Re-Post: A Piece of Tattoosday Pi

The following post appeared in October 2009, and I've been meaning to re-post it, but I always forget. This year, on 3/14, I remembered while it was still "Pi Day":

I was on the 34th Street subway platform, waiting for a downtown N express train, when I met Joe who had a series of numbers inked around his arm:


I asked him if the digits represented his social security number (don't laugh, I've heard it has been done) and he shook his head and rolled up his sleeve to reveal the top of the tattoo:


This, of course, is the value of π (pi), which mathematicians have determined, possesses an infinite number of decimal places.

As a physics enthusiast, he loves what pi represents. He told me, as the "meaning of symbols change a lot, what better [to have tattooed] than a transcendental constant?"

Despite π's infinite number of decimals, he only has the tattoo calculated out to 27 places because, he said, it was "all I could afford" at the time.



Later, Joe e-mailed me and gave me more specifics. The tattoo was done at Utopia in Huntington, New York (out on Long Island). I can't find a current listing foe the shop, so it may no longer be in business. And, Joe said, "the font is Times New Roman, the π symbol is 180pt font (π in degrees) and the numbers are 90pt font (π/2 in degrees)".
This careful selection of font size only emphasizes Joe's commitment to the purity of this πtattoo.

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

This entry is ©2009, 2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

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Re-Post: Happy Birthday Edward Gorey!

To those of you who pay attention to this sort of thing, today's Google doodle honors the artist and illustrator Edward Gorey.

Over the years, we've featured four people with Gorey tattoos and I wanted to re-post one of them in honor of what would have been Gorey's 88th birthday.

Here, from 2010, is my favorite post of the ones we've featured:

I met Missy on the corner of 23rd and 7th back in the beginning of September and she shared her two tattoos, on both biceps.Her right arm bears this piece:

and her left shoulder hosts this cool image:

 

These images may seem familiar, because they are based on Edward Gorey's Alphabet.

Missy has the two pieces representing her initials, M and N. The right arm represents "M": 

And the left arm represents the "N" for her last initial:

Missy got these tattoos in Santa Cruz about ten years ago.

Thanks to Missy for sharing her cool Gorey tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!
















~ ~ ~

To see all four Gorey posts, click this link.

Thanks again to Missy for sharing and, if you haven't seen Gorey's work, today would be a great day to start exploring this amazingly funny and dark artist!

This entry is ©2010, 2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

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Re-Post: The Day Before St. Valentine's Day

Actually, this post from 2009 was originally called Happy Valentine's from Tattoosday! But, it's the 13th, so we can't really use the same title now, can we?

In fact, this is a re-post of a re-post from July of 2008, and it is one of my favorite tattoos from over the years. I'm happy to be re-sharing it with new readers...

~ ~ ~

Lacking any new material for this holiday o' love, I'm re-posting an old favorite that seems to be in the theme. Well, at least there's a heart in it.

I just love the way, in this photo, that Cait's hand is positioned as she is pulling her blouse back to reveal the whole tattoo...

"I asked her if she'd be willing to share, and she did. She peeled back a little of her top to reveal this beautiful piece on the top left side of her chest:



Cait and her friend Michelle have birthdays two days apart. When they turned 18, they took a design that Michelle had crafted to Da Vinci Tattoo Studio in Wantagh, New York. The artist she remembered as "Yoshi" inked matching pieces for the two.


Cait says the heart that encases the colorful stars represents their friendship, and serves to remind them of the bond. In the event that life ever separates them, the tattoos will link them, no matter where they are.

Work from Da Vinci Tattoo Studio has appeared on Tattoosday before here.

Thanks to Cait for sharing her ink with us here at Tattoosday!

The original post is here.

Here's hoping the day is everything you expect it to be!

This entry is ©2008-2009, 2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

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Re-post: Here's to You Joe DiMaggio...

In a re-posting sort of mood and, with pitchers and catchers reporting soon, here's a piece from February 2009:

Living in New York City, a metropolis known for its die-hard sports fans, it is not unusual to see tattoos honoring and celebrating the rich athletic tradition that exists here.

On Friday, during my lunch hour, I spotted a New York City Fire Department truck parked at the corner of 40th Street and 7th Avenue. Standing along side it was Johnny, one of New York's bravest, enjoying the warm weather, in shorts, and baring this incredible leg tattoo:


This is, of course, Marilyn Monroe, but with a twist. She is sporting the New York Yankees   jersey of one of the franchise's greatest players, Joe DiMaggio, to whom she was married for less than a year.

