Kristen's Trilogy of Knots

The 34th Street Platform for the A Train has been very kind to us here at Tattoosday, even more so this summer than in years' past.

Take Kristen, for example. She generously offered up this small portion of her corporeal canvas:

Estimating that she is at least a quarter covered by ink, this "trilogy of knots" was the artist's response to Kristen's request to attach the cobwebs on her elbow to the end of her wrist.

The artist, identified only as "Batman" near Canal and Broadway, was also asked to incorporate a Celtic pattern, as well.

The final result was to Kristen's liking and we here at Tattoosday thank her for sharing the tattoo with all of our readers!

Happy Bloggiversary to Me!

Three years ago today, Tattoosday was born.

On July 31, 2007, I put up a post on BillyBlog, featuring a tattoo on a co-worker named Sephora.

The idea was to post a weekly tattoo on Tuesday, and use this is a vehicle to expand my horizons a bit; meet interesting people and learn about tattoos.

There was one problem. I enjoyed it too much. There weren't enough Tuesdays in the week. I was impatient and wanted to post right away, not wait until Tuesday. And so, as Kurt Vonnegut would say, it goes....

So a month later I threw the previous months post up on the stand-alone blog, Tattoosday. And BillyBlog faded.

It's still there, but Tattoosday is my passion and I couldn't have even imagined, back in 2007, how easy it would become for me to talk to strangers about their ink.

The once-a-week project produced forty-five separate interactions in July, we have a 30-day backlog of material, and this past week we registered our 650,000th hit. Not too shabby.

Go see the original post here to see how far we've come.

And a hearty thanks to all our contributors, all our fans, and all the tattooists out there creating wonderful, interesting, portable art. Without all of you, Tattoosday would have been a blip of an idea, and nothing more.

10 Craziest Tattoos

Tattoos have always been a tradition method of self-expression. But sometimes that self-expression expresses just a little too much and many times you just have to wonder what people were thinking when they decided to get these tattoos.
10.

To Do List Tattoo

Now this is an interesting tattoo but I think that eventually it may become a tattoo that they will regret. As someone who has a wrist tattoo having something that you are going to see almost constantly every day it really has to be something important and personal. But just maybe this tattoo will keep it’s novelty and be cool to the person who has it. At least I really hope so.

9. Six Pack Tattoo

I suppose if you know that you’re never going to get in shape then this might be a good idea seeing as it will be the closest thing you will ever get to a six pack. Though I think it also gives new meaning to the phrase “beer gut.” Sometimes you got to think about the reason people get tattoos because like other tattoos this is only funny the first time you see it.

8. I See You Tattoo

This is another unique tattoo that really I cannot understand why someone would get it. Sure I mean you do it once and it is kinda funny and it will definitely catch you off guard. But after that it gets old rather quick, so I think that the goal of this tattoo is to constantly keep meeting new people. Once again I think I can respect it but I think in the long run this could be a rather silly tattoo.

7. Cow Tattoo

Now there are a number of tattoos that utilize holes in the body in order to add another dimension to their tattoo. Many of the more disturbing and unique ones, use holes that well I was not comfortable sharing pictures of. Turning the belly button into an anus has become a… shall I say “popular” bizarre tattoo as I have seen it done with a few different animals. This is possibly the best of the worst but many of them I have seen with cats.

6 Alien Tattoo

This is a truly impressive tattoo and this would really make anyone double take when you walked by. This is a bizarre but really cool tattoo and unlike some of the others on this list I really don’t think there is too much to complain about. I would really like to hear the story behind this tattoo though and I would also like to see people’s first reactions when they see him walking by.

5. Zombie Boy Tattoo

This is a tattoo that I can respect because it takes a great deal of dedication (and apparently more than 24 hours and thousands of dollars) to turn yourself into a zombie. Now I personally do have a passion for something great enough to tattoo my entire body with it, so I think it is impressive that this guy does. But then again he might be a poster child for being overly obsessive about something…either way this is one really bizarre tattoo.

6 Baby on Board Tattoo

This tattoo is really bizarre on so many levels. First I don’t think getting a tattoo while pregnant is the best idea. Second, do they realize that eventually the baby will come out and that the tattoo won’t make sense anymore. Though I truly believe that having a child and being pregnant is something that is perfectly inspiration for a child, I would hope that it would have a bit more meaning and something more personal that this one

2. Legs Tattoo

Here is a tattoo that gets props for being creative but I’m not sure this is the type of creativity that is going to make him very popular with the ladies. After all who wants to date a man that has turned his armpit into a… well a… you know. I wonder if all of his guy friends thought this was brilliant or stupid because I could see a guy going either way on this one, a girl on the other hand…not so much.

