Category: tattoo tuesdays

This week’s Tattoo Tuesday should look slightly familiar. Now that the ink has dried and healed it’s time to officially show y’all some of my hometown art.

I’ve wanted flower tattoos on my feet for a few years but was never sure exactly what blooms I wanted. I have sacred datura incorporated into my half sleeve so something representative of my home state felt appropriate.  I included my dad’s name, Ricky, on my right foot. My father passed away June 7th, 2001 and I felt enough time had passed to pay permanent tribute.

If you have a great Louisiana themed tattoo that you want to show off send me your story and a picture to nolagurl{at}gmail{dot}com. Make sure you include the artist’s name and/or shop so I can credit them.

It’s Tuesday so that means one thing- more tattoos! This week’s piece comes to us courtesy of Robby Breland. Robby’s Louisiana themed tattoo will eventually be a full sleeve. He credits Caleb Baker at Effums in Baton Rouge for his work.


Robby getting sketched out. Note the Louisiana tattoo on his back as well. 

If you have a “Louisiana pride” piece you want to show off just e-mail me at nolagurl{at}gmail{dot}com. Please provide clear pictures and the artist and/or shop. A description or background story is always a nice touch.

It’s Tuesday which means it’s time for the second installment of Tattoo Tuesdays. Thanks to Amalie for this sweet story about her husband’s nautical NOLA ink.

My husband is a sailor and has even had the opportunity to be part of the crew for a tallship.  Since he sailed on a tallship he has earned a lot of sailor tattoos. Whenever he gets one tattooed on his body he always puts a Jewish twist to it. His most recent tattoo was done by Walt Clark of NOLA Tattoo.  It’s a compass rose intertwined with a Star of David pointing to a Fleur-de-Lis. Sailors would tattoo the compass rose on them so that they would always find their way home.

My husband chose a Fleur-de-Lis to be his Navigator’s North for two reasons. Firstly, he wanted something that was not the usual N for North. He and Walt looked at a lot of old sea charts and found that many used a Fleur-de-Lis. Of course, this was because a lot of the maps were made by Frenchmen so north was the way home. But the second and most important reason is that our first-born son was born in New Orleans last year. As you know, New Orleans has adopted the Fleur-de-Lis as the symbol of the city and its people. So my husband’s Navigator’s North is not only authentic, it also points to the place where our son was born, the place we now call home.




If you’d like to share your tattoo you may send it to nolagurl{at}gmail{dot}com. Please provide the artist and/or shop’s name as well as a brief description of your ink.

Tattoos. It seems like you either love ’em or hate ’em but an increasing number of people are getting them and many employers have learned to tolerate them.
A tattoo can represent many things. It can be a beautifully drawn piece or a permanent nightmare from a spur of the moment idea.  For those of us that are fiercely proud to be a part of New Orleans our love of the city often translates into professing our emotions in a permanent medium. Whether you opt to buy a NOLA-centric t-shirt a longer lasting souvenir  the stories are just as interesting as the subject matter itself.

I solicited several people into sharing their artwork and their story and was overwhelmed with the responses I got back. The concept was a one time post but has morphed into a small weekly series. That said I present our first tattoo. I hope y’all enjoy this as much as I did planning it.

Owner: Erin “Jade” Crowley
 Artist: Danny Iannuci.

“Danny and I were members of a now defunct forum community. The forum owners/moderators decided to have a real life meetup here in New Orleans. The weekend Katrina hit. I wound up getting myself, Danny, and another forumite out of the city about 2 hours before the flood waters hit downtown. Needless to say, when you live through a disaster like that with someone, you form a strange, unique, and awesome bond.
He was living in New York at the time, and we joked that the next time we saw each other, he would have to do a Katrina tattoo for me in payment for getting him the hell out of dodge. We tossed around e-mails with different concepts, until I finally sent him a picture of the water meter cover. He moved to San Diego and I wound up flying out there to visit him for his birthday. 2 1/2 years after Katrina, he got to make good on his “repayment” to me, and graced me with the design I now proudly wear. 
Eventually it will be expanded upon to include Chris Rose’s quote, ‘She’s a New Orleans girl, and New Orleans girls don’t live anywhere else. And even if they do, they always come back.’ “