2008 Wrap-Up, Looking Ahead to 2009

For those of you following Tattoosday, I am going to take a different approach to the blog in 2009.

The concept will be the same, but I am going to enhance it a little bit. All posts will be dated and time-stamped around the time that they happened. So, if I don't get around to posting the ink for a few days, it will be back-dated for chronological effect.

I also want to blog above and beyond the successes (i.e. the people who said "No") and expand to other tattoo-related topics, when they arise.

For example, if I stop in Borders and look at a tattoo book, I'd like to link it here. I am hoping to turn all the "no thank yous" into items of interest.

I also have a couple of new features in the works that I hope to unveil in the new year that will continue to make Tattoosday the interesting experience that I believe it is.

In an effort to start out with a clean slate, I am cleaning out my drafts and posting all the remaining drafts I have in house, including several pieces by Jessica, who I met back in June.

Once again I want to thank everyone who regularly reads Tattoosday, and those who visit once in a while. 2008 was a banner year, registering over 100,000 hits this year alone. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2009 will bring. Happy New Year!

Usher in the New Year with a Hugs and Kisses Monster!

I met Laine earlier this month in Penn Station and she shared this, one of her "eight or nine" tattoos:

 

Laine explained that her friend Jason Lee, who tattoos and DJs in Florida under the name "Mr. Monster," inked this on her as a spur-of-the-moment tattoo. She was with a friend who was getting inked by Mr. Monster and it just happened. His signature tattoo is a monster design, so he just drew it on her with a Sharpie, and because they are such close friends, it developed as this friendly "Hugz and Keesez" monster.

Thanks to Laine for sharing this with us here on Tattoosday and happy new year to all! Please beware the Hugs and Kisses monsters lurking on New Years' Eve!

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.

More of Jessica's Ink: Blue Stars and Random Art

Here are some more tattoos from Jessica, who inked much of this work herself. She has over 50 tattoos, and has work featured before here.

She has inked some blue stars....


And that is Italy as well, with the red, white and green colors of the country's flag. The blue stars accompany a tomato slice and what I assume to be a Madagascar hissing cockroach...


and a koala bear.....


Thanks to Jessica for sharing all her ink here at Tattoosday.

More of Jessica: A Death's-head Hawk Moth and Knee Flames

Here's more of Jessica's ink. "Flames on my kneecap and the death's head moth from The Silence of the Lambs....."





That is the Death's-head Hawkmoth:


which came to cultural significance when featured on the movie poster for the Jodie Foster movie mentioned above.


Thanks again to Jessica for sharing her ink with us here on Tattoosday!

More of Jessica: Moogoogaipan and Red Foo

Here are the last two pieces I have on Jessica (I'm sure in '09 she'll send me more...). They are her foo dogs, which she has dubbed Moogoogaipan (named after the Americanized Chinese food dish moo goo gai pan) and Red Foo.



Jessica has shared a lot of ink here. She actually has some other foo dogs in an arm sleeve (shown here) which are well worth seeing again. Thanks again Jessica!

Angelina Jolie had written a story about her mother

Angelina Jolie had written a story about her mother but she does not plan to revealed it to the public. Her late mother died in 2007.

She said, “I’ve also written a story about my mother, after she passed."

“They are things that I will never show anybody, but it is nice to spend time with people and characters, in this private world.”

Source

Shanon Inks Lovely Thoughts

Last week, my brother Seth was in town, and I met him after work at a restaurant near Madison Square Garden, where he was having a quick bite with Shanon, an old friend of his from Southern California. He had just seen Shanon in a performance of Peter Pan at the Garden. Shanon is with the touring company of the show, and acts in the role of Curly, one of the Lost Boys, and is an understudy to the title character, played by Cathy Rigby, as well as the role of Mrs. Darling. The show closes in New York today (December 30, 2011).

