Tattoosday: July 2015

Friday, July 31, 2015

Griff's Gryphon

Last week on Wall Street, I met Griff, whose collection of tattoos covers his body. When I asked him how many he had, he wasn't sure, but estimated it is somewhere between twenty and thirty. How to choose? We decided on this one, from the back of his left calf, which was his very first tattoo:

Griff dates this back to April 2007, just over eight years ago. Coincidentally, today is Tattoosday's eighth anniversary, so celebrating with a tattoo inked the same year that the site was born seems appropriate.

Griff credits this to an artist named Don Sellers at 702 Tattoo in Richmond, Virginia.

He explained his full name is Griffin so he decided on a tattoo of a gryphon, the legendary creature with the head, talons and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. You'll notice that's not quite what he got. "I didn't like the eagle face, so I gave it a lion face," he told me. So, ultimately, it's a customized gryphon for Griffin. "Nobody else will ever [have one like] it," he added.

Thanks to Griff for sharing his first tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

If you are seeing this on another website 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

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Melissa Wows Us with a Sarah Miller Tattoo

Last month at the NYC Urban Tattoo Convention, I met Melissa, who was kind enough to let me take a photo of this astoundingly beautiful thigh piece:

This veritable stunner of a tattoo was inked by Sarah Miller, who is co-owner of Wyld Chyld Tattoo in Pittsburgh. Many may remember from her appearance on season two of Ink Master. Sarah was runner-up that year and produced stellar work throughout the series.

Melissa told me that Sarah finished this amazing tattoo in six sittings and Miller took her original artwork that she adapted to fit onto Melissa's leg.

This vibrant and colorful tattoo was one of the high points of the convention for me.

Thanks to Melissa for sharing this gorgeous tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

The Buddha on Wall Street

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Cyrus, a visitor from Olso, Norway. He had this magnificent tattoo to share with us:

Cyrus got this at 1969 Tattoo, in Oslo, from a Thai artist working there named Noi Siamese III.

"I like the art, first of all," Cyrus told me, "and I think Buddhism is inspiring."

The quality of this work is astounding, from the beauty of the lotus at the bottom, to the distinct pop of the green leaves at the top, both serving to frame the great black and gray face of Buddha. It really was a pleasure to stumble upon a tattoo as lovely as this.

Thanks to Cyrus for sharing his inspiring tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, July 27, 2015

Robert's Lion Roars to Life

On Saturday, my travels found me in a Trader Joe's in Chelsea, and I spotted this spectacular tattoo:

This is on the arm of Robert who credited Rafael Marte from Studio 28 in Manhattan for this great lion tattoo.

"My dad got a lion, a lion cub with my birth date on it," Robert old me, "so it's more of a maturation kind of a piece."

It's a really impressive tattoo and perfect for all the Leos out there celebrating their birthdays this time of year!

Thanks to Robert for sharing this awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Angeline's Thigh Tattoo

Yesterday we met Leila who shared her floral tattoo. Today we're checking out this thigh tattoo from her friend Angeline:

Angeline credits this to Douglas Grady at Magic Cobra Tattoo Society in Willliamsburg, Brooklyn.

She told me, "t was something that he'd drawn up and I'd seen it and said 'I want it," because it was gorgeous."

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

Friday, July 24, 2015

Flowers for a Friday: Leila's Pansies

I met Leila last month in Coney Island as the Mermaid Parade was winding down. She shared these beautiful flowers on her arm:

These pansies were inked by Bryan Register, who currently works out of Ms. Deborah's Fountain of Youth Tattoo in St. Augustine, Florida.

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

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Jay, Josephine Baker, and More!

I met Jay at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade last month and she shared this cool Jospehine Baker tattoo on her right arm:

This was done by Cynthia Rudzis, owner and curator at Cirque du Rouge in Washington D.C.

In addition to this photo I took, Jay sent me photos of some additional work she has from Rudzis, on her back:

Jay tells us this:

"... is a tribute to my dad's Japanese Buddhist roots, [and] is actually a stylized version of one of the old Sherlock Holmes drawings that accompanied the original stories. The kanji [lower right] reads, 'every day is a good day'- my family's favorite Buddhist saying. Several of my family members also have it tattooed elsewhere on themselves.

The color piece at the top was taken from a 1930's wallpaper pattern and [is] used to connect the colors in my various pieces."

