Repost for Patriot Day: Mike's Tribal 9/11 Tribute

The following excerpt predates the official launch of Tattoosday as a stand-alone blog. I think it's fitting to revisit this tattoo that I spotted on September 4, 2007:

I made another pass and headed back home. Once I made my way to the Shore Road promenade, where I do the majority of my cycling. I have several spots along the several-mile route from which I can head home. I decided to go down to the 92nd Street footbridge. Standing on the bridge was a gentleman who seemed to be cooling off from running. He had earbuds in and a large biceps piece. He also had an ankle piece and another tattoo on his triceps.

I passed him while walking my bike and then headed back and said loudly, "Excuse me!" He removed his earbuds and I explained my mission. He was game. His name was Mike and he had 6 tattoos in all and didn't mind which one I photographed. I asked him which one was the most special and he held up his arm and pointed to the piece on his triceps. This one:


He explained it a tribal Native American designed mixed with the American flag which he got as a tribute after 9/11. The piece was done by Craig Cooley at Abstract Tribal Tattooing in Brooklyn. I asked him if he was a fireman, and he said, "No, a police officer." I thought, with the 6th anniversary of September 11 just a week away, it was a perfect punctuation mark to end a week of tattoo-spotting, and to begin a week of reflection on this somber anniversary.

Mercedes Honors Family Members with her Ink

Mercedes doesn't remember the specific shops where she got her ink, but each piece honors members of her family, both living and gone.

Mercedes is a make-up artist that has very close ties to her family, and these relationships have manifested themselves on her tattoos.

The piece I first noticed, on her right arm, was this one:


This is actually comprised of two parts, the rose and the ankh. The rose was her first tattoo, inked because her mother and grandmother were both named Rosa. The ankh and the name "Iggy" were done as a memorial for her brother who had passed away.

Her neck/upper back piece is actually three tattoos inked in succession:


Mercedes started with the top segments, which she described as tribal dolphins. They are in honor of her niece, who is a Pisces.

Next is the piece below the dolphins, which is a representation of fire that corresponds to Mercedes' birth sign Aries, whose zodiac element is fire.

Below that are flames rising from the number 3. This is for her nephew. The flames correspond to his sign, Leo, whose zodiac element is also fire, and the number represents that he is third in the family line.

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

Tattoosday Celebrates Its First Bloggiversary!

I know, I know. You may recall a post from July 31 of this very nature. A year of tattoo blogging in New York City. But this is slightly different.

A year ago today, as I was celebrating BillyBlog’s 2^nd year in the ether, I launched Tattoosday as a separate blog, apart from the weekly Tuesday post on its parent site. The rest, as they say, is history.

Since then, Tattoosday has grown in leaps and bounds, although it is still in its infancy, by blogosphere standards.

What’s remarkable is this: after three years, BillyBlog has 69,100 hits. After one year, Tattoosday is just over 65,000. The numbers have astonished me, from 120 hits in all of last September, to 3000 hits in January, 6500 in May, and cracking the 10,000 barrier in June, July and August.

But enough of that, when I first started Tattoosday, I wondered if people would even give me the time of day. I started with friends and co-workers, but quickly moved to the streets. And although I’ve had a few people ignore me completely, most folks are receptive to the idea, and there are a lot who bought in and shared their ink with me.

Some more numbers. I’ll discount the pre-September 8 posts, which were imported from the BillyBlog archives.

Since last September 8, I have written 201 posts for Tattoosday. Of those 201 posts, 15 were on the subject of the blog or tattoos in the news, but 186 were posts of people’s ink. 18 were in the “Tattoos I Know” category and 10 were pictures that were e-mailed to me from people in the blogosphere, friends of friends, or strangers who I met and subsequently sent me photos.

So, 158 posts were comprised of encounters in the street with strangers, people I didn’t know, who were kind enough to share their tattoos and the stories behind them with me and the Tattoosday audience.

You may be wondering where I crunched all these numbers from. A spreadsheet, of course. The same spreadsheet tells me that the blog, in a year’s time, featured photos of 287 tattoos. That’s a ton of ink. The shop that has had work appeared here most often is Brooklyn Ink, which happens to be the shop nearest my home. Just look at the blogrolls and see the sheer volume of different shops listed. It’s staggering. The number is certainly a testament to the popularity of tattooing in the United States and beyond.

63 tattoo posts came from Brooklyn, 110 from Manhattan. Penn Plaza, my favorite spot for meeting the inked, was the site of 33 of those 110 posts.