I was talking to Seth and Shanon when I noticed that she had a tattoo on her inner right wrist. Of course, I went into Tattoosday mode, and she agreed to share some of her ink with us here on Tattoosday.

This is the piece on her wrist:

Shanon also removed her left shoe, to display her foot tattoo:

We took pictures of both tattoos because they each relate to Shanon's journey as an actress, and her role in Peter Pan.


The tattoo on her wrist references a verse in the Bible's New Testament, Mark 9:23. Shanon said that she was specifically drawn to the passage's proclamation that "Anything is possible to he who believes."

Her foot tattoo instructs "Think lovely thoughts," which is from Peter Pan itself, most popularly in the song "I'm Flying".


The show was the first play she remembers seeing as a child, and it is her first professional job in New York. Both messages tie into the fact that Shanon pursued her passion for performing and was able to attain the goal of being on stage in New York City. The road between first seeing Peter Pan and being on stage at the theater in Madison Square Garden, "the world's most famous arena," is no easy route to take. Believing in oneself and positive thinking are just two elements in attaining one's goals.

Both tattoos were done at Action Tattoo in Yorba Linda, California.

Thanks to Shanon for sharing her inspiring 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.

Michael's Mariachis Celebrate Life with a Burst of Musical Color

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.

Angelina Jolie will donate proceeds from her movie to charity

Angelina Jolie is a beautiful actress and have a kind heart.

Angelina Jolie is donating some of the proceeds from the soundtrack of her latest movie In the Land of Blood and Honey for a good cause.

She said, "We are happy that a portion of the proceeds from the film's soundtrack will support Sos children's Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina to provide stable, family-based homes to children, regardless of religion, ethnicity or gender, who do not have their own families to care for them."

Source

Tattoos I Know: Paul, Part 3, or, The Great Cover-Up of 2008

Earlier this year, I featured the first tattoo belonging to Paul, a co-worker and friend. Later on, he showed me his sleeve (here).

I am just getting around to show you his new work in progress, a cover-up of a tattoo on his right bicep, located above the first one of his that I featured here.

This isn't completed, but it does display a stage of the work that is interesting. Documenting it now will make it more interesting when the piece is completed.


That's an om symbol at the top of the piece. The basic design is a traditional Japanese half-sleeve. The work is done by Horisei at Chelsea Tattoo Company. Horisei inked my friend Rob's traditional Japanese tattoos (here).


Thanks again to Paul for sharing his work in progress here at Tattoosday. We're looking forward to seeing the final work in 2009!

The Long Story About a Small Tattoo, or, Megan Massacre's Golden Touch

Tonight on TLC, New York Ink premieres its second season. For those of you who may have blinked, I got about six seconds of quality screen time in season 1, episode 7, at the tail end of the show. I figured I'd share my experience here, in conjunction with the premiere of the show's sophomore run.

Ever since news broke earlier this year that Ami James, formerly of TLC’s Miami Ink, was opening up shop in New York City, and developing NY Ink, people within and on the periphery of the tattoo industry were waiting to see how it would play up.

Bits and pieces of news fragments floated about during the spring, in the blogosphere, and in the print media. This piece, in New York magazine really caught my attention.

So, a few weeks before the series was set to premiere on TLC during the first week of June, I was excited to see, on one of my favorite sites, Tattoo Snob, this blurb:

New York Ink’s $50 rooster deal

Wooster Street Social Club (A.K.A. the home of New York Ink) will be hosting/shooting a $50 rooster tattoo event on Friday, May 20th. The event starts at 11am, and will air at the end of Season 1 of New York Ink.

Send an RSVP email today to nyinkcasting@gmail.com with the subject: RSVP ROOSTER. Be sure to include your name, phone number and email address and you’ll be put on the VIP list.

Well, as you would imagine, my interest was piqued, so I dashed off an email and crossed my fingers. I then asked for Friday off, anticipating that I could get down there, thinking they were going to do one of those Friday-the-13th-like events, tattooing hundreds of roosters on adoring fans. Surely, I thought, I was fast enough out of the gate to make the list.

