Tattoosday Boxcars: A Leonine Tattoo and Wearing One's Heart on One's Sleeve

I met Jeff and Jeanie in Penn Station as they were about to board an Amtrak train out of the city.

I've been trying to come up with clever terms for different inkspotting phenomenon, basically creating my own lexicon.

I'll call Jeff and Jeanie "boxcars". Meaning, I approached the two of them and gambled, asking them both to participate, and they came through. Like rolling two sixes on the dice (also known as boxcars). I would even venture to call them "blind boxcars", because I could only make out fragments of their ink, but they still shared.

Jeff went first, displaying this leonine figure on his left bicep:


It's a nod to his astrological sign, Leo, and was also selected for its nod to Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast).

Jeanie shared her tattoo below:


This piece literally has her wearing her heart on her sleeve and is inspired by Mexican art. The tattoo was completed by a friend of Jeanine's named John Flack.

I would have obtained more detail, but the couple had to board their train.

Thank you to Jeanine and Jeff for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Two Tattoos from Lara

Last Friday evening, on the steps of Penn Plaza, I spotted this simple tattoo on the right side of Lara's neck. It is the sign for someone born under the sign of Leo.

Even though it was a simple astrological squiggle, I said hello anyway and, as often is the case, she had another tattoo to show me:


Actually, she has five altogether, but this one, the word "heart" inscribed on the inside of her left wrist, has special meaning to her.

She and her best friend from Seattle have the same heart tattoo inked on the same spot. There's something particularly transcendent about tattoos that are shared between friends. When you look at your tattoo, you wonder if someone you care about far away is doing the same. It's a mark on flesh that produces a mental connection.

Not only did Lara explain that the dual nature of their tattoo is a "marking of our friendship," but that it is also a lifelong reminder to always, as she put it, "come from our hearts". That is, to follow their hearts when going through life.

All of Lara's work was done at Lucky Devil Tattoo Parlour in Seattle. Work from their shop has been featured previously here on Tattoosday.

Thanks to Lara for sharing her two tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Mercedes Honors Family Members with her Ink

Mercedes doesn't remember the specific shops where she got her ink, but each piece honors members of her family, both living and gone.

Mercedes is a make-up artist that has very close ties to her family, and these relationships have manifested themselves on her tattoos.

The piece I first noticed, on her right arm, was this one:


This is actually comprised of two parts, the rose and the ankh. The rose was her first tattoo, inked because her mother and grandmother were both named Rosa. The ankh and the name "Iggy" were done as a memorial for her brother who had passed away.

Her neck/upper back piece is actually three tattoos inked in succession:


Mercedes started with the top segments, which she described as tribal dolphins. They are in honor of her niece, who is a Pisces.

Next is the piece below the dolphins, which is a representation of fire that corresponds to Mercedes' birth sign Aries, whose zodiac element is fire.

Below that are flames rising from the number 3. This is for her nephew. The flames correspond to his sign, Leo, whose zodiac element is also fire, and the number represents that he is third in the family line.

Thanks to Mercedes for sharing her ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Two of Tawni's Tattoos

It seemed appropriate to take pictures of two of Tawni's tattoos on Two-for-Tattoosday, and she was accommodating.

The first piece was the one that caught my eye initially, a snake on her left bicep that actually represents an "astrology marriage," in her words between Eastern and Western astrology.

The tattoo represents that she was born in the Year of the Snake and, it is positioned to mimic the sign for Leo (July 23 - August 22). It was inked at a shop called Camden Chameleon in Bellingham, Washington. The shop is now known as Chameleon Ink & Body Piercing.

Her other piece that I liked was on her inner right forearm:


The phrase ("Be the wind, not the cloud") is her own interpretation of a passage in the I Ching, or book of changes. Tawni used to do castings and this phrase resonates with her so she carries it with her on her skin. This was inked by Andre Ortego at the House of Tattoo in Tacoma, Washington.

Thanks to Tawni for sharing her interesting work with us here on Tattoosday!

On the Cusp

I was on my way home when I spotted Lisa, who was with a friend, in the hours before Bon Jovi's second night at Madison Square Garden.

It was only when she stopped to explain, that I was able to grasp the tattoos meanings (two for Tattosday, no less!).

Lisa had a wrap-around musical staff on her right arm, a nod to her being a musician, but the pieces that circle limbs are hard to do justice for on the web.

I asked instead, about the two I had spotted, the ink that was on the back of her legs, down by the Achilles' heels.

Lisa stated she was "on the cusp," so she related to both astrological signs in proximity to her brithday, July 23.

Cancer, on her left leg, for those of us born June 21 to July 22, and Leo, on her right leg, for those in the July 23 to August 22 range.

Alas, Lisa was in a hurry, and my still-working-the-kinks-out camera was stuck in sunrise mode. The end result is a little blury - Lisa, don't forget to email me better pictures!

These tattoos were inked by Christian DiMenna at Lovecraft Tattoo in New Haven, Connecticut.

Thanks to Lisa for taking the time to chat about her tattoos!