Moki's Pink Elephant

Yesterday we posted a tattoo belonging to my wife's cousin Erica, who had come over to our home last month for a family gathering. Accompanying her was her girlfriend Moki, who has a multitude of tattoos. Among her work is this whimsical elephant tattoo:

Moki explains:

"The elephant was drawn by a friend. He likes to label everything, like how it says saddle and elephant on the tattoo. I just think it's cute."

She had this inked by Nick Caruso when he was at Flyrite Tattoo in Brooklyn. Nick has since moved on to Bound for Glory Tattoo on Staten Island.

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

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Update from the Mermaid Parade, 2012

Yesterday I attended the 30th Annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. It was my first excursion to Coney Island for this specific occasion and, let me say, it is sensory overload, especially if you are interested in tattoos.

Fueled by Coney Island lager, I managed to meet a few people, take photos, and even get some ink stories for future enjoyment. What you'll see here today are pictures of people and tattoos of folks who I have no information on. I gave them cards and fliers, so I'm hoping seeing their photos here will prompt them to reach out to me so I can give their tattoos proper Tattoosday treatments.

First I want to share my favorite pic of the day:

That would be a sailor kissing a mermaid. But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the cool New York City tattoo, with the Chrysler Building prominently displayed.

Here's a random shot from the parade on Surf Avenue:

I snapped this tattoo on the Boardwalk:

After taking this picture, I turned on my voice recorded and said, "Bailey Robinson, um, out on the Boardwalk. I have no idea what I just took a picture of. It was really cool and there's tattoos everywhere. Bye."

A day later, I can clarify this. It's obviously a circus lady sitting on an elephant. Bailey Hunter Robinson is a Brooklyn-based tattoo artist, and he actually posted this piece on his website when he first outlined it here.

From the Boardwalk I headed to the Tattoo Shot Lounge to cool off and regroup.

Hanging out there, I met a lot of people, two of whom shared their tattoos. The place was loud and I have no information on these tattoos:

I did find out that "Attempting to discover where to begin" were song lyrics and a little research reveals that the words are from the song "Waiting" by an artist named City and Colour.

Perhaps I'll hear from these inked women who can give me a little more info about their tattoos.

I also met Katy, who got this tattoo in Arizona:

And from the inside of her arm:

Stay tuned in the weeks ahead to see more tattoos spotted at the parade.

Thanks to all of the participants in the Coney Island Mermaid Parade who allowed me to photograph them, and who spoke to me about their tattoos!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Karen's Order of the Elephant

Coming home from the New York City Tattoo Convention last month, I ran into Karen on the R train in Brooklyn. She had this unusual tattoo on her left arm:

Karen got this on a trip to Denmark from Anders Wester at Bright Side Tattoo in Copenhagen.

It is inspired by the Order of the Elephant, the highest honor bestowed by the King of Denmark on its citizens.

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

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Sean Shares a Host of Traditional Tattoos

I ran into Sean at the Foodtown in my neighborhood and when I stopped to talk to him about his tattoos (he has nine), I ended up with photos of several pieces, all of which reside on his left arm.

Most of the designs are traditional tattoo subjects, all of which were inked by Eli Quinters at Smith Street Tattoo Parlour in  Brooklyn. Work from Smith Street Tattoo has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

First up is this amazing lighthouse:

Sean explained that this tattoo is for his mother, as this tattoo is based on her "favorite lighthouse," the Fastnet Lighthouse on the most southerly point on the coast of Ireland.

Then there is this owl tattoo:

This was done for no other reason that Sean has always liked owls. If you love owl tattoos, be sure to head over to this site.

Then there is the elephant tattoo:

He has this piece because "elephants never forget".

I know we posted a sugar skull yesterday, but here's another one:

This was all Eli's design. Sean gave him free reign and likes the fact that it is unusual in that there are not a lot of colors in it, like one sees in most sugar skull tattoos. For all that have appeared on Tattoosday previously, check this link.

There is also the traditional female figure, not modeled after anyone in particular, just done in a traditional style:

And Sean's last tattoo is this bat:

He told Eli that he "wanted something spooky" that included the moon. Quinters free-handed this piece, starting with a white Sharpie and then finished with a darker Sharpie before finishing the tattoo.

What's neat about all of Sean's tattoos is that they flow nicely together, as readers can see elements of many of the tattoos on the borders of the photos of specific designs.

Thanks to Sean for sharing these amazing tattoos by Eli Quinters with us here on Tattoosday!