Unfortunately, that night I got an email from NY Ink breaking it to me that I wasn’t selected, but I was more than welcome to come down and be an extra.

Not really interested in missing work to not get a tattoo, I chalked it up to experience and BBM’d my boss and told him I’d be in Friday, after all.

“Never mind about Friday,” I messaged, “just got an email saying they were booked solid.”

“That sucks,” he wrote back.

“I could go, but no guarantee,” I messaged back, “not worth it.”

He tried to console me, “At least you won’t have a dumb rooster on you for the rest of your life.”

That was one way of looking at it.

The next day, I had just returned from lunch when the following e-mail hit my BlackBerry:

Exciting news! We have added 5 more spots to the guaranteed rooster tattoo list for tomorrow. If you are still interested in the $50 tattoo event tomorrow, and 100% want to get the tattoo please reply to this email by 2pm today with the subject line "100% rooster." Please note we need you to arrive by 11 AM sharp, and do not have an end time for the shoot. You need to be able to commit fully to the day in order to be involved.

The first 5 people to reply to this email will be added to the guaranteed rooster tattoo list. You will receive a confirmation email and phone call if you are chosen. Anyone we do not respond to is still more than welcome to attend the event but cannot be guaranteed a rooster tattoo.

Thanks and good luck! 

NY Ink Casting

I responded immediately and things looked promising when I got this message:

Hi Bill-

What is your phone number?

Thanks!

Moments after sending my number, I got the call. I was in! The production team sent me the logistics and I was good to go.

I got completely razzed by my boss, but he gave me the day off.

With my mother's birthday approaching, I thought it would be fun to dedicate the rooster tattoo to her late "pet" Golden, memorialized here. In addition, I thought that the personal side of this story would make my rooster tattoo stand out among all the others being inked. It was a decent strategy, I thought. Just to show I wasn't making this up, I brought a picture of Golden along with me to the shoot.

I arrived early, about 30 minutes or so ahead of the call time, bemoaning the fact that I was arriving much later than I anticipated, thinking they were going to be inking a ton of roosters. I was the only one there, but the crowd quickly grew to a few dozen. Still, I thought, much less than I anticipated.

I even spotted a Tattoosday contributor Liz in line and wondered who else I would see. It was a bit of a blur, as people filled out forms, had photos taken, and mingled. I met a guy named Roy, who saw I had checked in on Facebook, and he friended me as we stood in line. He had driven up from Philadelphia for the occasion.

A light rain had started to fall, and we huddled under a construction scaffold across the street from the shop.

I was still puzzled by the small group of people present, considering the call for volunteers. When one producer asked “those getting rooster tattoos” to come up on a landing above the sidewalk where we were all standing, I was even further shocked by the small group of us that broke off of the main group. I asked the producer how many of us were getting tattoos and my heart jumped when she looked at her clipboard and said, “There’s only ten of you.” I was stunned, I thought we’d be vying for airtime with dozens of people, based on the instructions we should be expected to stay “all day, into the evening”. It would certainly be easier to stand out with only nine other people getting inked.

Cut to us being ferried across the street for some exterior shots in front of the shop. Slight drizzle still falling. It was then that I noticed, maybe forty feet away, Corey Miller standing under a tree watching us. I had just met him the night before (recounted here) and 24 hours later here he was again! There was a slight buzz as a few of us recognized him and wondered, would we be getting a rooster tattoo from Corey Miller?

Time sped up as the moment of truth arrived. After an unknown person, who we later learn is Floor Manager, Robear, does a rooster-costumed warm-up in the light rain, Ami James opens the door and yells “who wants a fifty dollar cock?”

