Inked Up Angels: Part 1, Pink's X-Men

Back in April, I ran into two young ladies in Penn Station. Both were significantly tattooed and I was delighted when they agreed to talk to me and allowed me to snap a few photos.

In order to give each woman her proper due, I'll start with "Pink", who showed me her tattoo first.

Actually, she was already showing her tattoos. With a full leg sleeve and an estimated eleven pieces in all (approximately), she already had a lot of ink on full display.

She showed me her right bicep to exhibit the following piece in progress:


Pink advised me that this is a tattoo of Gambit and Rogue. Shwoing my ignorance, I questioned who they were, assuming they were characters from a comic. I was in the right neighborhood, as they are characters from the X-Men.

This piece was tattooed by Pat Sheridan at The White Lotus Tattoo & Art Gallery in Toms River, New Jersey.

As it turns out, both Pink and her friend Kat are part of a group called The Inked Up Angels (their MySpace page is here). The Inked Up Angels can best be described as a gathering of young ladies with tattoos who model, but without the nudity of the Suicide Girls.

If you head over to their MySpace page and root around the photos section, you'll see more pictures of Pink, including some cool shots where her other tattoos are viewable.

And, stay tuned for part two of this post, where Pink's friend Kat unveils what I can safely say is one of the most amazing tattoos I've ever had the pleasure to capture for Tattoosday.

Thanks again to Pink for sharing her work with us here!

The Ship Keeps Sailing Along (Revisiting Carrie's Ribcage)

Last September, I posted this amazing tattoo:


If you missed it the first time around, go back and read the full post here before proceeding...

There.

Did you read/reread it? Good.

This is what it looks like now:


One of the great things about writing this blog, besides meeting people with incredible tattoos, is that some of the tattooed subjects become friends. Carrie and I have stayed in touch and we chat from time to time. She even submitted the tattoos she and her husband received as wedding gifts (this post here).

As for this updated version of the pirate ship, the first post was done in two sittings and she has had two more to add the color, about 4 hours worth of work on the color. She estimates (and hopes) that one more sitting will take care of filling in the rest of the ship and the top sail.

As mentioned in the first post, this piece is the work of Charles "Chuck" Denise at Revolver Tattoo in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Thanks again to Carrie for updating us here at Tattoosday on the progress of this phenomenal tattoo!

Ricky & Jessica's Matching Nightmarish Tattoos

I met Jessica and Ricky outside of Penn Station during the last week of April.

I had spotted one of Ricky's four tattoos on his right bicep:


This is, of course, a tattoo based on the great film A Nightmare Before Christmas, with the character Jack Skellington in the foreground and his girlfriend Sally in the background, standing on the recognizable Tim Burton hill.


What's particularly cool about the leering Jack tattoo is that it was inked at the same time as Ricky's girlfriend Jessica's piece:


This tattoo, one of eleven that Jessica sports, is on her right ankle. The design is similar, with the hill in the background, only the roles are reversed.

In the foreground is Sally, and Jack stands in the background.

The two tattoos, a matching set, were customized for the couple that sports them by Sean at Spanky's Tattoo Studio in Camden, New Jersey.

As a fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, I totally appreciate the representation of the two main characters in ink, and the romantic in me loves the fact that Jessica and Ricky expressed their relationship in this fashion (Full disclosure: my wife and I have matching Jack and Sally coffee mugs).

A Nightmare Before Christmas tattoo has appeared on the blog previously here.

Thanks to Ricky and Jessica for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Before & After Henna Tattoo Photos

This first photo show the first part of the henna tattoo process after the paste has been applied to the skin.

This tattoo was done rather late at night, so the modl left the henna paste on her skin, wearing white cotton socks to bed so that she could get the darkest stain possible.

For good color, that being deep rich color, the longer the paste can interact with the skin, the darker the finished color should be.


In this photo you are able to see the beginning color of a henna tattoo after the paste is removed. As you can see, the henna paste left on the skin for a period of hours leave a bright orange stain on the tops of the feet.

This bright color will darken over the next 48 hours to a deeper color, providing that some aftercare is taken. In general, it is best to apply olive oil over the finished henna twice a day or more. It is very important to do this before bathing.

Other tips to help your color develop are to keep the tattoo warm ( some clients use a blow dryer to heat up the skin after the paste is removed to deepen the color, ) avoid chlorinated water & especially avoid skin products that contain petroleum ( this includes most all American skin lotions & creams.)

The text & photos on this blog are copyrighted by Ann George Studios, Inc and the artists of Spirit Vision Henna. They may not be used without permission.

Namaste

Ronda's Olympic Tattoos

As many of my resources were tied up with the Tattooed Poets Project in April, I kept my encounters with random tattooed people in New York to a minimum, saving them for special occasions.

However, I couldn't resist on Tuesday, April 21, when I spotted a familiar symbol on the right ankle of a woman in the Amtrak section of Penn Station:


Those are, of course, the recognizable Olympic rings.