Mike's Tribute to His Thai Heritage

There are generally two kinds of Tattoosday subjects (and by subjects I mean people):

Those that let me take a picture or two and I never hear from them again, and those that send me nice messages and a correspondence more or less develops.

Last weekend I met a guy named Mike at the laundromat (which is turning out to be quite a lucky locale for inkspotting) and he falls in the latter category.

Not only was Mike friendly and interested in the site when I met him, but he has followed up our initial conversation with e-mails that have helped me create a much more thorough and well-rounded post than many readers may be used to.

Mike's tattoo is a tribute to his heritage. His father is from Thailand, so he considers himself "50% Thai". Check this out:


This piece does wrap around the left bicep, and on either side of the elephantine temple, there are "singha" lions:

























The idea for this tattoo started with a concept and evolved into the finished work in flesh above.

Mike started with the basic images, found online in the form of the elephant and lion masks, and the photo of a Thai temple:



He notes that he wanted to use the Tribal elephant mask "because the Elephant is a national symbol of Thailand, they [were] used ... in wars and ... represent strength. I chose the Tribal 'wood' look mainly because it looks great and I thought it represented the 'old/history' of Thailand." He added that he finds Thai temples "amazingly beautiful" and that the two Singha lions on either side of the temple in the design "represent protection, and they usually are at the entrance ways of many Thai buildings".

He then tinkered with these images in Photoshop and came up with this rudimentary design:

He took this artwork to Regino Gonzalez at Invisible NYC. Mike explains, "I showed him my idea and he actually kinda chuckled a bit. I told him I realized [that] this was a real shitty representation of what I want and that I hoped that he could do ANYTHING with it."

Mike continues, "...And then literally three days later, he called me into the shop and when I walked in, he had this HUGE AMAZING piece of art...I just turned to him and said, 'Let's do it' [and] I ... sat down right then and there for four hours and had the outline done ... I ... went back about three weeks later and had the black color and shading done, and then about three more weeks later I had the final color done."

What Mike explains is typical of great tattoo work. So many novices to tattooing are surprised that a nice piece takes a while, unlike it does on the reality tattoo shows, when an eight-hour piece often is edited down to a few minutes of air time. It's also the recommended way to get a great tattoo: bring in the framework of an idea and let the artist go to town.

And, if you have a good artist (which you should have, if you've done you're homework), you should put your absolute faith and trust in them. Case in point, Mike recalls "I asked Regino how he was going to color it and I was pretty nervous ... he looked at me and pointed to his head and said 'Trust me, I have a plan'. And that was it ... I walked away with what I think is an amazing piece of work ... I have since recommended Regino to anyone who asks my opinion, and I will continue to [do so] ....".

Incidentally, work from Regino has appeared previously on this site here.

Thanks to Mike for sharing his incredible work with us here on Tattoosday!

The Squid and the Elephant

A seriously long line at the Post Office cut into my outside time at lunch, which adversely affected my tattoo-spotting on Wednesday.

However, I took advantage of the long line at the Philatelic Window and introduced myself to Barrett, who offered up the tattoo above.

He has four tattoos, but this was the only one visible. It was inked about 13 years ago in his home in Colorado by a free-lance artist named Bryan Saren.

Mr. Saren is mentioned in several Durango, Colorado newspaper articles as a local artist and sculptor. I will assume its the same guy.

Barrett designed this piece himself and, although he acknowledges that it resembles the "tribal" category, he doesn't consider it a tribal tattoo.

He was just playing with the design and liked the end result, which is comprised of a melding of a squid and an elephant.

Look again:


The squid is at the tail end, or top of the piece. And the elephant is at the front. A closer look shows the center axis is comprised of the elephantine trunk, surrounded by two shorter, curving tusks.

No special significance to squid and elephant, just part of the design elements.

Thanks to Barrett for sharing his work with us here at Tattoosday!

Tattoos from the Blogosphere: Introducing Mat’s Incredible Back Piece

With the exception of one photo sent by my Dad way back at the advent of Tattoosday, everything on this blog has resulted from an encounter in the streets of New York City.

However, we’re branching out, and I am actually going to feature tattoos I have never seen in person. A cyber-field trip, if you will, to the canvas of a fellow blogger, Mat Giordano, whose This Blog Right Here, is a favorite web destination of mine.