That’s our cue to file in and I am number five, or last, in the first group. A woman named Jessica, the shop manager, gives us paperwork as the cameras roll. I watch with envy as I see Tim Hendricks pick a client, then Ami James, then Tommy Montoya, and Roy, who knows Megan Massacre from Philly, gets paired up with her. Who’s left? I don’t see Chris Torres, but there are people running around everywhere, and the shop looks amazing. Huge, spacious, covered with art.

I chat with Jessica and discover she knows Marisa and Brian, from Needles and Sins. I show her my picture of Golden, the famous Hawaiian rooster, and she hands me a post-it with the number five on it.

Golden, photo courtesy Diane Ferreira

The next five sign in at the desk and the other folks from the line sit in the waiting area, as human background. I stand around, eschewing a seat, figuring I will be more visible and not overlooked. When the show finally airs, I am prominently lurking in many of the shots, maroon Tommy Bahama shirt sticking out like a sore thumb.

Tattoo machines whir and Jessica comes up to me telling me she’s going to set me up with Ami. This brings me great joy. The flash for the roosters is a little disappointing, five versions of small tribal cocks, in various positions, crowing, strutting, with various color schemes. Black. Black fading to red. Black fading to blue. Black fading to green. If I am going to get a small, unimpressive rooster silhouette, let it be from Ami James, I think.

I do an on-camera interview with the producers, plugging Tattoosday and sharing the story of Golden, my mother’s deceased Hawaiian rooster. I know it’s not likely that much of it will air, but I figure it’s good for something.

The second wave of clients get tattooed. I pay my $50, including a $10 tip. I am keeping an eye on Ami but he doesn’t seem to be gearing up for another client. I start to get a sinking feeling about the likelihood of his getting to tattoo me. I am standing around nervously, imagining how this could be going wrong, with a worst-case scenario playing out in my head, as they give me my money back and apologize.

Of course, that doesn’t happen. Jessica approaches me, biting her lip and saying, apologetically, “Ami’s not doing any more tattoos, but I’ve set you up with Megan. She’s really good.” I don’t doubt what she’s saying, but the disappointment clearly made itself known on my face.

There’s only a few clients left in the shop. Most of the “background” people have taken off. I observe the goings-on about the shop with keen interest. I always knew that these reality shows relied on orchestration and staging, but I am struck by how much of the show seems staged for the cameras.

In the mean time, Megan is ready for me. She is sweet as sugar and much better looking than Ami, so I start thinking that this might not be so terrible after all. But then, much to my surprise, Megan Massacre makes me a fan for life by going completely outside the box.

I show her the picture of Golden that I brought along for inspiration, and she asks which design I want. I show her the silhouette and she asks if I mind if she tries something a little different, with some color, to make him more like my mom’s rooster. I give her full artistic license and she starts tattooing. I ask for it on my inner right arm and she uncannily picks a spot and orientation that matches my Friday the 13th Anchor tattoo.

I want to be surprised so I don’t watch much. Tommy Montoya and Tim Hendricks swing by to check out Megan’s work. Everyone else is done and people are cleaning up their stations. Tim whistles and exclaims, “Megan, are you trying to show us up?” I consider this a good sign. Tommy makes some crude remarks, “Megan, you’re making his cock bleed.” I laugh and say “Hey, my kids watch this show!” Tommy later proclaims that Megan just might get the award for “Cock of the Day”.

When Megan finishes, I get a good look at her handiwork and I’m stunned. I was expecting a solid tribal rooster and I got this instead:

I am astonished at what she has done with colors to give my rooster a dusty brown and gold appearance. Compare this to the type of rooster others received:

Photo by Roy Chapman

I know for certain, Ami would never have done that for me, and I doubt that Tommy, Tim, or Billy would have done that. I didn’t even ask for it. Megan just went with it and hit it out of the park.

Three days later, on my mother’s birthday, we called her on Skype in Hawaii, and I showed her the Golden tattoo. She was thrilled that their old rooster was immortalized on my flesh.

