect their skins with the permanent tattoos go for temporary tattoos. The glitter tattoos have formed the first choice when there is a need of painless fashion. These temporary tattoos take less time to get painted on your skin and they lasts for five to ten days.

Tattoos for Girls


The best thing about these temporary tattoos is that they are washable and one need not worry about the marks they would leave. There are different kits that are available in the market for the tattoo designs with several tattoo items like colors, stencil, brush, powder and tweezers.

Tattoos for Girls

Care After Tattooing

Tattoo artist my skin covered with foil. What now?
This is a completely sterile medical foil, which ensures that the tattoo the first few hours that are most critical protected from dirt, dust, and even potential bacteria and other microorganisms. In the meantime, from the tattooed skin more or less stripped a natural clear liquid from subcutaneous tissue and capillaries just below the skin surface. You can observe how the moisture accumulates under the foil, and then may work any bubbles in it, and the like.

Care After Tattooing


This transparent foil must have on the skin somewhat from 3 to 6 hours. In the meantime take rest, read or the like. Of course, avoid any serious physical activity, contact or strokes after tattooed place, let alone foil, not scratch, and make sure that clothes or anything like do not interfere.
After this period you carefully take off the foil (adhesive patch cut) and remove. With clean hands in lukewarm water and neutral soap, wash the tattoo to remove paint residues, mucus and the like. You have to do this decisively, but do not push too much, and tattoo not case under the water longer than necessary. Wait a minute, the skin must dry on air and refresh

Care After Tattooing

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.

Elizabeth 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.

Here's the one photo I took that captured two letters in one frame:


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 New York Adorned for her appointment with Stephanie Tamez, and whatever was at the forefront of her consciousness, that's what she had tattooed.

I was familiar with Stephanie Tamez for, most recently, this tattoo on the writer Eileen Myles. So I sent Stephanie an email and asked her to comment on this particular twenty-six part tattoo.

Stephanie wrote:

"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..."

Elizabeth had also mentioned to me that she was meeting with Ina Saltz, an art director, designer, writer, photographer and professor at City College of New York. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Ms. Saltz had written a book called Body Type, which is a study of typographic tattoos.

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 numerous word tattoos over the past couple of years, but Body Type's 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 her website will reveal that, although she is acknowledged as a skilled tattooer of words, her skills and artistry go far beyond the inking of letters!

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:

My tattoos are in Garamond (for the real font nerds out there, it's a few different cuts, mostly Garamond 3 and Stempel Garamond, a couple are in Adobe Garamond). I'm a typographer and I've always loved Garamond — the first Roman font to be used on Gutenberg's 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.

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.

a: front-facing left shoulder
b: left thigh
c: inside left arm
d: right upper right arm/bicep
e: sternum
f: right calf
g: inside right wrist
h: inside right calf
i: inside left thigh, just above knee
j: inside left wrist
k: left upper left arm/bicep
l: left forearm
m: right forearm
n: collarbone
o: inside right bicep
p: inside right thigh
q: nape of neck [pictured]
r: top of right shoulder
s: top of right foot
t: left shin
u: back
v: back
w: back
x: shoulder blade
y: left calf
z: behind left ear [pictured]

Thanks to Elizabeth for her cooperation and participation here on Tattoosday. Also, much thanks to Stephanie Tamez (see her official website here) for her chiming in on the experience.

Do look into Body Type, as well. It's a lovely book indeed.

Barb's Lotuses Explode with Color

I met Barb just outside of Penn Station and she shared this lovely half-sleeve:


She has eight tattoos in all, but this one is most visible. The piece features colorful lotus flowers.


She loves not only the beauty of the lotus, but the symbolism as well. "It's a pretty flower that grows in shitty water," she told me, implying that beauty can be found in less than ideal places.


The artist was Shane O'Neill who did this in Delaware. He works out of his shop Trademark Tattoo.

Barb estimated that the whole piece took about five hours in two sittings and that three of the five hours were spent coloring the flowers.

Thank you to Barb for sharing her work with us on Tattoosday!

Potential Tattoos Problems

Potential Tattoos problems


Tattoos, especially those which in color containing ferric oxide and heavy metals may be due to interference is a problem in the performance of interpretation of certain medical diagnostic procedures, for example, in magnetic resonance investigation. Such investigations may also lead to burns and swelling in areas where the skin includes pigments. It is therefore very important that individuals before such operations inform on a tattoo the doctor-radiologist, who performed imaging.

Potential Tattoos problems


Potential Tattoos problems

Alyssa's Tattoos: A Little Bit of Art, A Little Bit of Soul

Generally speaking, New Yorkers tend to avoid speaking to one another on the subway, or the subway platforms. As one would imagine, you see a lot of great ink on the trains, and I've become less and less concerned when it comes to breaking the "don't talk to strangers on the subway" rule.

I met Alyssa on the subway platform at Court Street in Brooklyn and she shared two very interesting tattoos with me.

