Two for Tattoosday: Some Traditional Work Imported from California

Last week I spotted a young tattooed woman chatting with a friend outside of the Chelsea Whole Foods store. I hesitated because I was running late, but doubled back across the street and introduced myself. As it turned out, Krista and her two friends, Ryan and Jake, had recently moved from San Francisco to New York. All of them had tattoos.

Her friend Jake shared his first, but I am deferring that one to a later, more appropriate date (hint: check back on Father's Day).

After seeing Jake's tattoo, I turned to Krista and Ryan. "Who's next?" I asked hopefully.
Fortunately, I didn't get the "Wasn't the one tattoo enough?" attitude.

Krista deferred to Ryan and he offered, with his friend's assistance, this amazing piece:


I was surprised, to be honest, to see such a huge, traditional sailor tattoo on a tall young man with a finely-waxed handlebar mustache, so I had to ask what was behind this amazing piece.

He had a simple answer, "I'm American." And the logic computes on different levels. The eagle is our national bird, and the art of tattoo, which was discovered by British sailors on the indigenous populations of the South Pacific, didn't really explode in popularity until American servicemen started bringing their body art home from overseas.

There is something purely American in the naval tattoos that have embedded themselves in our cultural psyches and, although other cultures may argue the uniqueness of such art to U.S. citizens, that is the perception that has been re-enforced by our society.

This amazing tattoo was completed in four four-hour sessions by Zach Johnson at Idle Hands Tattoo Studio in San Francisco. Mr. Johnson is no longer listed on staff there but, according to his MySpace page, he occasionally pops back in from time to time.

Chest tattoos are notoriously painful and Ryan concurred: the pain, he said, especially over the diaphragm, was the worst he's ever felt ("worse than that from accidents" he has been in, he insisted). And he has seven tattoos, to boot, so he is no novice.

I turned to Krista, inquiring, and smiled when it was clear she was contributing as well. I believe it was the first time I got three people together to participate, with three very different tattoos.

She offered up this unique tattoo, also by Zack Johnson:



Krista explained that Zack had drawn up a whole series of flapper-esque, gypsy-style profiles, putting his personal spin on each one. This one has a feline appearance and, as a lover of cats, she took a shine to the design. The tattoo, as a result, has a traditional feel, but with a modified spin that makes it more unique. I particularly like the collar with the bell attached to it:


Thanks to Krista and Ryan for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Mike's Reminder, Emblazoned on His Chest

An unseasonably warm Monday, when the temperature rose above 60, proved to be a bonus here at Tattoosday.

I met Mike in Penn Plaza, outside of Borders, and of his eleven tattoos, he chose this one to share here on the blog:


I was struck by the diamond in the middle of the chest, which reminded me of the piece in the Tattoosday banner at the top of the page.

Mike told me that the message "Never Fail" was a reminder to himself to always strive to achieve his goals, to do the best that he can, and to never fail.

The piece was tattooed by Sean Foy at Rider's Ink in Newark, New Jersey.


Thanks to Mike for baring and sharing this self-motivating message here on Tattoosday!

A Double Shot: Steve and Krista Show Off Some Awesome Ink

Last Friday, my head was spinning. It seemed that there were tattoos everywhere. They were as prevalent as the blossoms on the trees. I passed out a few fliers, but hadn’t received any commitments from people to chat. The good weather means that we here at Tattoosday can be more selective in our choices, hopefully bringing you more intricate and complicated tattoos.

Just outside of Penn Station, I saw a man and a woman chatting in the sun. The guy had a bright red tattoo on his forearm. I couldn’t tell if the woman had ink, as her back was to me when I approached.

In introduced myself to Steve, who has six tattoos in all. He offered up the arm piece first, as it was the most meaningful of all his work:

Steve plays bass for a band out of Long Island called The Devilles. Check them out here. He described them as "punk rock n roll". Their MySpace profile categorizes them as "punk/blues/soul". Here's Steve at a gig:

To break the tattoo down a little, the quote in the banner is “When I got the music/I got a place to go,” which are lyrics from the song "Radio" by Rancid, from their 1994 album, Let’s Go. A little research proved that “Radio” was originally released on the Radio Radio Radio EP a year earlier, with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong as a second guitarist in a brief stint with the band. Armstrong is even shares writing credit on the track. The album version, post-Bille Joe, has a significantly different arrangement.

Here's a little video of Rancid performing "Radio":

The guitar in Steve’s tattoo is modeled after his own instrument, a Gretsch.

He explained that the tattoo exemplifies the role of music in Steve's life. He finds it very therapeutic and acknowledges that, without music, "I would not be the same person I am today, or even be here at all." It's the biggest, most important thing in his life.

This was designed and inked by Greg Fly at The Tattoo Shop in Medford, Long Island.

Steve also offered up this stomach piece:

This is a direct quote from the Clash song of the same name from the London Calling album. Pepe at The Tattoo Shop did this piece and it represents Steve's belief that he'll be able to make an impression on this world before he dies.

In the course of talking to Steve, the young lady with him was an active participant in the discussion. Her name is Krista and she works as an apprentice at The Tattoo Shop where Steve's work was done. She said she had about six or seven tattoos in all. After talking with Steve, I asked her if she would like to show off her ink for Tattoosday as well.

She tried to downplay her body art, saying that, compared to Steve, her stories weren’t that interesting. I begged to differ but, to be perfectly honest, she could have been right. I only saw one of her tattoos, but it is truly spectacular:

Krista was born in upstate New York but she grew up in North Carolina. She remembers always being fascinated by the "Western motif" and when she drew up the rudimentary sketch of this tattoo, this was in the forefront of the vision. She took the basic premise to a tattooist named Zam at Visionary (a custom shop). She told him "this is [basically] what I want. Go nuts with it." Like I said, the end result is breath-taking. I believe this is Tattoosday's first chest piece.

Krista wanted me to plug her shop's show on April 26th at Club Bianco in Hauppauge. Check out The Tattoo Shop's page here to get all the details.

Thanks again to Krista and Steve for sharing their awesome tattoos!