Delphine Shares a Lucky Cat and a Sailor Jerry Design

I met Delphine last week and she shared two of her tattoos with me. First is this piece:

For those of you who do not recognize this image, it is a common piece of ceramic sculpture popular in Japanese culture called the "Maneki Neko," or Lucky Cat. It is a good luck charm, and is often seen in Asian-owned stores as a totem of good fortune. Delphine explained further that this was her most recent piece and that "I have always loved the Japanese Lucky Cat.  I felt that this would be a great time to get it (due to the economy - cat has a prosperity in Kanji) and as a tribute to the Japanese that were affected by the Tsunami)."

She credited her Lucky Cat to artists Megan Wilson at Picture Machine Tattoo in San Francisco.

On her other forearm is this tattoo:

This tattoo is attributed to Anthony Gonzalez at Lucky Stars Tattoo in San Jose, California. Delphine explains, "My father and I are Marine Vets.  I saw this Sailor Jerry piece and loved it to honor my father and me.  On the original piece it says 'Never Again'.  I updated this to 'Never Forget' - the 'forget' is done in red to look like spray paint."

Thanks to Delphine for sharing these two tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Salvatore Shares a Family Heirloom

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the death of Norman "Sailor Jerry" Collins, so it seems appropriate to share the following tattoo, courtesy of Salvatore:

Located on his upper right arm, Salvatore explained that his family emigrated from Europe several generations ago. His grandfather joined the service when he was a young man and served in World War II. His travels brought him, at some point, through Honolulu where, according to Salvatore, his grandfather received the original version of the tattoo above, from none other than Sailor Jerry himself. The design above is a replica of Slavatore's grandfather's tattoo, a Sailor Jerry original.

Not only is he carrying a piece of traditional tattoo history on him, he is also honoring the memory of his grandfather. How cool is that?

Salvatore is a chef at One if by Land, Two if by Sea, a restaurant in New York's West Village. He is also a personal chef for several mixed martial arts fighters.

The Sailor Jerry piece above, as well as his left arm, which is fully-sleeved, was tattooed by Elio Espana, formerly of Flyrite Tattoo. Elio now works upstate at ADK Tattoo in Constable, New York.

Thanks to Salvatore for sharing this wonderful tattoo, that celebrates both an American tattoo master, and a family patriarch, here on Tattoosday.