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!

Mrs. Dirtbird's Wedding Tattoo

Yesterday we enjoyed seeing the neck tattoo of a Missouri-based artist nicknamed "Dirtbird," as well as a piece he had inked on his friend Shawn.

In addition to meeting both Shawn and Dirtbird across the street from where I work, I also met Katie, who half-jokingly referred to herself as "Mrs. Dirtbird". She shared this tattoo with us:

Katie explained that this is a wedding tattoo. The piece depicts a heart, comprised of a male and female bird, sewn together. Since she married Dirtbird, this seems like and appropriate expression of their matrimony.

The tattoo was inked by Becky "Pink Eye" Ashcraft, who works with Dirtbird at Punkteur Tattoo in Joplin, Missouri.

Thanks to Katie for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

One Last Friday the 13th Post, for Melanie

So one of my friends Jenise had contributed to the Great Friday the 13th Tattoo Experiment and her votes for my tattoo were not along the finalists.

She was also keenly aware that we collected $31 in donations for my tattoo, $11 more than needed. Ginger, another friend, had added a dollar to the kitty for my lovely Friday-the-13th born wife Melanie, so Jenise, in an effort to make the experiment a complete success, chipped in the funds to bring us to an even $40, and she, Ginger, and Melanie separately concurred that this design was the one for her:

Much to our surprise, when we went back at 6:00 pm, business was brisk but it was only a 30-minute wait.

Artist Joey Wilson tattooed the Zoe Sonenberg-designed flash piece right below Melanie's $14 Valentine's tattoo (that story here).

The end result is lovely:

Thanks again to all contributors and supporters of Tattoosday through this process, and for everyone's patience while I went "off-book" for the last couple of days.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Tattoo on your heart

True Love Tattoos offers you a brand new way to really express your love for that special someone. Don’t ink your skin like everyone else, ink your heart. Or as they refer to it, your soul-canvas. So, do you really love your partner as much as you say? Here’s your chance to prove it. A true love Tattoo is a relatively safe procedure thanks to years of uncompromising research. The operation takes less than 3 hours from choice of tattoo until you have a polaroid proof in hand, however, they strongly sugest that you bring someone to escort you home after surgery. The team is highly professional and fully educated, so far, they have performed over 500 successful operations without any major complications. They provide a wide range of styles from old school to Japanese. You choose the art, they put it on your heart. Some questions and answers of this: Q: Does the ink fade with time? A: There are case studies indicating that falling out of love may have a slight fading effect on the ink, apart from that, this baby is for life. Q: Can i still be a heart donor? A: Yes, you can. However, be aware that research suggest that the new owner of your heart tend to get an unexplainable crush on the person whose name is tattooed on the heart. Q: How will i prove to my loved one that i hounered him or her with a true love tattoo? A: You will recieve one polaroid picture of your tattoo on place, and also a video recording of the whole procedure. By the way, this video comes with a great soundtrack from new amazing rock band “Vikunja”. Q: Is it dangerous? A: It’s not totally safe, but remember, it can be even more dangerous not to express true love. Q: How long does it take? A: It depends on the art work. big hearted patients tend to take longer. Q: Is it dangerous if i have a high blood pressure? A: On the contrary, it make the colours shine brighter. Do not get a tattoo if you have a weak heart, are ink intollerant or if you’re not sure you’re really in love. avoid getting a tattoo if you have a newly broken heart. Let it heal for at least 3 months. Laser erase surgery is available but not recommended. They also supply a special divorce discount if you can prove your partner cheated on you. In some cases they recomend you to cover up your old tattoo with a new one, they are especially skilled in making football team crests. This satisfaction cost about 9 000$ to 12 000$ depending on difficulity of tattoo.