Kyle's Take on Heaven and Hell

I initially just saw the bottom of this tattoo, an inverted cityscape poking out from under a sleeve. Quite unusual, so I had to stop Kyle and ask. We were on 7th Avenue, and I was using the borrowed Sony Cyber-shot of a co-worker (thanks, Tina!). Kyle rolled up his sleeve and blew me away.

The detail and color of the tree were breath-taking. And if you click on the initial photo to enlarge it, the detail in the buildings is astonishing, with color on the billboards and light emanating from some of the tiny windows.


The concept behind this piece, Kyle explained, is that the country is Heaven and the city is Hell, separated by a layer of purgatorial clouds. He was raised in upstate New York, far from the five boroughs of New York City and its eight million-plus inhabitants.

This work was inked by Myles Karr at Saved Tattoo in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

Thanks to Kyle for sharing this piece with Tattoosday!

4th Event @ Chillies

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls of all ages who have helped in contributing to the counter hits by clicking on my site for the past year or so. I thank you all !!

The 4th Event - The Final Event. Immortal Nite @ Chillies !!

Before I start off, I just want to let you guys know, we were all wasted even before the whole tattoo event began for that night. How did we pull it off? Well, what can I say? Feast your eyes on the visuals!!

(*For those who don't know what the term "wasted" is, I don't wish to explain anyway.) Hehe !!

Dave - The Man - The Canvas - Al Pacino's Body Double !!

Yes !! We are the Golden Girls...

Naren - Ma' Boy !! ( The one who got the Dotted Chucky in my very first event )

Feeding Time for Ms.Kim - Oh No !!

No idea what they looking at, but ya...

Area is Reserved? Where did that come from?

Rock on !! Lets get the engine started !!

I have no memory of posing for this picture...Trust me!!

So here we go. Rain or shine or being wasted - Show must go on!

So this is what we have in the end..But, the Party doesn't stop here for us !!

I swear its just Lime Juice !! Ask Dave, he will tell you...

Too Much of Magic in the System !!

Rockin On with Kim !!

Dave - Partyin on !!

What can I say? Emo Moments? EMO SUCK !!

Without a doubt, Dave stole the night, going home wasted, getting tattooed and what more can you get?

Hereby, I am signing off again !! See ya'all again real soon !! Thanks for the support and Love ya'all !!

Burn My Body: Carson Honors a Difficult Decision

Needless to say, I was amazed.

Our paths intersected at 23rd and 7th around Noon. He had neck work and a sleeve, and an incredible lighthouse tattooed on the back of his left leg (for his fiancée, he later explained), but I didn't think I'd catch him. He was walking faster than me, and had earbuds in. I generally don't like to a) interrupt people listening to music and, b) chase them.

But I happened to be walking the same direction and, when I noticed he had stopped to look into the windows of Dan's Chelsea Guitars, condition "b" was no longer a factor.

I approached him, distracted him from his ear buds, and introduced myself. I forgave myself the interruption because his work was so well done.

As I always do, when speaking with folks with multiple tattoos, I asked him which meant the most, which piece I could feature here on Tattoosday. He acknowledged that he had a chest piece which was "in progress". Did he mind showing me on the street? As the photo above indicates, not at all.

Excuse my manners. I didn't introduce our host properly. The guy on the sidewalk displaying has tattoos just downstairs from the Hotel Chelsea was Carson James.

Carson is a Brooklynite that plays bass in a band called Tombs (click to hear some of their stuff on their MySpace page).

And when he pulled his shirt off, I was expecting a great chest piece, but nothing like what scrolled across his body.

Carson confirmed, the words were the complete lyrics to a song, "Burn My Body" by William Eliot Whitmore.


"What," I asked, "is the significance of this song that made you want to preserve it forever on you like this?"

He told me how, about two years ago, his younger brother, Trevor Lorne James, was killed in a motorcycle accident in New Jersey. His parents were understanably distraught over such a devastating event, and the decision fell to Carson - his brother's body was cremated.

Here are the lyrics to "Burn My Body":

Burn My Body

Burn my body in the northern field
and let the wind blow the ashes around
Then you will know that my wounds have been healed
'cause Lord I'll be homeward bound

Let the flames warm your hands
let the glow light your way
These gifts to you I bestow
No one's listening don't bother to pray
if you do I'll never know
Up and up the smoke will roll
like a cloud of frightened crows
carry my not so immortal soul
up between the rows

Some words that are said can cut like a saw
and my ears nearly bled at the sound
I can't help prepare for the springtime thaw
'cause Lord I'll be homeward bound
When frost turns to flowers and they all start to bloom
and there's nothing left to hold
tip one back and sing me a tune
and never let the fire grow cold

You can see a video of Whitmore performing the song here.

We talked about cremation and I asked if he had ever heard the poem "Cremation" by Robinson Jeffers (read it here). I promised to e-mail it to him later.