One can imagine how pleased I was when the individual to whom this tattoo belonged was open to discussing not only her tattoos, but their significance.

For Ronda Rousey, like many athletes (see this New York Times article here), getting tattoos to commemorate attendance and participation in the Olympics, is a rite of passage.

But Ronda isn't just any Olympic athlete. She participated in both the 2004 games in Athens, and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In fact, she won the Bronze Medal in China in the sport of judo (middleweight division)

and became the first American woman ever to medal in that event.

She actually has at least three pieces that circumvent circumnavigate her ankle. The tail end of one can be seen to the left of the Olympic rings. Here's the beginning (and majority) of the slogan:


That is "Citius, Altius, Fortius," which is the motto of the modern Olympic games. Translated into English it means "Swifter, Higher, Stronger".

Also on the ankle is a third element, which is a Greek head garland:


This is a symbol of the 2004 Athens games, at which Ronda also competed.

She did not medal that year, but she was also the youngest, at 17, judo competitor in the Games, and was a rising star.

A resident of Los Angeles, Ronda had all three tattoos done at Ink Monkey Tattoo in Venice, California.

On a side note, personally, I always get a charge out of meeting a complete stranger and talking to them about their tattoos. That excitement is the fuel that energizes the Tattoosday experience for me.

Days later, I was still pumped about meeting an Olympic athlete. Most Olympians will say they're just like everyone else, normal folks like you and me. But, I beg to differ. Ronda isn't a member of the "Dream Team" or a star in track or gymnastics or beach volleyball or any of the "marquis" events. Nonetheless, here is a woman who participates in a sport and, in August 2008, was one of the top three women in the world in that event. She accomplished what so many athletes aspire to. She stood on a podium and even though the Star-Spangled Banner wasn't blaring on the P.A. system, she wore a medal around her neck and saw the American flag raised because of her remarkable athletic accomplishment.

It is an honor to have her featured here on Tattoosday and I thank her profusely, from the bottom of my tattoo-loving heart.

Click here to see a recap of Ronda's Olympic medal run, including a glimpse of the medal ceremony.

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

Arm Jewelry - a henna tattoo pattern for the inner arm

Here is a henna tattoo pattern for the inner arm. It is a free hand design which took about ten minutes from start to finish. The pattern flows with the muscle structure of the client, as well ... the energy flow of this particular goddess who was just open to what ever art seemed right for the day.

One of the blessings of doing henna in Five Points is that more & more clients are choosing henna as living art - thus art for art's sake, or as a means of self-expression. Sometimes just as a treat, a bit of pampering that takes one on the evolutionary journey of Mehandi, or henna tattoo.

If you have never had henna before, then you see in this photo what appears to be a black tattoo. What you are really seeing is a photo of henna paste still on the skin. Under the paste, the henna mixture is interacting with the skin. Henna is a heat activated body dye that penetrates the skin.

The hotter the skin is, the more the pores open, and the deeper the final color. Also, in warm weather, we may sweat a bit, and this helps to keep the paste moist on the skin. When the paste is moist, it can easily stain the skin. This is why lemon sugar is applied after the paste is a bit dry... to keep it moist & active. Also, the sugar in the glaze helps keep the henna from falling off the skin.

At present, henna tattoo is offer only on Saturdays on a walk-in basis at 1055 Park Street, The Midnight Sun, in Five Points, Riverside, Jacksonville, Florida. Please feel welcome to call (904) 993-7466 for more information.

Ashley's Two Little Birds

Last July, I met two tattooed women, Becky and Ashley, outside of Borders (Becky's post is here, Ashley's is here) on Penn Plaza.

A few months later, in one of my more embarrassing moments as an ink-spotter, I approached Becky again, outside of Macy*s, and asked her about her tattoos. She reminded me that she was already featured on Tattoosday, and I reddened, apologized, and moved on. In my defense, the tattoo I featured was on her foot, and it was covered in the subsequent encounter.

Flash forward to the last Friday in April, and I spotted both Ashley and Becky again, outside of Macy*s. I wasn't sure, but something seemed familiar, so I approached cautiously. Becky had dyed her black, so my failure to identify the two of them immediately was again explainable.

But unlike the previous encounter with Becky, this time I wasn't embarrassed and Ashley volunteered her two newest tattoos.

Ashley, a make-up artist, about two months ago, had two small "Mom" and "Dad" tribute tattoos inked behind her ears. Mom is on the left:


And Dad is on the right:


The birds remind her of something that her mother would tell her when she was a little girl. She would tell Ashley that if she wasn't good, the birds would get her. That, combined with the small forget-me-nots, make these small, pretty, tattoos nice tributes to her parents.

The work was done by Mohawk John at Three Kings Tattoo in Brooklyn. Work from Three Kings has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Ashley for re-visiting us here on Tattoosday and sharing her newest tattoos!