Sherry Shares Her Lone Star Birthmark

I met Sherry on Penn Plaza at the end of May and asked her about this tattoo:

Situated in the center of her back, Sherry's only tattoo merges the Texas longhorn symbol and the Texas state flag and serves as what she calls her "birthmark".

Originally from Texas, Sherry is a New York City resident who loves her tattoo, "especially here in NYC," because she gets "lots of comments on it when I show it off".

The tattoo was inked at a shop in Amarillo, Texas, by an artist she identified as Brian Baker. Alas, my net-scouring skills were unable to illuminate the artist or the shop, so I will assume he has moved on to another location.

Thanks to Sherry for sharing her tattoo with us here on best-tatto-design. Feel free to check out her blog here.

Tammy's Earth Fairy

Tammy says that, within an hour of meeting her, Steve Gagliano of Tormented Souls in Kings Park, New York, knew exactly what to do with the tattoo she wanted covered up. He began freehanding a design over the existing tattoo, and the end result made her very happy:

The artist utilized the tribal butterfly that already existed and expanded it into an earth fairy, with a dragon protector.

Thanks to Tammy for sharing this, one of her seven tattoos, here on best-tatto-design!

Be sure to click on the Tormented Souls link to explore their site. It's one of the more creative tattoo shop websites.

Jessy's Sugar Skull (Tattoorism)

In what I refer to as tattoorism, today's selection is a reader-submitted tattoo that comes to us from Jessy, in Denver, Colorado.

Jessy writes:

"I was looking at your blog, and since you love sugar skulls, I thought I'd share mine with you...I had it done in Santa Fe by Guido Baldini [As of publication, Mr Baldini's site is not connecting, but he is tattooing at Inborn NYC in Manhattan through July 2, 2010, according to the shop's MySpace]. A bit of a story behind it... at the time, last September, I was just developing a chronic pain problem that was mainly in my left arm. The pain was (and still is) so excruciating that while on vacation with my family, when I should have been out to dinner and having fun (it was a bit of a reunion) I was instead in the hotel room, eating percocets, and just miserable and crying and pissed off and not understanding WHY this pain wouldn't leave me the hell alone. So the next day my brother and I wandered into a tattoo shop [most likely Four Star Tattoo] and a couple hours later I emerged with this - my 1st tattoo!  It was meant to kind of scare the pain away while also reminding me of a (otherwise) great trip with my family to a town I fell in love with. I think Guido did a great job. I love my sugar skull. I plan to go back to Santa Fe soon and have him add some more flowers to it."

Those of you regular readers with good memories may recall that I recently ran into the artist's cousin and he shared this piece, inked by Mr. Baldini in New Mexico.

Thanks to Jessy for sharing this cool sugar skull with us here on best-tatto-design!

Kristen's Puzzle Piece

When I stopped Kristen at our local grocery store, I did so to ask her about her sleeve, which was coming along nicely.

Kristen recognized the name of the blog and informed me that she was familiar with us here at best-tatto-design, because her sister Lauren, and her friend Amanda, have already appeared on the site (click their names to see their work).

So it didn't take much persuading to have Kristin share some of her work and we went with this small piece on her inner right wrist:

Kristen teaches kids with autism and the puzzle piece is a symbol used to raise autism awareness. Autism Speaks is one organization that raises money to fund autism research that uses the symbol prominently in its literature.

The puzzle piece filled with all the other puzzle pieces is a tribute to all the kids that Kristen has had the pleasure to work with. She added the letter "B" to represent one student named Brian, with whom she has worked for six years. She says he has changed her life through the value of the experience of her teaching him.

As a child of educators, I admire the work that most teachers do, but am in awe of those who commit their lives to helping teach kids with special needs. It's an honor to have Kristen and her tattoo on the site.

The tattoo was inked by Michael Bellamy at Red Rocket Tattoo in Manhattan. Click here to see work from Red Rocket previously featured on best-tatto-design, much of which was done by Mr. Bellamy.

Thanks again to Kristen for sharing a piece of her tattoo collection with us here at best-tatto-design!

Jolie's Cupcake

When I met Jolie, we weren't sure which of her thirteen tattoos would be best for the blog, but we decided to go with this one, on the inner part of her biceps:

This colorful cupcake bears the name of Jolie's sister Jackie. The two of them hope to start a cupcake business some day. Jackie has the same tattoo, only with Jolie's name instead.

The artist is Ed Knowles at 12 Tattoos in Groton, Connecticut.

Thanks to Jolie for sharing this colorful tattoo with us here on best-tatto-design!

Chris Interprets Heaven and Hell

Last month I met Chris, from Malden, Massachusetts, and he shared this incredible sleeve, still in progress. He estimates that it represents 25 hours of tattooing.

The overall motif of the sleeve is heaven and hell, and Chris was kind enough to address several elements in the design, many of which are deeply personal.

Chris began this tattoo's journey to acknowledge his first year of sobriety from alcohol and drugs.

It is an omnipresent reminder that "hell is always an arm's length away". The angel resides in heaven and the gates of heaven, on the inner arm, represent the goal, or entry into heaven.

Rising up toward heaven are two figures reaching toward this goal. The pair aiming for heaven represent two of Chris' friends, both who overdosed and died, having perished in the hell of addiction.

Chris drew me attention to Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell.

To him, the three heads of the hell-hound represent alcohol, opiates, and cocaine, the three substances to which he had been addicted.

This sleeve is the work of the tattoo artist Rafael Serrano, formerly of The Painted Bird, in Medford, MA.

Thanks to Chris for sharing this deeply personal tattoo in progress with us. We're hoping to get updates in the future when more work is done.

We appreciate Chris' forthrightness and strength, and wish for his continued recovery.

Sasha's Cranes

I spotted this tattoo on the upper right arm of a Sasha in the Bay Ridge Century 21 store:

I love the dark colors in the piece and wanted to hear more about it.

Sasha explained that it is a cover-up of a moon tattoo, and that the design is Japanese in origin. The birds in the design are cranes, which have immense cultural and mythological significance. Among other valuable characteristics, cranes symbolize honor and loyalty.

This is one of "at least eight" tattoos that Sasha has. The tattoo was inked by Maya at Third Eye Tattoo in Park Slope, Brooklyn. We've seen a lot of work by Lou at Third Eye here, but this is the first piece, I believe, that we've featured from Maya.

Thanks to Sasha for sharing her cranes with us here on best-tatto-design!