Cookie Master

Tim Senecal did this homely pinup.

Tattoorism: Dean's Samurai

Last Saturday, I posted some tattoos sent to us from Tammy in Texas. Her son Dean is also tattooed and, in a much bigger way. We'll let him explain:

My very first tattoo was done on my 18th birthday in 2005...[it is] a black dragon with kanji above it. About a year letter I had a koi fish done on my calf...both of these tattoos were just drawings I had found. In 2006 I started working on my rib piece and in 2007 I got together with John from A Different Drummer here in Wichita Falls (he is now at the Lawton, OK location), and the two of us collaborated on bringing the rib piece together. Once the drawing was to our satisfaction, it took a little over 2 months of 3-4 hour sittings weekly until the tattoo was complete. 16-plus hours and worth every minute!

In 2009 I decided it was time for an arm piece and went back to A Different Drummer and Tuan who was in Art Class with me in high school listened to what I wanted... and the arm piece came to life...this one was done in one day and took a little over 7 1/2 hours:

Both pieces are marvelously done.

Thanks to Dean for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday! And a hearty thank you, as well, to Tammy, for being a cool mom, sharing her pride in her son's amazing body art!

If it looks like a duck...

Kyle Mack is a character.
He came up with the basic idea of a duck with weird legs,
illustrating that on the surface everything would look normal,
but underneath would be a different story.
I think it's another version of his wolf in penguin clothes idea.
(he can't help it)
But this time we didn't tattoo it on Kyle,
Mike Shoemaker took it.
(and he's a character, too)

Thanks Kyle,
your absurdist mutterings inspire me greatly.

And thanks to Mike,
for always being up for something fun on you forever.

Don't knock my smock....

You know I like Dark Dark Dark.
That's been mentioned before.
But last night I had such good company:
Ryan, Rebecca, Camden, and Meryl all joined me for the show.
The stage was packed,
since everyone was in town to record the new album this week.
They even had a 6 person choir singing along.
So f'n good.





That's not a brutal tooth cleaning I'm giving that bear.
I'm helping Ryan tan the hide of some unfortunate roadkill.
We don't exactly know what we're doing.
(I've only taxidermied birds and boobs before)
But he ordered a box full of supplies from Van Dykes,
and bought us matching aprons.
We spent the first half of the day dulling up some scalpels,
and being fully grossed out.
Not a bad way to spend a cold Monday in Minneapolis.
Even for a vegan.

Away With A Fairy

Nice new school piece from JimmyLajnen.

Tattoorism: Tammy from Texas

Last summer, my wife Melanie met Tammy on the staff message board of their company's website, where she and other employees across the country can exchange ideas and feedback. As a leader for Weight Watchers, Melanie often comes across members and co-workers who have used tattoos for inspiration and to mark milestones.

When talking to Tammy, a leader in Texas, she learned that she was inked, as well. She sent her the link to Tattoosday, and Tammy sent us photos of a few of her eleven tattoos.

We'll let Tammy describe them for us:

"I got my very first [tattoo] when I was 21 in Virginia while getting a tattoo for my younger brother but I didn't get another for several years at which time I had my uncle in Arkansas place a rose under the butterfly I had done first. It is old and faded but holds so much meaning to me as my uncle passed away in his 40s about 5 years ago so I have him with me at all times...I then waited a couple more years and had a dolphin put on my left ankle as a reminder of a trip we had made to Florida. About a year later an apprentice in Shreveport added an ankle wave under the dolphin.

I then took a long break from tattoos and the rest have all been done in the last 5 years here in Wichita Falls, Texas, with the exception of the tribal butterfly [seen below]. I had it done in Lawton, Oklahoma, when my son was getting his rib piece finished up [a subject of a later post].

On my right thigh I have the New York Yankees logo:

On my left shoulder blade my husband and I got kanji symbols for Eternity for our 19th wedding anniversary. I have a tribal butterfly (the only tattoo I have ever picked off a wall) put on the top of my left foot and I love it:


When I hit 50 pounds gone, my oldest son paid for the star that everyone sees in pictures I post:

And a Pisspot with my husbands name [pictured left]. My husband just retired with 26 years in the service and was AMMO-I always wanted this but was never brave enough nor skinny enough for that so called "tramp stamp"... it actually looks awesome although this picture is a little blurry.



And of course when I hit Lifetime [when a Weight Watchers member reaches their goal and maintains it for six weeks], my rib piece came alive:

The photo above is the tattoo right after it was completed. Here is how it healed:



Most of Tammy's work was done at A Different Drummer Tattoo Studio in Wichita Falls.

Thanks to Tammy for sharing some of her photos with us here on Tattoosday!

Going Rogue

Nice comic book chicks from Shane Somers. Vampirella and Rogue respectively, for you non-geeks.

A Lull

On January 20, I logged the following notes:

12:10 PM. Rather than wander in search of ink, I am trying something else. Staying put, here in front of the Amtrak Departures board in Penn Station, and seeing what walks to me.

