Girls tattoos, tattoo styles, tattoo artists and tattoo shops

For several years, I had an idea that was pretty crazy, but I promised myself I would do ... one of these days.

The idea was this: Spend a day inkspotting, but follow specific guidelines. Namely, get on the New York City subways, get to an "A" train, and find someone with a tattoo, and interview them. Once that task was accomplished, switch to a "B" train. Repeat and follow the same pattern, until I got through the alphabet. Go A through Z. Make a day of it!

Considering a "good" day of inkspotting is interviewing 2 or 3 people, and the most I have ever done was 13 at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, this seemed like an impossible task. Not to mention, I have found subway riders tend to be a little more reluctant to talk to people about their tattoos than those above ground.

But before I dismissed the idea entirely, the reality was this: although there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, on weekdays there are only sixteen lettered trains. Currently, there are no H, I, K, O, P, T, U, V, Y, or X trains. So, really, the target is 16, which, though daunting, is still more doable than 26.

This summer, the time seemed ripe. I had a lot of available time off from work. I decided I had to do this on a weekday because a) the trains are more crowded and thus there would be more potential interviewees; b) there are also more trains to accommodate the ridership and c) the B, M, and Z trains are weekday only, so doing this on the weekend would seem a bit of a cop-out. And yes, I realize, I am not even talking about the trains numbered 1 through 7, but I just wanted to see if I could do the alphabet first.

Timing is everything, as well, and I had to pick a day when the temperature was in the upper 80's or 90's. The warmer it gets, the more ink you see. That's just a general rule.

So, as part of our 10-year anniversary celebration, I tried it on a warm day in August.

Did I accomplish it? You'll have to read to the end of the post to know for sure.

I am posting this introduction, and I will follow it with individual posts until I am finished, but I will add the new post to this one each day. The end result will be this very long, complete (or incomplete post), followed by individual posts documenting the experiment.

Thank you for indulging me, dear readers! Enjoy the journey!

To be continued....

This entry is �2017 Tattoosday.

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I stopped to talk to Mat on Broad Street earlier this week after noticing he had some nice tattoos on his arms.

However, he surprised me with this magnificent work on his whole torso:

Mat, a pastry chef from France, credited the work to Lucky Sailor Tattoo (@luckysailortattooparlor) in Nice.

Merci beaucoup to Mat for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is �2017 Tattoosday.

Last week on Broad Street in lower Manhattan, I met Barbara and Natalia, two tourists from Brazil, sporting a couple of awesome tattoos.

It was Barbara's mermaid tattoo that first caught my eye:

Barbara told me she likes mermaids, the sea, and the old-school style of tattooing. She credited the work to an artist named Nahu (@nahu.nah) at Casamata Tattoo in Florian�polis, the capital of Santa Catarina, in Brazil.

Barbara's friend Natalia, also shared an awesome tattoo:

Natalia works on a cruise ship and she told me she loves lighthouses and the sea. This was also tattooed at Casamata, but by a different artist named Otto.

Thanks to Barbara and Natalia for kindly sharing their cool nautical tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is �2017 Tattoosday.

Back from TOX CIT' INK? tattoo convention in Li�ge (Belgium)... Great convention... Thanx to Jean Pierre Mottin? and all the attentive team... Definitely one of the best european event....

Summer is winding down, but we still have a lot of tattoos to share from the past several months, including this beauty from Mike, who I met at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (@mermaidparade) back in June:

As Mike explained to me, there was a tapestry on the wall of his godmother's house. He took it to his tattoo artist, Magie Serpica (@magiseserpica.tattoo) and she put it over his heart.

Magie is an old friend of Tattoosday, and she owns and tattoos out of Milk and Honey Tattoo Parlour (@milkandhoneytattoo) in Staten Island, New York. Milk and Honey is notable, not only for its talented artists, but because it is a solely woman-owned shop in an industry that has few such businesses (although that number is growing).

Mike is a photographer and you can check him out here.

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

This entry is �2017 Tattoosday.

There are a lot of great resources on the internet to help you decide on a new tattoo. I recently discovered one called Tattoo Font Maker that is one of the best resources I've found online to help with tattoo design.

This name of the site only scratches the surface of what it can actually do for you as someone looking for a new tattoo. Fonts and text are only one of numerous designs that are available to download and experiment with.

One of the most frustrating things for tattoo artists is not understanding what the customer really wants. Now someone can walk into a shop fully prepared with a design in hand, a great tool for both you and your artist in knowing what it is you really want on your body.

The website, Tattoo Font Maker, comes with a fully-loaded editing tool called "Tattoo Builder" that allows you to play with fonts and designs, and place them on your own photo, which you can upload and build into the generator.

You can also utilize a full library of inspirational and memorable quotes, dozens of basic designs, and pages and pages of downloadable fonts. Once you've designed your tattoo, you can share your creation on social media, if you like.

What's truly remarkable is that this resource is completely free. It's hard to beat that!

Whether you are someone looking to design their first tattoo, or a tattoo artist looking for a platform to help you with designing, the Tattoo Font Maker is a valuable tool that can make the process fun and exciting.

Be sure to head over to Tattoo Font Maker (http://www.tattoofontmaker.com/) to check it out and get started on your new tattoo!

Noon, un grand merci � toi de m'avoir r�par� � travers l'une de tes oeuvres, merci !!

A year ago today, our family was shocked to learn that our cousin Beth had passed unexpectedly over night.

Although she was my wife Melanie's cousin, Beth's personality and caring nature had endeared her to me and to m y children, as well. But that was who Beth was, she drew you in. She cared. She was family.

Beth and I bonded over tattoos and she first appeared on Tattoosday in 2011 in this post that featured a Yankees logo shaded with the stars and stripes.

Last year I had taken a photo of her most recent tattoo, but didn't post it when she was still alive. But when I did post it at the end of the year, I was able to follow it the next day with my wife Melanie's lovely tribute tattoo for her here.

My younger daughter, Shayna, was a kindred spirit with Beth, as their love of the New York Yankees was a common thread that they shared.

Shayna turned eighteen earlier this year and did not wait long to get her first tattoo.

She chose to take the opportunity to honor Beth by replicating the tattoo we all knew and loved on the same spot that Beth had hers. Shayna's new tattoo is below, with Beth's below that:

Shayna's tattoo was inked by Alex McWatt from Three Kings Tattoo in the East Village.

Shayna sat like a champ, as they say, and I know that Beth would have been proud of her and tickled to see her honoring her this way.

She was taken from us too soon. We have the memories, but Melanie and Shayna also have the tattoos that serve as tributes for our cousin who lit up the room with her smile and brought everyone together.

We miss you Beth!

This entry is �2017 Tattoosday.