Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 5 (Ulu's Amazing Plumage)

In January 2008, when Tattoosday was a mere infant blog, my mother sent me photos of some of the ink my cousins possessed.

I already shared Keali'i's sleeves here, but included in that email from Mom was this astonishing piece from his kid sister, my niece, Ulu:

Photo by Diane Scrafton Cohen Ferreira

I reached out to Ulu (which is a shortened version of her middle name, Uluwehi, which is abbreviated from her full middle name, Kamali'iwahineuluwehi) and we exchanged messages, but we never connected to discuss the tattoo. Then, last month, I was in Hawai'i, at the home of Ulu and her husband Travis.

For the record, despite my inkspotting ways, I was never sure if I'd have the opportunity on this trip to document all my nieces' and nephews' ink. I knew I'd be seeing them, but my purpose for doing so was not tattoo-related.

But as you may have read over the last week, there I was at Ulu and Travis's place, hanging out with family, and the subject turned inky, and out came the camera.

Still, I wasn't sure I would be seeing the tattoo from my mom's photo - Ulu was wearing a dress and I'm always walking on eggshells when it comes to lower back tattoos. But I was taking pictures of everyone else's tattoos and Ulu's back piece was mentioned. She happily changed into sweats so I could take a closer look at this amazing peacock feather tattoo:

One of the things I had always wondered was how far around the feather went. I got my answer soon enough:

As you can see the tattoo dips gracefully down after it rounds the hip. I'm glad I got to see this side because I was able to capture the detail in the color and the tiny pink butterfly near the tip of the quill:

Ulu got this, aside from the beauty of it, to cover up a "tramp stamp" [her words, not mine - no angry comments, please]. The original piece is covered by the eye of the peacock feather.

The artist responsible for this incredible tattoo is Libra, who freelances in Hawai'i, but occasionally does guest spots at 808 Tattoo, and was at East Side Tattoo Studio at the time this was done.

In that original email from Grandma Diane (my mom), she also included the tattoos of Travis, Ulu's husband.

I had never met Travis before, but was welcomed by him as one of the family. I took my own photo of the forearm ink he wears, also by Libra, in honor of his and Ulu's children, Ezra and Trinity.

My deepest and most sincere thanks to both Travis and Ulu, not only for their hospitality and kindness, but for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday.

This concludes the "All in the Family" subset of the Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i series. A warm mahalo to all of my nieces and nephews for letting their mainland uncle help share their tattoos with the Tattoosday community.

Previously in the Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family series:

Part 1, A Preface
Part 2, Keali'i's Sleeves
Part 3, Ikaika, In Progress
Part 4, Lehua's Eternal Tribute to Poppa John

A Cat Named Do

I met Shawn in Penn Station near the Amtrak terminal earlier this month. He was doing what most people are doing when I stop them in Penn Station: waiting for a train.

He was with who I will presume to be his wife and toddler son. I noticed he had tattoos on his arms so I approached him and told him about Tattoosday.

With his wife's encouragement, he pulled up his shirt to reveal this astonishingly unique tattoo:

Shawn drew this design himself. As a person who liked cats, this feline is based on a cat that he once had named "Do" (as in "How do you do?").

"What happened to Do?" I asked.

Shawn looked over at his son and said, sadly, "Do was not a family cat."

Some feline house pets do not like new babies and do not hide that fact. Since we are taught as a society that babies are more precious than pets, they gave Do up to another home. The cat to the left of Do in the tattoo is "Do's shadow".

Not just any cat tattoo, Shawn's design is artistic, with clocks for eyes and machinery rumbling away in Do's insides.

Shawn also has ink on his back, one leg, and arms (including a sleeve).

This piece was tattooed in 12-14 hours by Davie mac at Davie Mac's Tattoos in Niagara Falls, New York.

Thanks to Shawn for sharing Do with us here on Tattoosday!

Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 4 (Lehua's Eternal Tribute to Poppa John)

Closest of my Hawai'i nieces and nephews is Lehua who, in essence, is a third sister in my Hawai'i ohana. My wife and I had the tremendous honor of  Lehua dancing hula at our wedding reception in 1995, which many guests still recall as the highlight of the post-ceremony festivities.

In honor of Poppa John, who passed away suddenly on the fifteenth anniversary of our wedding and that memorable hula, Lehua had this touching memorial inked on her foot:

Lehua explains that this infinity symbol represents eternity in the context that Poppa John will be remembered forever.

What I love about this relatively simple design is that each circle contains an astrological sign, giving more significance to the tattoo.

Looking at the photo, the sign on the left is Gemini, and the sign on the right is Sagittarius. The Gemini sign represents Lehua's son Raycn (Poppa John's great-grandson) and, of course, Sagittarius was the sign of Poppa John. The tattoo thus bridges four generations and is a reminder of the eternal ties that will carry on the memory of John Ferreira.

Coincidentally, Raycn shares the same sign as my mother (his great-grandma), Diane, whose birthday happens to be today, May 23. So, even though I know the meaning for Lehua is the link between John and Raycn, through Lehua, I interpret a second unintended meaning: the love of John and Diane, woven together, 25 years in this world, and the rest of time beyond.

The tattoo was inked by Nick Nakashima at Heart & Soul Ink in Waipahu, Hawai'i.

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

Previously in the Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family series:

Part 1, A Preface
Part 2, Keali'i's Sleeves
Part 3, Ikaika, In Progress

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Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: In Nomine Patris

On my last day in Hawai'i, I was at Pearlridge, when I spotted a guy walking through Borders. The swirling script on his inner left forearm grabbed my eye:

This Latin phrase, "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti " translates to "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit".

Dustin, who serves in the Navy, is a Catholic, and he wanted something that expressed his faith. This is one of his three tattoos.

The tattoo was inked by Jeremie Miller at 3D Ink Tattoo Studio in Pensacola, Florida.

Thanks to Dustin for sharing his tattoo with us here at Tattoosday!

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Dottie's Tribute to Daddy

On my last day in Hawai'i I had some time to kill before my flight. I wanted to stay close to the airport, so I headed over to Pearlridge Center to do some last minute shopping.

One of the first people I met was Dottie, a Kentuckian who had moved to Oahu.

She had this touching tattoo on her calf:

It is a memorial piece for her father, who was a constable back in Kentucky. Sadly, he was killed in the line of duty in 1984. The rose is part of the shield he wore and she incorporated it into the tattoo design.


Thanks to Dottie for sharing this emotional tattoo with us here on Tattoosday.

Update: Dottie has filled me in on some missing details.
 

The tattoo was inked at Big Daddy's Tattoos in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. She also wanted to clarify that the shield with the rose is the symbol for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and encourages people, if interested in the memorial, to visit the website here.

Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 3 (Ikaika, In Progress)

Continuing with the mini-reunion, of sorts, with my family in Hawai'i, back in April, let's visit with my nephew Ikaika. If seeing my nephew Keali'i for the first time in 18 years was a trip, then talking to Ikaika was an all-out exercise in time travel, it seemed.

Ikaika, to my memory, was a toddler, barely a kid. Or, at least that's how I last remembered him. Now, he is an adult, and he remembered who I was, much to my amazement.

He shared his work in progress, a traditional-style Hawaiian pattern tribal sleeve, here:

This sleeve represents about twelve hours of work, all done by George "Keoki" Davis at HippoGrafix.

Ikaika also shared this hannya mask on the back of his calf, courtesy of "Tattoo Mike" Higuchi at Dark Side Tattoo in Honolulu:

Thanks to my nephew Ikaika for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Previously in the Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family series:

Part 1, A Preface
Part 2, Keali'i's Sleeves