Emily's Sugar Skull Butterfly

At the end of July 2012, I bumped into Emily on the West 4th Street subway platform in Manhattan.

By her estimates, she has "about twenty" tattoos.

She offered up this stunning piece that wraps around her forearm:

Best to click on the image to see it in greater detail.

This hybrid sugar skull butterfly is a custom piece designed and tattooed by Brad Stevens at New York Adorned.

A piece by Brad appeared previously on Tattoosday here, back in August 2010.

Emily blogs over at Rougetheday.com.

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

This entry is ©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.

Kristina Shares Two Stunning Virginia Elwood Tattoos

One of my favorite Tattoosday encounters involves Kristina, who I featured here back in 2010. As I recall in the post, I had originally met Kristina in Manhattan a couple years earlier, and had run into her again in my neighborhood when we were both picking up our kids from camp.

We've since become friends and I've kept up to date on some new tattoos she has had inked since we last featured her on Tattoosday.

Over the summer, we finally had a moment to stop, talk, and take pictures of her newer tattoos, both of which were tattooed by the fantastically awesome Virginia Elwood of New York Adorned.

This is the larger piece on her shoulder and upper chest:

She loves birds and the emblem on the chain was Elwood's idea. Kristina had wanted a compass but, as she put it "Virginia-ized." She added, "she [Elwood] does these beautiful geometric flowers like a spyrograph - I wanted it in that style."

Kristina also has this crane on her right ankle:

Kristina's son Oscar told her to get a crane, "which originally scared me," she said, "because he was little and I thought he meant a construction vehicle."

Clicking here will show you all the work I've featured by Virginia before on Tattoosday. Some day, I hope to get work from her, as well.

Thanks to Kristina for sharing her birds with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©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.

Remembering Julien's Father

A couple weeks ago outside of Madison Square Garden, I met Julien, who shared this portrait of his father:

As it turns out, today, July 20, 2012, marks the twentieth anniversary of his passing. Julien was only seven years old when his father died.

This wonderful portrait was inked by the always-amazing Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned.

Via e-mail, Julien explained the name at the top of the portrait:

"I actually chose my last name rather than my father's name because I got the tattoo done a few months after my grandfather (father of my father) past away, this way paid homage to both of them, and honor my family name at the same time. Since my father past away when I was 7 years old, my grandfather became very important to me."

Thanks to Julien for sharing this lovely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, and for agreeing to let me post it on the anniversary of his father's passing.

This entry is ©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.

The Story Behind Teddy Roosevelt and the Bear in a Wheelchair

Well, America is another year older, so it seems appropriate to honor our post-birthday euphoria with this unique presidential tattoo:

I spotted this piece back in May in Penn Station on the right calf of Emma. And, your eyes are not deceiving you, that's Theodore Roosevelt and a bear cub in a wheelchair.

The million dollar question, of course, was "Why do you have Theodore Roosevelt on your leg?" Emma replied:

"The short answer is that I think that he was super bad-ass and he's my favorite president. The long answer is that it came from a long decision process - I was gonna get Stephen Hawking and F.D.R, one on either calves, in wheelchairs, so then they could go for walks together and then I realized that that was just absolutely stupid. So I wanted to keep the wheelchair because I really like the way wheelchairs look and I decided instead of FDR, that I'd choose Teddy because he's my favorite president. And then I stuck the bear in the wheelchair so they could be friends because of all of his [Roosevelt's] naturalism...".

An interesting, well-thought out response, but certainly unusual. In fact, the artist, Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned, posted this on her website here, under the heading, What's the Weirdest Tattoo You've Ever Done? As Virginia says in her post, "this was her first tattoo and she sat like a champ. Teddy would be proud."


Thanks to Emma for sharing this wonderful and unusual 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.

Two Peacocks for a Tuesday

Back in June, I met two women on separate days who had peacock tattoos.

First was Charlotte, a filmmaker who I spotted on the uptown 3 train. I snapped these pictures when we got off the subway at 72nd Street:

 

Charlotte credited Daniel Albrigo as the artist, who did this when he worked at Brooklyn Adorned. He now tattoos out of Three Kings in Brooklyn.

She explained that she "wanted something beautiful to offset the Kali tattoo on her right shoulder".

A week later I met Emily near Penn Station, who had this different perspective on the peacock, inked on her calf:

Emily explained:

"My mother used to work at a school in Dallas, Texas, where I'm from, that has peacocks that roam wild on campus ... when I was a child I used to go play with them (or just watch them)."

Emily told me she "drew it and designed it with the help of Dave Wallin." Dave tattooed this when working at Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but he now works out of Eight of Swords Tattoo Studio.

Thanks to both Charlotte and Emily for sharing their very different peacocks 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.

