A Traditional Naval Tattoo on a 21st Century Ship

The USS New York was put into service today by the United States Navy.

Her hull was forged with steel salvaged from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

It's a momentous occasion indeed, and several crew members were in attendance with dignitaries earlier this week at the World Series.

As is happens, I noticed a gentleman in uniform outside of Madison Square Garden earlier in the week and he had this tattoo on both hands:


Turns out, the tattoo was modeled after this naval pin, which represents the rank of Boatswain's Mate, worn on the lapel:


The gentleman, whose name is Fred, serves on the USS New York, as the more commonly-known title of Ships Bos'n, and it seems appropriate to post this tattoo today as the ship officially enters the naval fleet.

Fred has been in the service for 26 years, and has seven or eight tattoos all told.

As Ships Bos'n he works with mission systems on amphibious maneuvers.

The crossed anchors are traditional naval insignia and, even though he drew this design himself and they weren't inked in a traditional tattoo shop, he recognizes the crossed anchors as symbols of his dedication to the trade.

I thank Fred for his service to our country, as well as his willingness to contribute to Tattoosday. We wish him well as he serves with pride on the USS New York!

Re-Post: Tattoos I Know - The Grim Reaper

Today is a sad anniversary for us here on Tattoosday, for it marks one year since our friend, Tom Wacker, passed away unexpectedly.

Tom was an early supporter of the blog, from its fledgling days as a once-a-week feature over on BillyBlog, and he watched us grow with a mixture of excitement and pride.

The camera I use was a birthday gift from Tom and his fiancee Sephora, and he was always first in line to see the pictures I took whenever I had new material for the blog.

A week or two before his death, Tom was hanging out at a friend's house in New Jersey. He took pictures of his friend's sleeve and e-mailed them to me. The photos are still in my mailbox, unposted. I still haven't the heart to call his friend and talk tattoo with him.

There are times I am hesitant to approach people, for whatever reason, and I overcome whatever resistance I may feel, knowing that's what Tom would have wanted me to do, and that somewhere, he is watching, urging me on, applauding my efforts, admiring the ink.

As a tribute to Tom, I am reposting his tattoo, which he shared with us here, back in 2007.

It's not the best tattoo, but it's Tom's, and his spirit is infused here in Tattoosday. It's the least I can do for the friend that supported us so much in the early days. Here's to you, Tom!


Tattoos I Know: The Grim Reaper (originally posted September 11, 2007)


This is the sole tattoo of my friend and co-worker, Tom Wacker.

Tom designed and drew the art upon which this tattoo was based.

The Reaper is posed on Tom's biceps/deltoid and has resided there since 1984, when its host was a young lad of eighteen.

This is Tom's only tattoo and he has no plans to get more. He is proud of the fact that, because he designed it and because he then tore up the original design, it is a one-of-a-kind piece...

The tattoo was inked by Dean at Lola's Tattoos, then in Cliffside Park, but now in Bogota, New Jersey. Tom got this tattoo "because it was cool," although the tattooer tried to convince him not to get it because it was "too mean" for him. Twenty-three years later, Tom says he has no regrets about his ink.

Thanks, Tom!

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eL's Musical tattoo

Last month, much to my surprise, our old friend Paul (see his most recent work here) told me there was a tattoo shop nearby.

I was surprised, to say the least. "New?" I asked him. "Been open over a year," he replied.

I was puzzled. How had I missed a tattoo shop within walking distance of work? Was I blind?

Not quite. I was just too busy looking around me, and not looking up.


Because Fort Apache Tattoo Studio is just a stone's throw away from my regular inkspotting stomping ground, at West 31st Street near the corner of 8th Avenue.

How I missed it was the fact that it peers out over the southwest corner of Madison Square Garden from the 4th floor. Four flights of old-style New York City stairs.

But once I made it up there, I was pleasantly surprised by the layout of the shop. Four artists have separate work areas separated by low walls.

While there, I met Freak, who specializes in custom designs with a comics influence.

Do check out the website to see everyone's work.

But another question arose, how had I gone for over a year with this shop in my backyard and never met anyone who had been tattooed there? Of the hundreds of people I have met, no one had shared any work from Fort Apache!

Until the next day.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

The following day I stopped to talk to a guy sitting on a bench at the corner of 7th Avenue and 33rd Street.

He had this cool tattoo on his upper right arm:


"And where did you have this done?" I asked.

Yup, Fort Apache.

(And thank you for sharing your post with my story about finally finding the shop, by the way.)

The owner of this tattoo is named eL. He is an artist and a guitarist.

