Harvey Rogers sends us these rocking traditionals, and his story behind them is pretty awesome:
Well where to kick off really, the relevance of HOLD FAST as a tattoo originally came about to prove a sailors worth on board, a rite of passage as such, you had to earn it and was therefore a privilege to have, it was originally tattooed on the knuckles to prove you were an able seaman, insignia on the hands showed what experience you had to captains commissioning crew. As a tattoo it allows me to remember what I’ve achieved on a professional level and the respect I earned amongst my ship mates.Now, I have only had the tattoos a year but it has been a phrase I have used in my personal life for lots of years due to personal struggles caused both by myself and third parties and a long battle with a drug and alcohol addiction, HOLD FAST because sometimes you just have to lock it down, hold on and wait for the fucking storm to clear.My torso is extensively tattooed but was never allowed anything visible due to my career, after many years of wanting the tattoo and many hours pondering it I felt established enough within myself, family and friends to go for it without judgement (not that I really give a fuck what anyone thinks anyway) but it definitely made the decision easier.Also, I just wanted to give a msg to anyone thinking about getting their fingers done:Please please make sure this is something you want done, give it many many years of thought and don’t allow it to be a spur of the moment decision, although there is a massive tolerance to ink today your knuckles are a huge statement and people will judge, make sure it has a significant meaning to you because if somebody has the bollocks to ask you what they mean you should give them the respect of a dignified answer, not just “because it looked cool man” because they will think you and the rest of us are dicks…Cheers,Harvey Rodgers,Southampton, England