Minggu, 31 Juli 2011

Today marks Tattoosday's fourth anniversary, when we first started off here on BillyBlog as a once a week feature, before spinning off into a stand-alone site little over a month later.

To celebrate, I'll be sharing favorite posts from the past four years throughout the day. Just a little celebratory break before we resume our normally-scheduled programming.

I also encourage readers to comment below or email me (tattoosday@gmail.com) and I will attempt to re-post reader favorites throughout the day.

Thanks to all of my readers for supporting me throughout the years! Here's to at least four more years!


This entry is ©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.
As part of our fourth anniversary, we are re-posting some of our favorite Tattoosday moments. This post is one of my all-time favorites, from June 15, 2010:

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!




This entry is ©2010, 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.

Sabtu, 30 Juli 2011

Back in April, I ran into John in Herald Square (34th and 6th) who had some pretty amazing work. He estimates he is about 25% covered in tattoos, which includes both arms, hands to shoulders, and both sides of his neck.

I stopped him and handed him a flier, but he was in a hurry, so we went our separate ways.

A month or so later, he e-mailed me a couple of photos:



John "loved Popeye growing up" and "love[s] the way [tattoos] look".

Not a lot more to tell, other than this was done by Rodrigo Melo, when he was at Rising Dragon Tattoos on 23rd Street (now on 14th). Rodrigo has since left Rising Dragon and co-founded North Star Tattoo in the East Village.

John is a photographer whose work can be seen here.

Thanks to John for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©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.

Jumat, 29 Juli 2011

As a new season of Project Runway premiered last night, I thought I'd share a fashion-related tattoo. Working on "Fashion Avenue," I see a lot of ink on people in the industry. Here's one from Megan:


This is a quote by the fashion designer Tom Ford:

"Beauty is an illusion/It is here only for a moment/Then it fades/But in the brief moment of existence/It has forever/impacted the world"
Megan read these words in one of Ford's books, in a section about evening wear.

"I love Tom Ford," she told me, "and I think he's a very smart man."

The tattoo was done about 2-3 years ago at Ink Candy in Hollywood by an artist named Angel.

Thanks to Megan for sharing this inspirational quote with us here on Tattoosday!

Kamis, 28 Juli 2011

I spotted this lovely tattoo on the Broadway-Lafayette subway platform last month, while switching trains:



This floral piece, on Katie's calf,  is one of her eight tattoos.

The larger flower is an iris and the smaller flowers are Narcissus papyraceus or, as they are commonly known, Paperwhites.

She added these paperwhites specifically because they were her Nan's favorite flower.

The tattoo was done by an artist named Ron Hotte in San Diego. Rob is currently back in New York, more  specifically on Long Island, at Solid Gold Tattoo.

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

This entry is ©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.




this stuff comes from one of my alltime favorite blogs: jjjjound.com
dana and i will be on vacation for three weeks. not updates, sorry :)
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Rabu, 27 Juli 2011

Last week, I was passing through Penn Station when I spotted a woman with a bunch of interesting tattoos. I introduced myself, and had taken a picture of one of her tattoos, when the loudspeaker announced her train was boarding. Having learned nothing about the tattoo I had just photographed, I gave her my card and asked her to e-mail me the details.

When this happens, I am often left with a tattoo and no story. But fortunately for all of us here at Tattoosday, Stephanie e-mailed me a few days later, and this is what she had to say:

"You stopped me in Penn Station ... and took a picture of my tattoo. Its a skull on my forearm, pink with green flowers and a backwards jaw :)

I got the tattoo years ago now and the color is still incredibly vibrant. I got it at Chameleon Tattoo & Body Piercing  in Harvard Sq, Cambridge Massachusetts. The artist's name is Rueben Kayden. He does amazing traditional work and I've had him work on me several other times. At the time he had been working on two pin-up girls I have on the backs of my arms. I went in for my appointment and Rueben showed me a design he had been doodling. It was a strange skull with its jaw on the back of its head, and flowers all around. I immediately loved it. So, we ended up just tattooing that on me instead. I'm very random and I love random pieces of work. What's better than a random story?"
Work from Chameleon Tattoo and Body Piercing has appeared previously on the site here and here.

Thanks to Stephanie for sharing this tattoo and story with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©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.

Selasa, 26 Juli 2011



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this is amazing. these four dudes, especially the one in the middle, are not that pretty, but they have a selfconfidence beyond anything that i would have on stage. impressive...and funny
A couple weeks back, I met Dave and Bethany outside of the Borders Penn Plaza in Manhattan. Both had amazing ink and shared some tattoos with us. Let's start with Dave's "scalpflower":


Dave explained that this floral tattoo on his scalp was inked by Mike Adams, who was doing a guest spot at Thicker Than Water in Manhattan.