Kerry Unveils Some Masterpieces

A couple weeks ago, I felt like I had won the Tattoosday lottery. In my own neighborhood, I ran into Kerry, who had a bit of a tattoo peeking out of her left sleeve. I stopped her and introduced myself, and she shared some simply phenomenal work. We'll get to that left sleeve in a second, but Kerry figured I'd be impressed with this tattoo on her upper right arm:

Well, she was certainly right about that!  This is a piece by Anil Gupta at Inkline Studio in Manhattan. The detail of this work is astonishing.

 

Anil Gupta is considered a master of the biomechanical tattoo. Kerry explained:

"I'd seen Gupta's work and I really wanted something in the biomechanical style ... I just thought of a butterfly, which is usually something very feminine and soft, just made it out of parts and steel ... like a cool mix of the styles ... we just kept building and adding more stuff to the design ... he was great to work with."

To get a full appreciation of the tattoo, check out the work from Gupta's portfolio. Simply stunning!
 

 

That's twenty-five hours of work by a master of the biomechanical.

Remember, it wasn't the Gupta tattoo that caught my attention, but this colorful section of a sleeve, on the lower part of Kerry's left arm:

 

Kerry rolled up her sleeve to reveal the entire arm:

What you see is approximately forty-two hours of work by the talented Kaz at New York Adorned.

Kerry explained the genesis of this sleeve:

"I saw this picture when I was looking up samurai stories, because I'm a martial artist and, initially, we were just going to do it half-sleeve, but then just decided to go whole hog. Kaz is really good, so I just let him go crazy with it."

Kerry's focus in martial arts is grappling and kick-boxing. 

And to think, I would have missed all of this amazing work, had I not been intrigued by the head of this Japanese monster, peeking out from one of her sleeves!

Thanks to Kerry for sharing her simply stunning 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.

Nicole Takes Us to Candyland

At the beginning of the month, I had the pleasure of encountering a young lady named Nicole in Herald Square (34th Street and 6th Avenue, for you out-of-towners).

Nicole is heavily inked, estimating that "about 45%" of her body is tattooed.

So with so much work, where to begin? She offered up her lower left leg, which is fully-sleeved.

I always find photographing sleeves challenging, because it is so hard to capture all of the details accurately and perfectly in a photograph. So here's a collage of Nicole's Candyland sleeve:

Why a Candylamd-themed sleeve? Nicole explained,

"Growing up, that was my favorite game in the whole world.

Getting my tattoos never really meant anything, so that was kinda the one, like, childhood thing . . . I feel like if you're a girl, you should have pretty, colorful tattoos ... otherwise, you don't look 'girly' anymore.

So that's why I did that."

Nicole credited Brian Randolph, formerly of New York Adorned, with this work

Nicole informed me that Brian had moved to California, but he comes back and forth every six months.  She did say that, although this work is solely from Brian, she also gets tattooed by Justin Weatherholtz at Kings Avenue Tattoo in Massapequa, New York.

Thanks to Nicole for sharing her incredibly colorful leg sleeve 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.

Emily's Typewriter

Last week, on Eighth Avenue, I spotted an incredible tattoo on the back of a woman's calf and knew that I had to speak to her about it. Check it out:

This vintage typewriter belongs to Emily, and was tattooed by one of my favorite artists in New York, Virginia Elwood at New York Adorned. You can click the tag at the bottom of the post to see other work of Virginia's that I have been fortunate enough to spot in my Tattoosday travels.

Emily explained that she is a writer, and wanted a vintage typewriter inked to represent her vocation. My guess she had decided on one of these Royal typewriters, and then Virginia worked her magic. Emily elaborates:

"I asked her originally to give me a little typewriter on top of the books here:

but there wasn't enough room ... [Virginia] was like It'll be too small if I put it on your arm, we'll have to do a big one to get the best detail."

The rest, as they say, is history.

Emily has nine tattoos in all, counting a half-sleeve as one large piece, and all of her work has been done by Virginia.

Emily is managing editor for a website called xoJane, and has even written about her tattoos. She directed me to this article she recently wrote, called "My Tattoos Make Guys Think I'm Easy." She's got a smart style that really taps into the heart and soul of the subject. I'm sure many tattooed women can relate to the sentiment in that piece. She also pointed to a more current article she wrote, with some input from Virginia, as well, about sexism in tattoo shops, specifically with the drama in the premiere (and subsequent episodes) of the latest tattoo reality series, New York Ink.

I, for one, certainly recommend checking out Emily's site, xoJane, and exploring not only her contributions, but those of the other writers, as well.

Thanks to Emily for sharing her incredible work with us here on Tattoosday, and for talking with me, even though she was running late. I do appreciate it and hope we'll see more of her tattoos here in the future!

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.