She first offered up this very interesting piece on the inner part of her upper left arm:


For the full effect, this is what the edges look like as they wrap around the arm:


This design is actually a replica of a bracelet she used to wear, a piece that was designed by her maternal grandfather. He was a jewelery designer by trade. The bracelet was constructed of sandcastle silver and inspired by Zuni art. The Zuni of the American Southwest are known for their skill in silversmithing.

I asked Alyssa why she chose a bracelet to be tattooed on her and she informed me, "I was coming back to who I was as a person" and that she wanted to put something artistic on herself. Incorporating an object that was an artistic creation of her grandfather made sense to her.

I was pleased when I asked her about this tattoo as well, and she kindly allowed me to take the picture:


This tattoo is on the back side of her upper right arm, and I was fascinated by its unusual design. She explained that a good friend of hers is an American Sign Language (ASL) translator, and that the figure is demonstrating the sign for "Soul". The way motion is depicted in the tattoo is completely brilliant, in my opinion.


Both tattoos were inked by Daniel Santoro at New York Adorned. He's now at Smith Street Tattoo Parlour in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Alyssa for sharing these lovely tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Georgiana Offers Up Two Very Personal Tattoos

I met Georgiana, owner of twenty-two tattoos, and she offered up these two pieces from her inner forearms:



Both tattoos were done by her husband, who is a tattoo artist (MySpace page here).

The first piece is a tattoo dedicated to them as a couple (Pete and Gia). The second is a memorial, for their son Blake, who passed away at five weeks old, a victim of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Thanks to Georgiana for sharing these two very personal tattoos with us here on Tattoosday.

Camila's Inspirational Quote from Gandhi

I spotted an amazing tattoo-in-progress last month in Penn Station and I just had to stop and ask the young lady what it was about.

Camila has a piece that, among other things, represents the cityscape of Rio de Janeiro, circling her lower left calf. Alas, you won't see it here (yet), as it is not finished. [Update, November 16, 2009: Camila sent me photos of the tattoo which was subsequently finished. See it here.]

Some people are reluctant to have me photograph their works-in-progress, as they would rather the tattoo be complete before being displayed for all on the blogosphere to see. Others are indifferent and tell me to snap away.

There's pros and cons to both approaches, but one of the pros is that we see a tattoo in its pre-completion stage and then get to see it after it's done. The two versions are often quite interesting to compare and contrast.

But that's neither here nor there. Fortunately for me, Camila has ten tattoos, and she offered up this quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi on her inner left forearm:


The quote, "Be the change you wish to see in the world," speaks to Camila, as she is a social worker and, she says, "it represents what I stand for in life".

I thank Camila for taking the time to chat with us on Tattoosday, and look forward to featuring her other tattoo(s) in the future!

Delissa Reveals a Little Bit of Monaco on Seventh Avenue

When I stopped Delissa on Seventh Avenue, she was on her way to Red Rocket Tattoo, for another session with Adam, who was working with her on this amazing half-sleeve piece:


This is one of those tattoos that, although not finished, was a joy to capture because the majority of it was done, and seeing it after a few more sessions will be fascinating.


Delissa is a big fan of the Art Nouveau style and this is based on Alphonse Mucha's 1897 lithograph "Monaco, Monte-Carlo":


Regular readers may recall that a Mucha-based tattoo appeared earlier in the summer, here.

Work from Red Rocket has appeared on Tattoosday previously here. A piece by Adam has appeared before here.

Thanks to Delissa for sharing this magnificent tattoo with us. We're looking forward to seeing the finished product when the work is complete!

Kevin's Angel Tattoo Inspires

I spotted Kevin at the corner of 33rd Street and 7th Avenue and asked him about his incredible tattoo covering the majority of his left arm:


His upper arm has a cross on it, so Kevin worked downward on the arm. The angel is based on the sculpture of "The Angel of the Waters" in Central Park's Bethesda Fountain.



He subsequently added the banner that reads "Veni Vidi Vici" on the back side of the forearm:


This famous Latin phrase, attributed to Julius Caesar, means "I came. I saw. I conquered." In his mind, this sums up Kevin's life, having moved from a town of 70,000 people to a megopolis of over 7 million, attaining a senior position with a fashion corporation.

Kevin is particularly happy with the detail in the wings and the angel herself.


Ray Jerez at Inborn NYC on the Lower East Side of Manhattan is the artist behind this tattoo.

Thanks much to Kevin for sharing his amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Valarie's Sugar Skull

Tattoosday is no stranger to sugar skulls. They are popular tattoos and always welcome additions to the site. It certainly seems, like snowflakes, no two sugar skull tattoos are exactly alike. Clicking here will allow you to see all the sugar skulls in the Tattoosday family.

Well, it certainly has been a while since I posted one here and, running into Valarie on the subway platform at West 4th Street, afforded me the opportunity to capture another for Tattoosday readers to admire:


Valarie is working on a half-sleeve and has both feet inked. She is particularly sentimental about this sugar skull because it was the first tattoo she received.

Like many folks, she loves the color and symbolism of Mexican Catholic art and the way they translate so well into tattoos. This traditional piece is on her inner left forearm and she has a sacred heart on the outer side.

Alex Franklin at Brooklyn Ink is the artist of this lovely tattoo.

Thanks to Valarie for sharing her first tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!