Two from Samanatha, Including a Tattoo for Bubbie

I met Samanatha last month in Penn Station and asked her about her many tattoos. She's 26, and has been getting inked since she was 18, and appears to be going at a steady clip, because she has a lot of great work.

She was kind enough to share two of her tattoos, both from her right arm. The first piece is this hamsa:

Samantha explained that she got this tattoo in memory of her grandmother, or "bubbie," as they're known among many Jewish grandchildren. Samanthha's bubbie passed away a few months ago. I asked her what she thought of her tattoos and she replied, "Well, being a Jewish bubbie, I don't think she was too excited about them, but I always asked her if, as long as she still loved me, then it was okay; and she always said, "ach, yeah."

This hamsa, a symbol often associated with luck and warding off the "evil eye," was inked by Josh Schlageter at Hand of Doom Tattoo in Buffalo.

Samantha also offered up this dragon tattoo:

She got this from Steve Boltz at Smith Street Tattoo Parlour in Brooklyn, explaining:

"It's called a  spaulding dragon - it's old sailor flash ... I just wanted to go to one of the guys that could do one really, really well. Everybody in the tattoo community up in Buffalo that I know said, 'you gotta go to Steve Boltz', so I traveled down here to got see him."

Thanks to Samantha for sharing these cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Two from Samanatha, Including a Tattoo for Bubbie

I met Samanatha last month in Penn Station and asked her about her many tattoos. She's 26, and has been getting inked since she was 18, and appears to be going at a steady clip, because she has a lot of great work.

She was kind enough to share two of her tattoos, both from her right arm. The first piece is this hamsa:

Samantha explained that she got this tattoo in memory of her grandmother, or "bubbie," as they're known among many Jewish grandchildren. Samanthha's bubbie passed away a few months ago. I asked her what she thought of her tattoos and she replied, "Well, being a Jewish bubbie, I don't think she was too excited about them, but I always asked her if, as long as she still loved me, then it was okay; and she always said, "ach, yeah."

This hamsa, a symbol often associated with luck and warding off the "evil eye," was inked by Josh Schlageter at Hand of Doom Tattoo in Buffalo.

Samantha also offered up this dragon tattoo:

She got this from Steve Boltz at Smith Street Tattoo Parlour in Brooklyn, explaining:

"It's called a  spaulding dragon - it's old sailor flash ... I just wanted to go to one of the guys that could do one really, really well. Everybody in the tattoo community up in Buffalo that I know said, 'you gotta go to Steve Boltz', so I traveled down here to got see him."

Thanks to Samantha for sharing these cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Karla Linden

Today's tattooed poet just missed the boat last year, contacting me after the month had already filled up. So, technically, Karla Linden, has waited the longest to see her contribution make it into the Tattooed Poets Project. Check out what she has offered up:

Well worth the wait, if you ask me!

Karla explains:

"This tattoo is a sacred symbol called a 'Hamsa' or 'Hand of Miriam' - it is traditionally for protection and also as a reminder of the five senses, melding in to a Sixth Sense.  Richie Castillo of Time Bomb Tattoo in San Antonio, Texas did it for me in June of 2010, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I live."

We've had several hamsa on Tattoosday before, but this one is certainly the most colorful and vibrant!

Karla also contributed this poem:

For the Further Progression of Literary Domination

* * * * * *

"Bind her wrists with
typewriter ribbons

and

tattoo
Anais Nin
quotes on
her thighs."

Blindfolded,
they pull you down
on the bed

newsprint laid out
underneath you

and

the needle
buzzes.

Words form on flesh in between the silence:

Dreams are necessary to life.

then

Each contact with a human being is so rare,
so precious,
one should preserve it. 

in Courier typeface,
letter by letter

You wish this dream would never end,
that
the pressure of her hands,
her mouth on yours
and
the hot tattoo needle
raising a welt
with each stroke
would go on 'til dawn.

~ ~ ~

Karla Linden, NMT, LMT (www.KarlaLinden.com) is a writer and massage therapist, living in New Mexico. She has over 130 hours "under the needle" and is both a tattoo and poetry enthusiast.

 
"Grinding Ink" and "Which Makes Me Love Her Even More", 2 of her poetry books, came out in 2010.  She always has plans for more poems, and more tattoos.

Thanks so much to Karla for her patience, her poetry, and her tattoo! We appreciate your contribution here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Karla Linden

Today's tattooed poet just missed the boat last year, contacting me after the month had already filled up. So, technically, Karla Linden, has waited the longest to see her contribution make it into the Tattooed Poets Project. Check out what she has offered up:

Well worth the wait, if you ask me!

