Marius Shares a Sugar Skull from Germany

I met Marius, a tourist from Germany, outside of Federal Hall, after spotting his tattoo:

He told me that this tattoo is five years old, and the colors are still bright and vibrant, so he is very happy with it.  It is a very interesting and creative take on a sugar skull.

He credited the work to Hennes Wasserme (@HennesTrueLove), an artist at True Love Tattoo (@TrueLoveTattooDuesseldorf) in D�sseldorf, Germany.

Marius told me he likes Hennes' work because he does "good, old-fashioned tattoos," as opposed to the newer art brut style of tattoo that many European artists have embraced.

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

Correction: An earlier version of this post credited the work to Olaf Lobe (@OlafTrueLove). It has been updated to reflect Hennes Wasserme as the artist.

This entry is �2017 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.

Luke's Sugar Skull (Tattoosday Walks Into a Bar)

It has been a while since we had a post from our occasional series Tattoosday Walks into a Bar.

Last Sunday I found myself at the Whole Foods in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Upstairs is a venue that includes a taproom, called The Roof

Luke, one of the bartenders, had this cool sugar skull tattoo on his forearm:

He credited the work to Jim White (@JIMWHITETATTOOIST) at Rivington Tattoo (@RivingtonTattoo) in Manhattan. Luke really likes the colors and thinks sugar skulls are "really cool." I tend to agree.

As for the beer, I had this delicious brew:

That's a Folklore, from Stillwater Artisanal Ales (@stillwater_artisanal).

It was really delicious. Called "an untraditional stout," I found it very flavorful, rich, and a little smoky. I highly recommend it!

Thanks to Luke for sharing his cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! Thanks also to the good people at The Roof, and the folks at Stillwater Artisanal for producing such a tasty beer!

This entry is �2017 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.

A Sugar Skull for Beth

Yesterday we shared our late cousin Beth's tattoo (here).

After her funeral, my wife Melanie was talking with her tattoo artist Thomas "Thomi Hawk" Hickey, and she knew she wanted a new tattoo paying tribute to her cousin.

Although she would have loved to have something from Thomi, it was logistically challenging, as we do not have a car and Thomi works out of New Jersey. The idea for a tribute evolved to include several ideas and, eventually, Melanie knew what she wanted. The question was, who would be the best artist for the job?

In the end, the answer was simple, and we headed back to Three Kings Tattoo in the East Village to meet with Alex McWatt, the artist who did Melanie's previous tattoo,

She consulted with him first to come up with a basic concept and talk about the elements she wanted incorporated into the piece, and then a few weeks later, she was back in the shop, with that old familiar sound of a tattoo machine buzzing in her ear.

Alex McWatt in Action

And when she first saw it, she was pleased:

This is the tattoo, as it was first completed:

And a healed version, from a different angle:

Melanie wanted a Sugar Skull to honor Beth. Beth's favorite holiday was Halloween, and the sugar skull is associated with the Mexican celebration of D�a de los Muertos, which coincides with Halloween,and All Saints' Day in early November, when people gather together to remember, honor and celebrate friends and family members who have died.

Because we are Jewish, Alex replaced the cross often found in sugar skulls with a Star of David. The paw print in the middle of the star is an homage to Beth and her wrist tattoo, shared yesterday, which Alex used as a reference to add to the design.

Melanie also asked for the spider, perched on top of the rose, also as a nod to Beth and her love of Halloween. One of Beth's sisters told us that, when they went to Beth's house after the funeral, there were a lot of spiders around the house, and that they had never noticed spiders there before.

Melanie loves her new tattoo and wears it proudly as a fitting tribute to Beth.

Thanks to Alex at Three Kings, who we cannot praise enough, for his fine work.

We miss you Beth, but Melanie's sugar skull makes us smile and think of you. We know you'd love it too.

This entry is �2016 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.

Melanie's Owl, Melanie's Heart

I met Melanie last week on the subway platform at Broad Street. She had a couple really cool tattoos that she let me snap photos of, and she filled me in later on the details.

Fist up is this really cool owl tattoo with a sugar skull belly:

Melanie explains:

"The truth is, I have always had an obsession with owls. There is something about their quiet wisdom that intrigued me. They possess secrets and messages that are meant to be told to the right person at the right time. When my father passed, I was always searching for something, for answers. My dad had all the answers and life lessons for everything. Maybe that is why I identify with owls; because in some way, they remind me of my dad; wise with hidden knowledge. I wouldn�t say I wasn�t that young when my father died, I was 24, but I still had a lot of learning and growing up to do. I was lost for a long time and would go on random walks to think, search for things that would fill a void that was left in my life. One night, I was walking down the street when I looked up in the darkness of a tall tree and all I could see was the bright eyes on an owl. At that moment, I felt as if the owl was staring right at me and calming me in a way that my father would; making me feel as if every thing is going to be ok because he will always be there to protect me. So I decided, for protection, for wisdom, for life lessons, I could keep my wise owl close to me on my shoulder."

Then, there is this nifty tattoo on her inner arm:

Melanie told me:

"Art always gave me an outlet to express my feelings. If I felt depressed or broken, happy or loved, I would sketch, draw or paint. I never had a good way with words, but I could express feelings and things dear to my heart with art."

Both tattoos were done by Matt Huff (@matthufftattoo) from Brooklyn Ink  (@OriginalBrooklynInk) in Bay Ridge. Work from Matt has appeared on Tattoosday previously here, and art from the shop has been featured numerous times over the years,as evidenced here.

Thanks to Melanie for sharing these cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is �2016 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.

Sugar Skull Marilyn and Edward Scissorhands

Earlier this week, Marilyn Monroe would have celebrated her 90th birthday. It seems fitting to acknowledge that she is one of those icons that I most often see tattooed on people, like this Day of the Dead version I spotted on Savanna last week downtown on Broad Street:

She credited this to an artist under the moniker Suzi Tattuzi. "I like Marilyn and I like sugar skulls too," Savanna told me, and Suzi ran with it.

She also shared this cover-up that was done by a friend of a friend:

That, of course, is Edward Scissorhands, covering three small butterflies on her forearm.

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

This entry is �2016 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.