I was also delighted to see another photo that Jay sent me, considering I had recently been emblazoned with a crab myself:

Jay explained that this was done by Joey at Citizen Ink in Brooklyn and that "it's representative of my home state of Maryland, with a blue crab and the state motto, 'fatti maschii parole femine' or 'manly deeds, womanly words.' "

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

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Lee Shares a Joey Knuckles Original

Last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, I spotted this tattoo on the back of Lee's calf:

Lee told me "the tattoo was done by Joey Knuckles (Instagram here) ... he is an amazing artist and he enjoys his work." Lee got this work done in Philadelphia a while back and added, "I really like how he uses bright colors and strong shading in his tattoos."

Here's a shot of the same tattoo from Joey's website:

Joey Knuckles can now be found at High Street Tattoo in Columbus, Ohio.

Thanks to Lee for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, July 20, 2015

Stephanie's Tattoo Bring Her Home

I spotted some pretty spectacular tattoos at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade last month. This one, on Stephanie, was one such example:

Stephanie credited this to Jesse Roberts at Dark Age Tattoo in Seattle, Washington. She also told me a little bit about the symbolism of the piece:

"It's a Chinese junk ... that's a merchant ship. I chose it to have red sails because red is a lucky color in Chinese folklore ...there's a prosperity aspect of it being a merchant ship. Sunset ... is a symbol of change, the waves are clam and ships are a kind of homecoming, I got it when I moved back east from Seattle."

Thanks to Stephanie for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Sabra's Graduation Gift

Last month I met Sabra outside of Federal Hall on Wall Street.

I immediate noticed her arms, as she had a cow and a pig on her inner arms. Here's the pig:

I'm not showing the cow because she needs it touched up, but I was happy to share the pork map, as it is called.

Why, I wanted to know, did she have these tattoos?

Sabra explained:

"I am a private chef and a butcher ... these are my graduation presents ... to myself. I graduated from butcher school two years ago and I didn't have the money to do it and I just got them done in the beginning of May. I was just at the Met for the morning and an eighty-year old lady, a volunteer at the gift shop, she was like, 'I just love those tattoos.' She just wanted to talk to me about them and everything - it was really cool because normally you don't get people that are in their eighties saying 'that's a pretty rad tattoo!' "

She credited this work to Shawn Mahaffey at the Hemlock Collective in Sacramento, California.

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

Saturday, July 18, 2015

A Mermaid's Thigh

I spotted this nautical tattoo last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade:

This belongs to a woman named Danielle who credited Dave Kotinsley at Anthem Tattoo in Gainesville, Florida.

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

Friday, July 17, 2015

Three Cool Tattoos from Andrea Laws, Tattooed Poet of the Week

Here at Tattoosday, we love to publish poems and tattoos from established poets, but we also like to recognize the work of up-and-coming writers from time to time. It also helps when they have great tattoos.

Andrea Laws is one such poet. What she may be lacking in publication credits is more than compensated by her cool work, which is literary in and of itself.

Behold the first tattoo:

Andrea calls this her "Virginia Woolf Meets TOOL" tattoo, and credits Lance Tuck, at Skin Illustrations in Overland Park, Kansas.

She elaborates:

"[It's a] Virginia Woolf excerpt from her essay, A Street Haunting: A London Adventure, on my upper left arm. The quote is, 'The shell-like covering, which our souls have excreted a shape distinct from others is broken and there is left of all these wrinkles and roughnesses a central oyster of perceptiveness, an enormous eye. The traveler's secrets of her soul have been revealed.'

The eye is based off the work of Alex Grey for the band TOOL, which is to represent my third eye opening. I thought that this quote was an excellent portrayal of how much my soul grew from living in London for six months. It was the scariest most amazing time of my life and I never wanted to forget what I accomplished there for myself, and that is why I got the tattoo."

Next is this piece on her back:

Andrea explains that this is an excerpt from Jim Morrison's "An American Prayer." It was also inked by Lance Tuck, but when he was at Big Daddy Cadillac's in Lawrence, Kansas.

Andrea explains:

"...Ever since the first time I heard The Doors, I immediately became a fan, and still to this day, they are my favorite band. After listening to the music, I wanted to explore further into the writing of The Doors and picked up a book of poetry by Jim Morrison. Most women fell in love with his looks, I fell in love with his writing. The picture I'm submitting was taken at Jim Morrison's grave in Paris, which was always my dream after getting the tattoo. The tattoo quote is the following:

Do you know the warm progress under the stars?Do you know we exist?Have you forgotten the keys to the Kingdom?Have you been borne yet & are you alive?Let's reinvent the gods, all the myths of the agesCelebrate symbols from deep elder forests[Have you forgotten the lessons of ancient war]"

As a fan of the Doors, and Jim Morrison as well, I appreciate this tattoo immensely.

