Halloween Bonus: Zombie Pinup

Back in September I posted Little Dead Riding Hood, courtesy of Amy, who I met in Penn Station.

Amy has a new tattoo, which she generously shared:


It's a zombie pin-up girl, and appropriate for the holiday today.

Like the previous piece, this was created by T.J. Mcinnis at Mcinnis Tattoo Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

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

Have a safe and ghoulishly fun Halloween!

Headed out.

Halloween.
And how am I celebrating?
By catching planes and renting cars and driving my face off.
I have a 12 hour day of traveling to do,
and when I arrive, it'll only get crazier.

I did get a few things out of the way, early-ish.
Wanting to look my best for Albie's wedding,
I bought some brand-new Carhartts.
I'm not even going to wash them first,
it'll be like wearing cardboard pants.
And I also got the hardest to pack wedding present ever.
I'll be the kid at the airport spending more money on bag checking than the actual plane ticket cost.

After the wedding bells on Sunday,
I'll be at Off the Map Tattoo for the following 7 days straight.
And it looks like my Thursday appointment fell through.
I'm open all day, kids.
Email or call if you want in.
Good ideas have precedent over first in line.
(no kidding)


If you happen to stop Identity Tattoo while I'm away, drink a Dr Pepper
in my room so it doesn't feel so empty when I return.

Choose the Right Tattoo

Matt has twenty-three (23) tattoos and he offered up this simple trio of letters:
The CTR represents the expression "Choose the Right," a common thread in the ideology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly referred to as the Mormon church.

In essence, Matt explained, it means "follow the right path". Its akin to a mantra eschewing sinful activities frowned upon by the church like drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, and, yup, you guessed it: getting tattooed.

Matt finds great power in this tattoo because it represents an oxymoron: the letters CTR stand for a way of life that is contradicted by the fact that they have been tattooed on flesh. It would be like a Jewish person having the phrase, in Hebrew, "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or imprint markings upon you: I am the Lord" tattooed on them. As a tattooed Mormon, this is Matt's way of addressing,and coming to terms with, the disparity between faith and his love of tattoos.

This was tattooed by a friend of his in Ogden, Utah.

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

Shiri's Logos

"Excuse me," I called, loudly, on the 34th Street train platform, "Can I ask you about your tattoo?"

Anyone reading this who has been featured here may recognize this as my opening salvo. Most people are open to my questions. Very few dismiss me. For this I am thankful.

Shira was the woman to whom I was speaking, and she was very welcoming to my inquiries.

Here is the best of the many tattoos I saw she had:


It's a fairly intricate (and extremely well-done) replica for one of the album designs for a band named Sponge. Shiri had a matching t-shirt, but taking a picture of that would have been borderline creepy, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the only image online I could find was small:


On her left arm she had two other band designs:


The one on the right is from the group Gogol Bordello, which surprised me as I had seen a similar tattoo several weeks before (and recounted here).


The logo on the left was from a group called Spookey Ruben.

Obviously, Shiri is a big fan of all these groups. The tattoos were all inked by her brother Ron.

You can see other band-related tattoos by clicking on the appropriate tag at the bottom of the post.

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

Lady Luck

Nice reader submission from Erin, done by Tiffany at Planet Ink Studios in Ottawa,Ontario Canada.

"You Gotta Go There to Come Back": Sarah Shares Three Tattoos

Sarah's half-sleeve jumped out at me in Penn Station as I was quietly bemoaning cooler weather and the dwindling of my blog backlog.

I was pleased to find Sarah more than accommodating, as she shared several perspectives of the ink tattooed on her upper right arm.

Visiting from Newcastle, Australia, her tattoos revolved around this piece at the center of her bicep:


I asked if there was any significance to these two women, but Sarah noted that they were just two pretty girls.

This fluid script is on the outside of her arm:


It states "You gotta go there to come back..." or, in her words, you have to "understand how shitty it can be, before how good it can get".

On her inner arm is the following tattoo:


Sarah says that this design of an angel on a cigarette break is based on the work of a popular London graffiti artist named "Banksy".


All of her work was done by Pat, the owner of 2012 Tattoo Studio in Newcastle.

Thanks very much to Sarah for sharing her incredible tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Hang the DJ

I met Rohan on a Brooklyn-bound A train.