Johnny is a huge Yankee fan, and also loves Marilyn Monroe, one of the iconic figures of the 20th century, and among the most popular celebrities tattooed. I have featured Marilyn tattoos previously here and here.

The image is based on a lithograph that Johnny purchased at a FanFest in 1996. After having it tattooed on his right calf, he felt something was missing.

He contacted the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and purchased an archival photograph of the original Yankee Stadium, circa 1923. This was then used as the source material to create the recognizable backdrop for Marilyn.


Johnny has a ton of tattoos, approximately 15 pieces in all. This one, along with others he has, was created by Cort Bengston at Cort's Royal Ink Tattoo Studio in Patchogue, New York.

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

This entry is ©2009, 2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

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Repost: Amanda's Hands Are Well-Armed

It seems silly to not post anything when I have the time and five years of material that is wandering the ether. So, I am pledging to dredge up some oldies but goodies, should I find myself lacking new material for any given day. That said, here we have a post that originally went live on February 1, 2009. Enjoy!

~ ~ ~

I met Amanda in my neighborhood a couple of weeks ago on a cold day in January. She wasn't wearing gloves which, despite the cold, was a good thing, as her hands bore a couple of nifty tattoos that really flashed in the sunlight.

Unfortunately for me, I was bogged down with a bag of groceries and dry cleaning, so I wasn't in any position to take pictures.

I did manage to chat with Amanda briefly, and I told her about Tattoosday. I passed her my card and asked her to email me if she was interested in sharing.

I was happy to hear from her a day or two later and, this past weekend, sat and chatted with her at a local Starbucks. It was there that I got to see her tattooed hands in all their glory:


Amanda hails from Kansas City, Missouri, and moved to New York several years back to pursue her dream of an artistic career. She estimates that her body is 30% inked, most of which was done by her home town artist Steve Drew, who works out of a shop called Irezumi Body Art.

She was looking around for an artist in New York, when she accompanied a friend to Red Rocket Tattoo in Manhattan. There, Mike Bellamy was working with her friend on a concept sleeve. Amanda liked what she saw and started working with Mr. Bellamy on her hand guns.

You can see other Tattoosday-featured work by Mike Bellamy here.

So, why put guns on your hands, of all places? Amanda says it was an aesthetic decision, and not any sort of moral or political statement. Nor, she says, was it necessarily a nod to her roots in Kansas City.


Rather, Amanda wanted a whimsical tattoo that anchored what will become, eventually, full sleeves. The old six-shooter style of revolver is a traditional tattoo, in some senses (see previous gun-themed tattoos here).


But Amanda wanted her hand guns to be colorful and depict a feminine side, reminiscent of a weapon tucked into a saloon-girl's garter belt. The red roses, set into the handles, give the guns a softer edge. Their placement on the hands recall a childlike innocence, reminding one of the gesture kids make when they pretend their hands are toy guns.

Amanda said that she had these inked in one sitting, each gun taking about an hour and a half each. Mike Bellamy inked the outline on each hand first, then went back and did the color and shading on both. How did it feel? "The most intense pain I've ever felt," said Amanda, "especially on the knuckles".

Thanks to Amanda for sharing her guns here on Tattoosday! We look forward to seeing more of your ink in the future!

This entry is ©2009, 2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

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Repost: Richard's Mayan Calendar Honors His Heritage

Seeing today was predicted to be the end of the world, it seemed appropriate to repost this entry from last February:

 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!

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.

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Re-Post: Happy Birthday, Mr. Vonnegut!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Vonnegut! 

Social media reminds me that today would be Kurt Vonnegut's 90th birthday. 

It's also Veteran's Day and, since Vonnegut wrote one of the great war novels of all time, Slaughterhouse Five, it seemed appropriate to re-post this classic Vonnegut tattoo. You can see all of the Vonnegut tattoos that have appeared on Tattoosday here. 

Enjoy this Tattoosday classic:


At the Seventh Avenue Street Fair in Park Slope on Sunday, there was plenty of ink. Amazing ink too. But I only stopped one person, Samantha.

Samantha had this simple quote from the late Kurt Vonnegut on her back. This simple refrain (used 106 times in Slaughterhouse-Five, according to Wikipedia), came to be synonymous with the Vonnegut philosophy.

