Tatto Style

Back in September, I met Gene on Broadway, just outside of Bowling Green Park.

I've been saving his tattoo for today, Veteran's Day, as it seemed most appropriate:


Gene told me a guy named Michael did this tattoo "about seven or eight years ago" and that the artist lives in Florida now.

"Believe it or not," Gene told me, "this is lie, the sixth tattoo he ever did."

This image of three soldiers, two holding up the one in the center, is an iconic one. Gene told me he served  twenty-three years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve.

Thanks to Gene for sharing his tattoo with us on Tattoosday. And a big thank you to Gene and all his fellow veterans for their service to our country!

This past Sunday, a woman walked into the grocery store with face tattoos. My wife turned to me and asked if I had every featured face tattoos before. The answer was yes. I started thinking about this encounter from 2010, which resulted in one of my favorite Tattoosday posts. Enjoy!

It's not often that I get someone to share facial tattoos here on Tattoosday, but the occasion arose last month while I was browsing at one of my favorite inkspotting locales, the Borders in Penn Plaza.

I was lucky to meet Catanya, who I noticed had interesting markings on her face, and I was compelled to ask her about the ink. She gladly posed and told me a little about the designs.


Catanya explained that she got her tattoos in the 1970's in New York. She was involved as a dancer in the art scene and eventually married a photographer and relocated to New Mexico and currently resides in Baja, California.

She referred to herself as a "gypsy tribal belly dancer hula hooper" and explained that the design on her forehead is a yin-yang, the tattoo on the right side of her face is Apache feathers, and that the left side and chin are Moroccan in their origins.

Catanya also told me that she had been photographed by someone named Stanley Stellar many years ago here in New York, and that he might have photos from those early days.

Thinking it would be great to have a photo of Catanya from when she was much younger with these tattoos, I tracked down Mr. Stellar and asked if he still had access to his photographs. He completely came through and forwarded this shot:


I certainly feel  fortunate to be able to share photos of the same tattoos, separated by thirty-three years.

Such an opportunity allows us to see an example of how one person has aged gracefully, along with her tattoos.

Catanya subsequently emailed me and elaborated on her tattoos and their history:

Back in the early 1970's I was part of a "tribal style" group of dancers and musicians from all over the world. The main things we had in common were our love of the Dance, world music, colorful costumes and even more colorful life styles. That included Henna, Kohl rimmed eyes and LOTS of Tattoos! We also sported plenty of nose jewelry!   The tattoos for all of us were personal and also tribal, (as can be seen in India, Morocco and other  exotic places around the world.) I do not think that any of us took our tattoo ceremonies lightly. 

I received my first tattoos in Venice, Calif. in 1973.

I like to think of it as an initiation ceremony. It was wonderful! Lots of music and dancing and plenty of red wine and good herbs.

My tattoos were applied the "old fashioned" way. India Ink, a needle and a broken pen.

They were done by two brothers from Cuba. They were also fantastic Conga drummers!

A few years later, I had a few more tattoos added to my collection. These were executed by a wonderful tattoo artist, Boyd, in Taos, New Mexico.

I do not regret any of my tattoos and find as the years go by that I am actually "earning" them. I am becoming them. They ARE a personal manifestation of my journey in life.

As my friend Walter once said to me, (referring to my Eagle feathers tattoo), "Catanya, when I look into your eyes, I see that you are growing your real Eagle feathers."

Walter Chappell and Catanya, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1985 © 1985, 2008 Robert Saltzman

The photo above was taken by Catnya's husband about eight years after Mr, Stellar's photo, with the late photographer Walter Chappell, their friend quoted by Catanya in her testimony.

I want to profusely thank Catanya for allowing me to photograph her and for sharing her tattoos with me, and all of us here on Tattoosday! It's an encounter like this that really stands out among the hundreds I have had over the last few years. To be able to see how someone has so gracefully and proudly worn their tattoos over time is truly an honor and a blessing.

I also want to thank Stanley Stellar for sharing his photograph of Catanya from so many years ago. You can see more of Mr. Stellar's photography here. Be sure to check out his wonderful tattoo photos under the "images" section.

I met Kaz over the summer on Wall Street and asked her about the cool dragon tattoo wrapped around her upper arm. I gave her a Tattoosday card and she said she'd think about sharing. We ran into each other a day or two later and she was game. Check out her dragon:


She credited this work to the artist Daniel Cotte, formerly of North Star Tattoo, now working out of Senaspace Art and Tattoo in New York City. Cotte's Instagram is @mistercotte.

Kaz told me about how her first tattoo came to life:

"I was going to get a little one on my back, but then he said let me draw a picture for you ... I said 'Okay, I leave it to you." And then when I went back there , he had this HUGE picture, my God! But I really liked it."

It really is a beautiful black and grey dragon, with that extra special pop of color from the cherry blossoms.

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

She chose an owl because O is the first letter of her daughter's name, W is the first letter of her son's name, and L is the first letter of their last name. The bird's blue eyes are also a nod to her son.

