Mike's Lion-Skeleton Tattoo

I met Mike outside of Penn Station after work last Friday. He has five to eight tattoos in all, and he had this pretty cool piece to offer:


This piece is all original artwork by the artist, Doug White, formerly at the Ink Spot Tattoo Studios in Linden, New Jersey, back in 1995-6. Mike doesn't know where Doug ended up, but he believes he's now tattooing out in Texas.

He also mentioned there's a figure at the top of the piece which is loosely based on Eddie, the Iron Maiden "mascot":


This segment of the tattoo seems inspired by Iron Maiden's album cover Seventh Son of a Seventh Son:


The lion is also very nicely done:


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

Great Balls of Yarn!

A week ago, I met Hobart, who has 14 tattoos. He offered up this interesting piece for Tattoosday readers:


Seems like your everyday run-of-the-mill pentagram tattoo. But it's not.

Hobart is a knitter and he and his friends often attended "Stitch 'n Bitch" sessions where a group of knitters would get together and practice their craft. Hobart said they grew tired of the "normal middle-age ladies" sitting around talking about sex, so he and his friends formed a group that challenged the image of the group of conservative knitters.

They developed the logo above, made it "as gangland as possible" and called themselves "Satani-stitch".

The pentagram is comprised of knitting needles arranged in the star formation, just below the "gang" name and two balls of yarn, which are engulfed in flames, for effect. Below the pentagram are the Roman numerals V I VI, representing the 516 area code of Nassau County, Long Island.

This creative tattoo was inked at Lone Wolf Tattoo in Bellmore, Long Island. Work from that shop has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

For another cool yarn-based piece, check out this previous Tattoosday post, featuring my friend Eryn.

Hobart also shared his knuckle tattoos with me, to be seen at a future date over on KnuckleTattoos.com.

Thanks to Hobart for sharing his knitting-themed tattoo!

The Hoot Of All Evil

Michael sent in these pics of another ace black and grey owl

Pat Van Den Hoot

We still have international appeal! Laurens of the Netherlands sent in this awesome black and grey piece.

I Hoot Myself Today

Fellow brit Duke (or Emma!) sent in this fellow, done by Antony Flemming at World of Tattoos, UK.

Hoot Shot JR

Have been a bit lax with recent posts, as a result I have a raft of reader submissions, starting with this owl from Alli, her first tattoo. I say, start as you mean to go on!

April Marching into May

Last Friday, I spotted this tattoo on Seventh Avenue in the 20's:



April was happy to stop and chat about her black and gray tattoo which was a gift from her boyfriend on her 27th birthday.

The piece is fairly straight forward - cherry blossoms bloom in late March/early April. Her birthday is in March and her name is April.

For that alone these traditional tattoo flowers seemed appropriate for her.

The design of the ouroboros, or the dragon forming a circle by consuming itself beginning with the tail, represents the "vicious cycle of life".

This tattoo was inked by Iann at Armageddon Tattoo in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Iann's work has appeared here previously on the site.

Thanks to April for sharing her lovely tattoo with us on Tattoosday!