Lady Miscue of Delight

This was almost an orphan post, but I have enough to make it work.

Last month, I boarded the 2 train, downtown, and was standing next to a young lady with a colorful fairy on her upper right arm:


The woman's name was Elura, and she had this done at Daredevil Tattoo in Manhattan. Other work from Daredevil has appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

Alas, the train was noisy, and Elura was getting off at 14th Street, one station away. I asked her what the fairy was about, and she said, "She's Lady Miscue of Delight".

I scribbled that down and Elura said she would e-mail me with more detail. She never did and, try as I might, I couldn't figure out what looks like a fairy, and sounds like "Lady Miscue of Delight".

So that is what I will call her, until I have been corrected.

Regardless, thanks to Elura for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

UPDATE:

Jeremy, below, in the comments, suggested that perhaps Elura meant, Lady Miss Kier, of the musical group Deee-lite:



The photo indicates that may be correct. Thanks Jeremy!

>Hi there, as you have realized it's almost a year since I've last updated this blog. That's probably because I became desensitized to tattoos, and to put it simply, I've lost the drive to search and publish them. Here's a batch that has gathered on my email box and some recent finds. So enjoy them, it's certainly not the last post here , but I moved my bloging activity to a more personal (not much) perpleXuzed blog.









Big thanks to the contributors, without you this collection would never be so huge!

Magie's Unique Sugar Skull, Inked by Big Ant (1978-2008)

I was a happy little inkblogger last Friday night when I made it to the 4th anniversary group art show at Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Happy, because I got to meet the awesome Marisa Kakoulas from the fabulous Needles and Sins tattoo blog, along with the equally-cool Brian Grosz, who is also a major creative force behind the site.

And happy because I was in a bright room with art on the walls, created by talented tattooists, and I was surrounded by people with incredible body art.

But therein lies the conundrum: great tattoos, in a hip tattoo setting, are top quality and, despite Tattoosday's success, I am still reluctant to whip out the Polaroid digital camera when, for all I know, the ink around me may have been professionally photographed and featured in glossy tattoo magazines.

So I had resigned myself to leave sans photos, knowing I had a groovy time and was able to meet other tattoo writers, when I noticed a very interesting sugar skull on the back of a young woman's right arm. Voila:


Of course I chatted a long time with Magie before I asked her if I could snap a picture, so I learned a bit about the tattoo before I asked.

Magie Serpica is an artist and tattooist who works at the newly-opened Bound for Glory Tattoo Studio in Staten Island.


The shop was co-founded by Nick Caruso who also tattoos at Flyrite Studio in Brooklyn. One of Nick's tattoos appeared here back in July on Tattoosday.

One of Magie's paintings was hanging on the wall at Tattoo Culture:

(reprinted with permission of the artist)

We talked at length about tattoos, what she called an under-served market on Staten Island (they are the first full-custom shop) in the borough (no flash on the walls, please) and have a promising future ahead.

We also discussed how difficult it has been in the past to be a female tattoo artist, how frustrating it is not to be taken seriously, and how Kat Von D. and the multitude of tattoo reality shows have helped break down the stereotypes and allowed Magie, as a female artist, to receive more respect as an artist.

Like most tattoo artists, Magie is covered in ink, with no idea how many tattoos she has ("If you can still see skin, it's not enough").

The sugar skull in question was tattooed by Anthony Gregory, aka Big Ant, a Staten Island artist who tragically passed away last year after falling ill in Las Vegas (see the sad news reported here).


She had asked him to give her a sugar skull and she had a general idea about his style, so she gave him total artistic freedom. The end result was fascinating - a unique, almost post-modern interpretation of a classic tattoo design. The angled perspective and the depth to the eyes give this tattoo a greater three-dimensional feel than your standard sugar skull.

I also like how the rose is just as important as the skull, its stem wrapping around it and adding another layer of depth.

I thank the good people at Tattoo Culture for opening their doors and allowing me the opportunity to meet some great people.

A special thanks to Magie for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday. Be sure to visit her in the new shop, Bound for Glory, in Staten Island.

Here's hoping we'll see more of their work in the future!

Brooke Shows Off Her Zombie Ninja Poo

On a sunny September afternoon, I met Brooke outside of Penn Station.

She had several interesting tattoos, and she offered this one:


She referred to it as "Zombie Ninja Poo".

On the inside of her right wrist, this tattoo was inspired by the goofy video droppings of the ninja characters in one of her son's video games, Ninjatown.

She exercised a little creative license and zombified the design. The result was an undead mass of animated, um, turds.

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