2. Breakfast Anyone? Tattoo

Now you have to really love your eggs over easy with bacon and hashbrowns in order to get this tattoo. Bald heads are great places to get unique tattoos and I have seen plenty cool and unique ones. I will grant that this one is unique, but I really think that it is unique for a reason… Honestly I can’t understand the justification for a tattoo like this and I would really like to hear it.

1. Digit Tattoo

This tattoo is perhaps the most disturbing that I have ever seen and I’m not even sure why. I mean to make your arm look like a giant finger is undoubtedly creative, and if we’re being honest people are probably going to stare anyway, so why not give them something to really look at. But still I find this tattoo as creepy as it is creative.
If you decide to get your own tattoo make sure it is something that you can truly see yourself appreciating for the rest of your life. If you don’t like tattoos remember that not all tattoos are just to look silly or strange, some of them are very important and personal to the people who get them and that is something that should be respected. In the meantime enjoy the art!

Amazing 3D Tattoos

A tattoo artist Lane Jensen, 30, came up a creative idea to give silicone breast implants to his cowgirl tattoo in order to make “her” looks shapely. Unfortunately two weeks later, his body rejected them.

“My body just rejected it. I guess my girl wasn’t meant to have 3D breasts,” he said. “I thought it would make for good promotion. Augmenting tattoos with implants is becoming very popular,” said Jensen.

Lane Jensen, who is the co-owner of Dragon FX tattoo and body piercing shop at Kingsway Garden Mall, has more than 20 tattoos on his body and the sexy cowgirl tattoo on his left leg was done three years ago.

A friend of Jensen, Brian Decker, who is also a New York-based micro-dermal surgeon, performed the implant procedure on him. But two weeks later, the sutures split and lymphatic fluid drained from Jensen’s leg.

Jensen said, “there was so much fluid in there. I went back to the studio and pushed on it gently – the implant shot right out. The surgery was done in ideal conditions and Decker did a perfect job. It just goes to show you some people’s bodies won’t tolerate foreign objects.

“The body rejects 20% of them, no matter what kind of implant it is, how safely it’s done, or how skilled the surgeon or artist is. A lot of places won’t tell you rejection rates before you buy $10,000 implants to stuff inside your body.

Nick Remembers Billy, I Remember Siki

My first tattoo was modified from a piece of flash at Body Art Studios by an artist who goes by the moniker "Siki". Shortly thereafter, Siki left the shop and went on his way.

My friend Pete knows who he is but, until recently, I hadn't met anyone with ink from Siki, other than myself.

Then, I met Nick on the R train one day after work and, while discussing his many tattoos (he "lost count after 45," they've all connected) , I heard him talking about Siki.

So today's tattoo is by Siki and was, like my lynx, modified from an old piece of flash. Although he adapted it a lot more fully and developed a more unique tattoo.

Siki and Nick had a mutual friend named Billy, who Nick would often go with to get tattooed. When he passed away, they added Billy's name to the bottom of the tattoo as a tribute to their departed friend.

Thanks to Nick for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Stange Body Modification and Body Piercings From Around the World

People get piercings for every reason, from tradition all the way to rebellion. Different kinds of piercings can be found all around the world, but one thing that we can be sure of is that piercings from some countries are unique and very bizarre.

The woman shown above is Brazilian lady Elaine Davidson, who currently holds the world record for being the most pierced woman in the world. She has 720 piercings and counting. She currently lives in Scotland

Rather than getting piercings that excel in quantity, sometimes the bizarre factor is accentuated in quality. The Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand involves the extreme piercing of Ma Song or religious devotees to the festivals, who stick everything from swords to bikes in their cheeks. They do this so they can shift evil from the community onto themselves.


Luis Aguero from Havana, Cuba was previously the most pierced man in the world. He has 230 piercings, and 175 are on his face alone!


In Africa, earlobe stretching is a custom within the Maasai tribe, located in Kenya and Northern Tanzania. This kind of stretching is more common amongst the women than the men of the tribe. They often use stones, thorns, and twigs to create these piercings, and to begin the stretching.


In northwest India, the Meghwal women show their status with their nose piercings. Married women often wear gold nose rings, and the size of the nose ring shows their status in society. The bigger the nose ring is, the more important they are in their society.

