While surfing around the ‘net the other day, I found a set of knuckles posted by Bill Cohen on the excellent Tattoosday blog. Bill wanders the streets of New York City and talks to random strangers about their tattoos. With his permission I am reposting the knuckles and story here.

HALF FULL

Billy has several tattoos, but he chose this set of eight, each letter spelling out the message.

“It’s the endless question,” he mused, “of the glass being half-empty or half-full.”

“So,” I interjected, “you’re an optimist?”

On the contrary, he informed me, optimism does not come naturally to him. He “would like to be” more of a “glass half-full” person, but he has had his share of challenges, to say the least.

Billy has been clean for two years, after a long struggle with heroin addiction.

The letters on his fingers come together when he makes fists, and he acknowledged that he often has “to beat it into [his] head to think more positively”.

“By ourselves, we are not complete,” he said, and explained how this simple interaction, two strangers meeting and discussing a tattoo, it’s this kind of event that is what life is all about.

Billy was very positive, talking about a tattoo that grounded him and gave him the strength to live his life in a more fulfilling way.

The fingers were inked at Cliff’s Tattoo of Long Island.

Thanks to Billy for sharing his ink and taking the time to talk tattoo!

And thanks to Bill Cohen for sharing the post!

Hello everybody!

Two weeks ago the KnuckleTattoos.com crew headed down to San Antonio for the Alamo City Tattoo Expo. We met a ton of great people talked to them about their knuckle tattoos. I got some great pictures and we heard some great stories. My pal Kai from Mad Pengin came along for the romp and caught a bunch of interviews on video. We will be posting the videos as we have time to edit them all together. In the mean time, here are the photos I took. As always, if these are your knuckles or the knuckles of someone you know and you want to add the story, just email me at nathan[at]knuckletattoos[dot]com and I will feature the story in a separate post.

Check ‘em out!

These fresh knuckles can be found on the hands of Rene R. and here is the story behind ‘em:

I had my knucks done 5-13-08 by Dave Brewer @ Trigger Happy Tattoo.. my names RENE and im an INKAHOLIC ;) im > 40 years young and live in whittier SO CAL.. EYE 4 AN EYE “what goes around comes around” you know the old saying ;)

These beauties were sent in by my brother. They are on the hands of his frend Emcee.

UPDATE: Emcee just sent me his story, and it is a good one:

All my life I have grown up with horror movies.  My mother was a huge fan from jump and that set me and my brother up for a fun ride. My dad always hated it but I felt it gave us both a better sense of humor and a generally more sturdy demeanor. It helped shape us into the smart little devils we are all the while giving me something to laugh at in my spare time.  So I LOVE horror movies they make me happy when nothing else can, they transport me to a place where life is meaningless, jokes are obvious, and death is “original” something I cherish in the current state of things.  That being said, the “Evil Dead” trilogy is my favorite horror movie good time series. If I got some gasoline and my boomstick life is groovy.
Dead by dawn,
emcee

Mika Lahtinen sends these knuckles in all the way from Helsinki Finland:

the story behind the knuckles is very simple, in this great world we live in you can do two things either sink or swim.

the 51 on my thumbs is the area code, of the part of helsinki that i live and work, so my life revolves around this area

tattoos were done by krisse at legacy tattoo in Helsinki, Finland

Hey loyal readers!

I’ve just got a few opportunities for y’all to be on TV that I thought I’d pass along.

I was contacted by the good folks over at G4 TV’s Attack of the Show and they are looking for people with comic book tattoos that are going to Comic Con 08 in San Diego. They want to feature you on a segment. If you get in, make sure you give a shout out to yer friend Nathan Black at KnuckleTattoos.com. I found this awesome Hulk at the Alamo City Tattoo Expo this last weekend. He’d be perfect for the show. If he was already going to Comic Con of course.

I’ll have a ton of knuckles from that Alamo City Tattoo show up later in the week, and maybe a few more surprises on top of that.

The other chance to hit the big time: LA Ink is looking for people to get tattooed on their show. Maybe that’s how I’ll finally get my knuckles done. I think I finally have figured out what I want it to read. If you get on that show, you have to tell Kat to return my myspace messages. I want to get her knuckles up on this site and hear all about them. I guess I could have asked Corey Miller, since he was also at the Alamo City Tattoo Expo, but he was always tattooing when I walked by.

Just click the banner to get the information on the LA Ink casting call:

PS - Did I just jump the shark? There wasn’t a single finger in that post. Except for the Hulk’s big meaty fist. Oh well.

Another great set of knuckles, this time from America’s hat, also known as Canada. Here is the story:

My name is James from Edmonton, Alberta Canada. SLOW FADE is a song written by a great Edmonton band called Choke (RIP). The tattoo reminds me that my dreams are in reach as long as I stay true to what I believe in. Resisting the temptations of security, and refusing to settle. “And I Trust There’s Ways To Maintain These Truths That I Know, Cause It’s All That I Know.”

Check them out www.myspace.com/chokemusiconline

Done By Manny Landry
D&M Tattoos Fort McMurray Alberta Canada
The Fall Tattooing Vancouver British Columbia Canada