Samantha had this inked on her birthday at Hypnotic Designs in Sunset Park by Dru. Her boyfriend Igor also had a Vonnegut quote inked, but on his left leg:


or, from a different view:


This quote is from God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian...

My epitaph in any case? "Everything was beautiful. Nothing hurt." I will have gotten off so light, whatever the heck it is that was going on.

Thanks to Samantha and Igor for sharing their Vonnegutian ink here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2008, 2012 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

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Re-Post: A Patriotic Tattoo for Patriot Day

I am rarely satisfied with something from my unpublished backlog when September 11 rolls around.

I have re-posted a 9/11 Memorial Tattoo several times already, so I am re-posting this one, from 2008, because it also seems like an appropriate sentiment for this day.

I also like to share this poem, which I composed back in 2001.

~ ~ ~

I ran into Rob in my neighborhood in late August and he gladly shared his patriotic tattoo.

Rob is a Revolutionary War buff and has a distinct interest in American history.

He wanted an "old school" tattoo back in 2000, and wanted something patriotic back "before it was fashionable". He's referring of course, to the explosion of post-9/11 red, white and blue ink. He wasn't disrespecting or being critical of patriotic tattoos done after 2001, he was merely clarifying for me that his piece was not a product of the huge wave of emotion that surged through the country after that day of infamy seven years ago.

Rob's "Land of the free, Home of the brave" banner with the original 13-star flag was inked by Darren Rosa at Rising Dragon in Manhattan. Work from Rising Dragon has appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

Thanks to Rob for sharing his red, white, and blue patriotic tattoo with us here on Tattoosday on this occasion.

~ ~ ~

This entry is ©2008,2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another website 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.

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Let the Games Begin! (A Re-post of Olympic Awesomeness)

The 2012 Olympics, or the games of  XXX Olympiad, begin today, officially. The summer games are always a big deal in our household and one thing you'll notice, the Olympians of 2012 are sporting a lot more ink than they have in the past. For a taste, check out this slideshow here, highlighting a few.

This, of course, reminds me of Tattoosday's chance encounter with an Olympian several years ago. In honor of the games starting today, I thought I'd repost "Ronda's Olympic Tattoos," which appeared back in May 2009:

...On Tuesday, April 21 [2009] ... I spotted a familiar symbol on the right ankle of a woman in the Amtrak section of Penn Station:

Those are, of course, the recognizable Olympic rings.

One can imagine how pleased I was when the individual to whom this tattoo belonged was open to discussing not only her tattoos, but their significance.

For Ronda Rousey, like many athletes (see this New York Times article here), getting tattoos to commemorate attendance and participation in the Olympics, is a rite of passage.

But Ronda isn't just any Olympic athlete. She participated in both the 2004 games in Athens, and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In fact, she won the Bronze Medal in China in the sport of judo (middleweight division)

and became the first American woman ever to medal in that event.

She actually has at least three pieces that circumnavigate her ankle. The tail end of one can be seen to the left of the Olympic rings. Here's the beginning (and majority) of the slogan:


That is "Citius, Altius, Fortius," which is the motto of the modern Olympic games. Translated into English it means "Swifter, Higher, Stronger".

Also on the ankle is a third element, which is a Greek head garland:


This is a symbol of the 2004 Athens games, at which Ronda also competed.

She did not medal that year, but she was also the youngest, at 17, judo competitor in the Games, and was a rising star.

A resident of Los Angeles, Ronda had all three tattoos done at Ink Monkey Tattoo in Venice, California.

On a side note, personally, I always get a charge out of meeting a complete stranger and talking to them about their tattoos. That excitement is the fuel that energizes the Tattoosday experience for me.

Days later, I was still pumped about meeting an Olympic athlete. Most Olympians will say they're just like everyone else, normal folks like you and me. But, I beg to differ. Ronda isn't a member of the "Dream Team" or a star in track or gymnastics or beach volleyball or any of the "marquis" events. Nonetheless, here is a woman who participates in a sport and, in August 2008, was one of the top three women in the world in that event. She accomplished what so many athletes aspire to. She stood on a podium and even though the Star-Spangled Banner wasn't blaring on the P.A. system, she wore a medal around her neck and saw the American flag raised because of her remarkable athletic accomplishment.

It is an honor to have her featured here on Tattoosday and I thank her profusely, from the bottom of my tattoo-loving heart.