In the United States, piercings are mostly used for simply aesthetic purposes rather than for tradition or custom. The girl above has vertical labret piercings, and a nose piercing. As piercings are becoming more and more acceptable in society, and the professional environment, more and more Americans are getting piercings. Although it may look bizarre to some, to the people who choose this path, it is a way of life, and what they believe. To them piercings mean more than just holes in their bodies filled with metal - they symbolise tradition, decoration, and custom.

Jessica's Feather for her Mother

I met Jessica on the express platform at 34th Street earlier this month.

She shared this gorgeous peacock feather tattooed on the upper right section of her back:

The piece is an homage to her mother, who loves everything peacock, and has countless items, like bracelets and other jewelery, that emulate the vivid colors of these beautiful birds.

She credits this tattoo to an artist known only as Allison.

Thanks to Jessica for sharing this wonderful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Crazy Photos of a Baby Sleeping

Wonderful photo series by Adele Enersen, a copywriter on a maternity leave, features pictures of her sleeping baby girl dressed up in cute outfits. Enjoy!

Space Odyssey 2010

Bookworm

Superbaby

Surfer Girl

Rain of Roses

Elephant Rider

Circus

Nirvana

Top 10 Most strange Accidents in History

Throughout history, humans have always been prone to accidents. Some, such as the exotic car crashes seen on this page, can be very expensive. But that's trivial compared to the truly expensive accidents. An accident is defined as "an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss". Our aim is to list the top 10 most expensive accidents in the history of the world as measured in dollars. This includes property damage and expenses incurred related to the accident such as cleanup and industry losses. Many of these accidents involve casualties which obviously cannot be measured in dollar terms. Each life lost is priceless and is not factored into the equation. Deliberate actions such as war or terrorism and natural disasters do not qualify as accidents and therefore are not included in this list.
10. Titanic - $150 Million

The sinking of the Titanic is possibly the most famous accident in the world. But it barely makes our list of top 10 most expensive. On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage and was considered to be the most luxurious ocean liner ever built. Over 1,500 people lost their lives when the ship ran into an iceberg and sunk in frigid waters. The ship cost $7 million to build ($150 million in today's dollars).

9. Tanker Truck vs Bridge - $358 Million

On August 26, 2004, a car collided with a tanker truck containing 32,000 liters of fuel on the Wiehltal Bridge in Germany. The tanker crashed through the guardrail and fell 90 feet off the A4 Autobahn resulting in a huge explosion and fire which destroyed the load-bearing ability of the bridge. Temporary repairs cost $40 million and the cost to replace the bridge is estimated at $318 Million.
8. MetroLink Crash - $500 Million

On September 12, 2008, in what was one of the worst train crashes in California history, 25 people were killed when a Metrolink commuter train crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in Los Angeles. It is thought that the Metrolink train may have run through a red signal while the conductor was busy text messaging. Wrongful death lawsuits are expected to cause $500 million in losses for Metrolink.

7. B-2 Bomber Crash - $1.4 Billion

Here we have our first billion dollar accident (and we're only #7 on the list). This B-2 stealth bomber crashed shortly after taking off from an air base in Guam on February 23, 2008. Investigators blamed distorted data in the flight control computers caused by moisture in the system. This resulted in the aircraft making a sudden nose-up move which made the B-2 stall and crash. This was 1 of only 21 ever built and was the most expensive aviation accident in history. Both pilots were able to eject to safety.
The crash was captured on video. It shows one B-2 Bomber successfully taking off followed by the B-2 Bomber which crashes. The crash starts at 2:00
6. Exxon Valdez - $2.5 Billion

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was not a large one in relation to the world's biggest oil spills, but it was a costly one due to the remote location of Prince William Sound (accessible only by helicopter and boat). On March 24, 1989, 10.8 million gallons of oil was spilled when the ship's master, Joseph Hazelwood, left the controls and the ship crashed into a Reef. The cleanup cost Exxon $2.5 billion.



5. Piper Alpha Oil Rig - $3.4 Billion

The world's worst off-shore oil disaster. At one time, it was the world's single largest oil producer, spewing out 317,000 barrels of oil per day. On July 6, 1988, as part of routine maintenance, technicians removed and checked safety valves which were essential in preventing dangerous build-up of liquid gas. There were 100 identical safety valves which were checked. Unfortunately, the technicians made a mistake and forgot to replace one of them. At 10 PM that same night, a technician pressed a start button for the liquid gas pumps and the world's most expensive oil rig accident was set in motion.

