Orphans

Call them what you will, what I will go with is “Orphans”.

I have a handful of posts that have lingered “on deck,” so to speak, that are, by themselves, sad little bits that were never completed, or, for whatever reason, didn’t pass muster with Tattoosday’s editorial board.

However, by packaging them together, I can cross them off my list once and for all, and move on. A Spring Cleaning, if you will.

So let’s get down to business:

Last March 25, I posted this New York’ish piece on Jonathan. A few days later, Jonathan got another tattoo and sent me a preliminary photo:

I asked him if he could send me a better photo of this pretty awesome owl tattoo. I asked again at the end of April, and again at the end of May.  I followed up again in October, at which point Jonathan said he would send me a new photo soon.

Look, things happen, and I hardly see Tattoosday as the center of the universe. There comes a time, however,  when I’m going to have to assume that it’s fallen by the wayside, and move on. This means, of course, that Jonathan will email me a crisper photo tomorrow.

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At the end of last April, I ran into a guy named Nick on the West 4^th Street subway platform. I snapped this photos:

The reason I balked at posting this originally was because the piece is a cover-up of a cross, and the original tattoo is fairly visible in its new incarnation.

I was concerned that a stand-alone post would incur the wrath of the tattoo purists and the story that this was a memorial piece for Nick’s grandfather would be lost.

Thus, it ended up in Tattoosday’s home for Orphan Tattoos.

Thanks to Nick, nonetheless, for sharing it with us.

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Also last April, I met a guy named Johnny in Penn Station. I noticed as I was passing by  that he had script peeking out from under his shirt at the top of his chest and I handed him a flier and a card. In May, he sent me the following two photos and the accompanying description:

Hey Bill,

We met in Penn Station a couple of weeks ago. I finally got some pictures of a couple of my tattoos. Both of these were done by Krista at Empire Ink in Akron, OH. 

The pin-up girl was drawn by my grandmother when she was 16 for my grandfather while they were dating. The other was an original design.

The Latin quote at the top of the heart is a quote from Julius Caesar. It translates to "From the bottom of my heart". Thanks for the interest in the tattoos and letting me share. 
Johnny

Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t post these originally. As time passed and the e-mail traveled to the bottom of my inbox, it became an out-of-sight, out-of-mind submission. Thanks to Johnny for sending these in originally, and for waiting so patiently to see them appear on the site.

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At the end of June 2011, I met a woman named Christina in Penn Station, whose ink did make the site a couple months later, here. At the time, she was accompanied by two other people, one whose name was Damion. I took a picture of Damion’s tattoo, but it never made the site, until now. Part of the reason Damion’s work never went live was due to the fact that it is an unfinished work, an orphan in more ways than one. Here’s the shot.

Damion loves these wings, calling them his “prize possession”.  Why are they unfinished? He credited the artist Carlos Alfonso at Rising Dragon Tattoo, formerly located under the Hotel Chelsea on 23^rd Street. But, Damion informed me, Carlos passed away. It’s not so easy to have another artist finish the work of a deceased tattooist. Damion’s not the only one who was so affected, as you might imagine. The story rang a bell with me, as I had also featured Carlos’ work in a 2009 post with the ink of performance poet Jackie Sheeler here.

A belated thanks to Damion for baring his back and showing off his wings in Penn Station!

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As summer waned, I had a couple of unsuccessful encounters in September, in which the quality of the photos I took were substandard, and e-mails to the contributors went unanswered.

For example, Chris shared this cool octopus on his leg: 

Can you tell it’s an octopus? There’s the issue. Chris’s leg hair and the glare of the sun renders this poor octopus almost invisible. It was inked by a Thai artist namedTong, working out of Tatudharma in Sydney, Australia. Chris was travelling and he “likes octopi,” recognizing that, “as far as invertebrates go, [they are] probably the most intelligent of them.”

In a weird twist of this orphan post, the Tatudharma web site indicates that the shop is closed permanently, a result of it having been firebombed last April. The artists can still be contacted through the website, however.

A couple weeks later, my camera was programmed on the wrong setting, so I ended up with these two washed-out shots of interesting tattoos:

The host of these pieces is Lindsey, a Southern Californian who had both tattoos inked in San Diego.

The plant was done about 8 or 9 years ago by an artist named Alethio.

“I had my boyfriend draw it,” she explained, “I told him I wanted a dictionary-style type of flower, so he kinda came up with a design, so it’s not an actual plant, it’s fictitious … I wanted something organic to be represented on me.”

The bird on her other arm was done by Gary at Ace Tattoo. “That was the beginning of a sleeve that never happened,” Lindsey said with a sigh.

