If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Samantha’s Dragonfly Tattoo

From the time I was 3 until I was about 13 my stepfather sexually molested me almost every night. In 7th grade I finally told someone and it seemed as if my life would always revolve around him and what I went through as a child. 5 years later I decided that it was time to put it all behind me and start with a clean slate.

I live in NY, but I got this tattoo in Canada, 2 months after my 18th birthday. My dad designed it for me with the tattoo artist that day. It means so much more to me because of that.

The dragonfly symbolizes endurance and my mental and emotional growth and maturity. It is said that people who have the dragonfly as their totem have had passionate and emotional early years, but as they grow older they achieve emotional and mental clarity and control. That’s me.

The character to the dragonfly’s left is the kanji symbol for “LIFE.” The symbol is a reminder to me that I have so much to live for, that the life I lead for last ten years does not have to be the one that leads me for the next ten.

And if you look closely there is an “S” where the dragonfly’s body should be because I am that creature and that creature is me.

I GOT THIS TATTOO SO THAT WHENEVER I LOOK OVER MY SHOULDER AND TO THE PAST I CAN REMEMBER THAT I HAVE ENDURED, THAT I HAVE GROWN, AND THAT THAT PART OF MY LIFE IS BEHIND ME…

- Samantha

Tattoo Artist: Sergei
Lower East Side Tattoo and Body Peircing - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Traci’s Yin Yang Tiger Dragon Tattoo

My tattoo started out as just a ying-yang that I had done for my 18th birthday. The ying-yang represents balance in my life, which is more of an abstract concept than something I’ve been able to practice. Its a goal I aspire towards. It was always the intent that I would finish my tattoo with a dragon and a tiger around it, but I did not have enough money when I was 18.

Through the years I’ve been keeping an eye on designs, but never following through on finishing the tattoo. Then a tragedy happened this past winter. One of my best friends from high school was brutually murdered in a random act of violence. I was angry, and that anger found me in the chair at the tattoo studio.

The artist who did my work competes nationally, and I was amazed all of the awards he had gotten. His nickname was Freehand. I told him what I wanted, and he sparked an interest in working on me. He had drawn a design of a tiger and dragon with the intent of putting it around a ying-yang on one of his friends. But this never happened because his friend had been murdered only a couple of months prior. He modified the design a bit for my tastes, but said that he would love to put the design on me, and even signed the original handdrawing for me to keep.

I guess I’m a bit of a whimp when it comes to needles, or at least thats what I’m told, but my anger got me through the first 40 minutes of the job. It was the last 5 or so that my anger faultered and I was in tears, from both the pain on my shoulder/back and in my heart. The experience for me was very healing, and I found it much easier to start to deal with the pain in my heart as the other pain subsided. I still miss my friend very much, and I ache to know that I never got to say good-bye, but I know she is still with us, at least in heart and spirit.

So, thats my story, and I’m sticking to it….

-Traci

Yin Yang Tiger Dragon Tattoo

These are two seprate tats done by two different artists in different shops but they came together nicely.

I have five tattoos but I love my arm work because it was done after both my grandparents passes away. They would have killed me for having them but always taught me to be free and not care what others think of me and to flow like the water. I want to continue working on my arm and include my mom and lil bros and sis in it too but my g-rents are what inspired the pieces I have now.

The Koi, even though it brings luck, can be a fighter just like me! The water lily is my home, something beautiful but you can still seek haven in, just like my grandparents!

- Monique

I was a drug abuser for many many years and lost sight of who I was and who I cared about…The tattoos across my back are like this…..The forever love tattoo was for my grandparents who died while I was in drug treatment…..The scorpio and the leo symbol are for me and my best friend with out whom I wouldnt have stayed clean…..The tiger represents the old me breaking through into the new place I want to be….

-tattedcntyprnces

The famous Temple Tattoo in Oakland is right down the street from where I work. Freddy Corbain (mr nice guy) ownes the place and is world-known for his religious tattoos. His artists are also some of the best in the world, two being Jason McAfee and Jesse Tuesday.

I stopped by, checked out their books and fell in love with jesse tuesday’s japanese-inspired style. I booked my appointment (he’s booked a month in advance) and began drawing up my design. I then gave it to jesse, who sketched up a final piece and the rest is history… my geisha butterfly tattoo was created.

-ms bees knees (also see her Black Barn Swallow tattoo)
Tattoo by: Jesse Tuesday - Temple Tattoo, Oakland, CA