These are the hands of Shaun the African. Kaapstad means Cape Town in Afrikaans. He is a travelling tattoo artist who was born in Cape Town. He has been in the United States for six years now and travels the US in an RV. I met him at the Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival.
These knuckle tattoos were sent to me by a certain Mr. Dirt Reynolds of the West Virginia hillbilly rock band The Pistol Whippers. He says “These are my tribute to both sides of my family who are Scottish.”
Nathan B., also of Sherman, Texas, got these both to look cool and to keep from getting a “real job”. He is a drummer and intends to stay that way.
These knuckle tattoos are on the hands of Mark S. of Sherman, Texas. He says that skating isn’t what he wants to do. It’s what he is.
Ray from Austin tells us that he reversed the traditional GOOD and EVIL because “You always fuck up and have to kiss up later.” He also told me about getting them done. He worked at a restaurant as a cook and was told no tattoos visible at work. He eventually was made manager and went to get these knuckle tattoos done that day. He worked there until they had to close the Austin location.
Also from the Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival. This is Mike R. former member of the United States Navy. He got VIRTUOUS done for reasons of his own,� I don’t think that I’ve seen a pair of hands that more represented someone. Mike seemed like a hell of a stand up guy.
Found these via the excellent Needled blog.
The Smithsonian magazine had a few articles about tattooing and this picture was in with the bunch. Here’s the caption:
The tattooed right hand of a Chiribaya mummy is displayed at El Algarrobal Museum, near the port of Ilo in southern Peru. The Chiribaya were farmers who lived from A.D. 900 to 1350.
My camera is stuffed with amazing knuckles that’ll be posting over the next few days – but I thought I would start with the hands of a master craftsman. I caught up with Chris Trevino at the Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival yesterday. He tattoos out of Perfection Tattoo in Austin, TX. You can see examples of his work on his website. Also if you were at the event you also saw his amazing mural paintings around the sides of the event.
My pal Seth Johnson from AustinSkateNotes.org found these beauties floating around Emo’s Lounge here in Austin a few months back. I don’t know who they are attached to or what the story is, but you know how much I like the GAME OVER knuckles.