The show aired on July 21, 2011. I was excited to see a glimpse of me the previous week in the preview at the end of episode 6. Of course, shortly thereafter, the huge controversy surrounding TLC’s one-off Tattoo School blew up on Facebook and it seemed like most of my tattoo artist FB friends had "Boycott TLC" profile pictures. So, I gathered, not that many artists watch the ink-based “reality” shows on TLC, but there were likely fewer watching than normal. Such is life.

When the show aired, the Rooster event was left for the final five minutes of the episode. I pop up in the background quite a bit, and wham! There I am “William” talking about how Ami is going to tattoo my rooster, dedicated to Golden, whose picture I show on camera. But that’s all of me. No blog mention, as I gathered, but I was a little disappointed because, they showed quite a few of the finished rooster tattoos, but they didn’t show Megan’s effort which I think, all personal bias aside, was the finest one of the day.

Thanks to Megan Massacre for giving me a remarkable tattoo when she could have just given me the standard rooster everyone else was getting. I still look at it and marvel at how well she did with such a tiny piece, and I continue to receive compliments on it.

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.

"Because You Can't Take the Brooklyn Out of the Girl..."

Back in October, my friend Ronni introduced me to her friend Elizabeth via the web. Elizabeth is from Brooklyn, but resides in Seattle, and was looking to get a New York-themed tattoo on an upcoming visit. She wanted to find a reputable artist and shop in New York City.

Although I am by no means an expert on tattooing in the Big Apple, blogging about ink here for 4 1/2 years certainly qualifies me to speak on the matter with some authority.

I recommended several shops and artists, mostly in Brooklyn, because Elizabeth had a specific idea in mind. And rather than just showing up in a tattoo parlor and going with the first available artist, Elizabeth took my suggestions and did some research, contacting several of the artists, and poring over their online portfolios.

Ultimately, Elizabeth wanted a Brooklyn Bridge tattoo. No easy feat, as she did not want a BIG tattoo, and the architectural wonder lends itself to looking best on a larger scale, in my opinion. This piece, for example, seen here back in July, took up a whole upper arm.

Elizabeth ended up at Saved Tattoo in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, and she got exactly what she wanted:

Elizabeth is extremely happy with her new tattoo. She writes "Zac Scheinbaum ... did a great job, got in a lot more detail than he led me to expect. Now you can definitely not take the Brooklyn out of the girl."

Thanks to Elizabeth for sharing her little piece of Brooklyn with us here on Tattoosday!

[Update: After posting this, Elizabeth wrote to me, adding, "what gave me the idea of having the Brooklyn Bridge tattooed to begin with (and the idea of the location at my heart followed almost immediately) was seeing a woman in the dance tent at the Falcon Ridge Music Festival whose entire upper arm was tattooed with the Brooklyn Bridge. I think it must have been Mariam- unless there's more than one woman with a Brooklyn Bridge on her right upper arm like that. That adds a nice circularity to your piece, for me."]

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.

Reactions from Angelina Jolie's movie

Source

Nigel from the Dirty Thirty Shares Some Traditional Ink

I met Nigel on the Upper West Side last month, across the street from Verdi Square. I spotted some tattoos on his arms and asked if he wouldn't mind sharing some of them. He was happy to oblige.

The first piece is a gypsy, inked by Dan Santoro of Smith Street Tattoo in Brooklyn:

"The gypsy," Nigel said, "is pretty much from travelling and bouncing."

He also shared two pieces done by a friend of his from Richmond, Virginia, Gerald M.

"The eyeball here on my right arm is ... blood sweat and tears," he told me. "It represents a lot of different endings and beginnings, as far as work and life and whatnot."

I particularly like this tattoo, on Nigel's upper left arm:

"The train is," Nigel explained, "more or less a story of how my art finished and started." Also by Gerald M., Nigel had nothing but praise for his work:

"His specialty is roses. He won an award in Las Vegas for doing the best rose last year, so that's kind of his thing.  His little trademark is an eyeball, as well, so you'll see an eye in most of his pieces."

