Behold, Quadrapus!

I met Colleen on Penn Plaza and her ankle tattoo jumped out at me from a distance. It was so unusual, I just had to stop and ask her about it.

Behold: Quadrapus!


If this four-limbed octopus-like creature looks fanciful, it's because it is based on a child's beach toy used to mold sand shapes.

Colleen explains that she and about twenty of her friends all got this same tattoo, but in different colors, to commemorate their summer where a majority of time was spent at the beach. There was a house involved, which was the epicenter of activity, and the plastic octopus beach toys were on the walls, used as decor. "Quadrapus" became a symbol and mascot for a memorable season.

This was inked by Josh at Broken Heart Tattoo in Keyport, New Jersey. Coincidentally, a tattoo from Broken Heart appeared just this past Saturday here on Tattoosday.

Incidentally, Collen has seven other tattoos, and I couldn't resist snapping a shot of this literary ink:


The quote "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake " is from the seminal first novel Chuck Palahniuk novel Fight Club. Tyler Durden's character states:

"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all a part of the same compost pile."

Palahniuk is her favorite author and she loves the meaning behind this quote, from a passage where the speaker is questioning the notion of individuality. Deep down, Collen explained, he's saying we're all the same, that no one is as special as they think they are. Juxtaposed with the snowflake, the symbol of uniqueness, this tattoo makes a bold statement.

Check out a couple other Palahniuk literary tattoos here over on the awesome site dedicated to literary ink, Contrariwise.

This was inked at Silk City Tattoo in Hawthorne, New Jersey by Chi Chi Gunz. Work from Silk City is New Jersey has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Colleen for sharing her fun and interesting tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Two for Tattoosday: Two Sisters Share Their Awesome Ink

Jenni estimates she is 35-40% covered in tattoos. When I stopped her and her sister Kailla, I was interested in seeing what she would offer up to Tattoosday readers.

Even though we can't see it in it's entirety, she offered up this chest piece:


Jenni, who was visiting from Philadelphia, says the tattoo honors her mother and father, whose names, Bogda and Adam , are enclosed in the heart at the center of the piece.

When I asked her what he folks thought of this, she smiled and said that they were both "flattered and horrified". Yet, they recognized that the sentiment behind the tattoo was sweet.


The piece which extends out and over the shoulders, was tattooed by Don McDonald at Bodyworks Tattoo Studio in Pittsburgh. She estimates that the whole thing took about seven hours in two sittings.

When I finished talking to Jenni, I turned to Kailla and asked if she was interested in sharing, as well. Unlike her sister, she didn't appear to be tattooed much. In fact, I'd estimate all I could see was about this much of her left bicep:


Much to my delight, she peeled her shirt back to reveal this astonishing tattoo:


Still only about two weeks old, this amazing tattoo was also done by Don McDonald in Pittsburgh (where Kailla resides).

She says the center of the tattoo is a Polish falcon which honors her family ancestry in Eastern Europe.

The whole piece took ten hours, which is evidenced by the scale and detail of this wonderful tattoo.


Both Kailla and Jenni were kind enough to take the time to chat with me about their beautiful body art, and I thank them for their contributions here on Tattoosday!

Tattoo Protection

Tattoo Protection


What then, when the tattoo is fully healed?
Yeah, here, these left to your own habits, desires and belief. Remember, however, that long-term and excessive exposure to sun will cause the tattoo (by years) faded.
Otherwise (especially in recent decades, when the ozone layer is already heavily degraded) sunscreen for your skin is not the best. In the last century ruled and aesthetic beliefs that tan skin is beautiful skin. Tan skin is nothing but a body natural reaction to the solar shock, so that under the skin forming a number of dyes (melanin). That protects the deeper layers of the destructive UV rays.
On darker skin (tan, or naturally dark, for example, black people) are tattoo less familiar. If you want tattoo to be a nice identifiable, reflecting the contrast in the skin, and if you want to remain unchanged, fresh paint and live until the end of life, then sunbathing is not easy. I am not suggesting that you got fanatically avoided (in the skin is due to the sun form a useful vitamins, the sun also has a beneficial effect on the organism) - but use common sense and sober assessment.

Tattoo Protection

Jonathan Gives Us a Sun on a Sunday

I met Jonathan in Brooklyn Heights and he shared this, one of his four tattoos:


This tattoo, on his inner right forearm is based on artwork he found on the CD of Ofra Haza, an Israeli musician with Yemenite roots.


Jonathan believes it to be a middle-Eastern symbol that is a "stylized sun." It is ambiguous enough to cause many to take pause and ask him what it is. Some have even questioned if the outer circle is comprised of coffee beans. He appreciates the solar representation illuminating his arm.

The tattoo was inked by Steve at Artfreek Tattoo in Providence, Rhode Island.

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

Daniel's Back Piece Begins...

In my previous post, I described meeting Daniel and Katte. And, although Katte's work was what initially prompted me to stop the couple, Daniel offered up the bigger surprise.