Thanks to Chris and Lindsey for sharing their tattoos and for hopefully forgiving  my camera for betraying them.

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And last, but not least is this piece from December:

Jen acknowledged that it wasn’t done very well, but she said she had a good reason for getting it. I did send an email as a follow-up, but more than one reeks of desperation. Maybe one of these days Jen will find my card or flier and finally e-mail me back to explain what wanderlust means to her. Until then, we’re left with this orphan.

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Believe it or not, we still have a few 2011 photos left in the tank, but this entry takes out a good chunk of our backlog. Thanks for giving these orphans a home, even if its just for a minute or two.

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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Mike's Incredible Aquatic Sleeve (and More!)

I had the good fortune of meeting Mike outside of Penn Station last week and, despite first noticing him because of his leg tattoos, he was extremely generous and unveiled an incredible sleeve that covered his right arm:


Mike is a fisherman and a loves the brightness, color and variety of oceanic life. Such things translate well to the body's canvas and make for some amazing tattoo work...


The giant octopus actually curls up over his shoulder and onto his chest, with one tentacle moving down his arm....


The deep sea diver punctuates the middle of his arm...


At the bottom of the arm are tropical motifs including a huge tiki god and a hibiscus....


On the inside of his inner bicep is this fish which is a cross between an anglerfish and a razorfish:


And we ended with this piece that was so fresh at the time, that Mike had to peel back the protective plastic covering this amazing blowfish:


The artist behind this amazing work is Steve Woison formerly of Electric Tiki Tattoo in Patchogue, and now at Studio 520 in Oakdale, on Long Island.

Thanks again to Mike for taking the time to share his amazing aquatic sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

Behold, Quadrapus!

I met Colleen on Penn Plaza and her ankle tattoo jumped out at me from a distance. It was so unusual, I just had to stop and ask her about it.

Behold: Quadrapus!


If this four-limbed octopus-like creature looks fanciful, it's because it is based on a child's beach toy used to mold sand shapes.

Colleen explains that she and about twenty of her friends all got this same tattoo, but in different colors, to commemorate their summer where a majority of time was spent at the beach. There was a house involved, which was the epicenter of activity, and the plastic octopus beach toys were on the walls, used as decor. "Quadrapus" became a symbol and mascot for a memorable season.

This was inked by Josh at Broken Heart Tattoo in Keyport, New Jersey. Coincidentally, a tattoo from Broken Heart appeared just this past Saturday here on Tattoosday.

Incidentally, Collen has seven other tattoos, and I couldn't resist snapping a shot of this literary ink:


The quote "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake " is from the seminal first novel Chuck Palahniuk novel Fight Club. Tyler Durden's character states:

"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all a part of the same compost pile."

Palahniuk is her favorite author and she loves the meaning behind this quote, from a passage where the speaker is questioning the notion of individuality. Deep down, Collen explained, he's saying we're all the same, that no one is as special as they think they are. Juxtaposed with the snowflake, the symbol of uniqueness, this tattoo makes a bold statement.

Check out a couple other Palahniuk literary tattoos here over on the awesome site dedicated to literary ink, Contrariwise.

This was inked at Silk City Tattoo in Hawthorne, New Jersey by Chi Chi Gunz. Work from Silk City is New Jersey has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Colleen for sharing her fun and interesting tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Jill's Right Leg: One Post Leads to Another

The previous post featured the "Eld Sigul" insignia attributed to Stephen King's Gunslinger, of The Dark Tower series.

As I had mentioned, I was able to locate the artwork on which this earlier tattoo was based, but the specific source of the new design eluded me.

So I popped into the local Borders and, after wandering a bit, found the Horror section wherein the King books resided. I perused the covers but, alas, no sign. I was about to leave when a store employee named Jill popped up and started straightening books next to me.

And she had ink.

So we got to chatting. She has seven pieces in all, three of which I saw. She has designated a theme for each of her arms and legs. I had noticed the pin-up on her right forearm first, which turns out is her Celtic-themed limb. She isn't happy with the red in the dress, so that piece is technically a work-in-progress. Her left arms sports some kanji, as part of her Asian-themed limb.

Her left leg is desert-themed, as a tribute to growing up in Arizona. Which brings us to her right leg. Jill has that part of her body designated as water-themed. She went to her favorite artist Shaggy at Rings of Fire Tattoos in downtown San Antonio, Texas, and told him she wanted a tattoo to fit the theme. He had drawn this design with the octopus and she loved it. The rest is history:


I love how the octopus is staring out the eye socket of the skull. It's an amazing effect.

Thanks to Jill for sharing this awesome piece with us here on Tattoosday! Here's hoping she'll be back on these pages for a return engagement!