Proud father Wayne Rooney gets a new tattoo in tribute

New ink: Wayne Rooney showed off his the body art dedicated to his son Kai after the England match against Mexico
He’s obviously full of pride for his son and Wayne Rooney now has a permanent tribute to six-month-old Kai.
The 24-year-old Manchester United and England striker showed off a tattoo dedicated to baby Kai after the match against Mexico earlier this week.
The new inking, which depicts a pair of hands praying with angel wings and Kai’s name in scroll-type font underneath, is on his back, in between the shoulder blades.

 

New ink: Wayne Rooney showed off his the body art dedicated to his son Kai after the England match against Mexico

 

Prayer: Wayne apparently got the tattoo because he will be away from his son during the forthcoming World Cup

They Call Him Mr. Spades

I met Matt in Penn Station last month and he was happy to share a couple of his eight tattoos. The coolest one was this heart on his left arm:

A closer look shows just how intricate this design is:

Matt explained that the idea behind this tattoo is simply that there are two sides to everything. He collaborated on the design with the tattoo artist Sean Malone, who works out of Rose City Tattoos in Rahway, New Jersey.

Readers may notice that, in the top photo, there is a distinct outline of another tattoo on Matt's arm in the shape of a playing card spade. What started out as a random tattoo of another spade ended up giving Matt the nickname "Mr. Spades" and it stuck. Here's a shot of the coolest Spades tattoo, straddling both of Matt's inner forearms:

Thanks to Matt for sharing these great tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Melissa's Feather of Memory

Back in October, I reviewed Kat Von D's The Tattoo Chronicles (here).



I also went to a book-signing and met Ms. Von D.



As you would expect, there was a long line to see the author, who is indisputably the most famous tattoo artist in the world.



Despite the long line, I did have a chance to chat at length with several other people at the event. We talked tattoo as we queued along 46th Street, around the corner onto 5th Avenue, up an escalator, and through a maze of book stacks.



One such fan was Melissa, a student, who was accompanied by several friends. Talking with Melissa and her friends made the two-hour wait much more bearable, indeed.



Melissa offered to share this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday:

This white feather on the inside of her right wrist is tied to the memory of her mother who passed away a couple of years ago.

Melissa's aunt often said that a floating white feather represents the soul of someone who's died. That said, whenever Melissa sees one, she thinks of her mother. By tattooing it on her wrist, she is assured that the memory of her mom will always be close at hand.



The tattoo was inked by Kerry O'Neill at Shotsie's Tattoo in Wayne, New Jersey. Work from Shotsie's has appeared previously here on the site.



Thanks to Melissa (and her friends) for keeping me company on that long day in October, and a special thanks to Melissa for sharing this poignant tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

A Quartet of Art-Inspired Tattoos

When I asked Brian how many tattoos he had, back in October when I met him at Borders in Penn Plaza, he kind of shrugged and said "I don't even know". A great answer, in my opinion.



Brian is an interior designer and many of his tattoos are inspired by the art he admires.



Three of the tattoos I photographed are on his right arm. First is this red tattoo:

This, Brian explained, is a piece that pays homage to Dada, or Dadaism, a cultural movement from the early 20th Century that included one segment of the arts. Brian is inspired by this movement from an artistic perspective.

On his upper arm, Brian has this Buddha image, which he says has an Andy Warhol-inspired perspective:

That is on the outer part of the upper arm, on the inner side is this item:

This is a take on the "Egg Chair," a piece of furniture whose style became popular in the forward-looking 1960's. The form above is more like the Scandinavian Ovalia style of egg chair.

And finally, Brian showed me one of his favorite tattoos, just above his waistline:

As mentioned above, Brian is inspired by Dadaism, and one of the figures that became most associated with the movement was the artist Marcel Duchamp. This tattoo is based on his work Fountain, which caused quite a stir in 1917.

Sharon's Bird on a Saturday

At the end of September, I spotted this bird on the left side of Sharon's upper back:

Sharon drew this herself and had it tattooed at Fat Cat Tattoo in Sacramento, California.

I'd love to tell you more about this tattoo, but Sharon never e-mailed me to give me more details. Nonetheless, it's some nice work.

Thanks to Sharon for sharing her bird with us here on Tattoosday!

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.