Within 2 hours, the 300 foot platform was engulfed in flames. It eventually collapsed, killing 167 workers and resulting in $3.4 Billion in damages.
4. Challenger Explosion - $5.5 Billion

The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds after takeoff due on January 28, 1986 due to a faulty O-ring. It failed to seal one of the joints, allowing pressurized gas to reach the outside. This in turn caused the external tank to dump its payload of liquid hydrogen causing a massive explosion. The cost of replacing the Space Shuttle was $2 billion in 1986 ($4.5 billion in today's dollars). The cost of investigation, problem correction, and replacement of lost equipment cost $450 million from 1986-1987 ($1 Billion in today's dollars).
3. Prestige Oil Spill - $12 Billion

On November 13, 2002, the Prestige oil tanker was carrying 77,000 tons of heavy fuel oil when one of its twelve tanks burst during a storm off Galicia, Spain. Fearing that the ship would sink, the captain called for help from Spanish rescue workers, expecting them to take the ship into harbour. However, pressure from local authorities forced the captain to steer the ship away from the coast. The captain tried to get help from the French and Portuguese authorities, but they too ordered the ship away from their shores. The storm eventually took its toll on the ship resulting in the tanker splitting in half and releasing 20 million gallons oil into the sea.

According to a report by the Pontevedra Economist Board, the total cleanup cost $12 billion.
2. Space Shuttle Columbia - $13 Billion

The Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space worthy shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. It was destroyed during re-entry over Texas on February 1, 2003 after a hole was punctured in one of the wings during launch 16 days earlier. The original cost of the shuttle was $2 Billion in 1978. That comes out to $6.3 Billion in today's dollars. $500 million was spent on the investigation, making it the costliest aircraft accident investigation in history. The search and recovery of debris cost $300 million.

In the end, the total cost of the accident (not including replacement of the shuttle) came out to $13 Billion according to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
1. Chernobyl - $200 Billion

On April 26, 1986, the world witnessed the costliest accident in history. The Chernobyl disaster has been called the biggest socio-economic catastrophe in peacetime history. 50% of the area of Ukraine is in some way contaminated. Over 200,000 people had to be evacuated and resettled while 1.7 million people were directly affected by the disaster. The death toll attributed to Chernobyl, including people who died from cancer years later, is estimated at 125,000. The total costs including cleanup, resettlement, and compensation to victims has been estimated to be roughly $200 Billion. The cost of a new steel shelter for the Chernobyl nuclear plant will cost $2 billion alone. The accident was officially attributed to power plant operators who violated plant procedures and were ignorant of the safety requirements needed.

Michelle's Tattoo Takes Your Breath Away

Michelle has a lot of ink, twenty-one tattoos, all told, but when I stopped her in Penn Station, she chose to share this one with us:

Boldly planted on her upper right arm, Michelle explained that she paraphrased and pared down a longer quotation to read, more simply, "Live for the moments that take your breath away". I believe she was referring to the saying, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

The flowers in the photo are cherry blossoms that were done in blue, rather than the traditional pink because, as Michelle tells it, she's "not really a pink kind of girl".

This tattoo was inked by Fat Tony at Hobo's Tattoo Shop in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

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

Timmy's Sophisticated Owl

Earlier this month, Melanie and I took advantage of having my sister's car while she was out of the country and we made an unusual shopping trip to the Fairway Market in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

There was a gentleman in the produce section with a lot of tattoos, and Melanie pointed out one to me that she thought was cool, this owl on his calf:

Turns out that the guy was Timmy from Timmy Tattoo, an artist whose name rang a distant bell. Work by Timmy appeared in one of Tattoosday's earliest posts, when I met Jackie,an FIT student whose tattoos appeared here.

Timmy's owl was inked by Garrett Ostrowski of Garrett's Tattoos.

Thanks to Timmy for sharing one of his many tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Niki's Memorial for Elizabeth

Last week I was down in Chelsea when I spotted Niki from a distance. She appeared to have a colorful Madonna-like tattoo on her right shoulder, so I changed course and caught up to her only to discover this lovely tattoo instead:

This lovely photo was supplied to me by Niki, as my own camera's battery had run out of power and my BlackBerry photo seemed inadequate:

Niki explained that, after her beloved cat Elizabeth passed away, she wanted a memorial tattoo to honor the friend she had for fourteen years.

She went to artist John Reardon, then at Saved Tattoo, and told him she wanted a memorial in the style of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the look of Mexican shrines and altars.

One can see Reardon hit the ball out of the park, as proven by my mistaking the piece from a distance as a religious icon.

John Reardon is no stranger to Tattoosday. His work has appeared previously here and here.He now works out of his private studio in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Niki for sharing her beautiful tattoo with us on Tattoosday!