Tommy's Geisha

Last week I met Tommy, who has six tattoos, one of which he shared with us:

He brought three or four pictures into Regino Gonzales when he was at Inkstop Tattoo and he came up with this design. Regino is now at Invisible NYC.

The line work took two and a half to three hours but he had to stop because, in Tommy's words, "I'm a bleeder". He came back after he healed for another two and a half hours of shading.

Tommy had a lot of nice protrait work and this piece seemed to just jump off of his left arm.

Regino's work has appeared previously on Tattoosday here and here.

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

Two for Tattoosday: A Purple Lotus and the Fletcher House

In keeping with the spirit of duality, today's post is a two-for-Tattoosday Tuesday special.

Yesterday outside of Madison Square Garden, amid throngs of Iron Maiden and Dream Theater fans, I met two guys who just happened to be there. If you want to see a great Maiden tattoo, look back in the archives here.

I met Roman, who conceived and performs in "Evolution," showing Tuesday, July 13, and Tuesday, July 20, at the Magnet Theater (254 W. 29th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues). With him was Louie, who directs the show which is billed as "international and comedic true stories intertwining spirituality, sex, laws, identity, drug vusts, discomfort, fear and discovery from a spontaneous road trip down south".

Roman shared first, which seemed only fair, as it was his tattoo I noticed,creeping out from under his left sleeve:

He got this purple lotus because he likes the color purple (the actual color more than the movie of the same name). And the lotus is special because, in Buddhism, he understands the lotus to symbolize "freedom of attachment and desire".

This tattoo took 3 to 4 hours and was inked by David Sena when he was at Rising Dragon when they were at their 23rd Street location, although Sena is now at North Star Tattoo, the shop he co-founded in the East Village.

Louie's tattoo was much smaller, but it had a more elaborate story:

This small design, on the outer left ankle of, represents a house in Vancouver, British Columbia, in which he and seven different people lived at different times during their college days. The house and the memories they all shared together there are so important, that Louie and six other friends share the same tattoo.

The narrative took on a more elaborate spin, as Louie explained that his group of friends came up with a family name to represent the denizens of this house. They were/still are "the Fletchers," all residing in the Fletcher House. He likened them to an extended family like The Ramones, and they chose the name because it sounded tough.

So, as Louie a.k.a. "Rock" Fletcher tells it, his friend "Slim" Fletcher drew up the simple design for the house tattoo, and they had it inked at Addiction Ink NYC. Over the years, when one of the Fletcher family came to town, they went down to the shop to have the family member tattooed with the same design, not necessarily on the ankle, like Louie/Rock.

It should be noted that Kim Fletcher, who is a relatively new mom (congrats Kim), has avoided the tattoo, so the rest of her Fletcher family created a needlepoint design of the house for her, so that she has the tattoo in a different shape and form, needled, but not in her flesh. Yet. Now that it is written here, forever on the pages of Tattoosday, it is only a matter of time. Kim Fletcher, you destiny is calling.

Thanks again to both Roman and Louie for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! Be sure to catch their play "Evolution" at the Magnet. If you show up at the box office and mention this post, you won't get any kind of discount, but I'm sure that they'll be thrilled to hear that you showed up as a result of their contribution here!

Mor's Key is Found and Kept Forever

On the last Monday evening in June, I met Mor at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square. Her website identifies Mor as a "character animator and 'moving collage' artist".

However, we didn't talk about Mor's work.That never came up.Rather,we discussed the Tattoo on Mor's forearm:

Mor's mother had given her a little golden key as a gift that she wore on her earlobe. At some point in the middle of the night, this began to bother Mor, who would pluck the key off and throw it across the room. In the morning, Mor would find the key. This unusual pattern became a ritual of sorts until one morning, the key was nowhere to be found. Lost forever over the years, this tattoo reclaimed the key, and now Mor has it tattooed forever.

The bird represents a friend of Mor who is an "adopted mother" and someone very close to Mor.

The tattoo was done by Shiloah Rusciolelli, who currently lives in Seattle.

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

Here is Mor's "Bimboim's Trip to the Western Wall":



Mornography's YouTube channel is here.

Phoenix Foretells Phoenix

I met Ryan one afternoon while passing through Penn Station.

He has nine tattoos and has been getting inked since he was seventeen years old.

Here is the largest of his tattoos, which he shared with us here at Tattoosday:

Ryan went to the artist Scott Bramble, who works out of Mercury Tattoo Studio in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He says he let Scott "do what he wanted and he ran with it". The end result was stunning.

I particularly like the detail on the tail feathers.

Ryan remarked that, at the time he had this done, he was married and going through a "horrible" divorce. Now that is in the past and he is happily involved with a girl from Phoenix, Arizona, which he acknowledges is a "weird coincidence".

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

Black and Grey Roses Tattoo

Black and Grey Roses Tattoo

Michele's Tea for Two Tattoo

Normally I post tattoos chronologically, in some semblance of order, but yesterday I met Michele as she was about to get on an uptown local train at 34th Street.

She kindly shared this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday:

Why the tea cups? "Because you can't have tea by yourself," Michele said, as her train rolled in.

Slow on the uptake, I got it, "Ah, tea for two.I get it!" Michele looked to bolt for the train. I didn't get to finish asking all my standard questions, which is why we fast-tracked her post today.

The tattoo was inked by Kevin McNutt at Empire State Studios in Oceanside, New York. Work from Empire State has appeared previously on Tattoosday, viewable here.

Thanks much to Michele for sharing her ink two teacups with us here at Tattoosday! I'm sorry if you missed your train!

Penny's Metal Collage

Penny made me feel old.

And I mean no disrespect to her. She was more than cooperative when I stopped and asked her about the unique and colorful tattoo that graces her upper left arm.

However, I was working at a technical disadvantage (borrowed camera) and like many who have met me have observed, I don't necessarily ooze hipness.

Nonetheless, Penny indulged my photographic fumblings and I was able to capture this image, which is a fairly decent photo of her ink:

This piece is based on a collage of pictures Penny took at a handful of metal shows.

"Which bands?" I asked, hoping to find a common ground with this younger person. I cut my teeth on early American metal (I still cherish my vinyl pressing of Metallica's Kill 'Em All on Megaforce records), but then again, that was the '80s. Penny uttered names I had heard (yay me!) but alas, couldn't put in their necessary classifications.

Deathklok. Children of Bodom. Amon Amarth.

What can I say? I'm an ancient 43.

Alas, Penny was a good sport and her tattoo post has just as much to do with my feeling older as it does with her ink. Sorry, Penny.

The work she credited to an artist named Adal, who transformed her pictures into this collage on flesh in two sessions and about five hours, all told.

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