But all of that aside, I want to thank everyone who has participated, and to all of you who visit regularly. Those of you who let me photograph your tattoos make this venture possible, and without a readership, this would be a lot less fun. Knowing I have an audience makes this project that much more fulfilling.

Thanks to everyone who has helped contribute to the Tattoosday microcosm. Whether you are an occasional reader, a one-time contributor, or an avid fan, I appreciate each individual who helps make Tattoosday what it is.

Here’s to a great second year!

Mike Remembers Mom with a Traditional Tattoo

I met Mike in the Penn Plaza area and asked him, among his countless tattoos, which had the most meaning for him. I may have mentioned before that asking a multi-tattooed individual that is like asking a parent to choose his favorite among his multiple children. Mike shared this feeling,
but ultimately chose to offer up the piece above.

It's a traditional mom tattoo that he had to honor her memory after she passed away in January of this year from cancer.

The piece was inked by Tasha at NY Hardcore Tattoo in Manhattan.

Mike offered up his knuckle tattoos, as well:

Thanks to Mike for sharing some of his ink here at Tattoosday!

James and His Tree of Life

I spotted this Tree of Life tattoo on Court Street in downtown Brooklyn and started talking to James about it.

It was inked by an ex-girlfriend of his about ten years ago.

The tattoo consists of the tree of life, under which sits Buddha (or The Acorn Man) who is holding a chalice. James pointed out that he is surrounded by a serpent, although it's hard to tell in the piece.

Below it is a rune of protection.

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


Update: One of My regular readers, Livia Indica, who blogs at NeoPagan Ink, pointed me to this source, the Cernunnos on the Gundestrup cauldron:


James told me it was a Buddha, but the similarity between the tattoo and this Celtic god is worth noting. Thanks Livia!

Michelle's Amazing Owl Tattoo Honors Her Dad

I follow a method to creating content for this blog and I generally post ink in the chronological order that I see it. Sometimes a post may take longer because it requires more research. Other times, a tattoo is so good, it deserves to be seen right away. The tattoo above is one of those that demanded it be posted immediately. It helped that the story behind it is short and sweet.

I had left the office for lunch on Friday and I spotted this owl (sorry, bad pun) going into Starbucks. I suddenly realized I had left my camera on my desk. What to do? Run upstairs and risk missing the chance? Ask her to send me a photo? Then, I realized I had my phone, a recent upgrade, with a functioning camera. But would it take a good tattoo picture?

I believe so.

This is Michelle's tattoo, covering her upper left arm. It is dedicated to her father, who is her very own "wise old owl". The tattoo artist was Marina, who was apprenticing at Fly-Rite Studio, in Brooklyn.

All I can say is, "Wow." Not only is it an amazingly beautiful piece of body art, but it rendered the dozen or so tattoos I saw throughout the day uninteresting. When you fly first class, it's hard to go back to sitting in coach.

Everything I've seen come out of Fly-Rite has been spot-on. See other tattoos that were inked st the studio here.

Thanks again profusely to Michelle for sharing her wonderful owl tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, and thanks to Marina for inking such a cool piece!

A Butterfly Journeys with Gillian

I spotted this absolutely beautiful butterfly on the back of Gillian at a street fair in Manhattan last Saturday.

Gillian and her sister got the same butterfly together just before she left for college and before her sister headed off on a trip to Europe.

The butterfly can represent numerous things. In Gillian's case, it not only represents a bond with her sister, but it also is a symbol for a journey through life.

This piece was inked at Purple Lotus Tattoos in Frisco, Colorado, by Brett.

Thanks to Gillian for sharing her butterfly with us here on Tattoosday!

A Butterfly Koi Rising on the Arm of Belquis

Had I not forgotten to get my daughter Shayna her copy of Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, I wouldn't have wandered into the Court Street Barnes & Noble in Brooklyn on Labor Day and spotted this awesome butterfly koi above.

Belquis, who has five tattoos, explained that this tattoo represents an interpretation of the koi fish mythology, where the koi is rising out of the water, about to turn into a dragon.

The piece was designed by her friend Karleen Ang, and inked by Kazuhisa (Kaz) Matsumoto at New York Adorned. Belquis has been loyal to Kaz since he was an artist working out of his home. When he moved to Adorned, she followed.

Belquis added, "All five of my tattoos were done by Kaz...I have an ohm (neck), the ambigram (neck), dark fairy (left back shoulder), my first and middle name in Arabic under the symbol for Zahir (right back shoulder). All black." Who knows? Maybe we'll see more of Bel's ink in the future here on the blog.

