Two sets of four letters. Solid.
These knuckles come to us from the US Military on the hands of Jesse M. Here is what he says about them:
Vita (life) Mors (death) in latin. All that really is important in this world is life and death what you do in between is up to you. Im a u.s. marines so life and death are a big part of my job.
Straight out of San Francisco, CA we have Gary Vargas. He is a body piercer with Mom’s Body Shop in SF. He presents us with a set of knuckles dealing with coming to grips with who you are:
My kunckles were done by Eric Jones at Mom’s Body Shop in SF where i work as a body piercer. i’ve been trying to get tattooes that not only have a visual meaning, but a funny one as well. with my knuckles, i did some humor on my height. i’m 6 foot 8 and for most of my my life i hated my height. not untill i got into my late 20’s did i start to feel more comfortable about it.
These are the hands of my friend and former band member Dwayne. I’ve always wondered about the story behind his knuckle tattoos. Since he was a friend of mine, I asked him if he would mind sharing his story and knuckles as my 100th set of knuckle tattoos on the site. Like every part of this project I got back a lot more than I bargained for.
His story after the jump:
These fists belong to Craig a local barman the singer for Warwulf. He says that he and one of his previous bands were on tour when they all decided to get knuckle tattoos. The were in Philadelphia at the time and went to Philadelphia Eddie’s to get tattooed. One of the band members was refused because he didn’t have enough other tattoos, so they all decided not to at the time (also being poor and on the road didn’t help). They promised that they would get their knuckles done later, but Craig is the only one that followed through.
This set of knuckles comes courtesy of “Fat” Scott Morrison, of N2SKIN Tattoos in Farmington Hills, MI. His story is great:
I’d been tattooing for about a year and a half at the time, and it jsut dawned on me that I was in the middle of living my dream and persuing a carreer with no boundries. I had grown up with a father who worked in a Ford plant for 32 years and had taken a medical retirement due to stress-related heart problems, and a mother who had owned her own accounting buisness for 30 years working 13 hour days in dress atire. I had always promised myself that I would never let my life pass by working a job I didnt have a passion for or spend my time sitting at a desk in the corperate world in a suit that was uncomfortable. so, when I came to this realization (that I was living my wildest dreams), I decided that “LIVE LIFE” would always be that constant reminder to just enjoy every little thing I can, and never let something so petty like money or posessions come between me and my love for the simplest yet finest points of life. One week to the day that i got the tattoo, my father passed away suddenly, and literally in the blink of an eye meant more to me than I had ever imagined it would. He worked his entire life, literally till the day he died to make sure that I would be able to persue my dreams, so for him and for me this is the path I have chosen. Nothing will stop me but death.
I photographed these beauties way back at the Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival. I’m pretty far behind still. They were on the hands of Kindel U., who is married to a tattoo artist. In explanation she just said “I’m a silly girl.”
Devon G. of Long Island, New York presents these knuckles and a killer story:
As i was growing up, and even still now, i have been fortunate enough to bear witness to the duality of all things. i have watched people rise to the highest highs, becoming extremely sucessful in their way of thought, of life, and i have watched people slowly kill themselves, through drugs, or other forms of destructive behavior, often resulting in death. My knuckles serve as a constant reminder, maybe even not only for myself, that there is always a choice, of way of thought, perception, and action. As being a professional chef, i often see actions that glide along the surface of the day, riding the wave of life, taking it as it comes, and adjusting… And i see the floundering that results from illl thought, laziness, and fear. Either we can swim effortlessly through all things, or we can sink from the weight of our own negative energies.
This set of knuckles is awesome! From Brian Nervous. here in Austin, TX:
The “story” behind this tattoo is really, really, simple…… I like to eat the soup. I mean c’mon who doesn’t like a big ‘ol fuckin steaming bowl of soup? If you’re sick, depressed, angry at that fucker in the Hummer who cut you off on your bike and then has the audacity to give YOU the finger, or just hungry…. soup is the shit! I’m pretty damn sure that my fierce love of soup enabled me to hook up with the hottest soup loving girl in Austin!! The tattoo was done this past winter at the Star of Texas Tattoo Convention in Austin, by my pal Zack Kinsey of Leviticus Tattoo in Minneapolis, MN. If yr. up that way holla at a brotha.
Love, Peace, and Soup Spoons. Brian Nervous-Soup Gang ATX (and check out the Soup Gang Blog –http://soupbowlparty.blogspot
.com/ )
I acutally met Summer here a long ways back. We sat down and chatted about knuckle tattoos and how society treats heavily tattooed people. Our conversation made me think a lot about this project and how it was originally about the tattoos. Now I am much more interested in the people and the stories of how they decided on getting the knuckle tattoos and what the tattoos mean to them.
So, enough about me, this is what Summer has to say about why she got FAUX PAUX:
faux pas: [foh pahz; Fr. foh pah] a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion.
i decided to get my knuckle tattoos after the corporate world does what they do best: fuck you. my knuckles are my reminder that i never want to be some suit and ties fucking gopher ever again. being that im a woman, and an androgenous one at that, people look at me and automatically pigeonhole me as some gay tattooed gutter loser who cant spell. little do they know, i probably make just as much money as they do without selling my soul, and i maintain my personal moral ethic. so, i decided to just mispell it out for people who look at me and assume they know. if you dont want to do business with me because im a woman with knuckle tattoos, then fuck you. there’s enough tattooed freaks out there who cant spell to do business with.