Finally, she shared this piece:

This amazing Edgar Allan Poe portrait, on Andrea's right forearm, was done by Sean Harty, another artist at Skin Illustrations.

Andrea tells us:

"Poe was one of the first major poets that was introduced to me when I was 10-years-old by my late Grandmother. I fell in love with his work and have always been inspired by his tales of darkness and mystery. The quote around Edgar is a dedication that I wrote for him, 'Forevermore, nevermore. The dark prince who gave birth to the black sheets over my eyes.' Eventually, I will be getting Mary Shelley's portrait on my left forearm, so they will become my locket of writers who inspired me to write."

Andrea also sent us the following poem, "Flies and Spiders":

Flies and Spiders

threaded fingertips attach to souls
eating wings bent by crowing
consciousness in empty bowls
excusing pain for a world knowing

prey dribbles down separated cheeks
rules of nature feeds without honor
innocent fuel injected into freaks
defined by dark smiles of conquer

memories disobey fantasies
Christ figures freeing the will to kill
bearing bouquets of drab families
tied with bloody strings for the ill

third eyes plucked for a strange beginning
tyrannical and villainous beliefs
Big Brother always in the winning
preaching censored versions of real thieves

codes now trapped in mirrors of weakness
creeping wanderers behind dire doors
melody sounds and timbre bleakness
arranging new constellation stores

suspend the iron cauldrons watching
past times upon and past times ago
loud failure claiming perfect timing
as darkness dances we needn't grow

~ ~ ~

Andrea adds a little explanation to this work:

"I've been working on this poem for a few years now, and believe I finally have it in its final draft. I think it best represents my fear and discouragement of a non-free world intertwined with dark images. I was obviously reading V for Vendetta and listening to a lot of Bill Hicks stand-up comedy when I started writing this poem."

Andrea Laws currently works as a Documentation Specialist at the KU Endowment, writing policies and procedures for the Gift Processing and Information Services Departments. She graduated from KU, in 2008, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre & Film. After college, she moved to Great Britain on a six-month work visa, and lived and worked in London, from September, 2008 - February, 2009. She has been writing poetry since she can remember and frequently updates her blog with new work at www.beetlebattlejourney.blogspot.com.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Kelly's Cool Geisha and Fan

I met Kelly last month at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade and she shared this tattoo on her upper arm:

Kelly is "really big into Japanese art" and came up with this really cool concept, as it features a geisha holding up a fan to obscure her face, but the design of the fan - the face of a Japanese hannya mask, lines up with the geisha's face, producing a stunning artistic effect.

This was inked at a top-notch shop, Kings Avenue Tattoo in Massepequa, New York, by Matt Beckerich.

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

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Vito's Back in Memory of Mom

I met Vito at the NYC Tattoo Convention last month.

He shared this amazing back piece:

This was done in memory of Vito's mother by Megan Jean Morris from Painted Soul Tattoos in Wallingford, Connecticut, although he noted she did this while doing a guest spot at Paul Booth's Last Rites Gallery.

Thanks to Vito for sharing this with us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Chasity Shares Two for Tattoosday (at the NYC Tattoo Convention)

I met Chasity at the NYC Tattoo Convention last month and she shared two distinct tattoos with me. Since it's Tuesday, we might as well celebrate two tattoos, no?

First is this cool black and gray mermaid, complete with octopus parasol, located on Chasity's thigh:

Chasity "grew up by the sea," so this acknowledges her upbringing. The design was inspired by the work of New Orleans-based artist Marrus, based on two pieces of art she purchased while living there. The tattoo was inked by Amy Shapiro at Three Kings Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Chasity also loves birds, especially peacocks, so she has this gorgeous one on her arm:

Chasity credits Amy Shapiro for this beauty, as well, but notes it was done at Graceland Brooklyn, before Amy moved on to Three Kings.