Work from NY Adorned has appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

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

Verrazano Redux

Just the other day, I posted a cool graffiti-style tattoo of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island.

While on the bike on Sunday, I spotted another amazing bridge tattoo. How amazing? Another Tattoosday first: I pulled up along side the owner of the piece while he was riding his bike and he pulled over to tell me about it.

This tattoo, which is a colorful depiction of the V-N Bridge during a sunset, was inked by Joe at Brooklyn Ink. The piece belongs to Paul, who knows, whenever he sees the bridge, he is close to home. One could say, then, that by wearing it on his left shoulder, the bridge is always close
to him, even when he is out of town.

We talked about the beauty of the stretch of shoreline which runs along the south of Brooklyn. Paul and I have a lot in common in that we love to take pictures of the bridge. In fact, check out these shots I took in January 2007 which are here on BillyBlog. The sunset always seems to be spectacular with the Verrazano in the foreground.

Paul has several other tattoos, one of which is slated for a future, more fitting, post in the next few weeks.

Thanks to Paul for sharing this tattoo with us!

As always, you can see work from Brooklyn Ink that has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Michael's Taurus Tattoo

I ran into Michael at Borders in Penn Plaza. He has five tattoos, including a large koi sleeve on his right arm. He offered up the bull tattoo above on his left arm.

The piece was inked at Mike's Tattoo in Peterborough, Ontario, north of the border in Canada.

Michael is a Taurus, and this bull tattoo represents the astrological sign in the Zodiac. I have featured a Taurus tattoo before in the blog here.

Michael is an artist and traded one of his prints to the tattooist, in exchange for this piece on his left forearm. Check out Michael's website here to see his art. It's pretty amazing.

Thanks to Michael for sharing his tattoo here on Tattoosday!

Alexa's Blue Bird Honors Her Grandfather's Memory

I met Alexa on the southeast corner of 34th Street and 7th Avenue last Tuesday and may have saved her from a little bit of parental grief.

I asked her about the sparrow below her neck and she was happy to tell me about it, especially since I reminded her about it. She was waiting to meet her father, who doesn't know she's inked, and she covered up after I snapped the picture.


Alexa got this tattoo on the first anniversary of her grandfather's passing. All that it symbolizes to her, the color blue, the freedom from the earth, true love - all of these combine to empower the symbol she finds as especially fitting for the memory of her grandfather.

The sparrow was designed by a friend of hers. She took the drawing to Crazy Fantasy Tattoo in the West Village where the artist colored the design and inked it.

Thanks to Alexa for sharing her sparrow with us on Tattoosday!

Under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

As mentioned in the previous post, I was having some luck spotting some tattoos while riding my bike along the path that runs along the southern tip of Brooklyn.

Last weekend, I was riding north and passed a woman sunbathing in a bikini in the grass along the bike path. I noticed she had some sort of intricate pattern inked on her foot. Yes, I am that committed to Tattoosday that when I see a woman in a bikini, I notice her foot!

However, I chose not to stop and disturb her and kept riding. Yet, the image of her tattooed foot hounded me, and by the time I had reached the 69th Street Pier and grabbed some water at a local store, I had decided to head back a couple of miles and see if she was still there.

Of course, she was gone. I stopped my bike and looked at the spot where she had been and thought of what might have been. I checked the time on my phone and was getting ready to head home when a guy named Danny walked by on the path. He has 12 tattoos. I approached him and we started talking about his ink.

Danny offered up this lower back piece:


This seemed the most appropriate tattoo to discuss as we were standing under the Verrazano Bridge. This long shot gives a better idea of the appropriateness of the tattoo:


Danny is Brooklyn-born and raised, and a lot of his friends growing up were graffiti artists. This street-style tattoo is true to his upbringing and a key element of his roots in South Brooklyn.

The piece was inked by Mr. Kaves at Brooklyn Ink. Danny explained that Kaves ran Brooklyn Ink before the current owner Joe had the shop (he has work by Joe as well). There's a nice piece about Mr. Kaves in Prick Magazine here.

Kaves is a founding member of The Lordz, a well-known rock-rap band. They were featured in five episodes of a show called "The Brooklyn Way" which aired on FUSE. The show website is here.

As an added bonus, here's a clip of the Lordz, featuring Everlast, performing their song "The Brooklyn Way":



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

Chris Honors His Mother with a Back Piece

Last weekend, while riding my bike along the Shore Promenade at the southern tip of Brooklyn, I spotted the back piece above.