The tattoo represents a scar from a bad break-up. Because of the central role of music in eL's life, it only made sense to represent the heartbreak with symbolism near and dear to eL's heart.

I asked if the notes actually made up a tune, but they do not. For aesthetic reasons, they are musical symbols inked in flesh, nothing more, nothing less.

This tattoo was done by Hexx.

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

Also a thank you to Freak for welcoming us with open arms as we checked out the shop!

Here's hoping we'll see more work from Fort Apache in the future!

Danny's Incredible Tattoos

On occasion, I will wander from 7th Avenue to 8th Avenue, through the campus of F.I.T., hoping to spot some creative work. One of my first posts (documented here) featured tattoos from someone I met on that stretch of street.

Last month, I ran into Danny, who had several very nice tattoos.

First I took a picture of this hannya mask on his right forearm:


Then I snapped this photo of the tattoo above his right wrist:


This metal-plated heart represents Danny's emotional toughness, with a trace of sensitivity. In his words, "even if my heart is dead, it will still bleed".

I also took a photo of Danny's knuckles, which I wanted to post up on Knuckletattoos.com. However, since they're working on a six-month backlog, I thought I'd spare them the extra post and just share these here:


They read, of course, "HATE PAIN". This just represents what Danny was going through at the time he had his digits inked.

Initially, he had told me his back was done, but I didn't press him to show me the work. By the time I had taken pictures of his knuckles, I guess he felt comfortable enough to share this truly remarkable back piece:


All of his work was done by Thailand Mike at Scratch Tattoo in Elmhurst, Queens. He initially went to Mike for a cover-up on his back, providing just the central part of the design...


Danny visited from time to time for over a year, having elements of the back filled in. The demon head at the top of the back is particularly cool


and the dragon hovering above the wasitline is also impressive:


I rarely get to feature back pieces, as they have to be offered up by generous contributors, so when I see one, I am seldom disappointed.

Thanks again to Danny for sharing so much of his work with us here on Tattoosday!

Eddie Graces Egghead's Shoulder

I recently met a gentleman from England, along with his wife, as they were milling about outside of Madison Square Garden.

He referred to himself as "Egghead," I'm guessing due to his bald head. I first noticed the logo for the band Slayer on the back of his calf, along with several other interesting looking tattoos. He estimated he has about a dozen tattoos.

But, like the best Tattoosday stories, he shared this amazing tattoo on his right shoulder, hidden under a sweatshirt, which he pulled off so I could see it properly:


That's a phenomenal piece, courtesy of his artist Ben Boston at The Tattoo Studio in Bristol, England.



The tattoo is a likeness of Eddie, mascot for the band Iron Maiden, one of the premiere metal bands that came out of England in the late 1970's/early 1980's. I won't bore the reader with the catalog of my Iron Maiden fandom, but it certainly made the tattoo even that more wonderful for me.

I even had a nice chat with Egghead and his wife about concerts we had attended.

I thank Egghead for sharing this awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Scott's Heart is Testament to Love and Hate

I met Scott last month as he was walking down 7th Avenue just south of 30th Street.

His only tattoo just jumped out from his right forearm:


He referred to this as a "time of my life" tattoo and it was "inspired by a horrible girlfriend".

It's also another example of someone wearing their heart on their sleeve.

He worked with the tattoo artist, Adam Rosenthal at the Th'ink Tank Tattoo in Denver to come up with a design that melded a biological heart with a Valentine's heart.

The heart is stitched together with a needle and thread. The thread spells out the words "love" and "hate," which exemplified the tumultuous relationship.


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

Day of the Dead Special: Electrical Sugar Skull

I met Mike at the end of September, but have been hanging on to this post to share today, on the Day of the Dead:


I've posted numerous sugar skulls here (click this link to see all posts tagged as such), but this one is particularly interesting due to its proximity to the tattoo below, which is the logo for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), or the electrician's union, to which the contributor belongs.



The tattoos were done by Rob Hotte at the incomparable Lotus Tattoo in Sayville, New York.

For an extra El Día de los Muertos bonus, I encourage folks to check out my old friend Mike's Day of the Dead Mariachi troupe here.

As for this post, I thank Mike for sharing his incredible tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

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Extra bonus material:

About 2 months ago, a reader named Leslie sent me the following blurb:

Hi! I ... sent you a link to Albuquerque's Tinta Cantina - the shop does all kinds of work but they really do a lot of Day of the Dead stuff - in particular - look under the artist Jason. I do not work there, nor am I trying to promote them - I just think that the tattoos done here in New Mexico are quite different from the interpretations you show from the East Coast and that you might find it interesting.

Thanks to Leslie for sharing this link with us here on Tattoosday!