Lisa's Guardian Angel

I met Lisa recently on the subway platform at West 4th Street.

She had this cool tattoo on her right forearm:

The tattoo, which took four hours to complete, is Lisa's guardian angel.

Lisa told me that this is a representation of her guardian angel, a "spiritual guide," although she emphasized that she's not religious.

She had the basic idea for the tattoo and took it to Scott Campbell at Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She pointed out that she absolutely loves the work he did with the shading in the tattoo:

Work from Saved has appeared previously on Tattoosday here. This, however, is the first work we've seen by Scott Campbell in our travels.

Thanks to Lisa for sharing her angelic tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

A Father's Day Bonus: Janet Spots Ink on the Subway

Last month, my friend Janet (whose ink was featured on Tattoosday here) sent me the following photo:

 Janet reports:

"I took this pic in the 1 train, 23rd Street downtown subway station. The guy was *lovely* and looked like a big construction worker. His name is James, and so is his son's, pictured."

I figured this would be a nice father's day bonus.

Katie Carries Her Father's Heart (and Her Mom's and Brother's, Too)

As a tribute to dads today on Father's Day, here's a tattoo from earlier in the week:

This tattoo, on the upper left side of Katie's back, is more of a family tribute, than just a father's honor, but her dad did have a hand in the design.

The words are from the last line of an e.e. cummings poem, "i carry your heart with me":

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

The three hearts were drawn by Katie's mother, father, and brother. As she sees it, she is always carrying their hearts with her at all times.

It's a nice tribute to her family.

This is one of three tattoos that Katie has. The font used is designed to look similar to cummings' typewriter-style of print.

The artist was Cash at Addicted to Ink in White Plains, New York. Work from Addicted to Ink has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

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

Butt Tattoos

With so many areas of the human body to get a tattoo, there isn't exactly a shortage of good locations, however many people are choosing their butt as a prime piece of real estate for a tattoo design.

Naturally we think girls would be the gender interested in getting a butt tattoo, perhaps for the sex appeal it draws, however we've seen a startling amount of men who are also venturing into the realm of rear end artwork.

Face on cheek tattoo.

Mathcing swallow birds.

Cartoon seven dwarfs hard at work.

Girl with spank me daddy.

Pacman arcade fun.

Baby cupid.

Dog paw print on left cheek.

Belinda's Penny-Farthing

At the end of May, I spotted Belinda's unusual bicycle tattoo on the 34th Street subway platform during Friday afternoon rush hour:

Of course, I asked her about this piece on her left ankle, since it isn't too often you see old-fashioned bicycle tattoos on people.

Belinda explained tha a while back she had gone on a pilgrimmage to Spain, which included a 100-mile trek on bicycles. This design is of the "high wheel bicycle" that was introduced in the late 19th century and is more commonly referred to as the penny-farthing. She told me that this was a much more efficient bicycle than had been seen before. The larger wheel allowed it to travel better, although the falls from a much greater height were a problem.

Belinda added,

"The purpose of the pilgrimage was not religious but more a curiosity to see this path (the Way of St. James) that people have been taking for hundreds and hundreds of years just because of faith. I felt it was a great way to see the real "Spain" by riding through the small villages and woods...we ended in Santiago de Compostela..."

This tattoo was inked by one of the artists at NY Adorned. Work from Adorned has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

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

Sebastian's Sugar Skull

A small post about a sugar skull for a Friday.

I met Sebastian on 33rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues last week.

Among his several tattoos is this sugar skull that was inked by New York City artist Byron Velasquez:

Byron now tattoos out of Abstract Black NYC. Work from Byron has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Loyal readers will know how I seldom tire of sugar skull tattoos and, whenever I post one, I like to link the tag (click here) that unites all previous Tattoosday sugar skulls appearing on the blog.

Like snowflakes, sugar skull tattoos are never identical.

Sebastian appreciates his sugar skull mostly for the way it represents both life and death.

