Melissa's Feather of Memory

Back in October, I reviewed <a href="http://www.katvond.net/">Kat Von D's</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tattoo-Chronicles-Kat-Von-D/dp/0061953369?ie=UTF8&tag=bill03-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Tattoo Chronicles</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061953369" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> (<a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/10/tattoosday-book-review-kat-von-ds.html">here</a>).<br /><br />I also went to a book-signing and met Ms. Von D.<br /><br />As you would expect, there was a long line to see the author, who is indisputably the most famous tattoo artist in the world.<br /><br />Despite the long line, I did have a chance to chat at length with several other people at the event. We talked tattoo as we queued along 46th Street, around the corner onto 5th Avenue, up an escalator, and through a maze of book stacks.<br /><br />One such fan was Melissa, a student, who was accompanied by several friends. Talking with Melissa and her friends made the two-hour wait much more bearable, indeed.<br /><br />Melissa offered to share this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyOajJOo0r-Qto1xqG93bvqruNQUja57BvJEPdS48c-GI9MQCte5g_he45iieivbRvyJ-5wBPnsWlM8966uLPvGHd1c5sV02SP1Q8QsoJNzj_v2q-p-Jp0nD_Pi1eKHpY1tyJnap1TAL8/s1600/feather+detail+wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyOajJOo0r-Qto1xqG93bvqruNQUja57BvJEPdS48c-GI9MQCte5g_he45iieivbRvyJ-5wBPnsWlM8966uLPvGHd1c5sV02SP1Q8QsoJNzj_v2q-p-Jp0nD_Pi1eKHpY1tyJnap1TAL8/s640/feather+detail+wm.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><br /><span id="goog_1877593629"></span><span id="goog_1877593630"></span><br />This white feather on the inside of her right wrist is tied to the memory of her mother who passed away a couple of years ago.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOGdegLR4nAC4Hcz0z-rPPLWCk3ayjTWfSxbx0pHCDOHipGBH8PkKTT6iZLH5eCFzI-Jeqn8Sy8JdqH-okynZU7tRukiAMPt4yypN0_XrFJHffxXVN767i-7hWQqWclktgcBbCG4N1PII/s1600/feather+wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOGdegLR4nAC4Hcz0z-rPPLWCk3ayjTWfSxbx0pHCDOHipGBH8PkKTT6iZLH5eCFzI-Jeqn8Sy8JdqH-okynZU7tRukiAMPt4yypN0_XrFJHffxXVN767i-7hWQqWclktgcBbCG4N1PII/s320/feather+wm.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />Melissa's aunt often said that a floating white feather represents the soul of someone who's died. That said, whenever Melissa sees one, she thinks of her mother. By tattooing it on her wrist, she is assured that the memory of her mom will always be close at hand.<br /><br />The tattoo was inked by Kerry O'Neill at <a href="http://www.shotsiestattoo.com/">Shotsie's Tattoo</a> in Wayne, New Jersey. Work from Shotsie's has appeared previously <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/search/label/Shotsie%27s">here</a> on the site.<br /><br />Thanks to Melissa (and her friends) for keeping me company on that long day in October, and a special thanks to Melissa for sharing this poignant tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Melissa's Feather of Memory

Back in October, I reviewed Kat Von D's The Tattoo Chronicles ( here ). I also went to a book-signing and met Ms. Von D. As you would ...

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Jessica's Feather for her Mother

I met Jessica on the express platform at 34th Street earlier this month.<br /><br />She shared this gorgeous peacock feather tattooed on the upper right section of her back:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhzIoldpZlfJblmNXk5r7fRVFO3MRF5yoB8O-xh0Ph1acaoycajIOn4qzbUJQFNjq3Hzhbv-D4FVAMqRzv_ly5EXkhfAc8mrTpnnOhYHcKSC1wjEPg2YCGbmKfor5sz1S2EHn5Bqa/s1600/peacock+feather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhzIoldpZlfJblmNXk5r7fRVFO3MRF5yoB8O-xh0Ph1acaoycajIOn4qzbUJQFNjq3Hzhbv-D4FVAMqRzv_ly5EXkhfAc8mrTpnnOhYHcKSC1wjEPg2YCGbmKfor5sz1S2EHn5Bqa/s640/peacock+feather.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><br />The piece is an homage to her mother, who loves everything peacock, and has countless items, like bracelets and other jewelery, that emulate the vivid colors of these beautiful birds.<br /><br />She credits this tattoo to an artist known only as Allison.<br /><br />Thanks to Jessica for sharing this wonderful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Jessica's Feather for her Mother

