Gunsmoke and Knitting

“Some people are lucky enough to have found that special person they’ll spend the rest of their life with. And who wouldn’t want to celebrate that? There are many unconventional ways to tell the world “I’m in love!” Clothing is one form of expression, like couples who wear adorable matching sports jerseys or have spent the last 30 years coordinating outfits. Others take a more permanent approach to displaying their affection through creative couple tattoos.

Having matching or complementary tattoos with a romantic partner is far less temporary than wearing a ring. After all, it can’t (easily) be removed. So, there’s a lot of commitment involved with the decision to get inked in this way. But, it has a big upside—the tattooed beloveds will always carry a symbol of that relationship with them.

Many of those that take the leap sport clever designs. Designers Jessica Hische and Russ Maschmeyer have ink that corresponds to the other—and their professions. Before that, Hische was thinking about her tattoo and got Maschmeyer to go along with it with sound logic. “I convinced him it would be ‘conceptually stronger’ if I got the CMYK version of the same tattoo,” Hische told CreativeBloq. “He was a little freaked out about having a couple’s tattoo, but the more we talked about it the more it made sense. Russ got additive color (RGB) since his career passions were primarily screen-based; I got subtractive color (CMY) because I started my career in print design.” The result is a special tattoo that signifies their deep bond.”

from mymodernmet

“Photographed over the course of three years, Alan Powdrill‘s COVERED is an interesting look at tattoo culture and our perceptions of people with body art. As tattoos have become increasingly commonplace and mainstream, the old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” is proven to the fullest by Powdrill’s images of heavily tattooed people covered up—and stripped down.”

“By photographing and interviewing 40 people across England, Powdrill challenges us to reconsider our preconceived notions of what tattoos mean. While, there’s a long history of tattoos in Britain, introduced into Victorian culture by sailors and members of the military, there can also be stigmas associated with tattoo art. But certainly, over time, what it means to have a tattoo—and who has them—has evolved.”

“Powdrill, who met COVERED‘s participants through social media, tattoo conventions, and word of mouth, asks each to pose in front of their homes. One image shows the participants fully clothed, while the other depicts them stipped down and proudly showing off their body art. The side by side look at each subject can’t help but push viewers to focus on their reactions to the photographs, and reflect internally on why they have such feelings.”

Click here for the full article

Separately, we enjoy looking at tattoos and optical illusions, so this union is the best of both worlds. Paul O’Rourke of Allstar Ink in Limerick, Ireland created this clever tattoo that will definitely make you do a double take. The swirling column that’s inked on his client’s arm appears to dip into two deep crevasses of the skin. From first glance, it seems like you could grab onto the “handle” of this person’s lower bicep. The impressive inking combines bold and graphic lines with small-yet-crucial areas of shading. Because most of the tattoo is so flat-looking, these specially-contoured parts are enough to convince us that this fellow has an unusually-shaped arm; we are mistaken thanks to O’Rourke’s handiwork!

Paul O’Rourke website

In a delightful story picked up by the Total Tattoo news radar, Guinness World Records has recently declared Charlotte Guttenberg and her partner Chuck Helmke from Florida to be the world’s most tattooed senior citizens (and it was only 11 years ago that Charlotte got her first ink). The couple got together 10 years ago, having met in a tattoo studio. Their tattoos are mostly Asian spiritual in theme, and they are keen for the designs they each wear to tell their own stories. In press interviews, they said they planned to use the opportunities given to them by the Guinness titles to promote a better understanding of tattooed people, especially those of the older generation.