I headed off to the 24-hour Duane Reade, six blocks away. By the time I arrived, there were already a half-dozen things added to my list. I grabbed a cart (although in Brooklyn they refer to it as a wagon) and was somewhere in the haircare section (shampoo for kids) when two young ladies walked by.
I had brought, as always, my Tattoosday folder with fliers in it, along with my camera, despite the fact that it was cold and in the thirties. But one can never be too prepared. These women were dressed for the clubs, coatless, bare-armed, and high-heeled. I spotted a tattoo on one of the women's feet.
I thought about asking her then and there about it, but I balked. These were two attractive young women in a drugstore late at night and I wasn't up for the challenge of being scrutinized as a creep.
Besides, I reasoned, it's only a rosary tattoo. Nothing extraordinary about that. Let me just leave them alone, I thought, they're obviously headed to some club.
But I ran into them/passed them a couple more times and, each time, I cursed myself more for being too cowardly to ask. So what if its just a rosary? Here at Tattoosday, it's not just about the ink, but about the story behind the ink.
I was at the front part of the store, trying to decide which individually-wrapped candies would be the least damaging to my children's teeth (for the party bags), when they headed my way, on their way out of the store. I figured, "what the heck?" and asked the young lady about her tattoo.
This was not the first tattoo I took a picture of. Before I knew it, woman said "Wanna see a sick tattoo?" And she turned around and lifted the back of her shirt up to reveal, indeed, this very sick tattoo:
Wow. Sweet. Which just goes to show, Tattoosday Rule #1: Don't dismiss the "ordinary" tattoo. There may be extraordinary ones just out of sight!
Her name is Layla and she was very cool. I snapped the above shot and then asked if I could take the rosary one as well, since that's what caused me to stop and talk to her.
Both were inked by her friend Vito at King's County Tattoo Co.. She got the rosary modeled after Nicole Richie's tattoo. The awesome lower back piece she inked when she was 19. She was young and rebelling against her parents, she said, and she didn't want a small lower back tattoo like everyone else had, she wanted something big and bold. Check out this detail:
It's beautiful work.
I noticed that she also had a cross on her left forearm and I gave my standard Tattoosday patter: check out the blog in a few days, and feel free, if you like what you see, to email me if she wants to share more of her ink with the world.
I turned to her friend, , and said, naively, and when you get a tattoo, let me know, and I'll put yours on too. She proudly replied, "I have seven already." Silly me, and then I noticed the rosary on her right foot.
Like Layla, Lisa's rosary tattoo is inspired by Nicole Richie's. In fact, Lisa said, hers is an exact replica of Nicole Richie's (below):
I extended the same offer: if you like what you see on the blog, let me know, we can always have you come back as a recurring tattoo feature.
I thanked both ladies and they headed out while I went back to searching for the elusive gift bags.
Thanks to Layla and Lisa for their willingness to put their night on hold, and sharing their tattoos!