I have only successfully met 2 of the inked nation in the last 27 days, and I'd like to resume posting more regularly.

I figure, sooner or later, this wintry drought will end.

12:20 A woman walks by with two interlinking gray hearts behind her right ear. I hesitate and decide not to approach her as she walks by. The tattoo didn't speak to me.

12:35 Still nothing. 5 minutes left in my little experiment.

12:36 Ed Hardy baseball cap.

Experiment Fail.

Sexual Harrisment

I'm hula-loopy for this Tim Harris pinup.

Back and at 'em.

This blog was neglected for over a week now.
I had a serious case of desynchronosis
(I even missed a Dark Dark Dark show Tuesday night,
so you know I'm out of it)

Yesterday Mr Matt Norman planned an extended layover in Minneapolis
(on his way from California back to Connecticut),
so I picked him up at the airport,
and tattooed him for about 4.5 hours.
That kid is so funny,
and we got a lot done on a vintage map lower leg sleeve.
Afterwards, he took Meryl and I out for some Ethiopian food (so good!),
I dropped him off at his hotel, and then I went straight to bed.


Anyway, there never really was a end post to the Japan trip.
It was amazing, and beautiful, and weird,
and so unlike anywhere I've ever been before.
Meryl and I took 300 photos in the 15 days there,
and if you have a few hours and a horrible curiosity,
you can find them all here.

But before I finally move on,
and start posting tattoo photos again,
here's one last picture from our trip.
Minnesota loves some food on sticks,
but I think Tokyo wins.

Daniel Returns with Another Machine Head Tattoo

Last month I featured a leg tattoo belonging to Daniel, who was visiting from Australia. At the time he alluded to the fact that he had a pretty cool chest piece, as well. Understandably, he wasn't about to whip his shirt off in Penn Station in December.

Anyway, Dan was kind enough to send me this picture. Although not the best quality from a photographic standpoint, it's clear enough to see what a great tattoo this is:


The inspiration from this art, also related to the band Machine Head, can be seen on their main web page here. Like his other tattoo featured previously, these pieces were done by Jonny at Abandoned Art in the Wanneroo section of Perth, Australia.

Daniel says they took two sittings and about five hours to complete.

Thanks to Daniel for following up with this photo here on Tattoosday!

Holy Cowgirl!

Another Nikko Hurtado masterwork!

Eric Shows His Dedication to Being a First Responder

In what was the first new instance of inkspotting outside of a tattoo shop since Christmas Eve, I met Eric in Penn Station and he shared this, the newest of his four tattoos:


Eric explained that he is a volunteer firefighter and EMT out on Long Island, and he wanted a tattoo to represent both sides of his service to his community.










This was done by Debbie at Skin Deep Tattoo in Levittown, New York.


Work from this shop has appeared previously on our site here.

Thanks to Eric for sharing his new tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Pressure Hooker

From sketch to the finished product from Joe Capobianco. By the way, his awesome new sketchbook can be previewed here...
http://www.joecapobianco.com/news3383.html

Tattoorism: Jeremy Shares a Derek Hess Tattoo

Although we're not a fan submission site, we'll occasionally post tattoos from fans with interesting work to share. It often helps us through the lean months when most ink is hibernating in the colder climates.

Jeremy recently e-mailed me, having found us via the blogroll of the awesome Needles and Sins site and felt, as he said, compelled to share this tattoo:


Jeremy explains:

"The piece is [based on work] by Derek Hess and it's called 'Flood Damage'.


I got it in April of '09 after 2008 was one of the worst years of my young life (I'm 25 now) to mark the fact that as much as I was flooded with bad things in '08, I was moving on. It was done by a..."Low" [who recently left] Lucky Draw Tattoos in Kennesaw, Georgia. I got it tattooed on the outer portion of my right thigh. The piece took just about 3 hours...I absolutely love it. Everytime...I get a chance to look at it, I remember that I'm not the same guy anymore and that I've moved on with my life."

We featured a tattoo based on the work of Derek Hess previously here on Tattoosday.

Jeremy also apologized for the fact that the photo is in black and white, but there is color in the tattoo. His camera on his phone, however, would not shoot in color.

Thanks again to Jeremy for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday!

Crows are big in Japan.

The crows in Japan are Jungle Crows.
They are bigger, meaner, and louder than the crows you have.
After feeding them and taking pictures for the last two weeks,
I see this story on NPR.org.
ooops.
Sorry, Tokyo.
But they are just so dope.
And they really are boss in Tokyo.
But not in Kyoto....



A kettle of hawks?
I saw a swirling bunch of birds from 2 blocks away,
and I knew something was up.
I knew they were bigger than the crows, even.
I've never seen anything like it,
there must have been 20 or so,
and there was even some dive bombing going on.
By the time we got there,
the big deal was mostly over,
and they just circled around for the next 10 minutes.
The crows, however, pretty much stayed put.
They hung out with the ducks and pigeons until the hawks left the scene.
(I don't blame them)

Parts of Kyoto were pretty sexy.
We only had two partial days in the city,
and I'm tiring of being so on the move,
but I really enjoyed that area of Japan.



