Take these broken wings and learn to fly

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
-The Beatles

Jamie‘s take on a murder(?) of Irish blackbirds shows off just how diverse the artists of Tattoo Temple can be.  With just black ink, Jamie is able to create realistic birds mixed in with a spattering of “paint”.

Tale of Two Fishies – Part 1

Continuing with today’s Tattoo Temple marathon, we’ve got what’s Joey Pang is calling “Tale of Two Fishies – Part 1″.  Normally this is the part where I say you’ll see part 2 later on in the day, but it appears that part 2 isn’t finished just yet, so you’ll have to wait a while before you get to see it.  In the meantime you can enjoy part 1.  It’s worth noting that while you don’t see any of Joey’s signature calligraphy in the photo, her tattooing techniques still reflect her ability to transform a tattoo machine into a brush.

Shark Week pt.1

I can’t believe that in the two years I’ve been writing for ModBlog I’ve never actually acknowledged shark week.  So to make up for it, the next few posts from me today will all be shark related.  We’ll kick things off with a very vibrant shark from Eimear Kearney who works at Art and Soul Tattoo Studio in Cobh, Cork, Ireland.

Lion Scar Revitalized Via Tattooing

Here’s another beautiful example of combining a well healed piece of scarification with tattooing to both enhance it and extend its lifetime. For the first year or two, a scar is usually quite defined just by its color, if not how much it has raised. However, as time goes by, the color of a scar lightens, and the raised effect diminishes, and in some cases it can be quite difficult to make out — at least in comparison to how it looked when it was young (the same is true for my entire physique, I’m afraid to admit, but let’s not depress ourselves). Adding tattooing is a superb way to revitalize that scar, as in this great example of abstract swirls of colour bringing out this lion scarification by Alejandro Hernandez Salazar of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, who works out of Tattoos by Spooky.

lionscar

Check out that waterfall!

That’s such an cool waterfall, don’t you agree?  The water cascading down into the churning waters of the river.  Oh, and there happens to be lovely tattooed woman in there as well.

Thanks to IAM:Irene_Stamour for sending us this beautiful shot.  Unfortunately she didn’t give any artist credit for her snake/spine piece.  Remember folks, when you upload photos make sure to fill in all the little boxes so that when you’re featured here on ModBlog we can give the artists proper credit. This also applies for when you e-mail your photos to [email protected].  Just follow the link in the e-mail you receive after we get the photos.

The Beast Within

As some of you know, the artists at Tattoo Temple follow a philosophy that shop owner Joey Pang created.  The idea is that they’re not just creating art, but rather they’re creating permanent clothes.  By following that principle, all the tattoos that are done there are specifically tailored (much like a fine suit) to fit the wearer’s body.  Take this lion that Wang created.  Not only is it exquisitely done, it also fits his body perfectly, which creates an image that feels like it was always there, just waiting for Wang to bring it out.

Bald is Beautiful

If only Jackie had sent this in last week; it could have been posted on the 4th.  The bald eagle is one of those fascinating animals that could have gone extinct within our lifetime, had it not been through a lot of hard work by a lot of people.  It was still on the endangered list up until 1995, and has since moved up to “least concern” on the conservation scale.  If only the same could have been said for any of the other species that have gone extinct in the past 20 years.