I found a photo of this work that really highlights the talent and artistry involved in this tattoo on Amy's website:

Photo via https://madebyamyshapiro.wordpress.com/

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

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Mariah at the NYC Tattoo Convention

I met Mariah at the NYC Tattoo Convention last month at the Electric Arrow Tattoo booth. She has been a shopgirl/apprentice, learning the art form for about six months now. She shared this piece by Tony Silva:

"Tony's one of my mentors and he's a phenomenal artist," Mariah told me.

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

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Remembering David, a Repost

Here at Tattoosday, I am saddened to report that my friend David passed away yesterday. David was a true friend, and was one of the earliest contributors to Tattoosday, sharing his one tattoo for Tattoosday's 12th post, after launching in 2007. That was one thousand eight hundred and eleven posts ago.

It is bittersweet sharing this post, because David's tattoo was a celebration of his conquering cancer. Alas, another more aggressive form returned recently and dispatched one of the toughest, funniest, and most caring people I've had the pleasure of knowing.

Here's to you, David. I'm reposting your ink and letting you know I will never forget you.

This post originally appeared September 18, 2007 here.

My friend and co-worker David McDermott survived a bout with Hodgkin's Lymphoma many years ago and, as a gift to himself, got the following tattoo:

After he successfully completed chemotherapy and radiation, and survived this scare (I still sport a yellow "LIVESTRONG" wristband in honor of him, despite the fact that they are "out of style"), he felt that the metaphor of the comedy and tragedy masks best represented his struggle.

To him, the tattoo represents life. It is a badge of survival, and a reminder of the importance of humor in the face of the most dire of circumstances. I was only on the sidelines when David struggled. But through it all, he managed to maintain a strong sense of comedy. His sense of humor took a beating, but it never gave up, and it sustained him and let him remain positive. He acknowledges that that attitude had a place in the battle for his life.

The tattoo is discreetly located on his left calf. I say discreetly, because David is not one to wear shorts. I have always seen him in slacks or jeans, but never shorts.

He doesn't recall specifically where he had this inked, other than a shop in SoHo.

Thanks, David, for sharing your tattoo!

Friday, July 10, 2015

Eugenia and A Letter (Tattooed Poet of the Week)

Our tattooed poet of the week is Eugenia:

Eugenia explains:

"I had been thinking for some years about getting a tattoo using sacred text of some kind. I believe it is the path of the poet to serve as an alchemist of language, so I felt myself drawn as a writer more toward a language-based tattoo rather than a strictly art-based one. I was thumbing through a book by John Stevens entitled Sacred Calligraphy of the East, when I saw the Siddhaṃ letter A, and I knew I had found my tattoo. Siddhaṃ is the name of a script used for writing Sanskrit during the period ca 600-1200 CE, and is descended from Brahmi and Gupta script. Of my particular seed syllable the text states:

'A is the first and most important of the Siddhaṃ characters. It is the source of all vowels and consonants; it includes and is included in every sound produced by human beings. Hence, in both a physical and spiritual sense it is the origin of all elements. It is the seed character of Mahavairocana (Dainichi Nyorai), the supreme Buddha who manifests the unity of all phenomena. A is uncreated, the primordial form of existence.'

I received my tattoo by a young man working at Lovedog Tattoo in Soquel, California in 2000."

Eugenia sent us the following poem, which said her "relates best to this tattoo [and] is a poem of transformation, with images that are Buddhist in nature ... previously published in Chiron Review.

Shing*

I used to believe I was worthless
repeated mantras to turn my blood black
my skin lusterless

I came to believe in darkness
the tumbling down to truth

a silver pearl at the center of each battered heart

I wanted to believe in one God
Ahimsa
Atman
the great returning after death

I still believe the world is round
a black hole
denser than Pound’s Cantos
too heavy for its own fortunes

still
now

I watch the stars grow heavy with light
multiply into twos and fours
a million butter lamps spilling over

golden fish throw their marks
across a thousand seas
gilding stagnant pools in their wake

magpies gather on moonlit nights
chanting their secret
oracular tomes

a lotus blossom blooms in the mire
pulling itself from Cimmerian darkness
into the shing of this pendent world

*“Shing”: Tibetan for “field,” “good place,” or “realm,” and sometimes refers to a Buddha’s paradise.

~ ~ ~

Eugenia lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest. Her work has appeared in MonkeyBicycle, Cascadia Review, The Gambler Magazine, The Found Poetry Review, Literary Orphans and elsewhere. A chapbook of her prose poems, Pamyat Celo/Memory Village, was published in 2007. She is also an analog photographer and loves working with Mod Podge.

