Mike's Flying Saucer and Pyramids Were Meant to Appear Here

There are often times that I see interesting tattoos but the opportunity to speak to their hosts is not ideal, so I make peace with the fact that featuring them here is not meant to be. If it's meant to be, I believe, we shall meet again, even in a city of seven million people.

This may seem silly to some, that tattoos are fated to appear on Tattoosday, but one example amazes me and makes me wonder.

On October 12, I planned to sell a couple bags of books at the Strand Bookstore. I left my office on 31st and 7th and headed east down 31st on the north side of the street.

Halfway down the block I noticed the guy walking in front of me had tattoos. It was when he took off his jacket or sweater that I realized he had several interesting ones.

I sighed. I was laden down with books and he was moving at a pretty brisk pace. At 6th Avenue, he turned right, downtown. I shrugged and thought "oh well," and turned left to the north.

I walked a block to 32nd Street and entered the Subway at Greeley Square. I caught the train to 14th Street/Union Square and came out on 14th and Broadway. I walked two blocks south to the Strand at the corner of Broadway and East 12th.

I stood in line for a bit, and then met with the bookbuyer who gave me a fair price. I left the store, heading north on Broadway, crossing the street and depositing the money I had just received for the books at a Chase ATM machine. I exited the vestibule and headed back to Union Square. I had just crossed East 13th when a familiar face passed me. Rather, familiar tattoos. I whirled and caught up to the guy I had seen 18 blocks and 2 avenues away, approximately 1.1 miles, according to Google Maps.

I thought the odds of seeing him again so soon were too great not to interpret it as a sign, I was meant to speak to this person.

He introduced himself as Mike, a director and he shared this tattoo:

This tattoo represents Aliens building the Pyramids. Mike is into conspiracy theories and the mystery surrounding the construction of these magnificent structures continues to stir the imaginations of humankind after thousands of years.

The tattoo itself was a two-part construction. The flying saucer was the first to be inked.

The artist was James Hamilton at Love Hate Tattoo Studio in Miami. Love Hate, for those who don't know, is the shop featured in the show Miami Ink.

The pyramids were later added by Jason Hoodrich at Code of Conduct in Chicago.

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

The Tattoosday Product Review: Troll Skin Aftercare

Two weeks ago, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving in a variety of ways. Most had large dinners with families, many went on a televised football binge, and others watched the Macy*s parade and/or the Philadelphia dog show on NBC. I, of course, nursed my new Thanksgiving tattoo.

For those of you just tuning in, late November found me being thankful for the good people at SkinActives, for sponsoring a little contest we had here to choose which of these tattoos that I should get inked to commemorate the holiday (and Hand of Glory’s cool Thanksgiving Special).

Brian Faulk at Hand of Glory, Helping Me Celebrate Thanksgiving Permanently

Why would a skin care company sponsor such an endeavor? Well, they wanted me to sample their Troll Skin Tattoo Aftercare product and I suggested that the best way to do so would be to have a fresh tattoo on which to use their product. The rest, they say is history.

Immediately after the agreement was reached, however, I had some concerns. What if Troll Skin was not something I could positively review? Into what kind of moral conundrum had I wandered? I assured myself that the Troll Skin Aftercare folks wouldn’t be sending out samples to an inkblogger if they weren’t 100% confident in their product.

Fortunately for me, no such moral dilemma surfaced, for I found the Troll Skin product to do remarkably well. In fact, I am so pleased with it, I intend to use it for all future tattoos.

My most recent tattoos were treated the same way. Aquaphor ointment for the first 72 hours, and then Lubriderm cream until the tattoo had fully healed. This regimen seemed to work for me, but it has its drawbacks. For example, whatever clothing you have that may cover the tattoo that has been treated with Auquaphor, bid it farewell. The spot of clothing near the tattoo absorbs the ointment and is discolored permanently. It is also a thicker, gooier substance.

The Troll Cream instructions indicated I could safely apply the product as part of the initial tattoo treatment. Not only did the recommendation of keeping it in the refrigerator help soothe the new tattoo upon application
of the cream, but it was 90% neater. No gooey mess to confront, and no clothing had to be sacrificed. This is because the product is water-based, so it absorbs better into the skin and less into the fabric around it.

More importantly, the healing process went faster than I remembered it had in the past. I was starting to see the peeling process as early as Saturday, only three days after getting the tattoo. This can be attributed to ingredients like natural oils from jojoba, sesame seed, almond, and avocado, as well as sea kelp extracts, Epidermal Growth Factor and Copper Peptides. This is what it looked like a week out:

One Week Old, Just a Little Scabbing Remains

The piece has healed quite nicely, as can be seen from the following photo of my two-week old body art:

2 Weeks, Healed and Vibrant!

Amazing that originally, the stencil looked like this:

I also like that the Troll Skin Aftercare cream comes in a little round tin, rather than a tube or cap-top bottle, which has the potential to open or break in transit.

The biggest drawback? Perhaps the price. Suggested retail is $27.50. However, considering this is a treatment for protecting a lifelong investment that can cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to obtain, it’s a veritable bargain. Consider also that my old treatment involved Aquaphor (approximately $8) and Lubriderm (also $8), you’re only paying  a little bit more, for what I deem to be a superior treatment.

