Something Girly This Way Comes

I met Nadya one afternoon in the beginning of October in Borders on Penn Plaza.<br /><br />She shared this tattoo, which covered up a date she had initially inscribed on her arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkr-SG5ZGoMXJqRxiLKnrLEISDoOXB0fs-nypN_ZOaPznsYAUF_g-o3mMrrKVU5k2fwoeJkhlu72zLYc-b0WCuRQ8Sp5-D7cNruQgHSgsWcAfJvbhavAjy2iR8pQ7A6OgTqaiJTDdNIl8/s1600/Nadya+wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkr-SG5ZGoMXJqRxiLKnrLEISDoOXB0fs-nypN_ZOaPznsYAUF_g-o3mMrrKVU5k2fwoeJkhlu72zLYc-b0WCuRQ8Sp5-D7cNruQgHSgsWcAfJvbhavAjy2iR8pQ7A6OgTqaiJTDdNIl8/s640/Nadya+wm.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />Nadya told me that she wanted something "girly".<br /><br />What I found most interesting about this tattoo is that when I asked her who the artist was, she told me it was her father. I can't imagine tattooing my own daughter. I would be too nervous!<br /><br />Thanks to Nadya for sharing this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday.

Something Girly This Way Comes

I met Nadya one afternoon in the beginning of October in Borders on Penn Plaza. She shared this tattoo, which covered up a date she had init...

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Tammy's Earth Fairy

Tammy says that, within an hour of meeting her, Steve Gagliano of <a href="http://www.tormentedsoulstattoo.com/main.html">Tormented Souls</a> in Kings Park, New York, knew exactly what to do with the tattoo she wanted covered up. He began freehanding a design over the existing tattoo, and the end result made her very happy:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1VeqQCBJ1qFOyhu0ZZ7qCY7-QBEz5aOBW3Z01qTafqkw2xJ2TupjXXH-SQNT08c54Colsv9S3oPnwuZLgR4BwAuRjPO-bYQtDeDp96SFPkW_NgAvGpOvhR3Z5nGQXawmEP8AoNpB/s1600/Earth+Fairy+collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1VeqQCBJ1qFOyhu0ZZ7qCY7-QBEz5aOBW3Z01qTafqkw2xJ2TupjXXH-SQNT08c54Colsv9S3oPnwuZLgR4BwAuRjPO-bYQtDeDp96SFPkW_NgAvGpOvhR3Z5nGQXawmEP8AoNpB/s400/Earth+Fairy+collage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The artist utilized the tribal butterfly that already existed and expanded it into an earth fairy, with a dragon protector.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgA1cl7KsZK-PfmR8ZedmKi4cY4d1-4kZePP8Am29ZLOXvVn6ORzJHwYd2gc40YbuerLhpU5QOAv8YXOWHZsHuXycUi9ri1K3ve8NsawP5HB_sOWoJ4Vh1u-kOoMFuwZF3qYdShpk/s1600/Earth+Fairy+C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgA1cl7KsZK-PfmR8ZedmKi4cY4d1-4kZePP8Am29ZLOXvVn6ORzJHwYd2gc40YbuerLhpU5QOAv8YXOWHZsHuXycUi9ri1K3ve8NsawP5HB_sOWoJ4Vh1u-kOoMFuwZF3qYdShpk/s640/Earth+Fairy+C.jpg" width="402" /></a></div><br />Thanks to Tammy for sharing this, one of her seven tattoos, here on Tattoosday!<br /><br />Be sure to click on the <a href="http://www.tormentedsoulstattoo.com/main.html">Tormented Souls link</a> to explore their site. It's one of the more creative tattoo shop websites.

Tammy's Earth Fairy

Tammy says that, within an hour of meeting her, Steve Gagliano of Tormented Souls in Kings Park, New York, knew exactly what to do with the...