Thanks to Eugenia for sharing her tattoo and poem with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project on 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.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

"What, Me Worry?" Said Fred

We're approaching our eighth anniversary here on Tattoosday and there' something we've never posted, at least as far back as I can remember. One of these:

Yes, my friends, that's an ass tattoo. I generally don't see them, for obvious reasons, but this year at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, I spotted Fred posing with some New York City cops on the boardwalk, and then, as he walked away saw the tattoo from afar.

I figured, what the hell? and stopped Fred, who happily obliged a picture of the tattoo on his butt.

For those that don't know, "What, Me Worry?" was the catchphrase of Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman.

Fred credited this to an artist named "Astro" on one of the shops on Manhattan's 6th Avenue, quite possibly Crazy Fantasy Tattoo.

Thanks to Fred for baring and sharing his cool tattoo for us here on Tattoosday!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Elonna's Skeleton Represents Two Paths

Last month in Central Park, I met Elonna, who is a friend of my daughter, Jolee. Elonna was joining us in seeing The Tempest at the Delacorte Theater.

It didn't take me long to notice one of Elonna's tattoos on her left arm:

Elonna got this about four years ago during her sophomore year in college, at Fat Ram's Pumpkin Tattoo in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

Elonna explained the origin of this tattoo:

"My freshman year of college I was at ... Simmons College studying biology and pre-medicine, and then I transferred to Boston University for costume design. So, I did a huge life shift at that point and I wanted to commemorate my time, both as costume designer and also as what my previous life was going to be ... I was thinking, a dress form, a mannequin, something like that ... and then I realized how popular that was a tattoo in my field of business, it's very very common to have dress forms and mannequins, I don't really know why, but I didn't really want to have just that. I wanted something that incorporated the previous life that I was going to choose in it ... so I chose the skeleton because it's the human form and the human figure is what draws me in to these careers and that's kind of what interests me in both of them ... even though I don't want to work on the inside of bodies, I want to work on the outside ... and then I also thought him holding a doctor's bag, that's more really like to incorporate the dead dreams of becoming a doctor ... I told [the artist] that I didn't want it to be a very animated skeleton, I wanted it to be like one that's hanging in science classrooms that you had all throughout middle school."

Out of curiosity, I asked Elonna if the skeleton had a name. She replied, "My mom calls him Mr. Bones, or Rex, because she hates the tattoo, but I don't really have a name for him.

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

Monday, July 6, 2015

Justin's Racecars by Bugs (at the NYC Tattoo Convention)

In years past at the NYC Tattoo Convention, A staples has been seeing the artist Bugs in action. I didn't see him at the convention this year, but I was thrilled to stumble upon his work on a guy named Justin. At first, I didn't immediately recognize it as Bugs' style, but once I really looked at it, I was reminded of his palette and quality:

Justin is a fan of racecars and told me this is "a piece that is continually being worked on, with plans to complete the sleeve of antique 1920's racecars."

He got this tattoo started with Bugs about three years ago when the artists was doing a guest stint at Screamin' Ink Tattoo in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Thanks to Justin for sharing this cool work with us here on Tattoosday!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Rating My Ink, A Birthday Celebration

Often, when I meet someone with tattoos and, knowing the limitations of a blog post, ask them which one they want to share, I will get that “You gotta be kidding me” look. Ask a parent who their favorite child is and they give the same look.

So, in an exercise of pure narcissism, I’ve decided to rank my tattoos from least to most favorite. Not worst to best, nor least meaningful to most meaningful. Just which ones I like, and the order in which I like them.

Hell, if I ask people to do this occasionally, I should be required to do the same. This also is a snapshot of how I feel about my tattoos as I begin my 48^th year.

So, without further ado, and the disclaimer that I love all my tattoos, to varying degrees, here is the 2015 ranking, with links to the original post when it appeared on Tattoosday. Do note, I am a collector, my fourteen tattoos were inked by thirteen different artists.

14. Sailor Jerry Shark by Jason Monroe (2013)

This one’s the tattoo with the least meaning. I got it because it was free and I was unemployed at the time. I still like it, but it even looks out of place next to the larger tattoo. In hindsight, I would have placed it elsewhere. A fun exercise, for sure, but the one with the least emotional attachment. Read about the Sailor Jerry event that got me this baby here.