Both tattoos were done by the amazing Emma Griffiths, from Forgot Me Not Tattoo in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Work by Emma has appeared previously on Tattoosday here,

Thanks to Jen for sharing her cool Olive and OWL tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

UPDATE: I found the notes from this interview and want to provides some more information on this piece.

At the beginning of last month, a spotted a guy across from the New York Stock Exchange. He had this really cool portrait on his right arm:


This tattoo belongs to Luciano, who was in a hurry after I took the photo. He gave me the most basic information - primarily that this is a portrait of his grandfather, from when he was in the navy.

He credited Dan Price who tattoos out of Dan Price's The Lab in Miami, Florida.

Thanks to Luciano for sharing your tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

I was walking down Sixth Avenue, south of 14th Street,  the other day, when I noticed someone ahead of me with a bunch of tattoos.

When he stopped at a crosswalk, I introduced myself, and learned he was Marcel Blue, an artist at Daredevil Tattoo in Manhattan.

He offered up this piece on his leg, based on some old tattoo flash, and completed by one of his Daredevil colleagues, Peter Chile:


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

With summer ending this week, I want to celebrate with one last tattoo from June's Mermaid Parade on Coney Island:

I met Erin at the end of the parade on the boardwalk:


You may notice the colorful tattoo on her upper left arm:


Erin explained that this piece was conceived by a friend of hers who works for the designer Ana Sui.
This is a rendition of Erin, in the spirit of Ana Sui's style. The phrase "Sans la musique, je n'existe," means, in French, "without music, I don't exist."

Erin credited the tattoo itself to Marissa Mikeo, an independent NYC-based artist.

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

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

Meredith elaborated on her tattoo:

"It represents Galatians 5:1, it's a scripture that says 'it is for freedom that Christ has set you free.' I have dealt with depression for most of my life and my faith has been a big part of my healing from that and so this tattoo represents finding freedom from that ... it's something I live with but it's not something that controls me anymore."

Meredith said she got this tattoo at Harlem Hype on 125th Street in Manhattan.

Thanks to Meredith for sharing this tattoo that is so important to her with us here on Tattoosday!

September 11 is always a difficult day here in New York City, and I always want to honor those who lost their lives in 2001 with an appropriate tattoo. I have tended to repost a couple of lasting images in the past, but back in June, at the NYC Urban Tattoo Convention, I met Steve, who had just recently had this piece done:


Steve told me he belongs to a bike club, which inspired this tattoo which features a bald eagle perched on a Harley Davidson engine, with the United States flag flying in the background.

I noticed at the time that the twin cam engine bears a resemblance to the two towers of the World Trade Center, which Steve acknowledged was part of the appeal of the design.

This patriotic tattoo certainly seems appropriate for Patriot Day.

Steve credited the artist Rudy Sciarra from Underground Tattoo Studio in Cranston, Rhode Island.

Thanks to Steve for sharing this work with us here on Tattoosday. And thanks to the men and women who gave their lives on September 11, as well as all of those that have served and continue to serve and protect us.


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.

via http://lafozi.com/us-en/detail/birthday-cake-tattoo-designs/

Technically, Tattoosday was born on July 31, eight years ago, as a weekly feature on my old site BillyBlog. But I enjoyed writing about tattoos so much, I created this standalone site, Tattoosday, to celebrate NYC body art, eight years ago today.

Sometimes I like to celebrate on July 31, other times I like to celebrate on the actual blogiversary date, September 8.

So here we are, eight years later. Since starting up, depending on which traffic site you believe, we've had 1.8 million hits and 2.6 million page views. Blogger says we have 3.5 million page views. Either way, that's still an awesome amount for a tiny site like this.

Thanks to everyone over the years who has contributed to the success of Tattoosday - contributors, artists, sponsors and, most importantly, the readers. Your appreciation for what I do makes it all worthwhile!

Mary is an artist that uses the moniker Coney Denizen (click through for Flickr photostream).

She initially told me that this was based on her husband's drawing and that "old ladies in banks love it."

Later, she elaborated:

"I stole this piece from my husband's drawing board. I was a buyer of Indonesian and other folk art for many years. Became fascinated by the use of dicks as a prosperity symbol. I collected dick pull toys-actual dicks with wheels. When I saw this piece I thought it funny and went for it. Squid did all my work at the time, it was a fun night in the shop.Over the years I found it was a funny kind of litmus test. Older women love it, never have I had a reaction of offense. Men never notice it is a dick, until someone points it out. I did a lot of dick art for a bit. Men also never saw the dicks (blatant as they were)-unless pointed out. It has been a great one to enjoy."

Mary's reference to Squid is Sydney "Squid" Silver, or Syd the Squid, from the New York-based punk band the Lunachicks. More from Mary on Squid:

Squid did my first tattoos. I think the first was at Venus. The dick was done at Fly Rite, in Brooklyn. I remember getting faint for this one-took 6 hours-straight. Squid’s band was amazing-all girls-wicked. I knew her thru my baby sitter at the time, she lived in our pal Eddies house. I love Squid. She had the best back tattoo I had ever seen. Squid-Underwater. It is something to behold. There was no finer gal to play this way with. She was fierce and sweet. The kindest soul. Used to let me take my daughter backstage at shows. My kid thought she was the best. I believe she stopped working when she had her son, but it would not surprise me to find her somewhere ... Those were the halcyon days…."