He has "thirteen or fourteen" tattoos, and he offered up this one from his right arm:


The phrase "Hang the DJ" refers to lyrics sung by Morrissey when he was with The Smiths.

I was only on the train with him for two stops, so I didn't get a full explanation of the tattoo until later, when Rohan e-mailed me:

I got this tattoo for several reasons - first and foremost I love The Smiths and their music changed the way I viewed myself against the social and cultural backdrop that we're all in. I thought a jukebox with the lyrics "Hang the DJ", the refrain from the song "Panic", was ironic.


The jukebox is what allows all of us to be the DJ and in "Panic", Morrissey is singing about how the music the DJ is playing means nothing to him and his life, and I share that sentiment with most of what I hear. The tattoo is sort of an encapsulation of how I feel about rock and roll and how certain bands and certain songs can, when they're really good and really honest, mean a lot more than just entertainment value.

The tattoo was inked by Dusty Neal in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is currently working at Donny Manco's New Republic Tattoo.

UPDATE: I exchange a few e-mails with the artist Dusty Neal after this posted and he remembered doing this tattoo very early on in his career as an artist. He wanted me to clarify this point, and to communicate that he feels that his art has developed to the point that this piece does not best represent his work as a tattooer. A look at photos of his work on MySpace here certainly showcases some amazing tattoos. Dusty encourages people to check out his current endeavors and, with all due respect to Rohan and the tattoo in this post, judge his talents based on what he has done more recently, and not early on in his career.

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

As a little bonus, here is the video from "Panic" by the Smiths:

Taking over the Internet.

I didn't even leave the house today, kids.
The closest I came was removing the window screens,
or maybe when I reached just outside the front door to grab the mail.
I'm definitely not bragging.
Well, maybe a little.
I did get tons of stuff done.
And the to-do list finally did get shorter.

Other than drawing for clients from two different states,
I did a bunch of web work today.

IdentityTattoo.com had a soft launch this weekend.
It's not quite finished, but you get the idea.
Todd, Ben, and I, finally all under the same (cyber) roof.

And I made a header for Meryl's blog, just to fancy it up a little.

And since I am not going to be at the shop for Halloween,
I made this Identity flavored jack o' lantern to decorate the new site and the shop blog.



There's few things better than salted pumpkin seeds right from the oven.
Casey and I ate them all up before I snapped a photo,
but they were so good.
I'll be making more soon,
if not here in the next couple days,
then while I'm playing house guest at the Maynard House.
I hope Northampton is ready.

Benjamin's Amazing Viking-Geisha Sleeve by Tim Kern

Please join me as I extend a metaphor.

I approach inkblogging as if I were one of those guys that goes out on the beach with a metal detector.

You find a lot of interesting stuff and, every once in a while, you find treasure.

Earlier this month, I saw a man in front of Madison Square Garden walking south. I was headed in the opposite direction and, despite my general reluctance to post sleeves here (I wonder if I can even do them justice), I stopped and asked him to show me the amazing work on his right arm.

I should also preface this by acknowledging how awesome it is to randomly find work by a tattoo artist who is at the top of his game, and is a recognized talent in the tattoo community.

Benjamin, the guy I stopped, was visiting New York from Denmark to see his artist, Tim Kern at Tribulation Tattoo. He was in town to begin work on a new sleeve. Benjamin happily shared his first sleeve:


Benjamin summarized the theme of his arm by stating that life is about choices. The two extrmes are, you can take a life, as represented by the Viking warrior at the top of the shoulder:


This is juxtaposed by the geisha who is taking her own life through ritual suicide:


The detail of the blood-spattered hand holding the seppuku blade is fascinating in its stark grisliness:


The sleeve also includes stunning waterfall and pagoda elements on the inside of the arm:


I especially appreciate the beauty and shading of the pagoda:


The color and artistry of this entire sleeve are astonishing and we are honored that Benjamin consented to contributing this work to Tattoosday.

We thank him and the artist Tim Kern for their work!

Such a good day.

Sundays are days Meryl and I spend together,
since it's the one day we both have off.
And since I'll be out of town the next two,
we tried to fill this one to the brim.

Of course, we first brunched it up at Seward Cafe.