I have yet to come up with a term for the phenomenon, but anyone who responds to an inquiry about a visible tattoo with an unprompted unveiling of a covered one, earns a place in Tattoosday lore.

(See some memorable examples here, here, here, and here).

Daniel lifted up his shirt to reveal "the start of a back piece":


He went to Chuck at Broken Heart Tattoos in Keyport, New Jersey, with a general outline and gave the artist the "freedom to shade and color" as he saw fit. Three sessions and nine hours later, Daniel had this kick-ass skull on his back to anchor what will eventually be a much larger piece.

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

Katte's Memorial for the Artist, Gone Too Soon

I met Daniel and Katte as they were about to go into the subway station at 34th Street and 7th Avenue.

Although Katte had a lot of visible work that was interesting, she rolled up her left pant leg to show me this interesting collage on her calf:


The tattoo, along with much of her work, was inked by her step-father, who works out of his home.

The piece is a memorial for an ex-boyfriend, who was hit by a car and killed in February 2008.

He had been into Japanese art and graffiti and had drawn this on her wall. After he died, she transposed it so that it could be tattooed on her.

She wears it as a keepsake by which to remember him now that he's gone.

I thank Katte for sharing this very personal piece with us here on Tattoosday!

See what Daniel had to offer here (or just scroll up if you are reading this chronologically).

Unusual Tattoos

Unusual Tattoos-Jermaine Dupri


Tattoos - from the everyday to the unusual
The expression of belonging, a desire for leaving...? However, tattooing is very popular among people, the stars are also happy to reveal their tattoos.
In Hollywood glamor world does not lack the beauties, who easily and like to show their carved bodies. Often, this is adorned with a variety of tattoos. We can have almost all tattoo designs; daily star or flowers to enjoyed like Rihanna and Cristina Ricci, to tattoos with "profound importance" such as a tattoo of music producer Jermaine Dupri, who is in a sign of belonging put the tattoo image of his love Janet Jackson.
However, I do not forget to mention numerous tattoos of Angelina Jolie (among other things, she has tattooed latitude and longitude of birth places of children), and David Beckham with the names of his children, Katy Perry, who has in a wrist tattoo inscription Jesus, Megan Fox with Marilyn Monroe on her right forearm...

Unusual Tattoos-Katy Perry

Crow and Mouse

A few minutes after talking to Brian (here), I ran into Tony, a tattoo artist at Gotham City Tattoo in Bay Ridge.

Tony estimates he is 50% covered, so choosing a nice tattoo to offer up for Tattoosday was no easy task.

Until he showed me his inner left bicep:


This incredible work was done by Simone, a visiting artist from Como, Italy, who did a guest spot at Gotham.

Tony, who has been tattooing for six years, loves crows, and this piece certainly leaves little to be desired in terms of an amazing crow tattoo.

As a postscript, Tony also shared this little Mickey Mouse tattoo:


This was inked by Bill Blood (whose knuckle tattoos I wrote about here). Bill is another artist working at Gotham City Tattoo. It is evidence of a bet that Tony lost, the details of which, he felt would be inappropriate to share here.

Thanks to Tony for sharing a couple of his many tattoos here on Tattoosday!

Traditional Tattoo Styles

Pirate Skull Tattoo


Tattoo should be interesting, carefully reasoned design with particularly deep symbolic meaning.
Not necessarily, no. As I said, tattooing is not (more) only sign of belonging to any social, religious or ideological group, but simply decorating the body and is now actually more associated with a fashion trend. If the tattoo represents a puppy (because you just picked that) represents the puppy. If this is an abstract pattern, then there is the result of the most aesthetic effect, and the like.
Sure, there are special traditional tattoo styles that have evolved over the centuries. Mostly, however tattoos represent a concrete, living motive: tiger, Scorpio, ship, soldier, devil, or say with a knife pierced bleeding skull ...
You can attribute the tattoo deeper meaning, or identifies in this way that you personalized set design - if you have tattoo of a Lion, you may think you are brave as a lion, and the like. This is perfectly acceptable and normal, but it is not necessary. All tattoos do not have a hidden, higher, or any deeper meaning.

Skull Tattoo

Magdalena's Peacock Struts Through Penn Station

Last week I was passing through Penn Station when Magdalena walked by me.

She had this absolutely stunning peacock tattoo on her left shoulder:


This was a "purely decorative" choice she said. It's a custom piece and took about five hours for Nik Moore at Scarab Body Arts in Syracuse, New York to tattoo. Great detail to this beautiful bird:



Lucky for us, Magdalena had missed her train and had some time to spare!

Thanks to Magdalena for sharing her work with us here on Tattoosday!

Bizarre tattoos

Bizarre tattoo-Musician Prince


Disclosed back and legs in those days are not more no dilemma. You may have thought, that you would in any area that you usually do not adorn with jewelry, afford tattoo? Perhaps tattoo motif of your favorite animal, or cartoon heroes, or perhaps the motif of favorite movie heroes or singer??