The banner identifies "The Dirty 30," a nationwide art collective of which Nigel is a part.

Thanks to Nigel for sharing his 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.

Angelina Jolie no rush for another movie

Angelina Jolie is no rush for another movie. She said, "I love political subject matter, international work where I learn about other countries and foreign affairs. I don`t know if I would be interested in directing something where I wasn`t forced to get a huge education. I still am shy about the idea of whether I would ever do this again."

Source

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.

Angelina Jolie was criticised for Zahara's hair extension

Angelina Jolie was criticised by a celebrity hair stylist getting her daughter Zahara for hair extensions.

DaRico Jackson said "She is far too young for that, and Angelina is creating insecurity in the little girl that what she has is not good enough."

"Growing up with siblings who have long flowing hair, Zahara may grow to feel that her own natural hair is not pretty enough, and that without the fake hair she is not beautiful. She should be made to embrace who she is."

Source

A Knight to Remember: Veronica Shares Her Ink

I received a pleasant surprise yesterday, just before leaving work, when Brooke (see her tattoos here and here) introduced me to her friend Veronica, who was visiting her in the office.

Veronica enjoyed the posts on Brooke's ink, and was willing to share her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday:


I correctly identified the tattoo, on the left side of her back shoulder, as the chess piece known as the Knight.

Although it is a horse, Veronica noted, most people who see it don't realize at first that it is a chess piece.

So why a chess knight?

Several years ago, Veronica went on a date with a guy who had a similar tattoo. Not only had he been a chess player, but his nickname in the military had been "Crazy Horse". He had designed the tattoo himself and Veronica was drawn to it. She knew she wanted one just like it, but they both agreed, as their relationship progressed, that it would only be appropriate if they were married.

Well, we all know where this is heading. When the time was right, Veronica's boyfriend didn't pop the question, he popped the suggestion, "Let's go get that tattoo". Which she did, customizing his original design by making it a little smaller, and adding a feminine curl to the front of the Knight's mane. They went to a shop on Broadway in Santa Maria, California. There are three shops currently on Broadway, so I can't give proper credit to the shop or artist at this time.

The formal proposal came shortly after the engagement was "inked".

Veronica married the man with the matching tattoo but, as life would have it, they split up amicably after three years.

Her ex-husband-to-be told her that he wouldn't be offended if she decided to cover the chess piece up, but the thought never crossed Veronica's mind. She wasn't worried about future girlfriends (or wives) getting the same tattoo. She recognizes it as a unique symbol of a past chapter in her life of which she has little regret.

Oftentimes, people are remorseful about their ink, especially when the piece is tied to a relationship that no longer exists. It is always nice to see a tattoo that holds great meaning, even while transcending a bond that has broken.

So the chess piece remains, and we here at Tattoosday extend our thanks to Veronica for sharing this part of her personal history with us.

Angelina Jolie hopes her Bosnia movie brings education in humanity

Angelina Jolie produced and directed her movie In the Land of Blood and Honey and hopes this movie will bring education in humanity and in unity.

She told Reuters, "I didn't go into this wanting to be a director, I went into this film because I was moved by the themes."

"It wasn't a normal film experience for me, it was an education every day in humanity and in unity, and also getting to know a culture."

Source

Tattoos I Know: Mary-Lee's Paternal Inscription

I'm particularly proud of this particular tattoo story because it hatched out of Tattoosday itself, in a roundabout way.

The signature above is a freshly-inked autograph of a man who has been dead over forty years. It graces the back of Mary-Lee, who I have known and worked with for a decade. The signature is that of her father.

Earlier this year, Mary-Lee, who has regarded the Tattoosday hobby of mine with a curious amusement, was moved by the story of Kate's tattoos (here), especially the one of her twin sister's signature. Kate's sister had died in a car crash the previous year, and the name of her sister, in her own handwriting, is a touching and beautiful memorial.