Thanks to Sebastian for sharing his sugar skull with us here on Tattoosday!

Top Tattoo Designs For Girls

Top Tattoo Designs For Girls

TOP TATTOO DESIGNS FOR GIRLS

Girls tattoos – or tattoos that are feminine in design, and are usually favored by women or girls – are becoming more and more common.

Top Tattoo Designs For Girls

Top Tattoo Designs For Girls

Girls tattoos are as varied and unique as the individuality of all tattooed girls. Some of the girls like show off their pin up girl tattoos, sparrows, sacred hearts, angel wings, butterflies, hearts and cherry blossoms. Some girls love to decorate their chest, abdomen, back and legs with Traditional American tattoos, like nautical starts, or classic cars etc.

Top Tattoo Designs For Girls

Top Tattoo Designs For Girls

Top Tattoo Designs For Girls

Top Tattoo Designs For Girls

Hannah's Parrot is a Love Bird

I spotted this avian tattoo on the right calf of Hannah one afternoon in a Duane Reade store:

Hannah explained that this tattoo is romantic at its core.

Married couples often have pet names for one another, or nicknames, at the very least. Hannah and her husband Kevin are no exception to this rule.

They refer to one another as birds, extending the metaphor to calling their apartment their "nest" and their car as the "moveable nest".

So Hannah wanted a bird tattoo, with the plan for Kevin to get an owl tattoo to give them an avian set.

She took a photo of a blue and gold macaw with her to the artist Nalla Smith at Inkstop NYC on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This lovely parrot tattoo was the end result. Work from Inkstop NYC has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Kevin's owl is on hold while he finishes a Capricorn sea goat tattoo in progress on his right arm.

Thanks to Hannah (and Kevin) for talking tattoo with us here at Tattoosday and sharing their work. We're looking forward to sharing Kevin's finished tattoo in the future!

Kat's Mucha Tattoo, With a Twist of Lemony Snicket

At 31st Street and 7th Avenue, I stopped Kat to ask about her ink.

She was happy to see me and had been wondering, having previously read Tattoosday and knowing she worked in the same area as I did, if our paths would ever cross.

She has seven tattoos (and a cool blog here), but we focused on the large tattoo on her upper right arm:

 Or, looking at it as a whole:

The art is based on the work of Alphonse Mucha, who has inspired a couple of other tattoos appearing previously on Tattoosday here and here.

If that second link looks familiar, it is because both Kat's tattoo and Delissa's are inspired by the same work, "Monaco".

 

Kat's tattoo is interpreted a little differently, translated with brighter colors, which, in Kat's words, were "amped up to be on my arm".

The plan is eventually for this tattoo to expand to be a half-sleeve.

The phrase "the world is quiet here" is a nod to a motto for a secret organization known as V.F.D. in A Series of Unfortunate Eventsby Lemony Snicket. These books are favorites among Kat's list of much-loved titles.

Her work was created by the artist Joy Rumore at Twelve 28 Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Kind thanks to Kat for sharing her work with us here on Tattoosday!

Julie's Crazy Tattoo

Inkspotting can be impulsive, but I also like to approach each volunteer after some consideration.

Rather than rush up on someone and barrage them with questions, I like to make sure the tattoo(s) in question are not only interesting to me, but will be interesting to others.

When I spotted Julie's back in Penn Station, for example, I hesitated:

It wasn't initially clear what her tattoo said and I was struck by its uniqueness. A huge fan of word and type tattoos, I couldn't recall ever seeing anything quite like it.

So my curiosity got the best of me and I introduced myself to Julie.

The tattoo "Loufoque," which is a slang term in butcher jargon for "crazy person". Julie explained that she apprenticed with a butcher shop for six months and it was a word she often heard tossed about by the staff, occasionally used when referring to a customer who might be difficult or, let's say, insane.

The term Loufuque derived from 19th Century butcher slang and it became part of the vernacular. Julie thought that this tattoo would be a great way to commemorate her experience.