13. Friday the 13^th Anchor by Brian Faulk, 2010

Photo from July 2015

This was my first Friday the 13^th tattoo and it’s memorable because I had readers of Tattoosday vote for the flash I would get. Their votes were accompanied by contributions. So, it was a tattoo chosen and paid for by fans of the site. Money was tight at the time, and I appreciated the interest from a whole group of people that helped me get this piece. Read about the Great Friday the 13^th Tattoo Experiment here.

12. The Hand of My Back by Peter Caruso, 2009

The only reason this is so low on my list is because, being on my back, I sometimes forget I have it. The origin story is lengthy (read about it here) so I’ll spare you. However, it is a piece that stems from my work on Tattoosday, and it remains the only tattoo I have that took multiple sittings. Also, that flower still hurts when I think about it.

11. Thanksgiving Betrayal by Brian Faulk

Another experiment with reader voting. This one was paid for by a sponsor, Skin Actives, whose tattoo cream remains my healing product of choice. I was this close to having the readers vote for a Native American shivering under a smallpox-infested blanket. This piece on my right thigh has held up remarkably well. Get the whole story here.

10. American Eagle by Phil Phlash aka Flex Sinatra, 2013

Inked on the side of my right calf at the 3^rd Annual NYC Urban Tattoo Convention, this classic traditional image was tattooed by Phil Phlash, a friend who had worked at my old company. We stayed in touch after he left the company and I watched Phil develop and hone his skills via social media. When the opportunity presented itself for him to tattoo me, I jumped at the chance. The design is classic traditional Brooklyn flash. Recap here.

9. The Knight Templar by Alex McWatt, 2012

When I reached out to Alex McWatt at Three Kings Tattoo about a Friday the 13^th Piece, he told me their shop was no longer doing those events, but he offered to draw something up for me, special. I love the knight’s image and the helmet recalls the origins of my first name, William, which meant “helmet” in its Germanic origins. Read about it here.

7 (tie). Keikikalani Rocks by Peter Cavorsi, 2005

My second tattoo, representing Shayna, my younger daughter. This really should be tied with #7, but it’s here by virtue of being newer (sorry, Shayna). Read the story here.

7 (tie) The Lynx, by Sikki the Kid, 2003

My first tattoo, back when I thought all you had to do was pick a design off a wall. Predates Tattoosday by four years and was done in July 2003 as a tribute to my older daughter Jolee, whose Hawaiian middle name may or may not mean “Lynx.” Read about it here.

6. I’m Just a Bill, by Adam Suerte, 2013

This was a birthday gift and just suits me to a tee. Everyone raised in the 70's knows Bill from Schoolhouse Rock. Recent appearances in popular culture reinforces Bill as a cultural icon. The original post about the tattoo is here.

5. Samoan Crab, by James Delzel, 2015

My newest tattoo, ranked as high as it is by virtue of its newness and because I think it's an awesome tattoo, I believe. The story recounted here.

4. Anniversary Ink by Gunny, 2015

If this were a most meaningful list, this would sit atop all others, just based on what it represents. But there are more factors at play here, and it's still top 4, so we'll let time determine how the rankings change.

In honor of my twentieth wedding anniversary, this is another 2015 tattoo. My only chest tattoo, which made me respect people who have their whole chests done even more. The full story here.

3. Honu Tribal, by Heather Sinn, 2011

If you never knew I was a human canvas on a "reality" TV show, you do now. Inked on the second episode of the premiere season of Ink Master (before the show became a formulaic juggernaut) by a talented artist who hated being on the show. My biggest tattoo and near favorite. I often wish it was positioned lower so more people could see and appreciate it. Read about it here.

2. The Year of the Tiger, by Shon Lindauer, 2010

The story is here. My most recognizable piece and a symbol on the back of my left calf.

1. Golden the Rooster, by Megan Massacre, 2011

From an episode of NY Ink. What could have been a boring solid tribal silhouette had Ami James done the tattoo turned into my favorite piece. Second smallest on my body (upper right arm, inner side), Megan went above and beyond and whether she meant to or not, showed up the other artists who just did basic solid silhouettes. Because the inspiration for this was a deceased pet rooster of my parents in Hawai’i, Megan went the extra mile and layered in plumage and shaded this piece spectacularly. Also, provides endless hours of entertainment for my friends who ask me to show them my cock. Cock jokes aside, this is indisputably my favorite tattoo. Get the whole story, soup to nuts, here.

So that's it folks, my tatalog, my body of work, my own personal celebration. Thanks for indulging me!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.