Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Scott Shares a Pair of Unique Tattoos

I have mentioned previously that one of the first orders of business on my recent trip to Hawai'i was to attend a tattoo-related book signing and contest at the Barnes & Noble in Ala Moana Center. Head back here to read all about it.

While I was milling about post-signing, pre-contest, a gentleman named Scott approached me and complimented me on my Tiger tattoo.It's still a new piece and the colors are quite crisp and vibrant. However, coming from Scott, who has this amazing tattoo, I was speechless. In fact, despite the fact that I routinely ask people about their ink, Scott was the first person to ever compliment me out of the blue about the tattoo.

Needless to say, we struck up a robust conversation and watched the contest together. Scott ended up winning 2nd and 3rd place in the color category.

He was kind enough to share two of his very unusual, colorful tattoos, for the readers here on Tattoosday, and to subsequently elaborate on the works in question.

First, we have a rather militant-looking rodent: 

This was inked on the inside of Scott's right biceps by Seth Ulakovic of Liberty Tattoo in Libertyville, Illinois. Scott explains:

Seth is a long time friend of mine, I have known him since he was an apprentice. I always loved his original art and his entire artistic style, we refer to it as 'creepy cute'. I wanted some of Seth's work before moving to Hawaii, so I approached him and told him so. The only input I gave him was, it had to be a critter and it had to be funny. You can see the tattoo he came up with. I loved it immediately and it is probably my favorite piece.

Incidentally, Scott refers affectionately to this critter as "Napoleon Beaverparte."

Next we have a piece on Scott's left biceps:

Again, we'll let go to Scott for the tale of the tape:

I am a contractor and my tape measure is my most important tool, I cannot do a thing without one. I thought it would be great to have one with me at all times.I am still new to Hawaii and had yet to meet an artist with whom I felt comfortable...Odyssey Tattoo Gallery was the fourth shop I had visited.

The owner told me they had a traveling artist in [Rachel Schilling]. I had wanted to get work from a female artist for quite some time to see if there was a difference in the tattooing experience. However I would not let someone work on me just because she was a woman.

Then I met Rachel - immediately I was comfortable with her. She has such a great attitude, and was really into tattooing the tape measure from the beginning. She is also very obviously a real pro. I went from walking into the shop with a tape measure in my hand to 4 hours later having a completed tattoo That quite frankly exceeded my expectations. Overall it was one of my best experiences receiving a tattoo and I certainly plan I having her work on me again.

It was great meeting Scott and speaking to him at length about tattoos (his, mine, and others). I thank him profusely for his friendliness and making this post such a fun experience! Mahalo from Tattoosday!

Dan Hosts Lady Liberty Like You've Never Seen Her

As a New Yorker, how could one not appreciate this dark take on our beloved Statue of Liberty?

This skeletal tattoo is worn by Dan on his inner right forearm. It is a collaboration between him and his cousin, Guido Baldini, aka Lost Cowboy, a tattoo artist who occasionally works Four Star Tattoo in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Dan was out West, visiting family, and this piece was done with a little bit of longing for the Big Apple in his heart.

He was paying homage to that "New York State of Mind".

Missing in the collage above is the great detail in the torch:

I did question the presence of the pentagram on the book that the statue is holding, only because I'm sure that comments might be made.

He clarified the design, noting that, to him, the pentagram represents power, and is not meant to symbolize anything evil.

Thanks to Dan for sharing this tattoo with attitude here on Tattoosday.

Gabby Celebrates the Beautiful Life

I met Gabby in the laundromat down the street.

She had this lovely tattoo at the base of her neck:


This translates, in the Italian, to "the beautiful life".

Simply, Gabby has Italian heritage and she had this done at Psycho Tattoo in Georgia at a particularly "good time in [her] life".

Thanks to Gabby for sharing her three words with us here on Tattoosday!

UPDATE: Right around the time I posted this, I had heard Ina Saltz discuss typographic tattoos (see my recap here). I have since discovered a cool website tool called WhatTheFont which helps identify typefaces based on samples that can be uploaded. Using this new tool, I have identified the font in Gabby's tattoo as Commerical Script Regular. That probably doesn't mean much to a lot of people, but it's pretty neat for those who may be interested.