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Sasha's Cranes

I spotted this tattoo on the upper right arm of a Sasha in the Bay Ridge Century 21 store:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82Nb3wml5JbiXVauSDVA-Qbz56wypCzQzYbzgDN0w-iegCmTtEGiPkccTghc8ImCUEIh5t4sNmvb4jzfNu-oJug8YhMI4jPqBkq9-qZL92BIc2ExF2A865Dx7scpR-_5kA4xiKLY6/s1600/Cranes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82Nb3wml5JbiXVauSDVA-Qbz56wypCzQzYbzgDN0w-iegCmTtEGiPkccTghc8ImCUEIh5t4sNmvb4jzfNu-oJug8YhMI4jPqBkq9-qZL92BIc2ExF2A865Dx7scpR-_5kA4xiKLY6/s400/Cranes.jpg" width="348" /></a></div><br />I love the dark colors in the piece and wanted to hear more about it.<br /><br />Sasha explained that it is a cover-up of a moon tattoo, and that the design is Japanese in origin. The birds in the design are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_%28bird%29">cranes</a>, which have immense cultural and mythological significance. Among other valuable characteristics, cranes symbolize honor and loyalty.<br /><br />This is one of "at least eight" tattoos that Sasha has. The tattoo was inked by Maya at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/pages/Brooklyn-NY/Third-Eye-Tattoo/207106449186?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=7">Third Eye Tattoo</a> in Park Slope, Brooklyn. We've seen a lot of work by Lou at Third Eye <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/search/label/Third%20Eye%20Tattoo">here</a>, but this is the first piece, I believe, that we've featured from Maya.<br /><br />Thanks to Sasha for sharing her cranes with us here on Tattoosday!

Sasha's Cranes

I spotted this tattoo on the upper right arm of a Sasha in the Bay Ridge Century 21 store: I love the dark colors in the piece and wanted to...

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Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 5 (Ulu's Amazing Plumage)