Upon hearing this tale, and seeing this tattoo, Mary-Lee began thinking of a similar tribute, made all the more remarkable by the way the stars lined up to make this happen.

Her father died at the age of 53, when Mary-Lee was only eleven years old. She was a typical Daddy's Girl, and has never forgotten the sudden nature of his passing, and the absence of closure, as she was not allowed to go to his funeral.

So, as the anniversary of his death approached on December 4, and she realized that this anniversary was special in that she is the same age as he was that he died, she decided it was only fitting to get her first tattoo, honoring her dad, at the same age as he was on the day he died.

The final question was, would she be able to get it inked after 6pm on the anniversary? She doesn't know the exact time he left this world, only that it was after 6pm.

She started looking for a reputable shop in the area, and stumbled upon Red Rocket Tattoo, located between work and her home in Manhattan. She booked an appointment after 6pm on December 4 with Betty Rose well in advance. As if the kismet of the dates lining up wasn't enough, Red Rocket is where our friend and co-worker Paul (see his ink here) had his work done, and Betty Rose was the girlfriend of Chris (see his ink here) with whom I served a brief stint of jury duty over the summer.


When December 4 rolled around, everything went smoothly. Betty Rose had lifted the signature from the old ssocial security card that Mary-Lee still had in her possession, enlarged it, and placed the stencil in the perfect spot on the first attempt.

She is very pleased with how the nuances of the signature were picked up in the process, and loves how the inked reproduction is tilted "upwards, toward heaven".

And, whether it is the physical fineness of the lines and minimal surface area the tattoo affects, or whether there is a paternal heavenly influence with its hand in the process, Mary-Lee has marveled that she has experienced none of the typical symptoms that come with a healing tattoo.

This lack of self-consciousness about the ink, combined with the minimal pain and aftercare required, has validated for her the transcendent healing nature of her tattoo.

And it has helped her obtain another level of closure that she never received when she lost her father at the age of eleven.

Thanks to Mary-lee for sharing her tattoo and its story here with us on Tattoosday!

Angelina Jolie is taking French lessons

Angelina Jolie is taking French lessons to catch up with her kids. Her kids can speak French fluently.

She said, “I’ve been writing and staying with the kids. I think I should learn French and be a better cook, basic really good life stuff. I’m always doing something. I never shut my brain off. I always have something going on. I’ve been studying French on and off my whole life, and I figured, my kids can speak it, and it’s embarrassing that I can’t as well as they can.”

Source

Angelina Jolie will cry if kids request to stop travelling

Angelina Jolie will cry if suddenly one of her kids does not want to travel.

She tells newsman Anderson Cooper, “Right now they love it. If we’re in the same place for two months they wanna know why we’re not getting on an airplane. They really love to travel… Because they’re such a big traveling pack… it’s not one child moving around the world and missing friends, there’s so many of them they have constant play dates and are always together…

“But I’m sure they’re gonna say, ‘Mom, let me stay home’ and when that happens I’m gonna cry… I don’t wanna settle, I love traveling, but we’ll see. They’ll probably end up living all around the world and my old age will be Brad and I traveling, trying to visit all our grandchildren in random countries.”

Source

Going Ape for Josean's Ink

Earlier this month, I met Josean, who was sitting waiting for a downtown express train at the 72nd Street subway stop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Josean is pretty much covered in tattoos (70-80%, by his best estimate) and so I sat down to talk to him about his work.

As it turns out, he is currently the piercer at Powerhouse Tattoo Company in Montclair, New Jersey. Work from the artists at Powerhouse have appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Josean offered up this colorful baboon tattoo on his left forearm:

At the center of this piece is the monkey that screams out from his arm:

Josean likes monkeys and figured this design would "look cool for a tattoo." He's absolutely  right. This was done by Juan Salgado, a great artist in Puerto Rico. Josean worked at Senzala Tattoo in P.R. before moving up to Powerhouse.

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

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