Niki's Memorial for Elizabeth

Last week I was down in Chelsea when I spotted Niki from a distance. She appeared to have a colorful Madonna-like tattoo on her right shoulder, so I changed course and caught up to her only to discover this lovely tattoo instead:

This lovely photo was supplied to me by Niki, as my own camera's battery had run out of power and my BlackBerry photo seemed inadequate:

Niki explained that, after her beloved cat Elizabeth passed away, she wanted a memorial tattoo to honor the friend she had for fourteen years.

She went to artist John Reardon, then at Saved Tattoo, and told him she wanted a memorial in the style of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the look of Mexican shrines and altars.

One can see Reardon hit the ball out of the park, as proven by my mistaking the piece from a distance as a religious icon.

John Reardon is no stranger to Tattoosday. His work has appeared previously here and here.He now works out of his private studio in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Niki for sharing her beautiful tattoo with us on Tattoosday!

9 Weirdest Animal Incidents

Missing Cat Turns Up on TV Show
A cat which disappeared from its home in Cornwall turned up safe and well - on the set of Question Time. Tango, a tom, had crept into Treviglas Community College's hall in Newquay, where BBC1's political discussion programme was being filmed last week. He padded out from under a table where David Dimbleby was chairing political discussions with a panel of guests. The first owner Jackie Ellery knew of his surprise appearance was when a friend rang to say she had spotted him.

But she was not the only person to notice the furtive feline - panel guest Julia Goldsworthy, Lib Dem MP for Falmouth and Camborne, had also clocked him, as had many of the studio audience who erupted into laughter at his nonchalant air.

However, although his owner had been watching the programme in her living room, she missed his TV debut. Although his TV debut may have been fleeting, it seems that Tango's screen appearance will go down as one of the more memorable events to happen on the show. (Link)

Cat Trapped Inside a Metal Container Survives 34 Days by Licking Walls
A black cat named Socks miraculously survived a month trapped in a 20ft industrial storage container - by licking condensation on its walls. The 11-month-old feline reunited with its owners after electrician Murray Ruxton found it inside the container. He survived 35 days without food or water by licking condensation from the sides of the metal unit in Arbroath, Angus. Socks went missing and owner Michelle Maher reported him missing to the charity Cats Protection. Michelle put up posters and searched the streets whilst Cats Protection volunteers kept a lookout for the missing puss. Unbeknown to them, Socks had snuck into a 20ft metal container - similar to shipping containers - which was used by store equipment and supplies for electrical company D Adam & C.

Although desperately thin - half his ideal bodyweight - and dehydrated, the mischievous moggy was reunited with its owner and is expected to make a full recovery from its ordeal.


Tiny Chihuahua Blown Away by Strong Wind

The Utleys of Waterford Township, MI, had set up a booth at a flea market when Tinker Bell, a 6-pound Chihuahua who had been standing on top of it, just flew away like a flimsy piece of paper dragged by 70-mile-an-hour winds. The good news is that, with the aid of a pet psychic, Dorothy and Lavern found a dirty and hungry Tinker Bell in a wooded area about a mile away.

Bird With Cigarette Caused a £250,000 Fire

A cigarette loving sparrow is being blamed for a fire that caused £250,000 of damage to a shop in Lincolnshire. Paul Sheriff, 48, who runs Crescent Stores in Leasingham, was initially at a loss as to what had caused the blaze. Six weeks later, insurance investigators told him that they discovered 35 cigarette ends in the roof.

Their conclusion was a sparrow must have picked up a smoldering butt to feather its nest in the roof's eaves, causing the blaze. Mr Sheriff, a non-smoker, said: "The shop was a total mess. All the suspended ceilings came down, all the electrics were down, all the fridges were broken, it was horrendous. A spokesman for his insurance company said: "We believe it's the first case of its kind we've ever had to deal with. I've certainly never come across this sort of thing before. It's strange to think how such a little bird armed with such a small object could cause such chaos."

