Kristen's Trilogy of Knots

The 34th Street Platform for the A Train has been very kind to us here at Tattoosday, even more so this summer than in years' past.

Take Kristen, for example. She generously offered up this small portion of her corporeal canvas:

Estimating that she is at least a quarter covered by ink, this "trilogy of knots" was the artist's response to Kristen's request to attach the cobwebs on her elbow to the end of her wrist.

The artist, identified only as "Batman" near Canal and Broadway, was also asked to incorporate a Celtic pattern, as well.

The final result was to Kristen's liking and we here at Tattoosday thank her for sharing the tattoo with all of our readers!

Happy Bloggiversary to Me!

Three years ago today, Tattoosday was born.

On July 31, 2007, I put up a post on BillyBlog, featuring a tattoo on a co-worker named Sephora.

The idea was to post a weekly tattoo on Tuesday, and use this is a vehicle to expand my horizons a bit; meet interesting people and learn about tattoos.

There was one problem. I enjoyed it too much. There weren't enough Tuesdays in the week. I was impatient and wanted to post right away, not wait until Tuesday. And so, as Kurt Vonnegut would say, it goes....

So a month later I threw the previous months post up on the stand-alone blog, Tattoosday. And BillyBlog faded.

It's still there, but Tattoosday is my passion and I couldn't have even imagined, back in 2007, how easy it would become for me to talk to strangers about their ink.

The once-a-week project produced forty-five separate interactions in July, we have a 30-day backlog of material, and this past week we registered our 650,000th hit. Not too shabby.

Go see the original post here to see how far we've come.

And a hearty thanks to all our contributors, all our fans, and all the tattooists out there creating wonderful, interesting, portable art. Without all of you, Tattoosday would have been a blip of an idea, and nothing more.

Nick Remembers Billy, I Remember Siki

My first tattoo was modified from a piece of flash at Body Art Studios by an artist who goes by the moniker "Siki". Shortly thereafter, Siki left the shop and went on his way.

My friend Pete knows who he is but, until recently, I hadn't met anyone with ink from Siki, other than myself.

Then, I met Nick on the R train one day after work and, while discussing his many tattoos (he "lost count after 45," they've all connected) , I heard him talking about Siki.

So today's tattoo is by Siki and was, like my lynx, modified from an old piece of flash. Although he adapted it a lot more fully and developed a more unique tattoo.

Siki and Nick had a mutual friend named Billy, who Nick would often go with to get tattooed. When he passed away, they added Billy's name to the bottom of the tattoo as a tribute to their departed friend.

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

Buddhist Tattoos

Buddhist tattoos are clearly very appealing in terms of style and artwork, however the designs themselves represent a timeless culture which are dedicated to their philosophy and practices of buddhism.

Buddhist tattoos are most commonly designed as the seated buddha with his hands in the form the mudra (dharmachakra) which symbolizes the setting into motion of the wheel of teaching the dharma.

Have a look through this buddhist tattoo gallery and you just might find the perfect buddhist tattoo design you've been searching for.



Most buddhist tattoos represent a very peaceful and tranquil environment.



Buddhist tattoo are often seen alongside flower designs, specially the lotus flower.



Many buddhist cultures believe that tattoo artwork is a sacred practice and monks often double as tattoo artists.

Jessica's Feather for her Mother

I met Jessica on the express platform at 34th Street earlier this month.

She shared this gorgeous peacock feather tattooed on the upper right section of her back:

The piece is an homage to her mother, who loves everything peacock, and has countless items, like bracelets and other jewelery, that emulate the vivid colors of these beautiful birds.

She credits this tattoo to an artist known only as Allison.

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

Bird Tattoos

Bird tattoos are truly a lovely choice of tattoo design, most birds are symbolic of harmony, peace and gentleness, while other more fierce birds such as the eagle is often recognized as a symbol of courage and strength. Plus crows and ravens are sometimes associated with with the dark a macabre side of life.

Here we have a picture gallery of an array of beautiful bird tattoos which might just help you come up with some ideas for your very own bird tattoo design.



Bird tattoos are some of the most colorful designs in the world of animal artwork.



Bird tattoos are often combined with other designs such as stars and hearts.



Tribal bird tattoos seem to be gaining in popularity among animal/tattoo lovers.

Michelle's Tattoo Takes Your Breath Away

Michelle has a lot of ink, twenty-one tattoos, all told, but when I stopped her in Penn Station, she chose to share this one with us:

Boldly planted on her upper right arm, Michelle explained that she paraphrased and pared down a longer quotation to read, more simply, "Live for the moments that take your breath away". I believe she was referring to the saying, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

The flowers in the photo are cherry blossoms that were done in blue, rather than the traditional pink because, as Michelle tells it, she's "not really a pink kind of girl".

This tattoo was inked by Fat Tony at Hobo's Tattoo Shop in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

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

Bear Tattoos

Bear tattoos are commonly depicted in two different manners, one being fierce and ready to strike with an open mouth, and secondly as a more endearing and lovable bear design. No matter what style of bear tattoo you decide upon, there is no doubt that bear tattoos in general are some of the most beautiful and breathtaking of all designs, if you are a bear lover of course.

Enjoy a quick look through this outstanding collection of top quality bear tattoos for both men and women alike.



Adding a little color to your bear tattoo can really bring the design to life.



These bear tattoo pictures above are less traditional, but equally as exciting and clever.



Growling bear head tattoos are perhaps the most commonly seen variety of bear artwork, and for good reason. These bear head tattoos are beautifully frightening!

Timmy's Sophisticated Owl

Earlier this month, Melanie and I took advantage of having my sister's car while she was out of the country and we made an unusual shopping trip to the Fairway Market in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

There was a gentleman in the produce section with a lot of tattoos, and Melanie pointed out one to me that she thought was cool, this owl on his calf:

Turns out that the guy was Timmy from Timmy Tattoo, an artist whose name rang a distant bell. Work by Timmy appeared in one of Tattoosday's earliest posts, when I met Jackie,an FIT student whose tattoos appeared here.

Timmy's owl was inked by Garrett Ostrowski of Garrett's Tattoos.

Thanks to Timmy for sharing one of his many tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Black Light Tattoos

And just when you thought tattoo artwork couldn't get anymore creative, you now have the option of getting black light tattoos which are virtually invisible to the naked eye, under ordinary lighting. How cool is that?

Black light tattoos or "UV tattoos" are made with a special ink that can only be seen under a black light. You can also mix and match black light ink with normal tattoo ink to create a super double your pleasure tattoo design.

Have a look at this psychedelic picture gallery of black light UV tattoos.


Black light tattoos are a relatively new form of artwork and is currently most popular among clubbers and ravers.



Checkout some of these cool before and after black light tattoos under natural light.



Since black light tattoos are invisible under natural light, small amounts of scarring may be seen at the tattoo location.