We then went to the Bell Museum of Natural History, which is like a smaller Peabody Museum (in Connecticut) and without dinosaurs.
Which is fine with me, I only went for the dead birds.

I found out that I'm able to take them any of the window kills that my friends and I find, and someone there will turn them into study skins.
Perfect.
There's a couple freezers that will be happy to emptied once I get back.
I'd love to offer them my services once a week as well,
doing the study skin stuffing myself,
but I've already got an overfilled plate.
Maybe someday.



Once it got dark we crossed the Mississippi into St Paul to enjoy a Halloween show put on by BareBones.
We didn't get any good photos since it was so dark,
but there was puppets, costumes, stilt-walkers,
fire, and a 35 piece orchestra.
So dope.




Some of the stilt-walking moth creatures got lowered out of these cocoons 50 feet up in the trees.
That was by far the best part.
If you're in the Twin Cities, and you don't go Friday or Saturday,
you are f*ing up.



It's crunch time, now.
Tomorrow's my last day off before the trip,
and I just added a couple new projects onto the list.
And we bumped into Nona this morning at Seward.
Dark Dark Dark is playing thursday night.
Perfect.

Maggie, a Fan of Pink, Shares Some Ink

One of the pluses of working near Madison Square Garden is that concert-goers and fans are always about.

Occasionally, they can be found camped out near the artists' entrance on 33rd Street. The presence of fans milling about can often be great opportunities to spot tattoos, as in this case, previously.

Earlier this month, I chatted with some Pink fans out on the street and one of them, Maggie, shared her tattoos:


Maggie has nine tattoos in all, and these represent four of them.

She seemed surprised that I was interested, more so because there weren't typical "stories" behind the art.

The top piece is a tribute to her mother,

and the heart, the bands, and the angel wing are just elements she felt like adding.

I particularly like the free form of the heart design.


All work was done at Tattoo Heaven in Manhattan.

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

Getting Spoiled.

I tattooed all day every day this week,
packing them in, before I pack up and head out.
I'm not sure how I made it through this week.
Maybe it was all the gifts and good mail and packages I received.

The buttons I made in August were such a hit that I ordered more.
But I couldn't find the file for my previous order,
so I made completely new ones up.
(and these ones are even nicer, no?)
500 of them means they should last me more than two months this time.



And when Ann came in to get tattooed this week,
she brought me another present,
and again it was in multiples.
But these aren't just any pine cones picked up from your backyard.
Nope.
These are throwback seed grenades from 1975,
and courtesy of the Redwoods.
My little space of Identity Tattoo is looking so sharp,
much in part to Anne and her gifts of collections.



I got a package from New Hampshire in the mail this week,
and it wasn't even from Albie Rock.
Quality craftsmanship from Hurricane Mountain Pottery,
sent as the most generous 'thank you' I've gotten in a long time.
We started with some business cards, but they'll be much bigger things happening soon.



Today's weird little token was waiting for me when I came in to open the shop this morning.
But I saved that photo for a different kind of blog.

Four days of tattooing left in Minnesota....

Joe's Tribute to His Uncle

I spotted Joe earlier this month outside of Penn Station. He has seven or eight tattoos, and chose to share this one from his right forearm:


Joe explained that this piece is a tribute to an uncle who had passed away. He had served proudly in the United States Marine Corps and had had a skull tattoo upon which was perched a top hat.

Joe collaborated with the artist, Pepe, at The Tattoo Shop in Medford, New York, to take that idea and customize it for Joe's arm. Another tattoo from the shop appeared earlier this week here.

The whole thing took about three and a half hours to complete.

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

A Little Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

I met Cristina on the R train several weeks back.

The weather was just beginning to turn cooler, and I noticed that summer had ended quickly, with no gradual diminishing of tattoo sightings, but a sudden disappearance, like shutting the light switch off in a large, bright room at midnight.

Cristina had this small, unusual tattoo on her foot:


Despite being small, I was curious to learn about this design.

Cristina explained that her husband travels a lot and that, on a whim, they each got sun tattoos while in Dallas. The designs are slightly different.


She told me her husband thought the sun tattoos were perfect for them because, he said, when they're together, he's walking on sunshine.