Click here [for a news article that is] a recap of Ronda's Olympic medal run....

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

~ ~ ~

I should add that Ronda has gone on to have a successful career in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). 

Let the Games Begin!

This entry is © 2009, 2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another website 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.

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Repost: Keikikalani

Today my daughter Shayna had her bat mitzvah. In honor of Shayna, and in light of the rabbi commenting on angels and cherubim during the service, my sister Alicia suggested I repost my second tattoo, in honor of my youngest daughter.


You may recognize this from the bottom of the page (or for long-time readers, it once served as the masthead).

This is my second tattoo, inked in July 2005, by Peter Cavorsi at Body Art Studios in Brooklyn. I brought him this art as reference, and he ran with it, customizing it to more closely reflect my younger daughter's blonde hair, and her affinity for Green Day, at the young age of six.
Thanks for reading Tattoosday!

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Repost: All I Want for Christmas is a Tattoo with Teeth

Happy Holidays from us here at Tattoosday! Today we're re-visting a post from 2009, in the spirit of the season:

On Christmas Eve afternoon, I was passing through Penn Station, I spotted Lindsay, a woman with what appeared to be a sleeve that had a water-inspired design.

It wasn't until after I approached her and asked if she wanted to contribute to Tattoosday that I saw, as she rolled up her sleeve, what awesome work she had done on her left arm:


Lindsay said that, like all of her 14 or 15 tattoos, none of them have "deep meaning". She just goes with whatever she describes as an "intense urge" at the time she's getting the tattoo.

The sleeve above started with her taking photos with stylings to the artist, saying she wanted a bloody shark. This was the first part of the tattoo:


She then expanded it with this segment of shark


which is certainly reminiscient of the movie poster for Jaws.


This piece was created in four sittings lasting 3-4 hours each, by John Reardon at Saved Tattoo (which was the shop responsible for yesterday's post, too). [Reardon now works at the Greenpoint Tattoo Company]

Work from John Reardon has appeared here on Tattoosday previously. Reardon is also the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting a Tattoo.

Thanks to Lindsay for taking the time to share her incredible shark sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!
 

This entry is © 2009, 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.

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Repost: Michael's Mariachis

Well, it has been a repost sort of week, and as it is All Soul's Day, a.k.a. The Day of the Dead, this only seemed fitting. It's from my college friend, Michael, and it appeared here originally on December 30, 2008. Enjoy!


In reconnecting with old college friends through Facebook, my old friend Michael who I haven't seen in almost twenty years sent me an amazing tattoo he has on his right arm.

He sent me before and after shots so we can see the transformation from outline to spectacularly colorful body art. First, the before shots.....



The detail and the line work is exemplary and breath-taking. As someone with a guitar inked on my arm, I can appreciate the intricacies of a finely-drawn instrument. The detail on the mariachi's jacket cuff is incredible.



And now, for some color:




Michael explains the basic premise of this tattoo:

In a sense, this piece is a "memorial" tattoo, although I hate to call it that. Since I grew up in the Southwest, Day of the Dead was a regular thing, so I've always been drawn to that type of imagery, plus I like the meaning -- honoring the dead, and reminding us to live life to the fullest. I picked the mariachis partly because I am so into music, and partly because of the celebratory aspect of mariachis.

Like many intricate tattoos with multiple elements, every part has significance. The tulips, for example, that are growing at the mariachi's feet, "are an actual heirloom varietal that I have in the garden" [and] are for my wife -- tulips are her favorite flower".



And the angel at the top of the piece (and the top of the post)?


Michael informs us that "the angel is for my mother, who is no longer with us. The angel holds a purple iris (my mother's favorite flower), and looks down over the whole scene."

This amazing piece was inked by Susan Behney-Doyle who works out of Jinx Proof Tattoo in Washington, D.C. Mexican folk art is one of her specialties (see a gallery of her work here) and Michael says he "gave her a few reference pieces to look at, but she basically drew it after a consultation". He continues, "we made just a couple tweaks after I saw the drawing, but it's a one-of-a-kind custom piece".

The whole tattoo was crafted back in 2006 over a five-month, seven-session period. Michael notes that one of those sessions was devoted solely to shading the guitar. A closer look at the instrument reveals an incredible complexity of brown variations that truly makes the guitar jump off the skin.

Thanks again to Michael for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday - twice!

This entry is ©2008, 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.

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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!

This entry is ©2009, 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.

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