The tattoo was done by Ryoko at Brooklyn Tattoo. I asked the artist where she came up with the letter design and she kindly gave me a little more perspective:

"I recall Julie requesting the letters themselves to express lunacy. The final design in the photo is my own interpretation of what she had asked for and I think my intention here was to make the phrase look chaotic and disorderly, yet somewhat maintaining it's legibility. It's what I was able to put together by trying to depict what she might have been imagining in her head at the time."

So, this post was written and prepped and I was online doing some final research when I stumbled upon this tidbit of information from "Of Meat and Men" by Rachel Kramer Bussel over on The Daily Beast:

Her goodbye present from the Fleisher’s staff is a set of knives inscribed with her name and “Loufoque,” French-butcher Pig Latin for “Crazy Lady,” a term she now has permanently tattooed across her back. Yet Powell now sounds much surer of herself than the lost woman whom we find in the early pages of Cleaving. Next up is a stab at a novel: “I’ve written quite enough memoirs for a 36-year-old.”

Was this coincidence? Or were we talking about the same person?

Scrolling back in the article, I discovered that the Powell here and the Julie that I met in Penn Station were one and the same person.

The same person who crafted The Julie/Julia Project, in which the author blogged her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which became a book, which in turn became the film Julie and Julia. All of this Julie never once mentioned. Then again, I never asked. And it is all about the tattoo, after all.

That being said, thanks to Ryoko for sharing her thoughts about creating this tattoo, and a hearty thanks to Julie Powell for sharing this interesting tattoo. I'm glad my curiosity got the better of me!

Ant Tattoos

You name the design and by golly you better believe that somebody has gotten it tattooed on their body, even those little six legged social insects known as ants.

And despite there small size, ant tattoos aren't always portrayed as small creatures, in fact we've seen plenty of giant designs requested by admirers of the tiny creepy crawlies. However small groups of ant tattoos are also very common.

Eating strawberry on top of foot idea.

Group of twelve circling the eye on face.

Single giant art piece closeup.

Solid black ink on right ankle.

Black and purple on back left shoulder.

Gorilla Tattoos

The gorilla is an amazingly beautiful creature which is sometimes labeled as the gentle giant, however these big furry goblins are known to have a mean streak as well.

Gorilla tattoos are said to represent both strength and intelligence, while showcasing the animal inside all of us. And as can see from the tattoo pictures below, popular locations for these designs include the arm, the upper shoulder and forearm area.

Full gorilla body art on all fours.

Interesting design with sharp teeth.

Excellent face tattoo idea.

Great 3D quality artwork.

Side view of beautiful creature.

Anna's Marriage Tattoo

With inkspotting, timing is an essential part of the luck in finding interesting tattoos.

I was about to leave the James Farley Post Office when Melanie called me on my cell. During the several minutes that we spoke, a woman named Anna walked up next to me and started preparing an envelope for mailing. Had Melanie not called, I would have been out on the street, completely missing her.

Anna has a remarkable tattoo that travels up her arm, over her shoulder, onto her back, and down her side. Representing a species of kelp, the tattoo which honors her father, a marine biologist, was both too large and partially covered, for her to share with us here at Tattoosday.

Rather, she allowed me to photograph this tattoo on her right biceps:

This tattoo, which looks a lot like a woodcut, is a representation of an ink drawing of a farmer in the city which, in turn, was inspired by the Scott Walker song "Farmer in the City (Remembering Pasolini)" from his album Tilt.

Take a listen:



Rather than exchange wedding bands, Anna and her husband instead got matching tattoos. "Farmer in the City" is their song, and the tattoos are matrimonial bonds that are in their flesh, rather than on their hands.

It's quite a lovely idea and reminds me of what our friend Carrie and her husband did (read about it here) after their wedding.

This tattoo was inked by Zee at Studio Zee in New Haven, Connecticut.

Thanks to Anna for sharing her matrimonial tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!