Caitlin and Her Friends Ask With a Tattoo

I love textual tattoos and am more inclined to stop people who have words inscribed on their flesh.

Caitlin, for example, had these words tattooed on the backs of her legs:

Her left leg reads "nature is a language" and her right leg asks "can't you read?"

About eight years ago, Caitlin told me, she and two of her friends all got this same tattoo, which references lyrics from "Ask" by The Smiths. The work was done by an artist at Bodytech Tattooing and Piercing in Gainesville, Florida. We featured work from the same shop here back in 2008.

Here's the video from the song:



Thanks to Caitlin for sharing this lyrical tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2013 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.

Anna's Ship, With a Nod to a Favorite Song

Yesterday I posted Bjorn's Michael Jackson Thriller tattoo. When I met him, walking on the Coney Island Boardwalk, he was accompanied by Anna, who also had quite a few tattoos. She offered up this one on her left thigh:

The banner around this classic ship tattoo reads "Yo no soy marinero soy el capitán."

This is a refrain from the Richie Valens song "La Bamba," and is translated as "I am not a sailor, I am a captain." This was Anna's favorite song when she was a kid.

She credited this cool tattoo to Nick Caruso, when he was at Flyrite Tattoo in Brooklyn. Nick has since left Flyrite and opened up Bound for Glory Tattoo in Staten Island.

Thanks to Anna for sharing this awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©2012 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.

Update from the Mermaid Parade, 2012

Yesterday I attended the 30th Annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. It was my first excursion to Coney Island for this specific occasion and, let me say, it is sensory overload, especially if you are interested in tattoos.

Fueled by Coney Island lager, I managed to meet a few people, take photos, and even get some ink stories for future enjoyment. What you'll see here today are pictures of people and tattoos of folks who I have no information on. I gave them cards and fliers, so I'm hoping seeing their photos here will prompt them to reach out to me so I can give their tattoos proper Tattoosday treatments.

First I want to share my favorite pic of the day:

That would be a sailor kissing a mermaid. But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the cool New York City tattoo, with the Chrysler Building prominently displayed.

Here's a random shot from the parade on Surf Avenue:

I snapped this tattoo on the Boardwalk:

After taking this picture, I turned on my voice recorded and said, "Bailey Robinson, um, out on the Boardwalk. I have no idea what I just took a picture of. It was really cool and there's tattoos everywhere. Bye."

A day later, I can clarify this. It's obviously a circus lady sitting on an elephant. Bailey Hunter Robinson is a Brooklyn-based tattoo artist, and he actually posted this piece on his website when he first outlined it here.

From the Boardwalk I headed to the Tattoo Shot Lounge to cool off and regroup.

Hanging out there, I met a lot of people, two of whom shared their tattoos. The place was loud and I have no information on these tattoos:

I did find out that "Attempting to discover where to begin" were song lyrics and a little research reveals that the words are from the song "Waiting" by an artist named City and Colour.

Perhaps I'll hear from these inked women who can give me a little more info about their tattoos.

I also met Katy, who got this tattoo in Arizona:

And from the inside of her arm:

Stay tuned in the weeks ahead to see more tattoos spotted at the parade.

Thanks to all of the participants in the Coney Island Mermaid Parade who allowed me to photograph them, and who spoke to me about their tattoos!

This entry is ©2012 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.

Crystal's Ice-Bat and Gloomy Bear (with a Nod to The Academy Is)

These tattoos, belonging to Crystal, date back to an encounter I had with her on the R train in Brooklyn back in June. She has 14 tattoos, and first shared this one, on her inner right forearm:

What is this? I'll let Crystal explain:

“It’s an Ice-Bat  [one of the Uglydolls] with the words ‘Dream of demons / while you sleep / that make you / stutter / when you speak’ – they’re lyrics from a song [“Down and Out”] by The Academy Is, a Chicago band. My best friend and I actually have the same words, different design on her arm. We met in Chicago … it’s kind of a way to show our support for the band but also for our friendship to each other.”  

Incidentally, The Academy Is announced just last week that, after eight years, they were breaking up.


This piece was done at The Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Company, but Crystal doesn't recall the name of the artist who did the tattoo.


She also shared this chest piece:

Again, Crystal explains it best:

 “I got started on it when I was 19 and I was in Atlanta and had just started college and went through a rebellious phase. … I’m in love with the main character which is Gloomy Bear … Gloomy Bear is kind of the doll that controls the boy…..”

More on Gloomy Bear can be learned on its designer Mori Chack's wikipedia page.

Thanks to Crystal for sharing her ink with us here on Tattoosday!


Here's a little bonus, The Academy Is performing "Down and Out" at an in-store event:

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.