Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - Sylvia's Back Piece

The one day in Hawai'i when I didn't take any tattoo pictures, I did pass out a few fliers. One I handed to a woman sitting in a chair at the Safeway Center on Kapahulu Avenue.She had what appeared to be an incredible back piece, the top of which was visible to passers-by.Sylvia later e-mailed me and...

Eric's Tattoo: Zero the Fool and an Obsession with Time

I met Eric on Seventh Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets earlier this month.This tarot card on his left forearm jumped out at me:Eric is a mixed media artist whose website can be seen here. He is an illustrator and is currently in school studying toy design. The tattoo he has is primarily based on...

Erin's Yellow Roses for Her Grandmother

Earlier this week, I met Erin and she shared this, one of her six tattoos:Erin explained that these yellow roses on her left forearm are for her grandmother, her favorite person. Her grandma's favorite roses are the yellow variety.Erin credits artist Jesse Gabriel at Halo Tattoo III in Syracuse, New...

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - Hail to the Chief

It's Fleet Week in New York City this weekend, so it only seemed fitting, with just a few Hawai'i posts remaining, that we share the following offering from Jack, a Chief Petty Officer (E7) in the U.S. Navy.Jack's was the final tattoo I spotted at Pearlridge, on what turned out to be a record-breaking...

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - Honu Thursday

One of the most popular symbols in modern Polynesian tattoo is the green sea turtle, or honu, as it is known in Hawaiian.I saw a lot of honu tattoos while I was in Hawai'i, but I didn't snap any photos of them until my last day on Oahu, when I was wrapping up my trip with a last minute stop at Pearlridge....

A Peek at the Final Issue of Holly Rose Review

 Tattoo by Sean Herman, from the June issue of Holly Rose ReviewConsidering that one-twelfth of the year, Tattoosday sheds its inkspotting  mission and, instead, plays host to tattooed poets in honor of National Poetry Month, it only seems fitting that I should pay homage to the finalissue...

Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 5 (Ulu's Amazing Plumage)

In January 2008, when Tattoosday was a mere infant blog, my mother sent me photos of some of the ink my cousins possessed.I already shared Keali'i's sleeves here, but included in that email from Mom was this astonishing piece from his kid sister, my niece, Ulu:Photo by Diane Scrafton Cohen FerreiraI...

A Cat Named Do

I met Shawn in Penn Station near the Amtrak terminal earlier this month. He was doing what most people are doing when I stop them in Penn Station: waiting for a train.He was with who I will presume to be his wife and toddler son. I noticed he had tattoos on his arms so I approached him and told him...

Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 4 (Lehua's Eternal Tribute to Poppa John)

Closest of my Hawai'i nieces and nephews is Lehua who, in essence, is a third sister in my Hawai'i ohana. My wife and I had the tremendous honor of  Lehua dancing hula at our wedding reception in 1995, which many guests still recall as the highlight of the post-ceremony festivities.In honor of...

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: In Nomine Patris

On my last day in Hawai'i, I was at Pearlridge, when I spotted a guy walking through Borders. The swirling script on his inner left forearm grabbed my eye:This Latin phrase, "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti " translates to "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit".Dustin,...

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Dottie's Tribute to Daddy

On my last day in Hawai'i I had some time to kill before my flight. I wanted to stay close to the airport, so I headed over to Pearlridge Center to do some last minute shopping.One of the first people I met was Dottie, a Kentuckian who had moved to Oahu.She had this touching tattoo on her calf:It is...

Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 3 (Ikaika, In Progress)

Continuing with the mini-reunion, of sorts, with my family in Hawai'i, back in April, let's visit with my nephew Ikaika. If seeing my nephew Keali'i for the first time in 18 years was a trip, then talking to Ikaika was an all-out exercise in time travel, it seemed.Ikaika, to my memory, was a toddler,...

Victor's Homage to Kathy Olivas's Misery Children

Here at Tattoosday, the general rule is not to approach someone about a tattoo unless we can actually see the majority of the piece. Often, you can tell someone is inked based on design elements peeking out from under clothing. However, it seems to be in poor taste to ask someone about their work when...

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 2 (Keali'i's Sleeves)

Mind you, readers, that the last time I saw my nephew Keali'i, he was not yet into the his teens or, if he was, he had just started. So when I saw him for the first time in nearly twenty years, I was stunned. There, in the blindingly bright Kane?ohe sunlight, where once I had remembered a boy, stood...

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 1 (A Preface)

Although my recent trip to Hawai'i at the end of April was a bit of a whirlwind, one of the best things about it was reconnecting with a side of the family with whom I hadn't had contact in a long time.Living in New York and raising a family is expensive enough, but making regular trips back home to...

Juli's Right Calf: A Sugar Skull and More!

Back in April, I met Juli, who hosts a dozen tattoos, and counting.She offered up two pieces, both on her right calf.First was this sugar skull, inked by Chris Strangebreu, who currently is working out of Studio 33 Tattoo on St. Mark's Place in Manhattan:Always a fan of sugar skulls here on Tattoosday,...

Dispatch from the NYC Tattoo Convention - Greg's Amazing Back Piece

My wife Melanie and I were standing at the balcony, looking down at the floor of the Roseland Ballroom this past weekend at the New York City Tattoo Convention. This offered us a great vantage point of the stage and the mass of inked humanity in attendance.Just to our left down below was one shop booth...

Caroline Rocks an Awesome R.Crumb Tattoo

I'm rationing all the tattoos I spotted in Hawai'i, which allows me to share the amazing ones I've seen since returning to New York. A huge backlog of ink photos means I can be pickier and share the very best.My first day back in the Big Apple I met Caroline, at the corner of 23rd and 6th, a stone's...

Jeni's Cinematic Ankle

I spotted Jeni's ankle back in April in a store on 24th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.One of five tattoos, I thought this one was pretty cool:Jeni had been working in film part-time but she had finally decided that movies were what she would devote her life to. That is why the camera points forward.Jeni,...

An Update from Victor

I don't often run into Tattoosday subjects more than once, but when one works in the same neighborhood, it's often tough NOT to run into them.Case in point is my friend Victor, who I first met here in an example of what I call a tat-alog, when multiple tattoos are photographed and discussed.We did a...

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Reston's Expansive Ink

I've alluded, in previous posts, to a trip to Ala Moana Center, during which I was astounded by the amount of tattoos I saw, much more than I recall seeing on my previous trip, five years ago.I was in the expansive food court section of the complex when I met Reston and his uncle. I was first intrigued...