Dave elaborated:
"We had talked about some ideas when I saw him [Mike Adams] at the Philadelphia Convention. We showed up [at Thicker than Water] and he just showed me some of the drawings of the tattoos he had recently done.


He had done another flower on someone else in the past week and I said 'Oh, let's do one of those.' He said, 'Yeah, that's awesome/ Let's do it.' "
Dave, who is approximately 70% covered in tattoos, had mostly been worked on by Tony Hundahl from Rock of Ages Tattoo in Austin, Texas. Hundahl has done both of Dave's sleeves (including the traditional segment pictured below), his chest, stomach, back, knees and one of his legs.



Dave added that, since moving to Washington D.C. recently, he started collecting work from other artists in the East.

Along with Dave, I met Bethany who, shared one of her more recent tattoos, this whale by Deno Jr.:


Deno Jr. works out of Circus Tattoo in Madrid, Spain, but had recently done a guest spot at Tattoo Paradise in D.C.

This tattoo is of this lonely whale, whose song is different from any other species, so it is an outcast, and she doesn't have a mate.

Thanks to Dave and Bethany for sharing their amazing tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©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.

Senin, 25 Juli 2011


This incredible back piece belongs to Aisha, a former New Yorker who now resides in Florida.

I met her last month at the corner of 36th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.

The tattoo is an interpretation of the old adage, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil".

Inked over eleven years ago and representing about twenty hours of work, this huge piece was her second of eight tattoos.

She remembers only that the artist's name is Rodrigo, so it may have been Rodrigo Melo who currently owns and works at North Star Tattoo, but I am still working to confirm he was the tattooer behind this.

"I told him what I wanted," Aisha explained. "He just drew it on my back and I loved it and that was it."

The face is female, her eyes are closed and she has a mouth bit that represents her silence.



Despite the face's eyes being closed, she indicated that the "third eye" in the middle of the forehead is open. The third eye can be interpreted many ways, but often refers to looking inward and a greater consciousness.

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


This entry is ©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.

Minggu, 24 Juli 2011



parker hurley is a pretty amazing dude. 
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The Snake

Unlike in the Christian Mythology, the snake can be in an animistic context also a positive symbol.

This tattoo is based on the visions received in an Ayahuasca ritual.

A story from a North American first nation tribe, freely told from my memory, I heard it a long time ago:


In the beginning of all times the great spirits searched for someone, who could be the sun, so they called out to all beings and searched for  the sun.

The first, who came up, was the Buzzard and he thought:
“Ha, my feathers are the most beautiful, shining golden, I shall be the sun!”
So the great spirits let him fly high up in the sky and he performed the most amazing circles and did his very best to be the most beautiful light in the sky.
But after a while everyone got tired and stiff in the neck from watching the Buzzards show above them, so they ordered him down again and said, that it was not good, when the Buzzard was the sun.

Next was the raven and he thought:
“Ha, people always think, I am a dark character, bringer of bad luck, but I’ll show them, what I’m capable of!”
So he spread his wings and took off in the air, but whatever he did, he just looked like a small dark cloud in the sky.
So they ordered him down again and said, that it was not good, when the raven was the sun.

After him came  Coyote, he likes to play tricks and have everything under control so he thought:
“Ha, from up there I’ll have a perfect overview over everything and can play some nice tricks!”
But Coyote can’t fly, so he had to jump and after a while they were sick of protecting their head because Coyote was jumping around like crazy.
So they ordered him down again and said, that it was not good, when Coyote was the sun.

Then the snake came crawling up and she said, she wanted to be the sun.
And they said: “You, snake? But you’re crawling on the ground all day long, why do you want to be the sun?”
And snake said: “Because I dreamt about it.”

So she rolled herself to a spiral and when she unrolled, she stripped off a yellow part of her skin, which is the sunrise.

 Then she stripped off a white part of her skin, which is the midday.

After that she stripped off a red part of her skin, which is the sunset.

Finally she stripped off a black part off her skin, which is the night.

Everyone was satisfied and went to bed.
So it came, that the snake became the sun.

And Snake also shows us, how we as people should be, not like the Buzzard, always showing off and being vain.
Also not like the raven, desperately trying to be something that we just not are.
Not like Coyote either, being full of games and try to have everything under control.

The Snake teaches us a good way: live for your dreams and give your skin for the others.
Back in June, I met Andrea on Penn Plaza in Manhattan and she shared this tattoo:


This is, of course, Amy Winehouse, whose death was just announced yesterday. Andrea, who has this inked on her upper right arm, says she had this done "in the style of Monet". The artist was "Mad Dog" at Studio 33 Tattoo on St. Mark's in Manhattan.