I met Jessica on the express platform at 34th Street earlier this month. She shared this gorgeous peacock feather tattooed on the upper righ...

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Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 5 (Ulu's Amazing Plumage)

In January 2008, when Tattoosday was a mere infant blog, my mother sent me photos of some of the ink my cousins possessed.<br /><br />I already shared Keali'i's sleeves here, but included in that email from Mom was this astonishing piece from his kid sister, my niece, Ulu:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiugKlhsvKRjpa003gCF2B8l7kOZyJClC6981ve1eAbYwDM6czjzBlFD85_Tdy9IbAMfJENaAE_A6RSPuVFGiEJFvTPJb4CmTh-6p2LOLG84uTL0XWg8I_bkKizT_pdW4LORsLOg2EF/s1600/Ulu+Feather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiugKlhsvKRjpa003gCF2B8l7kOZyJClC6981ve1eAbYwDM6czjzBlFD85_Tdy9IbAMfJENaAE_A6RSPuVFGiEJFvTPJb4CmTh-6p2LOLG84uTL0XWg8I_bkKizT_pdW4LORsLOg2EF/s400/Ulu+Feather.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Photo by Diane Scrafton Cohen Ferreira</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I reached out to Ulu (which is a shortened version of her middle name, Uluwehi, which is abbreviated from her full middle name, Kamali'iwahineuluwehi) and we exchanged messages, but we never connected to discuss the tattoo. Then, last month, I was in Hawai'i, at the home of Ulu and her husband Travis.<br /><br />For the record, despite my inkspotting ways, I was never sure if I'd have the opportunity on this trip to document all my nieces' and nephews' ink. I knew I'd be seeing them, but my purpose for doing so was not tattoo-related.<br /><br />But as you may have read over the last week, there I was at Ulu and Travis's place, hanging out with family, and the subject turned inky, and out came the camera.<br /><br />Still, I wasn't sure I would be seeing the tattoo from my mom's photo - Ulu was wearing a dress and I'm always walking on eggshells when it comes to lower back tattoos. But I was taking pictures of everyone else's tattoos and Ulu's back piece was mentioned. She happily changed into sweats so I could take a closer look at this amazing peacock feather tattoo:<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeNAJhQOa-G3Da3q4Iwab5qDl_Ur3xXPFOyNf1wdUpsgq_Yri4pKo8rmbPsaKR5ZtPzMKQO0H6hkWKs36gpPfL4Gs2l4YpJuyFLD2DeNHoEhJ_z2FIaqavjNLnqx1m27hDaH39BqW/s1600/Ulu+Feather+Crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeNAJhQOa-G3Da3q4Iwab5qDl_Ur3xXPFOyNf1wdUpsgq_Yri4pKo8rmbPsaKR5ZtPzMKQO0H6hkWKs36gpPfL4Gs2l4YpJuyFLD2DeNHoEhJ_z2FIaqavjNLnqx1m27hDaH39BqW/s400/Ulu+Feather+Crop.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />One of the things I had always wondered was how far around the feather went. I got my answer soon enough:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrd9KhpFdJFka_zPPaK0p8IMInPWV90xx3jno0D4J4gmY9xc_1y6JsSmEHczVL6JUvzS3g9w5skj8baLrtsjk1baOH-WLsDAnZaLB7ofWjCF0i7yXlltN9pZFP3_LVilHEafGs5Za/s1600/Ulu+Feather+Wraparound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrd9KhpFdJFka_zPPaK0p8IMInPWV90xx3jno0D4J4gmY9xc_1y6JsSmEHczVL6JUvzS3g9w5skj8baLrtsjk1baOH-WLsDAnZaLB7ofWjCF0i7yXlltN9pZFP3_LVilHEafGs5Za/s400/Ulu+Feather+Wraparound.jpg" width="335" /></a></div><br /><br />As you can see the tattoo dips gracefully down after it rounds the hip. I'm