Tattoos I Know: Paul, Part 4, or, The Great Cover-Up of 2008, continued...

Late last December, we posted about our friend Paul getting some cover-up work done on his upper right arm. Revisit the report here.

We recently checked in with Paul to see how things were going, and he updated us with the latest efforts by Horisei, who is about a session away from finishing this beautiful work:




Horisei tattoos out of the Chelsea Tattoo Company, formerly the home of Rising Dragon.

Thanks again to Paul for sharing. I'm guessing we'll see the finished product some time in 2010!

Tattoo Tribal

Design Tattoo Tribal dapat digunakan oleh laki-laki dan wanita Tribal tattoo dapat anda letakkan di kaki, di bagian belakang leher atau tato di tangan, tetapi juga dapat ditempatkan di tempat lain sesuai selera Anda. Tattoo Tribal juga dapat digabungkan dengan desain tato lainnya.

Tribal Tattoo Idea

Gesundhoot!

Reader roundup..(still catching up!)
First off, Trevor sent in the above, done by John Fitzgerald at Slave to the Needle in Seattle.

Jana sent in 'Lilith', above, done by Christoph at Blut&Eisen Tattoo, Berlin, Germany.

Harrison's was done by Harry at Las Calaveras Tattoo in Fullerton, CA

And the little owl above comes from Monika

A Cinematic Heart

I met Daniel last week on Seventh Avenue in the 20's.

I spotted this tattoo peeping out from under his left shirt sleeve:


Daniel was a film student at St. John's University, and this tattoo, cleverly designed with film reels as part of the heart, is a tribute to his love of film.

I also spotted another tattoo on his inner right forearm:


A tribute to The Beatles, this tattoo lets everyone know that Daniel is a fan of the Fab Four. When I asked him why the names were McCartney, then Lennon, as all songs penned by the two are credited as Lennon/McCartney, he just smiled and said, "because I like Paul more".

He believes the typeface for this tattoo is Century Gothic.

The film heart tattoo was inked by Dan at Addiction Ink on St. Mark's Place in the East Village. Dan's not currently listed on the shop's website, but work from Addiction has appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

Thanks to Daniel for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

A Traditional Naval Tattoo on a 21st Century Ship

The USS New York was put into service today by the United States Navy.

Her hull was forged with steel salvaged from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

It's a momentous occasion indeed, and several crew members were in attendance with dignitaries earlier this week at the World Series.

As is happens, I noticed a gentleman in uniform outside of Madison Square Garden earlier in the week and he had this tattoo on both hands:


Turns out, the tattoo was modeled after this naval pin, which represents the rank of Boatswain's Mate, worn on the lapel:


The gentleman, whose name is Fred, serves on the USS New York, as the more commonly-known title of Ships Bos'n, and it seems appropriate to post this tattoo today as the ship officially enters the naval fleet.

Fred has been in the service for 26 years, and has seven or eight tattoos all told.

As Ships Bos'n he works with mission systems on amphibious maneuvers.

The crossed anchors are traditional naval insignia and, even though he drew this design himself and they weren't inked in a traditional tattoo shop, he recognizes the crossed anchors as symbols of his dedication to the trade.

I thank Fred for his service to our country, as well as his willingness to contribute to Tattoosday. We wish him well as he serves with pride on the USS New York!

Re-Post: Tattoos I Know - The Grim Reaper

Today is a sad anniversary for us here on Tattoosday, for it marks one year since our friend, Tom Wacker, passed away unexpectedly.

Tom was an early supporter of the blog, from its fledgling days as a once-a-week feature over on BillyBlog, and he watched us grow with a mixture of excitement and pride.

The camera I use was a birthday gift from Tom and his fiancee Sephora, and he was always first in line to see the pictures I took whenever I had new material for the blog.

A week or two before his death, Tom was hanging out at a friend's house in New Jersey. He took pictures of his friend's sleeve and e-mailed them to me. The photos are still in my mailbox, unposted. I still haven't the heart to call his friend and talk tattoo with him.

There are times I am hesitant to approach people, for whatever reason, and I overcome whatever resistance I may feel, knowing that's what Tom would have wanted me to do, and that somewhere, he is watching, urging me on, applauding my efforts, admiring the ink.

As a tribute to Tom, I am reposting his tattoo, which he shared with us here, back in 2007.

It's not the best tattoo, but it's Tom's, and his spirit is infused here in Tattoosday. It's the least I can do for the friend that supported us so much in the early days. Here's to you, Tom!


Tattoos I Know: The Grim Reaper (originally posted September 11, 2007)


This is the sole tattoo of my friend and co-worker, Tom Wacker.

Tom designed and drew the art upon which this tattoo was based.

The Reaper is posed on Tom's biceps/deltoid and has resided there since 1984, when its host was a young lad of eighteen.

This is Tom's only tattoo and he has no plans to get more. He is proud of the fact that, because he designed it and because he then tore up the original design, it is a one-of-a-kind piece...

The tattoo was inked by Dean at Lola's Tattoos, then in Cliffside Park, but now in Bogota, New Jersey. Tom got this tattoo "because it was cool," although the tattooer tried to convince him not to get it because it was "too mean" for him. Twenty-three years later, Tom says he has no regrets about his ink.

Thanks, Tom!

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eL's Musical tattoo

Last month, much to my surprise, our old friend Paul (see his most recent work here) told me there was a tattoo shop nearby.

I was surprised, to say the least. "New?" I asked him. "Been open over a year," he replied.

I was puzzled. How had I missed a tattoo shop within walking distance of work? Was I blind?

Not quite. I was just too busy looking around me, and not looking up.


Because Fort Apache Tattoo Studio is just a stone's throw away from my regular inkspotting stomping ground, at West 31st Street near the corner of 8th Avenue.

How I missed it was the fact that it peers out over the southwest corner of Madison Square Garden from the 4th floor. Four flights of old-style New York City stairs.

But once I made it up there, I was pleasantly surprised by the layout of the shop. Four artists have separate work areas separated by low walls.

While there, I met Freak, who specializes in custom designs with a comics influence.

Do check out the website to see everyone's work.

But another question arose, how had I gone for over a year with this shop in my backyard and never met anyone who had been tattooed there? Of the hundreds of people I have met, no one had shared any work from Fort Apache!

Until the next day.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

The following day I stopped to talk to a guy sitting on a bench at the corner of 7th Avenue and 33rd Street.

He had this cool tattoo on his upper right arm:


"And where did you have this done?" I asked.

Yup, Fort Apache.

(And thank you for sharing your post with my story about finally finding the shop, by the way.)

The owner of this tattoo is named eL. He is an artist and a guitarist.

The tattoo represents a scar from a bad break-up. Because of the central role of music in eL's life, it only made sense to represent the heartbreak with symbolism near and dear to eL's heart.

I asked if the notes actually made up a tune, but they do not. For aesthetic reasons, they are musical symbols inked in flesh, nothing more, nothing less.

This tattoo was done by Hexx.

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

Also a thank you to Freak for welcoming us with open arms as we checked out the shop!

Here's hoping we'll see more work from Fort Apache in the future!