Troll Skin also comes as a serum (MSRP $14) which is recommended for post-healing for “continued skin health and to maintain the vibrancy of the artwork”.

Readers of Tattoosday know that I don’t generally endorse products here, aside from an occasional book review. However, I would certainly recommend this product for tattoo healing. I know, I know, people are generally overprotective of their new tattoos and don’t like to change their healing regimens. Nonetheless, why not embrace a product if it’s an improvement to an old process, and why not spend a little more to protect something you will carry proudly for a lifetime?

For more information, visit the Troll Skin website at www.TrollSkin.com and SkinActives Scientific.


Thanks again to the good people at SkinActive for their cooperation with this project!

Hi-yo, Tattoo, Away!

On the night of September 23, I was returning from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the R train after a poetry reading, when Erin sat down next to me. She had this tattoo on her left forearm:

Even Erin would concede this isn't a high-grade, professional tattoo. It was inked by a friend's girlfriend and is an image of the Lone Ranger, based on a printmaking project she did in college in which she envisioned a series of "American Hero Snacks". This was her design for the Lone Ranger Candy Bar. It's an image that resonates with her.

Thanks to Erin for a) talking to this stranger on the subway at night, and b) sharing your tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! Hi-yo, Silver, away!

As an afterthought, today marks the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, I would point to this post to remember her fondly.

Laura's Two Tattoos

I met Laura in October after I spotted this tattoo on her foot:

This is a leopard frog, which reminds her of growing up, when she spent time in Shawmere, near Lyndhurst, in Eastern Ontario, Canada. She nostalgically recollects her summers as a young girl,  fishing and catching frogs.

Laura has a second tattoo, just above her waistline, which she generously shared with us, as well:

This floral tattoo depicts a bouquet with geraniums and the white edelweiss flowers. The edelweiss is the unofficial national flower of Switzerland and this tattoo commemorates not only the month she spent there as a visitor, but because she loves the Swiss culture and it is her favorite country.

Both tattoos were done by Patrick Dean at Tattooville, in Neptune, New Jersey. Work from Tattooville has appeared previously on our site here.

Thanks to Laura for sharing these two cool tattoos on Tattoosday!

Anja's Tattoo - A Brother and Sister Find Common Ground

Anja was visiting New York City from Denmark earlier this fall, when she ran into me in Penn Station. Of course, I was thrilled when she agreed to share this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday:

This tattoo on Anja's calf is based on the cover art from Es ist soweit, a 1990 album from a German band called Böhse Onkelz.

This record has significant meaning for Anja because it helped bring her and her brother together. She explained that they lived apart and didn't talk much, growing up in separate households. She was living with her grandmother, and came to visit her father and she was walking past her brother's room and heard him listening to this record.

The music brought them together, as she stopped to talk to him about it, learned that he had been listening to Böhse Onkelz longer than her, and this common ground broke the ice. Whereas before they had very little to talk about, Anja credits the band and this album with helping establish ties with her brother.

The top of the tattoo starts a lyric

and ends with

The lyric in question, "Let's forever be that Rebel Monster" is actually from a song by Volbeat, a Danish rock band, on their first album The Strength/The Sound/The Songs. The date below, "29-07-19--" is her brother's birth date.

This cool, meaningful tattoo was inked in Denmark by an artist named Dennis Wehler. I love how the words seem to be carved in her flesh.

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

As a bonus, here's a little "Rebel Monster" from Volbeat:

Robbie's Red Balloon, with a Nod to Seattle

Here it is December and I have all these loose ends, tattoos I photographed in the summer and, for some reason or other, never wrote about.

One such example belongs to Robbie, who is originally from Seattle. I stopped to talk to him at the corner of 34th Street and 7th Avenue, and he was kind enough to share this tattoo on his upper right arm:

Robbie explained that the red balloon is a family reminder about his grandmother, and that in addition to his own tattoo, his mother, brother, cousin and aunt all have tattoos that contain a red balloon, as a nod to the family matriarch.

The skyline depicted is punctuated by the Space Needle, Seattle's most recognizable landmark. Robbie is from Washington State, and the addition of this famous structure to a metropolitan cluster of buildings, which includes a scaled-down replica of the Empire State Building to its right, is a nod to his home town, while also recognizing New York City, his current home.


Robbie credited the tattoo to Liz at Addiction NYC, although he noted she tattoos somewhere out on Long Island now.

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

Mrs. Dirtbird's Wedding Tattoo

Yesterday we enjoyed seeing the neck tattoo of a Missouri-based artist nicknamed "Dirtbird," as well as a piece he had inked on his friend Shawn.

In addition to meeting both Shawn and Dirtbird across the street from where I work, I also met Katie, who half-jokingly referred to herself as "Mrs. Dirtbird". She shared this tattoo with us:

Katie explained that this is a wedding tattoo. The piece depicts a heart, comprised of a male and female bird, sewn together. Since she married Dirtbird, this seems like and appropriate expression of their matrimony.

The tattoo was inked by Becky "Pink Eye" Ashcraft, who works with Dirtbird at Punkteur Tattoo in Joplin, Missouri.

Thanks to Katie for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!