Mice Responsible for a Fire That Killed Over 100 Cats
In an ironic event that may be called the mice revenge, mice are being held responsible for a blaze that killed nearly 100 cats at an animal shelter near the Canadian city of Toronto. The fire at the humane society shelter in Oshawa also killed three dogs and some rats that were up for adoption. An initial report from the fire marshal says mice or rats chewing through electrical wires in the ceiling are likely to have sparked the blaze. The $250,000 (£137,000) fire is still under investigation by the Ontario Fire Marshal's office.

Orangutan Deactivates Electric Fence to Escape from Zoo

An Australian zoo was evacuated after an "ingenious" orang-utan escaped from her enclosure by short-circuiting an electric fence today. Staff at Adelaide zoo said 137lb (62kg) Karta used a stick to short-circuit the electric wires around her enclosure before piling up some more sticks to climb out. But the 27-year-old ape only ventured as far as a surrounding fence, still metres from members of the public, during her 30 minutes of freedom. The zoo's curator, Peter Whitehead, said she seemed to realize she was somewhere she was not supposed to be and returned to her enclosure.

Karta was spotted by a member of the public and, although she returned to her enclosure, the zoo was evacuated as a safety precaution. Whitehead said the orang-utan was not aggressive and had not been close to members of the public. However, vets stood by with tranquilizer guns in case of trouble.

Zookeepers believe that Karta was driven to make an incredible escape attempt by grief at the loss of her longtime mate.

Sheep Abseiled Down Electricity Cable After Snagging Its Horn

This hapless sheep has become a real life 'ram-bo' after inadvertently abseiling down a hill when its horn became snagged on an electricity wire.The unfortunate sheep was spotted bleating for help more than 15 feet above the ground next to a telegraph pole. Luckily it did not catch the current from the wire.

The drama unraveled at the small town of Helgoysund on the Norwegian coast. Tourists at the scene mounted a rescue attempt and eventually roped it to pull it back to ground level. After nearly an hour, and some ingenious rope work, the German tourists managed to bring the sheep down unharmed. Spectators suggested the sheep may have been grazing on the hill, and while trying to reach a field of ewes, it got its horn stuck on the zip wire. As it got more agitated, it was pulled down the hill on the wire it was attached to and ended up more than five metres above the ground.

Skunk Gets Stuck in a Peanut Butter Jar

Teresa Vick saw something very strange - a skunk with its head stuck in a peanut butter jar in downtown Bixby. "I deliver the Tulsa World in this area and I was throwing a newspaper here at the Community Centre and I just happened to come upon a skunk with the jar already on its head at about 5:30 this morning," Teresa Vick said. The hungry skunk was just looking for a meal when it got its head caught in a discarded jar. Teresa called several places before she found Ned Bruha, The Skunk Whisperer. She kept the skunk corralled as she waited.

According to Ned Bruha, all wildlife wants is food, water and shelter. Peanut butter is irresistible to skunks. They are opportunistic and they are going to take advantage of any bit of food they can get. This guy found peanut butter and got itself into a little bit of trouble. Ned used a rag soaked in chloroform to mildly sedate the skunk before pulling the jar off its head, and wasn't even sprayed by the appreciative skunk. The skunk just seemed happy to be free once more, and ran off unharmed.

Puppy Survives Miraculously After Swallowing a 10 Inch Toy Arrow

Puppies are known for chewing and eating everything and anything. But Betty the bull terrier must have regretted her greed and curiosity after she swallowed a 10-inch plastic arrow that was almost as long as herself. Thankfully, the Staffordshire bull terrier survived after undergoing emergency surgery to remove the item after it became lodged halfway through her body from the aesophagus to her small intestine. Her owner, Emma Watson, 38, believes her pet gobbled up the arrow after disappearing into her seven-year-old daughter Lilly-Jay's playhouse when a gust of wind opened the door.
The dog is now recovering, but she doesn't seem to have learned her lesson; as soon as she got home she tried to eat the TV remote control.