This piece, and most of Carson's work was inked by Thomas Hooper, an incredible tattooer who worked out of Frith Street Tattoo and Piercing in London, and now works out of New York Adorned's Brooklyn shop. You can see more of Hooper's amazing work on his web site here. The quality of Hooper's tattooing is truly awesome.


Carson also gave me some more background on his other work (which I did not photograph). His right arm is sleeved with a depiction of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and, as mentioned earlier, the lighthouse is for his fiancée.

It should also be noted that this is another first for Tattoosday, as Carson is the host here whose face is visible in a tattoo shot. Understandable (and appreciated) due to the size of the featured work.

Thanks so much to Carson for sharing his ink with us here at Tattoosday!

Galactus and Red Skull on The Right Arm of Thomas

Saturday night, I ran into Thomas, who was waiting for the B16 bus on 86th Street in Bay Ridge.

Thomas is a manager at Galaxy Collectibles in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The store specializes in comics and related items and Thomas' tattoos reflect his love of the Art of Comic Books.

Above we have the inner forearm, his right, which he has dubbed "The Bad Guy Arm".

On top is Galactus,


and below is Red Skull.


As he was showing me the tattoos, he was explaining the characters, where they first appeared, and who designed them.

Thomas explained that he didn't start out with the intention of having "themed" arms, but they just sort of "evolved". He started with Galactus, and then realized another piece just below it would make sense and fill the space neatly.

On his outer right forearm is the Green Goblin:



These were all inked by his friend Marc Redbeard at Groove Tattoo in Bay Ridge. Work from Groove has appeared previously here.

His next project is "The Good Guy Arm," his left, which already has a Superman logo and The Green Lantern.

Thanks to Thomas for sharing his cool ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Sun Tattoos

The sun plays in an important role in many cultures. Several prominent early civilizations were involved in worshiping the Sun - such as the Romans, the Egyptians, the Aztecs and the Incas. While other cultures also paid homage to the sun, in these specific areas, the Sun was their highest god.

In Rome, the sun god was Apollo. He was thought to bring the sun each morning in a chariot across the sky. He also was considered to be the god of healing and arts.

In Egypt, the god Ra was in charge of the sun. Ancient Egyptians believed that Ra went through various transformations throughout the day, just as the sun did. He was the most important of all of the Egyptian gods, and pharohs from the fifth dynasty forward took the title "Son of Ra".

In Aztec culture, Huitzilopochtli was the god of sun and war. The patron deity of the Aztecs, it was said that he was supposed to guide the Aztecs to a promised land in the south. Human sacrifices were at one time made to this god in hopes of winning wars.

The rich mythology surrounding the sun means there is a wealth of different tattoo styles that can be found depicting its image. Many choose to get the sun and moon depicted together, as they are complimentary and, in some cultures, symbolize male and female power.

Others choose the blocky, tribal style of Aztec suns. The sun can also be a symbol of rebirth, so some people choose to combine it with other imagery such as Celtic Knots and Stars. The light and dark, good and evil symbolism are also a reason that people are so drawn to these tattoos.

3rd Tattoo Event

Immortal Nite @ Chillies - 3rd Event !! Enjoy it !!

Starting off..

Closer to the End..

Highlights...

Last touchups...

That you see, Ladies and Gentlemen is a work done in 1 hr.

And what happens when you finish your job faster than expected? Well, You will start clowning around !! Welcome to my world !!

Rock on and suck on my boots !! Well, don't we all have "duties"?

This what happens when someone tries to imitate you. Haha !! And STOP looking at his crotch !!

Showing off the tattoo aren't you, Kim? Haha !! ( Thats the girl who got tattooed in my 2nd Event of Immortal Nite )

Well that's right. We are bunch of CamWhores - Representing Immortal Tattoos , Singapore!!

Signing Off - As we all are gettin ready to be wasted !! Or are we really? Hehehe !!

The Squid and the Elephant

A seriously long line at the Post Office cut into my outside time at lunch, which adversely affected my tattoo-spotting on Wednesday.

However, I took advantage of the long line at the Philatelic Window and introduced myself to Barrett, who offered up the tattoo above.

He has four tattoos, but this was the only one visible. It was inked about 13 years ago in his home in Colorado by a free-lance artist named Bryan Saren.

Mr. Saren is mentioned in several Durango, Colorado newspaper articles as a local artist and sculptor. I will assume its the same guy.

Barrett designed this piece himself and, although he acknowledges that it resembles the "tribal" category, he doesn't consider it a tribal tattoo.

He was just playing with the design and liked the end result, which is comprised of a melding of a squid and an elephant.

Look again:


The squid is at the tail end, or top of the piece. And the elephant is at the front. A closer look shows the center axis is comprised of the elephantine trunk, surrounded by two shorter, curving tusks.

No special significance to squid and elephant, just part of the design elements.

Thanks to Barrett for sharing his work with us here at Tattoosday!