Karla explains:

"This tattoo is a sacred symbol called a 'Hamsa' or 'Hand of Miriam' - it is traditionally for protection and also as a reminder of the five senses, melding in to a Sixth Sense.  Richie Castillo of Time Bomb Tattoo in San Antonio, Texas did it for me in June of 2010, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I live."

We've had several hamsa on Tattoosday before, but this one is certainly the most colorful and vibrant!

Karla also contributed this poem:

For the Further Progression of Literary Domination

* * * * * *

"Bind her wrists with
typewriter ribbons

and

tattoo
Anais Nin
quotes on
her thighs."

Blindfolded,
they pull you down
on the bed

newsprint laid out
underneath you

and

the needle
buzzes.

Words form on flesh in between the silence:

Dreams are necessary to life.

then

Each contact with a human being is so rare,
so precious,
one should preserve it. 

in Courier typeface,
letter by letter

You wish this dream would never end,
that
the pressure of her hands,
her mouth on yours
and
the hot tattoo needle
raising a welt
with each stroke
would go on 'til dawn.

~ ~ ~

Karla Linden, NMT, LMT (www.KarlaLinden.com) is a writer and massage therapist, living in New Mexico. She has over 130 hours "under the needle" and is both a tattoo and poetry enthusiast.

 
"Grinding Ink" and "Which Makes Me Love Her Even More", 2 of her poetry books, came out in 2010.  She always has plans for more poems, and more tattoos.

Thanks so much to Karla for her patience, her poetry, and her tattoo! We appreciate your contribution here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Stevie's Tattoo Calms and Inspires

Last Wednesday marked the official end to the veritable tattoo drought this winter in New York has afforded us here on Tattoosday.

In addition to the three people I met at lunch, my train ride home and, subsequently, my day, was punctuated by a fleeting encounter with a woman named Stevie on the R train.

I had just plopped down in one of the seats after having moved car-to-car between stops, in an effort to get toward the back of the train. I mention this to illustrate how fortunate I was to be where I was, when Stevie boarded the train.

She got on at one stop and, by the time she had exited two stations later, I had had just enough time to take a picture of the wonderful tattoo on the back of her right calf, and pass her the blog info so she could contact me with more details.


Stevie has seven tattoos and this one came from the incomparable New York Adorned at the talented hands of Virginia Elwood. Stevie worked over several sessions with Virginia, ironing out the details of the piece, which was completed in one sitting.

There are three elements to the tattoo: the lotus, the hamsa, and the peacock feathers.

Via e-mail, Stevie explained:

I moved out here from the West Coast to teach in inner-city schools. When I first started teaching and things would get nerve-wracking I'd tap on this hamsa hand necklace I always wore. For whatever reason it calmed me down and reminded me that I was here to infuse some change and to do some awesome work. When I became an NYC Public School teacher I decided I'd like it on me permanently. The hamsa hand is a symbol of faith and clarity and that's what I think I found in myself, like my calling. The lotus flower goes along with this idea of rising to the surface and blossoming while the peacock feathers were an aesthetic touch.

Work from New York Adorned has appeared previously on the site here.

Thanks so much to Stevie for sharing her amazing work with us here on Tattoosday!

Stevie's Tattoo Calms and Inspires

Last Wednesday marked the official end to the veritable tattoo drought this winter in New York has afforded us here on Tattoosday.

In addition to the three people I met at lunch, my train ride home and, subsequently, my day, was punctuated by a fleeting encounter with a woman named Stevie on the R train.

I had just plopped down in one of the seats after having moved car-to-car between stops, in an effort to get toward the back of the train. I mention this to illustrate how fortunate I was to be where I was, when Stevie boarded the train.

She got on at one stop and, by the time she had exited two stations later, I had had just enough time to take a picture of the wonderful tattoo on the back of her right calf, and pass her the blog info so she could contact me with more details.


Stevie has seven tattoos and this one came from the incomparable New York Adorned at the talented hands of Virginia Elwood. Stevie worked over several sessions with Virginia, ironing out the details of the piece, which was completed in one sitting.

There are three elements to the tattoo: the lotus, the hamsa, and the peacock feathers.

Via e-mail, Stevie explained:

I moved out here from the West Coast to teach in inner-city schools. When I first started teaching and things would get nerve-wracking I'd tap on this hamsa hand necklace I always wore. For whatever reason it calmed me down and reminded me that I was here to infuse some change and to do some awesome work. When I became an NYC Public School teacher I decided I'd like it on me permanently. The hamsa hand is a symbol of faith and clarity and that's what I think I found in myself, like my calling. The lotus flower goes along with this idea of rising to the surface and blossoming while the peacock feathers were an aesthetic touch.

Work from New York Adorned has appeared previously on the site here.

Thanks so much to Stevie for sharing her amazing work with us here on Tattoosday!