A Bright Spot in December: A Phoenix and a Pin-Up

As one would expect, inkspotting is tough during December. Here we are at the end of the month, and I have only interviewed three people since the 1st. There were a few times over the summer when I interviewed three contributors during my lunch hour!

The last person whose work I photographed was Megan, who I found upstairs at the Penn Plaza Borders store.

Megan has seventeen tattoos, but it was this one that caught my eye:

This is a phoenix, of course, but fewer people may recognize it as Fawkes, the phoenix of Professor Albus Dumbledore, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The artwork is based on the illustration by Jason Cockcroft on the cover of the UK edition of the aforementioned book.

The tattooist Jamie Nichols at Gargoyle Tattoo in Aberdeen, Washington, completed this piece in about eight hours over two sittings.

Megan also has this pinup on her upper left arm:

The use of negative space for the bombs is pretty cool.

Marcus was the artist at Gargoyle that Megan credited for creating this piece..

Thanks to Megan for taking the time to speak to me about her cool tattoos!

Two for Tattuesday Saturday: Wanderful Love Under the Cherry Blossoms

In honor of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) , we're sharing this tattoo, which I spotted back in September:

This belongs to Rich, a musician and rap artist. He's a big Harry Potter fan, as exemplified by the magic wand. The snake at the base of the wand not only symbolizes infinity, it is a nod to Severus Snape, a character associated with the House of Slytherin, of which the serpent is the mascot.

The concept of the tattoo is exemplified by the music coming out of the wand, illustrating that sounds can be magical and that Rich is under music's spell.

The piece was inked by Chris at Lady Luck Tattoo Studio in Montville, Connecticut.

When I met Rich, he was sitting with his girlfriend in Penn Station. She introduced herself as Kytti, and asked if I wanted to see her tattoo.

But of course!

She actually has two tattoos, but lifted up her shirt to show me this beautiful design:

Kytti explained that this represents her and Rich together in Japan. They've been together for over a year and they'd both love to go there together and experience the culture. The tree is filled with cherry blossoms, a flower often associated with Japan.

Chris at Lady Luck also was the artist behind this tattoo.

Thanks to Rich and Kytti for sharing their magical and romantic tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tattoorism: Aaron and Brandi Share Their Ink

We here at Tattoosday love our fans. However, sometimes when someone sends us a submission from abroad, we may be slow to post it. Brandi and Aaron's submissions are the extreme case in point.

Brandi e-mailed me back in April. Yes, as in that part of the calendar six months ago.

Oh, I had grand plan for the post, planning to unveil it to coincide with a cinematic release, or a DVD release, but I could never get the timing just right.

In the better late than never category, let me introduce you to a couple of tattoos that have been patiently waiting for their moment in the Tattoosday sun.

I'll start with Brandi's tattoo, which is on the front of her right shoulder:



Brandi explains:

"This tattoo is one I got on my 25th birthday but it had been 7 years in the making. I lived in Seattle, WA for 10 years (currently in Texas) and have always loved snowflakes so for my birthday I decided to get this tattoo in memory of my life in Seattle."

The second tattoo is from Aaron. Just to show you how long it has been, when they first sent the photo in April, Aaron was her boyfriend. In a follow-up e-mail a few weeks ago, Brandi called him her fiance, so congratulations are in order as well!

Here's Aaron's tattoo:



Yes, that is the crest of Gryffindor, the crest of one of the four "houses" at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy in the the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Brandi explains:

This tattoo is the first installment of a sleeve project Aaron is in the process of that was started after I suggested to him he get it. He is a HUGE Harry Potter fan and I thought what better way to express his love for HP. The rest of the sleeve will be black and white illustrations from each book and I couldn't love him more for expressing his inner "dork."

I also am a fan of the series and have also share the qualities of dorkitude from time to time, so how could I not share this cool tattoo with our readers?

Both tattoos were inked at Epic Tattoos in Fort Worth, Texas. Nick Clark did Brandi's snowflake and Rudy Perez inked Aaron's Gryffindor piece.

Thanks to both Aaron and Brandi for sharing their work with us here on Tattoosday and for waiting so patiently for me to get around to posting their tattoos!