Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Reston's Expansive Ink

I've alluded, in previous posts, to a trip to Ala Moana Center, during which I was astounded by the amount of tattoos I saw, much more than I recall seeing on my previous trip, five years ago.

I was in the expansive food court section of the complex when I met Reston and his uncle. I was first intrigued by the work on his left arm:

but then, in one of those rare Tattoosday moments in which I see much more than I anticipated, his uncle convinced Reston to show me his back, which revealed this wonderful work:

For Reston, his tattoos are tributes to his heritage. The large Buddha on his back acknowledges the Buddhist faith that can be found on his father's side of the family. The tiki and tribal patterns are in honor of his mother's Pacific Islander lineage. This is apparent from the merging of the two styles (and the names "mom" and "dad" at the top of his back:

In addition, Reston shared this cool lizard on his left shoulder:

Actually, in Hawaiian tattoo styles, this is referred to more specifically as a mo'o, which can be defined (source here) as a "spirit guardian (lizard) that protects a resource, such as a fishpond, from overuse and other abuse". Mo'o are also referred to as geckos.

There's a lot going on with Reston's personal canvas, but you can see the geographic shapes of the mo'o design jumping off the skin.

  All the work was done in California. The Buddha back piece was inked by Jon Highland, owner of 12 Monkeys Tattoo in Tracy, California. The majority of the tribal/Polynesian work was tattooed by Orly at Humble Beginnings Tattoo Studio in San Jose.

A hearty mahalo to Reston for being bold enough to remove his shirt in the Ala Moana food court so we could all get to better appreciate his ink. We here at Tattoosday thank you for your contributions to the site!

Inked Up Angels: Part 2, Kat's Incredible Buddha

Last Friday, I featured a tattoo from one of two women I met in Penn Station.

They both are part of a group called Inked Up Angels.

I had first taken the photo of the tattoo belonging to "Pink", and now it was her friend's turn.

I looked to Kat curiously, wondering what tattoo she was going to offer for Tattoosday.

We were standing in a corner of busy Penn Station near the subway turnstiles and she told me I needed to move. We switched spots, so that I was standing in the corner and she was between me and the crowds. Her friend Pink stood behind her and shielded Kat from the throngs of commuters. I got that she was going to show me something quite revealing, yet I had no clue what it was.

With her left side facing me, Kat hiked up her skirt to reveal this absolutely incredible piece, that ran from the upper part of her thigh, to above her waistline:


That's about eighteen hours of work, folks, and it's an amazing piece. Kat had it tattooed because she is a Buddhist and loves loves the spirituality of Buddha.


The detail that went into this tattoo and the vibrancy of the color is phenomenal. Take a closer loom at the lotus at the bottom of the tattoo:


Equally incredible is the detailed line work, as is evidence in the eyebrows and the leaves of the tree in the background:


This amazing tattoo was inked by Dez Mooney at The White Lotus Tattoo & Art Gallery in Toms River.

This is definitely one of my favorite tattoos that I have seen in nearly two years of Tattoosday posts.

I want to thank Kat for sharing her amazing work with us here at Tattoosday.

If you head over to the Inked Up Angels MySpace Page, you can not only see more of Kat's tattoos (including shots of the Buddha in progress), but you can catch glimpses of some additional work on a number of other tattooed women.

James and His Tree of Life

I spotted this Tree of Life tattoo on Court Street in downtown Brooklyn and started talking to James about it.

It was inked by an ex-girlfriend of his about ten years ago.

The tattoo consists of the tree of life, under which sits Buddha (or The Acorn Man) who is holding a chalice. James pointed out that he is surrounded by a serpent, although it's hard to tell in the piece.

Below it is a rune of protection.

Thanks to James for sharing this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!


Update: One of My regular readers, Livia Indica, who blogs at NeoPagan Ink, pointed me to this source, the Cernunnos on the Gundestrup cauldron:


James told me it was a Buddha, but the similarity between the tattoo and this Celtic god is worth noting. Thanks Livia!

Crys Shares His Colorful Arm

When I passed Crys on Seventh Avenue last Friday, I knew I had to stop and ask about his arm.

Aside from the matching ohms-within-nautical stars on both elbows, Crys has two main pieces on his left arm.

Chronologically, the dragon came first:

He got it basically because he liked the design. It was inked by Nick at True Blue Tattoo in Austin, Texas.

The kanji surrounding the dragon were added later at Atomic Tattoo & Body Piercing, also in Austin. These were gifts from Crys' girlfriend. According to Chrys, going clockwise from the top, the kanji represnt love, honor, peace and life.

After that, he went back later to Atomic Tattoo and added the fire around the dragon to give his arm more color.

Finally, he added the Buddha at a shop in Houston:

Actually, a friend of his, Corey, from Austin, designed and drew up the initial sketch. Crys doesn't remember where it was inked.

Thanks to Crys for sharing his arm with us here on Tattoosday!