The Kiyomizu Temple at night.
Click on the link to see it during the day,
built all on stilts (and without nails).



Two more nights in Japan,
and then back to Minneapolis.
I hope you missed me,
and saved me some fried potatoes.

The Eagle and the Parrot

We here at Tattoosday have been biding our time over the past week, a seven-day drought of posts to match the scarcity of ink visible in the Frozen Apple of a brittle New York winter.

So today I am posting work not spotted in the streets, but work on the legs of Pete, who meticulously crafted this lovely piece on my upper back last year.

I snapped this shot of an old-school parrot on his left leg late last summer:


And then, last week, on January 2, while peeking on the Year of the Tiger hullabaloo at Thicker than Water, where he is tattooing when not at New York Hardcore, I photographed this cool bald eagle on his right leg:


with this skull in the eagle's talons:


Both tattoos were crafted by old-school Brooklyn tattoo artist Steve Delgado.

I thank Pete for his outstanding work, and for sharing some of his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

I have a lighthouse fetish, it's true.
Old, busted stone lighthouses that keepers used to keep,
living on little rock islands far from the mainland?
So sexy.

Big shiny metal ones don't really speak to me the same way,
but the "Tallest Lighthouse in the World"?
That's quiet the superlative when talking lighthouses.
Meryl and I took and elevator to the top of the Yokohama Marine Tower today,
and looked East at the Pacific Ocean.
(i know, so weird)




After hanging around the top floor of the lighthouse for a bit,
we ventured over to a different part of the city,
and then came back to see the waterfront at night.



And here's the lighthouse all lit up.



I like compound words that only get better when compounded.
Light-house.
Houses with big ass lights on top,
telling people at sea what's up.
I'm not sentimental about all things antiquated,
but the etymology of the word lighthouse leaves out anything tower related.

Observation decks?
Elevators?
You only get away with that if you're an "-est".

Horiyoshi III Tattoo Museum

Meryl and I decided to leave Tokyo,
and traveled to Yokohama for the Horiyoshi III Tattoo Museum.
We expected a weird little basement filled with tattoo memorabilia,
human oddities, old photos, and stuff for sale,
and that was almost it exactly.
(there wasn't anything for sale)

I know I got some tattoo friends back home who are super jealous and thinking I am undeserving to have visited such a tattoo mecca since I have so little enthusiasm for tattoo history.
But there's a "I (heart) dead birds" sticker on the front of the museum anyway,
and Horiyoshi III's wife told me I was able to sign the tattoo artist guest book,
which happened to be a plastic skull.



I am glad I went to the museum on this trip to Japan, for sure,
because all this stuff might not be around much longer.
None of it is exactly being displayed in any kind of archival manner.



(this antler display is pretty hot)




Ok, so I'm probably an a-hole,
but I wasn't converted.

Luckily, Yokohama also boasts the tallest lighthouse in the world.

My poor leg.

I barely made it.
No kidding.
There was a few times I thought about tapping out.

A 5.5 hour hand poked (tebori) tattoo kicked my ass yesterday,
and didn't feel too much better today.

Bunshin Horitoshi was awesome, though.
He met us at the train station,
and we walked to his studio together.
He let Alex and Meryl take a gazillion photos while I tried not to cry.
Here's a fish eye lens shot that Alex took,
and a link to a few other ones he took here.



Here's the torture sticks.
He pushes them into the skin really quickly,
and they make a popping sound as they exit the skin each time.
So gross.
But Horitoshi was really fast,
and otherwise super gentle.



Here's the finished tattoo.
(I stole the photo from his website)
It's a kirin, a mythical (vegetarian) giraffe creature who spits fire.
I had told Horitoshi ahead of time to tattoo whatever he wanted in that spot,
and that's what he chose.
It fits in there perfectly, and looks awesome.
I'm excited to drop my pants every day to show everyone when I return.

After the tattoo, Meryl and I took him out to Indian food,
and he gave us lots of pointers for the rest of our stay.
I'll be seeing Horitoshi again at the Philly Tattoo Convention,
which is exciting,
and I'm considering future visits to Japan.
(maybe even to work)




During the tattoo, Alex had to head back to Nagoya.
We really enjoyed having him come visit us,
and he couldn't possibly have been more helpful or awesome.
He even scored us last minute tickets to the Ghibli Museum,
which was a pretty incredible place.
Alex posted some other photos from our few days together here.

You Da Man, De Masi!

Awesome colour work from Mike De Masi

A few photos from Japan.

I'm not going to be able to catch up on this blog,
so it's pretty much just a few photos from the last couple days.

This is the ways vegans eat in Japan.
That stuff that looks like baked beans is natto (fermented soybeans).



There's not much graffiti in Japan.
I've only seen one spray can piece,
a little tagging, and only stickering in a few parts of the city.
This artist has a bunch of variations, and every one of them is hot.



Here's Meryl trying to win at pachinko.
(she didn't).