Thanks to Mary for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday, and helping us break the Dick Barrier!

I met Bronwinn on Beaver Street last month in downtown Manhattan. She was sporting a whole armful of cool designs and she shared this tattoo:


Bronwinn explained that this anchor is resting over an outline of the borough of Brooklyn, representing that this section of New York City is her home, through and through.

I've seen folks with outlines of countries and states before, but never distinct city outlines, and never combined with traditional anchors to show their connection to their homes.

She credited this to Ron Mor at Hand of Glory Tattoo in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

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

I met Mike in late July at the NYC Poetry Festival on Governor's Island. He shared this cool tattoo by Christine Nelson from No Ka Oi Tiki Tattoo in Philadelphia:


"This is the character Harley Quinn," Mike explained. "She's the Joker's girlfriend ... my favorite comic book character," he added, "and it's every girl I shouldn't date."

Thanks to Mike for sharing this cool 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.

A couple weeks ago, I was on the C train early in the morning, headed to Penn Station, when a woman got on with incredible tattoos.

We didn't have much time to talk, and it was rush hour, but I did pass her my card, inviting her to send me photos.

A few hours later, on Amtrak to Albany, my email pinged and I was delighted to receive an email from Christine, not only sending me pictures of the tattoo I had admired on the subway, but some work that I wouldn't have been able to appreciate in person.

First off, the tattoo on her lower leg:



This tattoo of a snake charmer was done earlier this year at Kings Avenue Tattoo on the Bowery in Manhattan. The artist was the visiting Xam the Spaniard (Instagram here), who is based out of London.

Christina's other work was also done at Kings Avenue by other amazing artists. Behold:

The mixture of English roses and peonies was tattooed by Kevin Cly at Stay True Tattoo in Mentor, Ohio.

Thanks to Lana for sharing her wedding flowers with us here on Tattoosday!

Last night I was at Yankee Stadium and saw the Cleveland Indians defeat the home team. Seems fitting that I post this tattoo that I spotted earlier in the week:


That tattoo is on Adam, who didn't mind sharing his Cleveland pride.

He got it inked at All Tattoos in Mentor, Ohio.

Thanks to Adam for sharing his cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Back in June, I met Ana down by Federal Hall in lower Manhattan. She shared two tattoos, starting with this one:


Ana is from Brazil, and her English wasn't great (although much better than my Spanish and Portuguese), so she didn't say much about this, other than "I just picked her [the design] because she's a blonde like me."

She credited this to Marcelo from Marcelo from Marcelo Tattoo in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

She also had this cute pig tattoo on her neck:


"I find it cute," she told me, explaining that she drew it and Marcelo tattooed it. The words "Para Você Guardei o Amor" are translated as "I kept my love for you."

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

Yesterday we featured a tattoo on Paul-Emil, done by the artist Fusay at Addiction Tattoo in Strasbourg, France. Paul-Emil and his friends were visiting New York City and Antoine, another in the group, had work by Fusay as well:

"This is a symbol ... from my favorite movie, and I just gave [Fusay] the symbol told him, 'you are free to do something you like with that and he came to me with that and I loved it ...[Fusay] is a specialist of dotwork."

The movie in question is Howl's Moving Castle, one of the masterworks of the Japanese animation director Hayao Myazaki.



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

During the warmer months, when you can't throw a rock and not hit someone with a visible tattoo, I tend to get much more selective when finding people to interview. I'll hang out across from Federal Hall on Wall Street and wait for a cool tattoo to show up.

Generally, if I can't "read" a tattoo from a distance, I won't bother. But a few weeks back, I saw a guy with a tattoo on the back of his calf and, from a distance, I couldn't tell what it was. Up close, however, it was spectacular, and ultimately I am glad that curiosity got the better of me and I approached the group of French tourists.

Paul-Emil is the owner of this tattoo:


Paul-Emil credited this to an artist named Fusay at Addiction Tattoo in Strasbourg, France.

"The first time I saw the pic on the web," he told me, "I saw it was leopard ... some of my friends see a tiger, he [his friend Antoine] sees a panther."

We'll see Antoine's tattoo tomorrow.

Regardless of what one sees, it's a pretty cool tattoo.

Thanks to Paul-Emil for sharing his awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Her Roller Derby name was "Laurena Bob-it" and she credited this to Kati Vaughn from Magic Cobra Tattoo Society in Brooklyn.

I don't have any further details, but maybe one day, Lauren will find my card and email me.

He credited this to Fabio from Lower West Side Tattoo Studio in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Sven told me "I wanted a girl with a bandanna ... I like the difference ...nice girl, sweet girl, bad bandanna. I like the contrast ... she has wonderful eyes."

Indeed, the beautiful woman with the bandanna transforming her into an outlaw, creates a great juxtaposition and makes for a fantastic tattoo.

Thanks to Sven for sharing this awesome 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.