glad I got to see this side because I was able to capture the detail in the color and the tiny pink butterfly near the tip of the quill:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1opAy6o-xjs8xgMJzb6uBgd5kYOv02jFmSSDzTEIQ0K13LD30_88zGfQtAzCSOZmgrJ8ls9Q71BjpRdlL2EyoKbVQ5fwm1lCnRMZ0TAA2RAGBoGY003ofIZMEO9YV44iYjQdesK1c/s1600/Ulu+Feather+Wraparound+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1opAy6o-xjs8xgMJzb6uBgd5kYOv02jFmSSDzTEIQ0K13LD30_88zGfQtAzCSOZmgrJ8ls9Q71BjpRdlL2EyoKbVQ5fwm1lCnRMZ0TAA2RAGBoGY003ofIZMEO9YV44iYjQdesK1c/s400/Ulu+Feather+Wraparound+detail.jpg" width="366" /></a></div><br /><br />Ulu got this, aside from the beauty of it, to cover up a "tramp stamp" [her words, not mine - no angry comments, please]. The original piece is covered by the eye of the peacock feather.<br /><br />The artist responsible for this incredible tattoo is <a href="http://www.myspace.com/libratat2">Libra</a>, who freelances in Hawai'i, but occasionally does guest spots at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/808tattoohawaii">808 Tattoo</a>, and was at <a href="http://www.eastsidetattoostudio.com/artists.html">East Side Tattoo Studio</a> at the time this was done.<br /><br />In that original email from Grandma Diane (my mom), she also included the tattoos of Travis, Ulu's husband.<br /><br />I had never met Travis before, but was welcomed by him as one of the family. I took my own photo of the forearm ink he wears, also by Libra, in honor of his and Ulu's children, Ezra and Trinity.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVNBRM7_fyb1JvFFtVTcoK65e7Xy2cci70XHNLUG6GHN8DjjXaWE9mef-hMNebK3C5vdfLTHBGsCmKG6EDEa7NAstrDfc-Y6oFc1kdAyTxR_SWKEN33P7clc6tGv-vSeTvWeoDQD1e/s1600/Travis+-+Ezra+Trinity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVNBRM7_fyb1JvFFtVTcoK65e7Xy2cci70XHNLUG6GHN8DjjXaWE9mef-hMNebK3C5vdfLTHBGsCmKG6EDEa7NAstrDfc-Y6oFc1kdAyTxR_SWKEN33P7clc6tGv-vSeTvWeoDQD1e/s400/Travis+-+Ezra+Trinity.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>My deepest and most sincere thanks to both Travis and Ulu, not only for their hospitality and kindness, but for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday.<br /><br />This concludes the "All in the Family" subset of the Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i series. A warm <i>mahalo</i> to all of my nieces and nephews for letting their mainland uncle help share their tattoos with the Tattoosday community. <br /><br />Previously in the <i>Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family</i> series:<br /><br /><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-goes-to-hawaii-all-in-family.html">Part 1, A Preface</a> <br /><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-goes-to-hawaii-all-in-family_19.html">Part 2, Keali'i's Sleeves</a><br /><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-goes-to-hawaii-all-in-family_21.html">Part 3, Ikaika, In Progress</a><br /><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/05/tattoosday-goes-to-hawaii-all-in-family_23.html">Part 4, Lehua's Eternal Tribute to Poppa John</a>

Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 5 (Ulu's Amazing Plumage)

In January 2008, when Tattoosday was a mere infant blog, my mother sent me photos of some of the ink my cousins possessed. I already shared ...

Read more »