Renee's Papal Insignia Challenges Her Beliefs

I met Renee in the Clark Street subway station in Brooklyn Heights recently, and we had a fascinating conversation.

We talked for a good bit, and actually spent more time time talking about her plans for new tattoos, as opposed to what she already had on her body. She has five tattoos, two of which she did herself. We ended up talking most about this one, on the middle finger of her right hand:


This is one of her self-inked tattoos which, she says, she did using "the prison method". This generally involves using a needle or a sharpened guitar string and dipping it in ink. Sometimes with, sometimes without, a jerry-rigged motor.

The design is based on the insignia of the Pope.

At the time that she did this, she felt a connection to the Catholic Church that was very strong. Religion was a "huge part of her childhood"

However, as anyone paying attention to the news recently is well aware, the Catholic Church has been under fire for quite some time due to its handling of internal matters regarding abuse among the clergy.

Renee finds that who she is now is "irreconcilable with the Catholic Church" and, as a result, she plans on having this finger tattoo covered up "as a statement" about her feelings and her conviction that this symbol is, in her words, "something I can't have anymore".

So today's post features a tattoo whose time is running out, which is not all that common here on the site. I have always maintained that the tattoos seen here aren't always the "best" in art, but rather, interesting encounters in New York with interesting people.

Thanks to Renee for being so forthcoming about her personal connection to tattooing, and for sharing this small, seemingly harmless tattoo, that carries with it such a weight, laden with meaning.

Richard's Cybernetic Tattoos

I met Richard in the Amtrak section of Penn Station, which I have found to be a wonderful place to find tattoos from all over the world.

He was in the New York area on business, having traveled from Oregon where he lives and runs his company, Out of the Box Mods, LLC.

His tattoos are directly related to his vocation of computer modding, which "involves making physical changes to a computer for aesthetic reasons or to improve the performance".

Here is the piece on his upper left arm:


Often, I will be sent, a better photo that was taken right after completion, or in better circumstances than my quick little snapshots in public. By comparing the photo I took with the one Richard sent, you get a better idea of how the tattoo artist envisioned the piece, down to the bruising of the skin around the torn flesh.


I also took a photo of a work-in-progress on his forearm:


The outline for the second piece is completed, for the most part, and it is soon to be colored.

This style of tattoo is often referred to as "torn flesh" and is marked by an added dimension of perspective. When done properly, the effect of the tattoo is unsettling, as if the skin of the tattooed person has been ripped away, exposing the workings within. The variance comes in what lies beneath the skin, which allows individuals to express more about their selves through their tattoo art. See some other examples of the torn flesh motif as seen on the site can be viewed here and here.

The machinery below Richard's outer layer of skin personifies that which drives him: mods.

The work shown is the creation of tattoo artist "Lil Kev" at Ink-Daddy's Tattoo in Salem, Oregon.

Richard tells me he's getting the forearm piece finished in a couple of days, so check back to see the link to the updated piece, once it's done.

Thanks again to Richard for his participation and cooperation in sharing his cool mod tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Toy Glory

The blogs second barbie, from Nikko Hurtado.

Blocks of Lucky Ink: Heather's Tribute to Her Son

Heather has seven tattoos.

The one I noticed that led me to approach her is not the one you're about to see. It is on her foot and, in her opinion, slightly "flawed," so she chose to share one that is nearer and dearer to her heart:


The tattoo marks the birth date 3-28-99 and spells out the name Vegas, for her son.

What's particularly cool about this tattoo, which is on Heather's outer left forearm, is not just that she spells out her son's name in kids' building blocks, but that these blocks are also dice, which acknowledges the name Vegas, and its link to the city which is built on chance and luck.

Other images that ring the name are a slot machine, a horseshoe, and a hand of cards featuring four aces. The colorful dice/blocks also feature some traditional tattoo designs, including the standard "Mom" design (on the A block).

This great tattoo was completed in two sittings and was done by Baba, who works out of Vintage Tattoo Art Parlor in Los Angeles.

Heather also has a large back piece that she will hopefully share with us in the future,

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

Laura's Goose Girl Tattoo

I met Laura in Herald Square last week after I spotted this phenomenal tattoo on her upper left arm:


Laura explained that her mother had a lot of random books of fairy tales in their house where she grew up.

