Welcome to the Machine

I met Paige over by the New Jersey Transit section in Penn Station late last month and she shared this, one of her five tattoos:

It's a biomechanical piece that helps illustrate her as a machine. Her plan is to ultimately turn it into a sleeve with an apocalyptic bent.

She had this done at Lola's in Bogota, New Jersey. Work from Lola's has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Paige for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Re-Post: Tattoos I Know - The Grim Reaper

Today is a sad anniversary for us here on Tattoosday, for it marks one year since our friend, Tom Wacker, passed away unexpectedly.

Tom was an early supporter of the blog, from its fledgling days as a once-a-week feature over on BillyBlog, and he watched us grow with a mixture of excitement and pride.

The camera I use was a birthday gift from Tom and his fiancee Sephora, and he was always first in line to see the pictures I took whenever I had new material for the blog.

A week or two before his death, Tom was hanging out at a friend's house in New Jersey. He took pictures of his friend's sleeve and e-mailed them to me. The photos are still in my mailbox, unposted. I still haven't the heart to call his friend and talk tattoo with him.

There are times I am hesitant to approach people, for whatever reason, and I overcome whatever resistance I may feel, knowing that's what Tom would have wanted me to do, and that somewhere, he is watching, urging me on, applauding my efforts, admiring the ink.

As a tribute to Tom, I am reposting his tattoo, which he shared with us here, back in 2007.

It's not the best tattoo, but it's Tom's, and his spirit is infused here in Tattoosday. It's the least I can do for the friend that supported us so much in the early days. Here's to you, Tom!


Tattoos I Know: The Grim Reaper (originally posted September 11, 2007)


This is the sole tattoo of my friend and co-worker, Tom Wacker.

Tom designed and drew the art upon which this tattoo was based.

The Reaper is posed on Tom's biceps/deltoid and has resided there since 1984, when its host was a young lad of eighteen.

This is Tom's only tattoo and he has no plans to get more. He is proud of the fact that, because he designed it and because he then tore up the original design, it is a one-of-a-kind piece...

The tattoo was inked by Dean at Lola's Tattoos, then in Cliffside Park, but now in Bogota, New Jersey. Tom got this tattoo "because it was cool," although the tattooer tried to convince him not to get it because it was "too mean" for him. Twenty-three years later, Tom says he has no regrets about his ink.

Thanks, Tom!

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Horror Goulash with a Side of Power Mushrooms

I was passing through Century 21 Department Store when I spotted Jason, a web designer who estimates he is 50% covered in tattoos.

He offered up this sleeve, which he worked on for six sessions with the tattoo artist Sean Sweeney at Lola's Tattoos in Bogota, New Jersey:


Sean has subsequently moved to Virginia.

They called this piece "Horror Goulash" as it was a big pot of ideas for a sleeve, with an emphasis on the dark and macabre. Over the period of its creation, they collaborated to add ideas to it.


Jason also had this piece tattooed on the back of his left calf:

These are, for the uninitiated, the power mushrooms that are sought after in the Nintendo Super Mario Bros. video games.

Jason loves Nintendo and admitted, it was a "spur of the moment" piece tattooed "somewhere in the Village".

Thanks to Jason for sharing his amazing ink with us here on Tattoosday!