Bizarre tattoo-The queen of television discussion programs Oprah Winfrey


Tattoos should be intended to decorate body and that wherever they are.
Okay, tattoos of stars I have somehow accepted, but they are really wacky: someone has for example gave tattooed picture of bald crazy Britney.
Lovers of tattoos sometimes have the portraits of their favorite actors, singers and the like. Bald Britney, Dr. Phil on a... why not?

Bizarre tattoo-Bald Britney Spears - scary ...

Tattooed Celebrities

Tattooed Celebrities -Nicole Richie


Increasingly frequent fashion allowance between celebrities is not heavy diamond necklaces or rings, but large, small, color, visible or not ... tattoos!
Cracking Pink has drawn on the back of an angel and a lightning rod, but on her body we can found at least 8 other similar decorations.

Tattooed Celebrities -Christina Ricci


Nicole Richie is decorated with at least 9 tattoos, including the angelic wings on her back and ballet shoes in the bikini area.
And Megan Fox is a great tattoo lover. The back is covered with the quote "We will laugh at gilded butterflies’; with smaller drawings has decorated the greater part of the body.
Christina Ricci is obviously great lover stories of Narnia, as it has on the right side of the back tattoo image of Aslan, the lion in that fairy tale.
Amy Winehouse, like many other celebrities, love expresses through hers tattoos. Her skin is adorned with a few 'pin up' girls, horses and other un-original drawings.

Tattooed Celebrities -Amy Winehouse

Izzy's Ink: A Tatt-alog, Part 1

On occasion here on Tattoosday, we go a little ink-wild. Someone I meet will show me piece after piece of great body art, and I will snap away and scribble notes as quickly as I can.

And when I share a half dozen or more tattoos from one person, in one post, I call it a tatt-alog.

I was heading home later than normal, having attended a New York City open house on applying to public high schools when, after one stop on the R train, a few people boarded at Pacific Street.

I noticed the woman first, and a bicep covered with flowers, and then I nudged Melanie (my lovely wife) and drew her attention to the back of a man's calf:


So I had no intention of letting that piece exit the train un-documented by yours truly, I quickly got up and introduced myself, but the woman knew who I was, I think she said "It's the Tattoosday Guy!"

She, of the flowered bicep, was Lauren, whose Mastodon tattoo was featured here back in June, and her boyfriend Izzy had a ton of ink (approximately 16 pieces). What follows are 5 of the more noteworthy tattoos. For the sake of brevity, I have a few more saved for a later date.

The first piece Izzy talked about was this Sailor Jerry-inspired monkey. Legend has it that the original Sailor Jerry had a pet chimp upon which he tattooed the letters "A L" on its left buttock and "H A" on its right. He then trained the chimp to bend over and look at someone through its knees. The resulting message "A L o H A" was visible thanks to the extra letter provided by the monkey's nether orifice. Sailor Jerry designed flash to commemorate the trick:


Izzy's homage to the monkey replaces ALoHA with BROoKLYN:


This was tattooed by Josh Everett who, Izzy explained, quit tattooing to run the family business.

Everett was co-owner of the now-defunct Macdougal Street Tattoo Company, but it's worth checking out this article here from The New York Times archives, in which he is interviewed about giving free tattoos to 9/11 rescue workers.

Everett was also responsible for the incredible Jimi Hendrix tattoo on the back of his right leg:


Definitely worth a second look.

Remember, we're talking and the camera is flashing on the R train, so we certainly were drawing some stares. Izzy moved on to this intriguing tattoo:


"Ever hear of a band called Pantera?" he asked.

Melanie laughed, the tattoo made sense, I knew what the crux of it was immediately - Izzy had the autograph of Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell forever inked on his flesh. Sadly, for those who don't know, in 2004, Dime was murdered on stage in by a crazed fan.

Above Dimebag's signature is the logo CBH CFH from their debut album Cowboys from Hell and below it is a guitar drawn by the legendary musician.

Izzy met Dime about 11 years ago, outside of the building where Howard Stern was broadcasting his radio show. Dime drew it all on with a Sharpie and an artist named Eric tattooed it in the back of Bleecker Bob's Records.

Moving to his left arm, Izzy shared this design:


Although not immediately apparent, this tattoo is also an autograph-turned-tattoo. This was drawn on Izzy's arm by Slash, former Guns N' Roses guitarist, backstage at a Velvet Revolver concert.

As a guitarist in a rock band (God's Green Earth), I can understand why Izzy might want the autographs of two of the most influential rock guitarists from the last twenty-five years permanently inked on his being.

Since meeting Izzy, I also have met a guy in our neighborhood with Paul Stanley's autograph inked on his calf. See here for previous examples of "signed tattoos" appearing on Tattoosday.

Further up his left arm is this amazing belly dancer tattooed by Joshua Lord at East Side Ink:


Izzy and Lauren rode with us all the way to the end of the R line, definitely winning the honor of being the subject with whom I have spent the most amount of time (about 30 minutes).

I am eternally grateful to Izzy for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday and for doing so with such genuine excitement.

Be sure to check out his band at their MySpace page here.

And stay tuned for some additional shots of Izzy's Ink!