Although it is not completed, Chris, to whom the tattoo belongs, was more then happy to share it with us.

The story of this tattoo goes back a bit. Chris explained to me that, when he was seventeen, his father took him to get a tattoo. He got a piece on the left side of his back. He recalls his mother being beside herself over this, upset that he had gotten a tattoo at such an early age.

You can tell from the photo that, on the left side, one of the wings is covering the previous tattoo. Eventually, one won't be able to tell it was there.


Chris' mother passed away several years ago and he began this back piece to honor her memory. The central figure is the religious icon from Mexico Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Not only is it a spiritual tribute, but it is a practical one in that it is covering up the tattoo that Chris so vividly recalls upsetting his mother.

This grand design has been a work in progress for three and a half years. Renee at Memphis Tattoo has been the artist working on the piece. Work from Renee at Memphis Tattoo (now called Top Shelf Tattoo) appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Chris for sharing his tribute to the memory of his mother with us here at Tattoosday!

April's Tribal Piece

No offense to people with tribal tattoos, but they (the tattoos, not the people) generally don't generate much interest from me.

Unless they are incorporated into a bigger design concept (like this tiger lily piece), they don't seem particularly interesting. I know, I know, that's a sweeping generalization, and there will always be exceptions.

But tribal arm bands, anklets, or lower back designs are just that: designs. Often aesthetically pleasing, sometimes not. These tattoos (again, generally) are more about the look of the piece and the desire for a tattoo, than about a deep meaning about a specific person or event. Sure, you may have got that tribal piece to commemorate the time that your dog Lassie saved your son Timmy from a rattlesnake in the bottom of a well, but how does such a blogworthy event translate into an inked pattern?

But, I digress. The title of this post is "April's Tribal." On occasion, a tribal piece does call out to me, as April's did last Friday at the 86th Street subway platform in Bay Ridge. Again, there is no earth-shattering story behind it, and had it been smaller in scope on an ankle or lower back, I may have kept walking.

But April's tattoo is bold and striking:


She had this inked in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, by a friend with whom she has lost touch. He was just starting out as a tattooist.

She had initially envisioned having a short sleeve, but after the initial back piece was completed, she just never finished it off. April didn't seem too concerned, though: "It's on my back, so I never see it," she smiled.

Thanks to April for sharing her tribal piece with us here at Tattoosday!

Untouchable is Something to Be

John had much ink and, as often happens when I ask, a previously unseen tattoo is revealed which is just as impressive as all the other visible work.

John offered up this right upper arm piece, a pin-up straddling a bomb. It's exceptional work and I found the source material on which this is based, a concert poster for the Against Me!:

The poster is from a October 14, 2005 gig in Portland, Oregon at Loveland, with the bands The Epoxies, Smoke or Fire and The Soviettes. The designer is Mark McCormick Lee Zeman* who is associated with the company Mad Pakyderms.

A little more detail from the tattoo:


John said that the art, and hence the tattoo, represents to him the sentiment that "untouchable is something to be". He had this done when he moved away from home, went out on his own, and started taking care of himself.

The detail in the tattoo is incredible. His wife Liz, who was with him, made sure I took a shot of the top of the piece and captured the detail and shading in the planes:


This was inked by Chance Kenyon out of Jack Brown's Tattoo Revival in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

John was on his way back home from New York where he was spending his honeymoon with his new wife Liz. See the post below to see the tattoos John and Liz got to commemorate their union.

Thanks to John for sharing his awesome tattoo here on Tattoosday!

*I initially reported that Mark McCormick designed the poster, as it was attributed to him on the poster website, Expresso Beans. I e-mailed Mark through his company's website to tell him about the post and he wrote back:

Hey Bill!

That is AWESOME!!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I am Mark McCormick, but Mad Pakyderms is myself and Lee Zeman. That particular poster was created by Lee. If you could credit him accordingly that would be amazing! I'll be sure to let him know about it and direct him to your site to see it for himself. I'm actually moving to NYC myself next month. Perhaps you'll see me on the street someday and ask me about my own tattoos. HA! Awesome site, man! Thanks again! Battle on!

CHEERS!
Mark
http://www.markmccormickart.com/

I have amended the post to give proper credit to Lee Zeman. You can see more or Lee's work at www.gigposters.com here. If you've never checked out the gigposters site, do yourself a favor and go exploring. It's fun!