Derek Shares Three Tattoos Inspired by Alice's Adventures Under Ground

Looking back to the summer, I ran into Derek one evening while waiting to board the R train at 36th Street in Brooklyn.

I first noticed this piece on the outside of his right leg:

Derek explained that he had this illustration by John Tenniel from Alice's Adventures Under Ground by Lewis Carroll because Alice's passion and curiosity appeal to him. The book is a classic of children's literature and was later published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

This piece depicts Alice being stretched tall, and Derek added this tattoo to his chest:

That one (above) is just incredibly well-done.

Just last week, Derek sent me his latest Alice-inspired piece to me via e-mail :

Inked on his right forearm, this is another Tenniel illustration from the book featuring the scene in which Alice observes three playing cards painting white roses red, on orders from the Queen of Hearts. Derek noted that "this particular image is a reminder not to blindly follow orders without considering the consequences of my actions."

Derek credited all three of these tattoos to Craig Rodriguez at Hand of Glory Tattoo in Brooklyn. Craig is an amazing artist whose work first appeared on Tattoosday here. I'm a big fan of the shop, as evidenced by these posts. I plan on visiting them again in January for their regular Friday the 13th extravaganza.

Thanks to Derek for sharing these awesome tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 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.

Good Time Sam and the Mad Hatter

Last month I ran into a young lady who called herself "Good Time Sam" in Penn Station. She was very enthusiastic about sharing one of her tattoos. She has "at least twenty". She offered up this memorable character:

That is, of course, the Mad Hatter, from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Sam credited this piece to her friend Justin from Pigment Custom Tattoo and Piercing in New Orleans.

She chose this for a tattoo because she likes the character, Hatter, from the book, and she always wears a hat.

The image is based on the original John Tenniel illustration 

although it seems that the tattoo artist added some additional detail, along with the phrase "live the madness"

Thanks to "Good Time Sam" for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 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.

Alexandra's Tattoo Asks "Whoooo ... Are ... You?"

I was walking through Penn Statiom in late August, when I stopped dead in my tracks after spotting this tattoo on the upper right section of Alexandra's back:


Tattoos are interesting to me, to begin with, but when they illustrate a work of literature, I am pleased to no end, even if the work in question is not necessarily one of my favorites.

One need not have read Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to recognize that this tattoo is based on that seminal work.

Initially, Alexandra shared a bit with me. She just moved to New York from Orlando, and is a big fan of literature, in general. She is "infatuated" with the story of Alice, and the "trippy, unique" universe of Lewis Carroll.

The scene depicted is Alice's encounter with the caterpillar, from the Disney movie, Alice in Wonderland. The caterpillar asks Alice, "Whooo ... are ... you?" This could be an innocent question, but Alexandra notes that this is also a basic philosophical question about humans, in general. Thus, the "W" formed by the smoke from the caterpillar's hookah, represents that seminal question, "Who....?"



In the weeks since I met her, Alexandra has become a fan of Tattoosday, and has shared more, including some photos of the tattoo in progress. She also elaborated a bit more about the whole experience of getting this, her first tattoo.

She directed me to this link here, where she blogs about her tattoo. She added to this, by telling me, via e-mail:

"I was actually scheduled to go and get the tattoo with another popular artist in the [Orlando] area, and was with a group of friends, one whom wanted to get her tattoo touched up. The artist I was trying to work with gave me a bit of the brush off, so we were told to come back later. So we headed down the road and found Fine Ink Studios. Barnett, the owner, had literally set up shop just 5 days prior. While my friend Ashlie was asking about her Fleur de Lys tattoo, Barnett had asked what I was going to leave to get. I told him about the caterpillar, and as professional as possible he told me, "Just so you know, I'd reeeeeally love to do that for you." I went back to the other store, something went wrong, and I decided to leave and go back to Barnett! Happy days, it turns out Barnett had ALSO been employed by Disney and actually had worked on the animation for the film Aladdin. That really sold me, and it was such an amazing 2 and a half hours. I spent the entire time singing Disney songs as loud as I could to get through the pain :)"

Thanks much to Alexandra for sharing so much about the tattoo. Welcome to the Tattoosday family!

Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Manhattan

At one of the busiest intersections in Manhattan (34th and 7th), I recently met Kelsey, who offered up this still-fresh tattoo:


This is a scene from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, when Alice meets the Cheshire Cat for the second time.

The tattoo is based on this illustration:


This is her most recently tattooed piece. The inspiration behind it is that this was one of her favorite stories, ever since she was six years old.

This was done by Mark Roberts at Fine Line Tattoo Parlour in Deep River, Connecticut.

As a postscript, I noticed in the original photo I took, down on her ankle, was another tattoo, an apparent equation:


I e-mailed Kelsey asking her what the significance of "<3.14". I initially thought that it had something to do with being less than the value of Pi. (π).

Her response surprised me with its cleverness:

"Well, it's <3.14 because <3 is a heart and 3.14 is Pi, an irrational number ... I got it at a tattoo parlor in Augusta, Maine. Four of my friends also have that tattooed in the same spot."

Thanks to Kelsey for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!