Donna's Hamsa at Max's Bar Mitzvah

You'd think a bar mitzvah would be the last place I'd see interesting tattoos but, over the years, I've posted photos from work that I have encountered at such events. Today we have the third, from my friend Max's bar mitzvah, earlier this month in Brooklyn.

I was at the reception in the evening when I met Donna, who shared this, one of her many tattoos:

Donna credited this to Brian Paul, who works at Kings Avenue Tattoo in Massapequa. He splits his time between Kings Avenue's Long Island and Manhattan locations.

For those unfamiliar with this design, it's called a hamsa, and it is a popular talisman in Middle Eastern cultures, as well as in Judaism.

Donna explained a little bit more about the tattoo:

"By nature I am not a religious person but I am however a touch superstitious. I think it comes from growing up with a Jewish mother and a Jewish grandmother ... I felt like I really wanted something to help keep the 'evil' eye away. I really like the look of a cross but because I am not Christian I felt like it wouldn't be appropriate to get it tattooed on me. I like the clean lines of the hand and the tattoo artist and I personalized the inside of the hand. It took me a few months to get used to having it on my wrist but I absolutely LOVE it now!!! I get a lot of compliments on it." 

Indeed, it's not a huge piece, but it's very well done. I'd expect no less from an artist working at Kings Avenue - they're a top-notch custom shop.

Thanks to Donna for sharing her hamsa with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 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.

Two from Samanatha, Including a Tattoo for Bubbie

I met Samanatha last month in Penn Station and asked her about her many tattoos. She's 26, and has been getting inked since she was 18, and appears to be going at a steady clip, because she has a lot of great work.

She was kind enough to share two of her tattoos, both from her right arm. The first piece is this hamsa:

Samantha explained that she got this tattoo in memory of her grandmother, or "bubbie," as they're known among many Jewish grandchildren. Samanthha's bubbie passed away a few months ago. I asked her what she thought of her tattoos and she replied, "Well, being a Jewish bubbie, I don't think she was too excited about them, but I always asked her if, as long as she still loved me, then it was okay; and she always said, "ach, yeah."

This hamsa, a symbol often associated with luck and warding off the "evil eye," was inked by Josh Schlageter at Hand of Doom Tattoo in Buffalo.

Samantha also offered up this dragon tattoo:

She got this from Steve Boltz at Smith Street Tattoo Parlour in Brooklyn, explaining:

"It's called a  spaulding dragon - it's old sailor flash ... I just wanted to go to one of the guys that could do one really, really well. Everybody in the tattoo community up in Buffalo that I know said, 'you gotta go to Steve Boltz', so I traveled down here to got see him."

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

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site 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.