When I asked Andrea why she got Winehouse tattooed on her, she replied, "she has such amazing talent" and professed her admiration for her as an artist.


The tattoo art is based on a painting she had found online, and she selected it to add to her collection of approximately twenty tattoos.

In hindsight, it seems almost haunting that I photographed this piece on June 22, a month and a day before she died. We here at Tattoosday are saddened by her passing and can only wonder what art will never be created because she died at such an early age, like so many other talented musicians whose struggles with addiction cut their lives short.

Thanks to Andrea for sharing this tattoo. I hope that her ink gives her strength as she bears this tribute to Amy Winehouse for everyone to see.


This entry is ©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.

Sabtu, 23 Juli 2011


These poppies are courtesy of Emma, who I met in Penn Station last week.

She got poppies because, she told me, "My grandfather passed away a couple years ago and I used to call him Poppy".

This is one her five tattoos, and represents about four and a half hours of work by Gus Espinoza at La Familia Tattoo, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Thanks to Emma for sharing "Poppy's Poppies" with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©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.
Thank you for coming. See you next winter.

Thank you for coming and respect.

You are the Man! See you again.

Jumat, 22 Juli 2011

Arti Simbol Tattoo HewanDalam dunia tattoo hewan mendominasi desain dan simbol tattoo. Desain tato hewan dan simbol hewan memiliki kekuatan yang luar biasa dan dimaksudkan untuk bertransformasi menjadi individu sehingga mereka mengambil beberapa aspek dari hewan tato pada mereka.

Hewan termasuk salah satu ciptaan Tuhan. Ketika manusia memilih keluar dari tatanan alam dan menempatkan diri di atas semua spesies lain. Namun demikian, masih percaya bahwa komunikasi dari hewan ke manusia masih ada dalam bentuk telepati psikis dan melalui roh.

Dalam beberapa budaya tradisional masih mempunyai kepercayaan bahwa semangat hewan dapat masuk pada saat kelahiran dan berfungsi sebagai panduan hidup orang itu. Sebuah panduan semangat mungkin muncul pada saat-saat kritis.

Alam menyediakan ratusan hewan dan masing-masing hewan membawa sifat-sifat tertentu. Dan di dunia tattoo simbol-simbol hewan paling banyak dipakai dan masing-masing memiliki artinya sendiri-sendiri serta tidak jarang untuk memilih sebuah simbol yang cocok untuk Anda akan merupakan sebuah pertimbangan penting sebelum Anda mentattoo diri Anda dengan sebuah gambar/simbol hewan.

Berikut beberapa contoh arti simbol tattoo hewan:

Arti simbol tattoo burung elang
Kejam dan megah, dengan jeritan mengerikan dan cakar elang yang kuat itu menjadi favorit di desain asli suku Amerika. Semangat elang adalah salah satu kebenaran, kesadaran, dan perceptiveness.

Arti simbol tattoo burung hantu
Burung hantu adalah favorit baik muda dan tua. Burung hantu adalah roh dari visi, kebijaksanaan dan wawasan.

Arti simbol tattoo burung gagak
Gagak melambangkan perjalanan yang tidak diketahui arah dan tujuannya. Gagak adalah tokoh sentral dalam mitos penciptaan.

Arti simbol tattoo kupu-kupu
Sebuah cara yang indah untuk menangkap kekuatan luar biasa dari perubahan pribadi. Energi kupu-kupu dikaitkan dengan keseimbangan, transformasi dan kasih karunia.

Arti simbol tattoo beruang
Beruang adalah kesaksian utama kekuatan, pelestarian diri dan kebijaksanaan.

Arti simbol tattoo serigala
Serigala sering muncul dalam desain tato karena daya tarik magnet untuk kemanusiaan, serigala merupakan keterampilan mengajar, loyalitas dan kerjasama.

Arti simbol tattoo coyote
Sering disebut sebagai "Trickster", makhluk nakal berfungsi sebagai roh (dalam arti lelucon lucu) lucu. Coyote berbicara tentang pembalikan keberuntungan (untuk lebih baik atau buruk), licik dan humor.

Arti simbol tattoo rubah
Rubah telah disebut metafora dan simile banyak hewan. Tidak mengherankan, pesan rubah adalah salah satu kepandaian, kebijaksanaan, dan licik.

Arti simbol tattoo anjing
Pendamping (teman terbaik manusia), anjing telah terikat dengan manusia. Sesuai dengan sifatnya, semangat anjing adalah salah satu dari kesetiaan dan persahabatan.

