Tattoos: Saved Tattoo

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Kamis, 07 Mei 2015

Gary Got His Lion

I met Gary earlier this year when he joined our friendly neighborhood trivia team at Lock Yard in South Brooklyn.

As is often the case with me, the topic of conversation turned to tattoos and Gary revealed he had one on his upper arm. I asked him to share and he did not disappoint:

Gary explained that his father had once owned a large statue of a lion's head. It was one of those items that, growing up, he had always associated with his father. About ten years ago, all of the family items got divided up and all Gary asked for was the lion. His sister, however, took the lion, and has not relinquished it to Gary.

These circumstances were in the forefront of his thoughts when he sat with a friend through some lengthy tattoo sessions at New York Adorned. As a thank you from the friend for standing by through countless hours of tattooing, the friend said she would get Gary a tattoo. He finally got his lion.

This amazing tattoo was done by the incomparable Virginia Elwood, who now works out of Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Gary for sharing his wonderful lion 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.

Selasa, 20 Mei 2014

From the Archives: Kyle's Take on Heaven and Hell

When you are a grand old blog like Tattoosday (turning 7 this year), you earn the right to change "reposts" into "from the archive" posts. This one is from May of 2008:

I initially just saw the bottom of this tattoo, an inverted cityscape poking out from under a sleeve. Quite unusual, so I had to stop Kyle and ask. We were on 7th Avenue, and I was using the borrowed Sony Cyber-shot of a co-worker (thanks, Tina!). Kyle rolled up his sleeve and blew me away.

The detail and color of the tree were breath-taking. And if you click on the initial photo to enlarge it, the detail in the buildings is astonishing, with color on the billboards and light emanating from some of the tiny windows.

The concept behind this piece, Kyle explained, is that the country is Heaven and the city is Hell, separated by a layer of purgatorial clouds. He was raised in upstate New York, far from the five boroughs of New York City and its eight million-plus inhabitants.

This work was inked by Myles Karr at Saved Tattoo in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. [Myles now works out of Three Kings.]

Thanks to Kyle for sharing this piece with Tattoosday!

Rabu, 26 Februari 2014

Sean Shares Two Circular Tattoos

As we patiently wait for this forsaken winter to end and for the city's tattoos to come out of hiding, my new friend Sean and I were talking about the site recently and he offered up his two tattoos for us here on the site.

First up is this piece on his upper left arm:

The tattoo reads "Blackbird singing in the dead of night...take these sunken eyes and learn to see... all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free ...". This is, for those who don't know, a fragment of lyrics from The Beatles classic "Blackbird."

Sean explains how he came by this, his first tattoo:

"I had my Blackbird tattoo done in honor of my dad whom like myself, loved The Beatles. At the risk of sounding like a weirdo, it started from a dream I had that included the lyrics, 'All you need is love' in the shape of a peace sign. When I woke up, I tried sketching what I dreamt about (I still have the sketch that I drew with my finger on my phone), but it came out looking like shit. However, I was inspired to get a tattoo if I could perfect the design. After playing around with some of the lyrics to Instant Karma! (not the Beatles, but still Lennon!), Blackbird and All You Need Is Love, I settled on Blackbird, since that was supposedly one of my dad's favorites. Anyway, I literally spent months working on the design with my best friend, Darryll Brandwine who is great with graphic art, as he owns his own architecture firm in Las Vegas (D3 Design Studios). During this time, I stumbled upon a 'John Lennon' font which we were able to use in Photoshop. I liked this touch a lot because I felt it gave the tattoo a more 'authentic' feel. After a few different revisions, I brought it into Will [Sheldon at Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg]. Soon after he applied the template to my shoulder, I went out to my wife, Madeline to see how she liked it. Her eyes said it all, which meant a lot since while she was supportive of my decision, she was not really a big tattoo fan. I went back in, Will finished it up and I was very happy with my decision to get my first tattoo."

Sean also has this piece, which I think is really cool, on his inner right wrist:

I'll let Sean describe this Ensō, or Zen circle, tattoo, as well:

"Religion was never something that I felt very comfortable with. However, as I got older, I began to see the value of having one. Coincidentally, over the past few years, a friend of mine has been urging me to try meditation as well as learn about some of the Buddhist teachings. I took to it almost immediately, as it didn't seem as 'restrictive' and 'invasive' as the religions I had come to know. I still joke around with people and tell them that you're not going to see me walking around in a red robe and a shaved head, but Buddhism has taught me a lot and I continue to read books and watch videos on it. Somewhere along the way, I came across the 'Zen Circle' and it seemed like it would make for a simple, nice-looking tattoo. Naturally, people always ask what does it mean and why did I get it. They have no idea what it is or even if it's complete. Like most people who have tattoos, I got it because I like what it represents (strength and enlightenment, for starters) and it IS done...haha. Anyway, Bella [Kozyreva] from Brooklyn Made [in Bay Ridge] did this one and while I envisioned it being smaller on my wrist, I really like how it came out."

Thanks to Sean for sharing his circular tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! Will we see more from him? Sean's final words on the subject were, "I'd say I am done with tattoos, but I said that after my first one too."

I'd add, every tattoo is your last tattoo, until you get the next one!

Minggu, 24 Februari 2013

Tattoosday Goes to L.A. - Jonathan Shares a Winged Dandy

I recently took a quick trip to California and had a chance to do some inkspotting along the way. There's nothing like breaking a winter slump like going to warmer climes!

My luck started at the airport, JFK Terminal 2, where I met Jonathan, who was happy to share this piece from his forearm:

The piece wraps around the arm a bit, so I did my best to collage the whole tattoo:

Jonathan is a graduate student in New York, getting his PhD. in Literature, with an emphasis on Queer Theory. He has three tattoos and they all feature these figures of Victorian Dandies.

All his work is done by Cris Cleen at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn. Jonathan told me that he liked Cleen's work with hybrids and loved his design of butterfly wings. This flying dandy is the end result.

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

This entry is ©2013 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.