One of her favorite illustrators was Arthur Rackham and this tattoo is based on the following image from "The Goose Girl" from the Brothers Grimm in a volume illustrated by Rackham in 1909:


Laura counts this piece among her six tattoos. It was done by Rob Green at Whatever Tattoo in Manhattan.

Work from Whatever has appeared previously here.

Thanks again to Laura for sharing her beautiful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

UPDATE:

I missed a panel, here's a more complete version:

A Selection of Jorge's Tattoos

I met Jorge last week at the top of the escalators leading from Penn Station to 7th Avenue.

He has quite a few, and I took photos of the front and back of his left forearm.

The inner part of his arm has this koi design:


A friend of his did this for him, which he got for luck before going overseas with the U.S. Army to Iraq in 2008. He proudly served with the Third Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, 187th Infantry Regiment, also known as The Rakkasans.

Jorge loves what he calls his "good luck koi fish" and says "We deployed for 15 months....every time I was tired for walking for 2 or 3 days nonstop, I would look at my tattoo and smile and keep walking...".

After returning, he got this tattoo in Nashville:


This piece was just a very cool design.

Bridging these two very different tattoos are two cherry blossoms:


Jorge wanted to make sure they didn't get omitted from the post, as these flowers represent his mother and sister.

That would have been it for this post from Jorge, except the day after meeting him, he sent me this shot of a tattoo on the upper left side of his back:

He hadn't mentioned this when I met him, so I was pleased to include it in the post.

Jorge got this piece at Coyote's Tattoo in Lima, Peru.

He says this is a tribute to his mother and his Peruvian heritage. It is based on a pure gold artifact found next to a mummy in Peru which he saw on display in the American Museum of Natural History.

Thanks again to Jorge for sharing so many of his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

The Tattoosday Book Review: Pretty In Ink

Last year, when Karen E. Olson released The Missing Ink, I didn't know what to expect.

Here was a mystery writer presenting us with a novel in which the main character was a female tattoo artist who owns her own shop, The Painted Lady, in Las Vegas' famous Venetian Hotel and Casino.

Brett Cavanaugh, the creation at the center of Ms. Olson's universe, is certainly a compelling character. She is a business owner, living with her police officer brother, and working with several memorable characters.

I wanted to like the first book and I wasn't disappointed. It's a fun read and does a nice job of keeping the reader interested. The fact that it is tattoo-centered only made it that much more enjoyable. For those of you who missed it, my review of the first book is here.

So it was with much anticipation that I awaited the arrival of the second volume of the "Tattoo Shop Mystery," Pretty in Ink. As a punster, I appreciate the titles as well.

The sophomore effort in the series finds our heroine, several months after the first book concludes, at a performance of drag queens. The comic potential in the performers' names alone makes the opening scene memorable, with the chaos of an unknown assailant popping a champagne cork directly into the chest of one Miss Britney Brassieres

What ensues is a murder mystery in which a tattoo, this time of a Queen of Hearts playing card, plays an integral role.

I love it, of course, because the book explores the tattoo beyond the symbol - there is a whole reality spinning out from behind the symbolic nature of the piece.

Olson's Brett Cavanaugh is surrounded by the supporting cast we met in the first book. Back is Bitsy, the diminutive "little person" who is the shop manager, as well as Tim, Brett's cop brother, who is also her roommate. Also back are Jeff and Sylvia Coleman, the "old-school" mother-and-son artists on the Strip, and the robust Joel Sloane, a shop artist who is weight-challenged and a confidante of our heroine.

Of course, there is more, with sexual ambiguity, Las Vegas politics, homeland security issues, a new potential love interest, and lots of tattoo talk.

I must admit I liked Ms. Olsen's second book in the series more than the first. Perhaps it is the familiarity of the characters, but I feel it is more than that. Olsen has hit a groove and is running at full speed.

If you're looking for a quick, fun read and want to be entertained by a cast of fictional characters in the tattoo industry, you should certainly give this series a try. Olsen knows her stuff, and has created a clever literary world at The Painted Lady with Brett Kavanaugh. She's certainly my first choice in the world of fictional tattoo artists.