You can look at that as incredibly corny, incredibly romantic, or a mixture of the two. Cristina acknowledged that when she looks at her tattoo, it reminds her of what her husband said, about walking on sunshine, and that makes her laugh, which makes her happy, which can be a solace when her husband is traveling.

All from a little tattoo!

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

Bill's Ink Honors Generations Past and Future

I met Bill in mid-September on the 34th Street train platform while waiting for a downtown A train.

You may have heard of the scent known as a "new car smell". Bill had whatis known as a "new tattoo sheen," which occurs when one anoints a fresh tattoo with a healing ointment used to protect the ink.


The tattoo depicts himself, seen from the back, standing in reverence at the graves of his grandfather "Giff" and his uncle Giff Jr.


It's a nice way to memorialize his family. This was inked by Aaron at Red Rocket Tattoo East, in Levittown on Long Island.

Bill has a great tattoo on his outer right forearm, as well. Whereas his left arm is a memorial to those in his family that passed before him, his other piece pays tribute to a newer generation:


In this piece, two traditional swallows hold aloft a banner bearing the name of his daughter, Allana.

This tattoo, his first, was done by Greg Fly at The Tattoo Shop on Rte 112 in Medford, L.I.

Thanks to Bill for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

October is flying by.

The weather has gotten much nicer recently.
It hit a high of 50 today, and since Shamira needed some excercise,
we did a lap around Powderhorn Park lake.
Of course, I would have loved finding a dead bird and getting a photo for my other blog, but there was none to be found.
I did see dead fish, dead bugs, and even this squirrel tail (minus the body, so I'm assuming the squirrel is dead, too).
It was still a very nice walk.



Back to work tomorrow.
Did I get all of my projects done this weekend?
Of course not.
But I did do the homeownery stuff like lawn mowing, garage cleaning, and hardware store shopping.
And not only did I go to the Anne Carson poetry/dance performance at the University on Sunday, but I also served cake afterwards.
And, most importantly, I got done a serious art project for IWYS, details and pictures of which will be released soon enough.
Another weekend gone, but well enjoyed.

Whole Lotta Ink

I spotted Dina's runic tattoos outside of Borders on Penn Plaza, late one Friday afternoon:


Dina is a big fan of Led Zeppelin and, as most fans know, these runes represent the four members of the band.


The four symbols represent, from left to right, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant. These symbols appeared on the band's untitled fourth album and, for many people, represented the name of the record (i.e. "Zoso" or "Runes"). There's more on the naming of "IV" here.

This is one of three tattoos Dina has and, in case you were wondering, "Since I've Been Loving You" is her favorite Zeppelin tune.

Thanks to Dina for sharing her runes with us here on Tattoosday!

A little bonus, in honor of Dina:

Ian's Three Clowns

I met Ian on the West 4th Street subway platform last month and spotted this tattoo on the outside of his right leg:


Ian had this done three years ago when working in Miami. He's an audio engineer in the television industry, so he travels a bit.

He picked the flash out of a book in the tattoo shop. He liked the sad and happy clowns at the top of the piece, a clown-like Tragedy/Comedy homage, and then added the clown on the bottom which, he said, better reflected his personality. The two separate flash designs merged to make one larger tattoo.

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

Overlapping Countdowns

The pumpkin didn't last too long before the snow and squirrels got to it.

Two weeks from today (on Halloween) I'll be landing in Connecticut and immediately heading up to Northampton.
It's that time again.
The biannual East Coast guest spot.
I'll be at Off the Map from the 2nd-8th of November.
Halloween, a wedding, a haircut, seven full days of tattooing, and some Maynard House quality time,
all in just nine days.

I probably won't be back on the coast till the Philadelphia Tattoo Convention in March.
So come out and say hello.
There may be some kind of get together like last time.
And there's another 500 "dead birds are sexy" pins arriving just in time to be packed with my dress shirt and tattoo equiptment.


I spent most of today working on this viking skull with oak leaves and filigree.
He sat like a rock for 6 hours.
I guess he didn't have too much of a choice,
since he's stationed in Alaska, and only gets out here once a year.




I've got 12 unfinished projects that need finishing.
These next two days are my weekend,
and are promising to be very busy and fully winter-weather free.

Joe's Piece of π

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!