Mat and I occasionally chat, and his blog and BillyBlog occasionally link one another for various and sundry reasons. A month or so ago, I mentioned Tattoosday to him and he told me he was heavily inked, and proceeded to e-mail me his amazing back piece:

Needless to say, this is one of the more impressive pieces I have seen, and I was eager to post it but you know me, I love the back story (no pun intended). I e-mailed Mat some questions and he didn’t get back to me for a while. Finally, through instant messaging, he not only sent me new pictures of other tattoos (subject for a later post), but gave me the full rundown of this incredible tattoo.

Me: I need to know what [the elephant] was all about

Mat: Well, it's actually a simple one. I have a love for African black elephants: their patterning, symmetry, ear structure, [and] demeanor….and the platelets of jewelry and Tibetan skull crown symbolize a Tibetan tradition.

Me: Since you were a kid?

Mat: Yes, since I was a baby, I think. [The] tradition [is] where there's five skulls: the three in the center

symbolizing my small family…being book-ended by prosperity to the right and longevity to the left, depending on how you are looking at it, I suppose.

[Five-Skull Crown: The skulls stuck onto the five points of the crown represent the five main afflictions, anger, greed, pride, envy and ignorance, conquered and transmuted into the five wisdoms--ultimate reality, discriminating, equalizing, all-accomplishing, and mirror wisdoms. Cited here.]

Me: How long did it take/how many sittings? Was it one shop that you had it inked in?

Mat: Nope, a friend that sleeved both of my legs started the basic line work….and in Orlando, I ran into this up-and-coming fella, BJ, in a bar. He whipped out his digital camera, took some snapshots, said 'don't make any plans on Sunday'. He went, bought some reference books, and free-handed the entire thing. Four sittings total, about 25 hours.

Me: So, BJ did the majority of the work in Florida, right? After a friend of yours did the basic outline in Philly?

Mat: My back credit will go to BJ at Built 4 Speed Tattoo in Orlando, Florida. It should be noted that Built 4 Speed is a custom shop only...

Me: ...Custom meaning, by appointment only, no flash on the walls, all original work, right?

Mat: Yeah, no flash basically. That's the point I wanted to make.

Well, there will be more from Mat down the line, but I wanted to get this contribution up on Tattoosday first. Thanks to Mat for sending the photos and giving me the scoop on this awesome back piece!

Tattoos I Know: Janet's Tat Trick

When I moved to New York in 1997, one of the first friends I made at work was Janet Loder (now Loder-Berthelon). Even though Janet left for greener pastures almost five years ago, we still talk and occasionally get together for lunch or a social jumble of offspring (i.e. our kids play together). Last Thursday, we met at lunch and Janet let me take some hasty shots in the sunshine of her three tattoos. All pictures were snapped on the steps of the New York Public Library, between Patience and Fortitude.

The first of Janet's tattoos was inked in Buffalo, New York when she was 19 or 20, approximately 20 years ago:


This pachyderm has been touched up twice in the twenty years or so since first decorating Janet's right shoulder blade (aka the posterior scapula). It was the first tattoo I saw on Janet, back in 1997 when tattoos were not as common as they are today. Janet has always loved elephants, and has a few collected, the first of which was given to her as a child by her much-beloved Aunt Claire, for whom her daughter is named.

Janet's love of elephants (and hence her tattoo) stems from their being majestic creatures that are matriarchal and intelligent. They are social beings that even mourn for their dead.

Janet's second tattoo was inked four or five years back at her friend Michelle's bachelorette party:

This simple yin and yang symbol, inscribed on the left side of her lower back, was added in the East Village, we're guessing at Andromeda Tattoos Studios. It is a symbol, for Janet, of her striving for balance in her life.

Her third and last (but not final) tattoo was also done at Andromeda, and is on the right side of Janet's lower back:


Janet is particularly proud of this one and thinks it has the best story of her three tattoos. I would agree. She had this done in 2004 when she had been traveling a lot on business between New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. She began dating a guy in L.A. and was seeing him whenever she flew into town for work. As her California work projects came to a close, their relationship reached a crossroads, and there was discussion and soul-searching over the matter of relocation. He didn't want to leave L.A. Janet was born and raised in Buffalo and is a New Yorker through and through. I can't imagine her living in L.A. And neither could she.

As one might guess, her decision was solidified when she went and had this tattoo done which, "sealed the deal not to move to L.A." Once branded, she mused, there was no way she was leaving New York.

The rest is history.

Thanks to Janet for sharing her tattoos and accompanying stories! You know a friend is true when they'll let you blog about their tattoos!