A Cat Named Do

I met Shawn in Penn Station near the Amtrak terminal earlier this month. He was doing what most people are doing when I stop them in Penn Station: waiting for a train.

He was with who I will presume to be his wife and toddler son. I noticed he had tattoos on his arms so I approached him and told him about Tattoosday.

With his wife's encouragement, he pulled up his shirt to reveal this astonishingly unique tattoo:

Shawn drew this design himself. As a person who liked cats, this feline is based on a cat that he once had named "Do" (as in "How do you do?").

"What happened to Do?" I asked.

Shawn looked over at his son and said, sadly, "Do was not a family cat."

Some feline house pets do not like new babies and do not hide that fact. Since we are taught as a society that babies are more precious than pets, they gave Do up to another home. The cat to the left of Do in the tattoo is "Do's shadow".

Not just any cat tattoo, Shawn's design is artistic, with clocks for eyes and machinery rumbling away in Do's insides.

Shawn also has ink on his back, one leg, and arms (including a sleeve).

This piece was tattooed in 12-14 hours by Davie mac at Davie Mac's Tattoos in Niagara Falls, New York.

Thanks to Shawn for sharing Do with us here on Tattoosday!

Two Tattoos from Taylor

I met Taylor where she works at Kaleidoscope, a toy store in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

I gave her a flier after admiring her really cool feather tattoo that was inked behind her right ear.


A week later, I was zipping by on my bike and saw her on a break outside the store. That was when I had a chance to speak to her about her tattoos and take the photos for this post.

This is one of her nine tattoos, and was done by an artist named Chris who works out of Puncture Tattoo in neighboring Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.


Taylor says the tattoo is inspired by the fact that she feels free-spirited, like a bird, and that her aunt, who died in a plane crash, used to call her a "little Indian girl". The dangling feathers behind her ear seem to capture both sentiments nicely.

Unlike the first time I met Taylor, on this occasion she was wearing a shirt that showed off this cool tattoo at the top of her back:


Taylor explained that she loves cats and her sister's gray cat Dusty passed away from breast cancer, which has also been a disease that has run in her family, as well. She had the tattoo artist, Peter Cavorsi, of Body Art Studios, model this piece based on Dusty's eyes.

As always, Peter did a superb job. He is no stranger to Tattoosday, having inked one of my tattoos (seen at the bottom of the page) and several of my wife, Melanie's. This link will show you all of Peter Cavorsi's work that has appeared on the site over the last two-and-a-half years.

Thanks again to Taylor for sharing her two beautiful tattoos on Tattoosday!

Crazy and Funny Yoga Cats 2010 Calendar

Tags: awesome, Inceridible, Interesting Pics, Interesting, humor, Cool, Animals, Amazing

Tattoorism: Kelly's Backpiece for Her Daughters

It's been a while since we've had a tattoorist in this neck of the woods, so we ought to enjoy a lovely submission.

For those of you new to Tattoosday, or unfamiliar with the term "tattoorist," that refers to someone who is visiting the blog from out of town, sending us their tattoo from the blogosphere and beyond.

Generally, I don't want to encourage e-mail submissions, especially during the summer when my coffers are full of great tattoo photos from people I meet in New York, but I will generally post something if it's particularly awesome.

Enter Kelly, who sent me this phenomenal piece at the end of July:



I'll let Kelly tell us about this:

"It is of the Norse goddess Freya - with her blue cat she got from Thor. She is standing on a bed of Lilies. It is actually a partial cover up that I will add a few more leaves too to even it out a bit.

I got it because I have two daughters - Lilly and Freya. Freya absolutely loves cats - and actually both of their first words was cat. Odd I know. But I think its pretty cool and has real personal meaning. Hope you like it!

Oh yeah - and the pink in the shading is just my angry skin - its just grey now."

Kelly is doing a pop culture/diet experiment called the Hot Pocket Diet. She jokingly admits that this is evidence that she is "just marginally crazy".

This wonderful tattoo was inked by Jeremy Miller at Screamin' Ink Tattoo in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

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

World most Funny and Scary Cat