Arti simbol tattoo cougar
Cougar berbicara tentang kepemimpinan, loyalitas & keberanian.

Arti simbol tattoo rusa
Tenang, damai, indah dan anggun. Semangat rusa adalah salah satu dari damai, kepekaan dan kelembutan.

Arti simbol tattoo kuda
Semangat bebas dari kekuatan besar dan kekuatan yang memilih untuk menyelaraskan diri dengan kemanusiaan. Tattoo kuda berbicara tentang kebebasan, kekuatan dan gerakan dan berbicara kekuasaan dan pangkat sosial.

Arti simbol tattoo Penyu
Mampu untuk menghindari dunia dengan kenyamanan cangkangnya, ada banyak orang yang mengidentifikasi dengan baik dengan makhluk air. Semangat penyu adalah salah satu perlindungan, penyembuhan dan pengetahuan batin.

Arti simbol tattoo katak
Mampu untuk menutupi jarak yang luar biasa dalam setiap lompatan. Katak telah lama dihormati untuk kekuatan penyembuhannya, sebagai indikasi perubahan damai dan sebagai kesaksian adaptasi.

Arti simbol tattoo lumba-lumba
Sebuah mamalia laut, lumba-lumba telah lama terpesona dengan kecerdasan manusia dan alam sosial. Merupakan pertanda keselarasan, komunikasi dan intelijen.

Arti simbol tattoo Salmon
Selalu berjuang melawan arus, salmon telah lama menjadi simbol dari tekad. Hal yang sama berlaku alam totem binatang, yang menceritakan tentang ketekunan dan dedikasi berpikiran tunggal.

Arti simbol tattoo burung bangau
Amerika Utara tradisi asli memegang bangau biru sebagai utusan yang mengajarkan tentang penentuan nasib sendiri dan kemandirian. Kaki kurus mengingatkan kita bahwa kaki atletik tidak diperlukan untuk stabilitas, tapi itu berdiri di sendiri 'adalah kunci. Bangsa Iroquois diperlakukan bangau biru sebagai pertanda sangat baik.

Arti simbol tattoo buaya
Buaya adalah simbol kuat siluman, kesabaran, dan 'bahaya tersembunyi'. Menonjol, mata ditarik seperti teropong, beristirahat di atas permukaan air, sementara sebagian besar reptil ini tetap terlihat di bawah air.

Arti simbol tattoo berang-berang
Penduduk asli Amerika telah lama mengagumi berang-berang sebagai pelindung kuat dari keluarga. Berang-berang juga merupakan simbol kuat kedokteran wanita dan energi perempuan.

Arti simbol tattoo ikan paus
Budaya asli Amerika telah menekankan pentingnya hubungan dengan 'Roh Agung ". Semua bentuk kehidupan - dari ikan paus untuk disebut bebatuan, tanaman, planet, dan elemen - diyakini dipenuhi dengan energi.

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An 18- year old viking girl from one of the south swedish first nations right after receiving her first tattoo.

I support a strict 18+ tattoo- regulation, in times where rites of passage lost their meaning, this is one of the very few left, a point in life, where one clearly understands, that there s no way back and you passed an important point in life that should be marked, even if ist s just the driving license, to be able to buy legally alcohol and smokes or the official end of the parents influence.
(And - Yes!...... Vikings smoke and drive cars in the 21. century, even if you don´t belive it!)
Sometimes you´ll meet people that make you spontaneously decide to be very friendly when you´re not heavier armed........
 Right after a very strong session, that more had the feeling of an ancient ritual (Thanx for stretching, Sabine and David!)
 The strange figures on the arm depict very old rock carvings of shamans from the place where he was born.

Some people say, I don`t know what I´m doing, hehe........


This design shows, how strong the vikings are attached to the artefacts, the belt fittings are 1:1 replicas from original findings.
Especially here you can see that the habit of having the same style in carvings, jewelry, embroidery and tattoos, like you can still find in ancient cultures with an unbroken tattoo tradition, is still alive in northern europe. (handpoked design)
It s just some very nice experience to do pieces like this in the places, where the norsemen nearly 1000 years ago developed this style, gives something special to it....
A piece, done a while ago by hand, showing the Urnes - stavechurch- sidepanel to every detail, "the real deal".
Drawn on and designed freehand, poked by hand in the fjordlands of western Norway, home of the Urnes-style.
 The design we ´re tapping here is the same like the embroidery on the back of the "victims" shirt wich is the logo of his company, designed by the man himself  in the old swedish urnes style (thanks for stretching, Yngvil :-)
You think, this is a beautiful place? It s even more beautiful than any picture can tell........