By Philip's Own Design

Perhaps it is a sign that winter is coming to an end, perhaps it is just being in the right place at the right time. On Tuesday, February 26, I was browsing in the Chelsea Salvation Army store. And I saw a guy browsing with this cool tattoo on the bottom section of his forearm:



He was in a bit of a rush, so I snapped a photo and he said he would e-mail me the information that I normally ask about tattoos later on. I did learn this, his name was Phil Dusel, he was an artist, and I could check out his website here.

Later in the week, he did write back, and this is what he had to say about the piece:

He "got the tattoo done at Read Street Tattoo Parlour in Baltimore, unfortunately I couldn't find the name of the artist".

Phil explained the design in greater detail: "the design is of two fish swimming in a circle, the heart shapes came naturally out of the drawing, and I decided to accent them in red...I guess it says something about love, but ... the meaning ... had more subconscious origins."

Here's a look at it inverted, from a different perspective:


He continued, "It was my 3rd inking, I have 5 tattoos" in all.

Here's one piece of art from Philip Dusel:


Thanks to Phil for contributing to Tattoosday and following up with e-mail. I truly appreciate it.

Carl Zimmer's Science Tattoo Emporium

A visitor recently chimed in about a blog similar to Tattoosday, but with a more specialized slant. It is called Carl Zimmer's Science Tattoo Emporium, and it's pretty cool. Check it out when you get a chance. If you forget, I added it to the sidebar for future reference.

Diablo Shows Off Her Tattoo on Hollywood's Biggest Night

Ok, so this is out of the theme, in that I am in no way involved with the photography of this tattoo. But it is a big story and so I thought I'd throw out some ink news.

Diablo Cody won the Oscar for best original screenplay last night, and she made the New York Post front page, along with her pin-up tattoo.

But there's more to this than meets the eye...

Click here to read about Diablo Cody's tattoo "drama".


She actually just recently had "Jonny's Girl" covered up. Actually quite a fine job...you'd never know it's a cover-up.

A little plug, here's her book:



You can buy it here.

Tattoos I Know: Paul's First Tattoo

One of my co-workers, Paul, has been and still is, one of my subject matter experts when it comes to the tattoo. As far as I am aware, he is the only one at my company with a full sleeve.

In addition, he has a leg done as well. I've been keeping him in the loop on Tattoosday matters since I started blogging about ink last summer. We have talked about featuring his work for a while now and, with the meat of winter sending shorts and sleeveless apparel into hiding, it seemed like a good time to get his Tattoosday feet wet.

So, we are starting with the beginning, the dragon on the inside of his right forearm:


Many people may not realize, but tattooing was illegal in New York City until 1997. (More on that here.) Paul's first tattoo dates from "the Dark Ages," circa 1983.

As Paul relates, when he was 16, he went with his father to a tattooist in Alphabet City in Manhattan. The artist lived in an attic apartment, and one had to a) make an appointment to see him and b) know the password to gain admittance.

So while a young Paul was watching his father get tattooed, he realized that he wanted one, too.

His father agreed, as long as he thought long and hard about it and paid for it himself.

He found a dragon design he liked and returned with the money at a later date.

He told the tattooer, whose name he remembers as Davita, that he wanted it on his chest, but the artist looked at his slight frame (at 16, Paul estimates, he weighed 140 or so) and refused, saying Paul wouldn't be able to take the pain.

So it went on his arm. And he remembers that he paid $30 for the piece.

There was no significance to the dragon, other than Paul liked the aesthetics of it and had always liked dragons. Paul's left arm and leg are done in a Japanese style. He also has another tattoo on his chest and one on his back, perhaps the subjects of later posts.

Thanks to Paul for joining us on Tattoosday!

Update: After this posted, Paul remembered why he had the dragon done on his inner arm. He recalls an episode of Kung Fu, starring David Carradine, in which the main character lifts a barrel that is very hot. As a result (and I am certainly oversimplifying), he has a dragon burned onto his inner forearm. To the sixteen-year old Paul, this was way cool, so he chose that particular tattoo in that particular location after being told by the tattoo artist that a chest tattoo was out of the question.

Two Stars Shining on Nicole

A common Tattoosday ritual for me is to go to the bank at lunch and, time permitting, head over to the Manhattan Mall and make a circuit through the food court, before heading back to the office.

Needless to say, as any regular Tattoosday reader could tell you, pickings have been slim since the mercury dropped below 50 for the season.

Yet I am an optimist, and forever on the lookout for ink, as evidenced by last week's "Queen of Hearts" post.

However, my hopes were slim as I headed out at lunch and encountered a drizzle that the meteorologists hadn't forecasted until the evening. Nonetheless, I went to the bank on 6th Avenue and then visited the mall.

The location introduced me to Alex (here) and has had promising ink displays, discovered only when the weather drove me indoors. I passed out a flier or two in the food court earlier this winter, but to no avail. The one problem with the food court is inherent in its very nature. Most
denizens are eating, and I am reluctant to disrupt the meals of people, tattooed or otherwise.

On Tat-Tuesday, I made the food court pass, seeing nothing, and was on my way out when two
tattooed stars behind a young woman's ear caught my eye:


To be honest, I've never been bowled over by stars, but these were colorful, and it is January, and even the simplest tats can be fraught with meaning.

Nicole was sitting alone (another plus, on the approachability scale, as I tend to shy away from groups) and she had a coffee and Cinnabon on the table, as she played with her cell phone.

I approached and asked if I could talk to her about her stars and she gladly obliged.

Nicole and I discussed the two stars behind her right ear.

They have no significance, they are just decoration, "for the hell of it," done partially out of boredom.

So the next question is generally the "how many do you have" inquiry. Nicole reacted to the question like most people who have a ton of ink: uncertainty. My limited experience leads me to believe that, somewhere between twelve and eighteen, one loses count.

At that point the ink has taken on a life of its own, and the clusters, sometimes themed, sometimes not, become sleeves.

Such was Nicole's situation: under the winter coat and long pants blossomed an explosion of colorful ink. I did not see them, nor did I ask, but she catalogued a host of designs, "mostly girlie stuff," like stars, flowers, and hearts.

"About six years worth..." of accumulated ink.

Like most people, Nicole is loyal to one shop, New York Adorned (featured previously here and here on Tattoosday). The artist who inked the "baby pink" and "baby blue" stars was Bryan Randolph.

Thanks to Nicole and her two shining stars! Here's hoping she'll make a return to Tattoosday in the future!