Tattoo Coomments: 2008-06-22

Introducing Fabiana's Ink

My wife, Melanie, in the course of her daily travels, has the chance to speak with lots of people. Occasionally, they will talk tattoos, and she often promotes Tattoosday by handing out fliers to The Inked.

One such acquaintance is Fabiana, who has a whole of slew of tattoos. She has viewed Tattoosday, and has sent me multiple photos of her work. The above detail is from a piece on her upper left arm.

Here's a section not visible in the long view, from the inner part of the top of the shoulder/bicep:

Fabiana gets her work done at Third Eye Tattoo in Brooklyn. This piece consists of a butterfly, a rose, a sunflower, and some other flowers.

Here's their story...

"The flowers I just got about 1 month ago are Lilies! I love lilies. They are so beautiful! They are my fav! Purple is my favorite color and orange is my girlfriend's...so I got purple and orange for her!

Underneath that is my butterfly!

That tat was actually from about 6 years ago when I was with a different girl....we decided one day to get matching tats! NOT a good idea, she broke my heart! So I decided after a couple of years to have it covered up! I love butterflies, so my tat guy made it into a big beautiful butterfly, and added a pink rose as well. Under that tat I have my giant sunflower.

The sunflower I got for my ex-girlfriend Jill! We were together for 5 and a half years. All throughout our relationship she would call me sunshine...In that sunflower I also have a ladybug, that is for my twin sister... she loves ladybugs so I added one in!"

Thanks to Fabiana for sharing her ink here on Tattoosday! Stay tuned for more of her tattoos in the future. There's more to share!

Last Friday, I did my civic duty and served jury duty for Kings County Supreme Court. We were assembled and shown a video. They collected our cards and the first group of 30 citizens were called. I was among them. A court officer walked us several blocks to a different building. We passed through the lobby and broke into small groups to enter the elevators up to the 19th floor. In the elevator, I noticed I was standing next to a guy with with sleeves rolled up to mid-forearm. His right arm had an amazing sugar skull tattooed on it.

As luck would have it, the tattooed individual sat next to me on a bench outside a courtroom while we waited. And waited. And waited. Fortunately, we had something to talk about: tattoos (with a little surfing thrown in).

Chris and I talked for over an hour. Then, we were dismissed. No longer needed. Three hours of jury duty rather than three days. Since my camera had to be checked by security at the main courthouse, Chris walked back with me and let me take a couple of shots of his sugar skull.

This tattoo was inked by Adam Hays at Red Rocket Tattoo. There have been many sugar skulls posted here, but this one is among the most intricately done. The detail is phenomenal.

Chris, who is heavily inked, values this tattoo because the sugar skull's symbolism reflects the fact that he doesn't like to mourn death. It is a part of the natural cycle of life, and this piece helps him deal with life's problems.

He followed up with an e-mail expanding on his philosophy:

"...In my childhood/teenage years, a lot of close friends and family passed away in a short period of time - and yes - I was devastated, but couldn't just tie myself up in the mourning process, because that's what people do - they live and they die. And when I was first introduced to the concept of the sugar skull and it's meaning, [I came to understand] it's really all about embracing the power of death into the fabric of life. The symbolism of the sugar skull to me is kind of a way of transforming the painful 'miseries' of death into a source of nurturing and internal strength. It's a way for me to cherish my fallen dead and a way for their memory to live on in me (or, on me, for that matter). In any case, I feel that it's kind of ingrained in our culture that we need to feel grief and despair when someone dies, but you don't always have to follow the trend. The sugar skull is a way to remember, honor, and feel closer to the dead. And that's what it reminds me of each time I see it."

For prior posts with sugar skulls, click here.

For prior posts with work from Red Rocket Tattoo, click here.

Thanks to Chris for sharing his Sugar Skull tattoo here on Tattoosday!

Guys Fill their Jeans with Helium

Guys fill their jeans with helium.

Is this a Hot Brazilian Girl or Sand Sculpture?

"I was walkin' at the Farol da Barra Beach (Bahia Brazil) last august '04 when i saw this sculpture in the sand.. It was really unbelieveble.. The guy that made this is a real Artist. Is this a sand sculpture or a real woman?

(Image: Credit)

More Brazilian Sand Sculptures

Cat Fight

2 cats fighting with a Boxing track added to add to the fun.

World’s Most Expensive Home Entertainment System

Jeremy Kipnis, a music engineer, producer, classical music lover, has paid a whooping US $6 million for this amazing collection. And you have seen nothing yet. Wait until you find out what gadgets make this home theater so top notch.

Picture Elements:
Sony SRX-S110 Professional Video Projector (4,096-by-2,160)
Stewart 18-by-10-foot Snowmatte 1.0 Gain Laboratory-Grade Motion Picture Screen
Players and Sources:
Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray Player
Sony PlayStation 3 Gaming Console
Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD Player
JVC HMDH-5U D-VHS Recorder
SATA Drive (72 HDTV Hours Total)
Mark Levinson Reference N°33 and N°33H.
Pioneer HLD-X0 Hi-Vision HDTV MUSE Laserdisc Player
Surround Processing and Decoding:
Theta Digital Generation VIII 32-bit 8x Oversampling Dual Processors (13)
Amplification:
Mark Levinson N° 33h Amplifiers (2)
McIntosh MC-2102 Amplifiers (30)
Crown Macro Reference Gold Amplifiers (3)
Speakers:
Snell 1800 THX Music & Cinema Reference Subwoofers (16)
Snell THX Music & Cinema Reference Towers (8)
MuRata ES103A Super Tweeters (10)
Snell THX Music & Cinema Reference LCR-2800 Center-Channel Speakers (3)