This phoenix tattoo is very personal to me. The phoenix describes the struggles I have gone through in my life and trying to rise above them. It took 2 years for me to compile everything that I wanted in the tattoo. This is just the outline and I am currently getting color done. It will take quite a few months to finish since it is so large.

-Caitlin

Scroll Down to see Caitlin’s finished Phoenix Tattoo

Update May 30, 2011:

Caitlin has one more session of color to go on her incredible phoenix tattoo. She’ll send photos of the finished tattoo soon but here’s a progress shot to give you an idea of how beautifully the color work is coming along.

Update October 2, 2011:

Here’s Caitlin’s finished phoenix tattoo…

Tattoo artist: Wayne Lessard
Tattoo Studio: Bodytech in Gainesville, Florida

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I got this tattoo because I have been through a lot in my life. I was born 3 months premature and have been fighting since then. I decided to get the tattoo after my mom told me I always fought through everything, never giving up. I saw myself as rising from the ashes.

I had the tattoo drawn up by Megan at Tattoo Lous’ in Huntington, NY. She got the concept down pat when I told her I wanted her (the tattoo) to have bright, vibrant wings and piercing blue eyes and to face my heart

It was done in two sessions. Now, I use this tattoo as in inspiration in my life; when I am going through hard times I think of her as my alter-ego.

-Lindsay

Tattoo Artist: Megan – Tattoo Lous’ – Huntington, NY

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Here is my take on this mythical bird linked with fire, the sun and rebirth. I found this paragraph quite inspirational: “A mythical bird that never dies, the phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration.” – (The Feng Shui Handbook, feng shui Master Lam Kam Chuen)

After a couple of designs, Gaitan from “Paul and Friendz Tattoo” shop in Belgium crafted this drawing which encompasses nicely the strength, lightness and beauty of the Phoenix. It is my second tattoo. The first one being a snake in the shape of an Ouroboros around my left wrist. After a “snake that bites his own tale”, I chose a bird on fire that flies away without being blinded by the sun…

- Gaetan

Inked by Gaitan – Paul and Friendz Tattoo Shop – Belgium

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I just decided it was time for a new tattoo about a month ago (this is my 3rd). I’d been kicking around 2 or 3 ideas for the last year or so, reading tattoo magazines hoping something would jump out at me, but it never did. And there wasn’t a Phoenix in any of them.

I’ve always liked the Phoenix and the mythology behind it, the problem was finding a picture I liked. I hated the tribal looking ones, and all the actual bird pictures I’d seen either made it look like a Peacock or a dragon, and the head almost always looked more like a vulture to me.

The first page of google hits returned for “Phoenix Bird Fire” had the attached picture in it. I continued to look for well over an hour, and never found anything that even came close.

I knew I wanted the folks at the Skin Kitchen here in Des Moines to do it, based on their reputation. Michelle Hall over there was fantastic – as you can see when you compare the result to the original art.

I’ve tried to reach the original artist, Linda Bergkvist, via e-mail, but she’s never responded.

- Nikki

Artist: Linda Bergkvist

Inked by: Michelle Hall – Skin Kitchen, Des Moines, IA

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Alberto’s Phoenix Tattoo Story

The story goes that when a phoenix dies, it falls into ashes, and from the ashes it is reborn. The reason why i got my phoenix tattoo was because i always was someone else, and not being my true self. Well my previous life has died, that chapter of me no longer exists, and the new me (the pheonix) is the new chapter of my life.

-Alberto

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