In January 2008, when Tattoosday was a mere infant blog, my mother sent me photos of some of the ink my cousins possessed.<br /><br />I already shared Keali'i's sleeves here, but included in that email from Mom was this astonishing piece from his kid sister, my niece, Ulu:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtGCZm_qH_uGNx-gDv6e6a629v8QuDytRiSzJdgjjag828GIEKiawPbfUt26oEuq1Y3J-Z-HAcwCmQvSoBJCbxW3nIdiy5ythcpEhEqG96xHj-pc9a3Mt7hXqSnOGTrrWi5KdJ2lmj/s1600/Ulu+Feather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtGCZm_qH_uGNx-gDv6e6a629v8QuDytRiSzJdgjjag828GIEKiawPbfUt26oEuq1Y3J-Z-HAcwCmQvSoBJCbxW3nIdiy5ythcpEhEqG96xHj-pc9a3Mt7hXqSnOGTrrWi5KdJ2lmj/s400/Ulu+Feather.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Photo by Diane Scrafton Cohen Ferreira</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I reached out to Ulu (which is a shortened version of her middle name, Uluwehi, which is abbreviated from her full middle name, Kamali'iwahineuluwehi) and we exchanged messages, but we never connected to discuss the tattoo. Then, last month, I was in Hawai'i, at the home of Ulu and her husband Travis.<br /><br />For the record, despite my inkspotting ways, I was never sure if I'd have the opportunity on this trip to document all my nieces' and nephews' ink. I knew I'd be seeing them, but my purpose for doing so was not tattoo-related.<br /><br />But as you may have read over the last week, there I was at Ulu and Travis's place, hanging out with family, and the subject turned inky, and out came the camera.<br /><br />Still, I wasn't sure I would be seeing the tattoo from my mom's photo - Ulu was wearing a dress and I'm always walking on eggshells when it comes to lower back tattoos. But I was taking pictures of everyone else's tattoos and Ulu's back piece was mentioned. She happily changed into sweats so I could take a closer look at this amazing peacock feather tattoo:<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrEm6qMVNn9t9LmWY3bRs5OAsNPyLB1JOyJmDNLxPKkmV6en5haJdTlw_35WC4QlFWk65WvqQPC6zT9-XJhGx5P9-uDcGLYLuYg9gyTjEWLSqegC9KUa_rIy99wHcrKQgl0GNzfd7/s1600/Ulu+Feather+Crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrEm6qMVNn9t9LmWY3bRs5OAsNPyLB1JOyJmDNLxPKkmV6en5haJdTlw_35WC4QlFWk65WvqQPC6zT9-XJhGx5P9-uDcGLYLuYg9gyTjEWLSqegC9KUa_rIy99wHcrKQgl0GNzfd7/s400/Ulu+Feather+Crop.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />One of the things I had always wondered was how far around the feather went. I got my answer soon enough:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIB4jqkRBGDIKpvVY3XQS62xRKllQhyMt1nuWKGuDgIm_wgHF2CkP-Dk6iVL-XNibkX7oBkzjy45gOMo5ILpmHn1Ix-rMk_ystpqwGxB_W4PWR2cxnyk2im6tLa63ZMV8jpDXIA9Up/s1600/Ulu+Feather+Wraparound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIB4jqkRBGDIKpvVY3XQS62xRKllQhyMt1nuWKGuDgIm_wgHF2CkP-Dk6iVL-XNibkX7oBkzjy45gOMo5ILpmHn1Ix-rMk_ystpqwGxB_W4PWR2cxnyk2im6tLa63ZMV8jpDXIA9Up/s400/Ulu+Feather+Wraparound.jpg" width="335" /></a></div><br /><br />As you can see the tattoo dips gracefully down after it rounds the hip. I'm glad I got to see this side because I was able to capture the detail in the color and the tiny pink butterfly near the tip of the quill:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6QgeIyoVETcpTSwpQhDTkRA5yyjhClRd8I1te3ROGYuVZk4Teexr863Q2X96iMhBtGVjwIEi5RVrP6z61eHMjV8xWlso484Wt0aUB6RMEd0onp9vXNMFVsdmLaxOIJO9ppEhXP4uo/s1600/Ulu+Feather+Wraparound+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6QgeIyoVETcpTSwpQhDTkRA5yyjhClRd8I1te3ROGYuVZk4Teexr863Q2X96iMhBtGVjwIEi5RVrP6z61eHMjV8xWlso484Wt0aUB6RMEd0onp9vXNMFVsdmLaxOIJO9ppEhXP4uo/s400/Ulu+Feather+Wraparound+detail.jpg" width="366" /></a></div><br /><br />Ulu got this, aside from the beauty of it, to cover up a "tramp stamp" [her words, not mine - no angry comments, please]. The original piece is covered by the eye of the peacock feather.<br /><br />The artist responsible for this incredible tattoo is <a href="http://www.myspace.com/libratat2">Libra</a>, who freelances in Hawai'i, but occasionally does guest spots at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/808tattoohawaii">808 Tattoo</a>, and was at <a href="http://www.eastsidetattoostudio.com/artists.html">East Side Tattoo Studio</a> at the time this was done.<br /><br />In that original email from Grandma Diane (my mom), she also included the tattoos of Travis, Ulu's husband.<br /><br />I had never met Travis before, but was welcomed by him as one of the family. I took my own photo of the forearm ink he wears, also by Libra, in honor of his and Ulu's children, Ezra and Trinity.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsX4VHGJ-Yu8dPySzh3qRkdaHRmvKzNo-L-9GRlPjY_6YyiDRO-HzwahlBdgdBFFDnftvhJSbbPDeHfHw4IJkXpxorzOgn6FwNRirEDN7ioM3UwWVbl2HiVvkdJRPxz1ygVCCet6A/s1600/Travis+-+Ezra+Trinity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsX4VHGJ-Yu8dPySzh3qRkdaHRmvKzNo-L-9GRlPjY_6YyiDRO-HzwahlBdgdBFFDnftvhJSbbPDeHfHw4IJkXpxorzOgn6FwNRirEDN7ioM3UwWVbl2HiVvkdJRPxz1ygVCCet6A/s400/Travis+-+Ezra+Trinity.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>My deepest and most sincere thanks to both Travis and Ulu, not only for their hospitality and kindness, but for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday.<br /><br />This concludes the "All in the Family" subset of the Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i series. A warm <i>mahalo</i> to all of my nieces and nephews for letting their mainland uncle help share their tattoos with the Tattoosday community. <br /><br />Previously in the <i>Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family</i> series:<br /><br /><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-goes-to-hawaii-all-in-family.html">Part 1, A Preface</a> <br /><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-goes-to-hawaii-all-in-family_19.html">Part 2, Keali'i's Sleeves</a><br /><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-goes-to-hawaii-all-in-family_21.html">Part 3, Ikaika, In Progress</a><br /><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-goes-to-hawaii-all-in-family_23.html">Part 4, Lehua's Eternal Tribute to Poppa John</a>

Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 5 (Ulu's Amazing Plumage)

In January 2008, when Tattoosday was a mere infant blog, my mother sent me photos of some of the ink my cousins possessed. I already shared ...

Read more »