Phoenix tattoo: The Phoenix took about 4 hours. It was one session. Hou-ou was 30 years old it was their first tattoo. Hou-ou got beat up a lot in middle school. Hou-ou had low self esteem and low self-confidence. Hou-ou learned martial arts. Then they stopped getting beat up. Hou-ou had the self-esteem to try new things. One of those life changer Phoenix reborn kind of things.

Foo Dog and Dragon tattoo: The foo dog with an open mouth is warding off evil and a protector. The dragon is one of the ultimate symbols of power. Hou-ou is very close with their younger sister. Hou-ou is an overprotective sibling. Hou-ou tries to take care of her as much as they can.

Samurai tattoo: I was talking to my tattoo artist, and told him I wanted to turn this into a sleeve. Since everything was Japanese-inspired I was thinking a tiger, maybe another dragon, or a samurai. As soon as I said samurai, the artist eyes lit up. He said, “I would rock the shit out of a samurai.” I told him he was the artist so have at it, and I am super happy with how it turned out.

Pagoda tattoo: It really just connected with the imagery of the samurai. All of Hou-ou’s tattoos are Japanese inspired. That is kind of Ray’s thing and style. The artist is Ray Jerez at Inborn Tattoos in New York City. Hou-ou came to him with very vague ideas. Ray came up with tattoos that Hou-ou is very happy with.

Shield tattoo: The first tattoo was the result of a lost bet at a Hurricanes game where the Canes were down by three goals, with two minutes left in the third period. “Me and my friends told another friend that if the Canes came back and won, he would tattoo us with fresh sewing needles and Indian ink. The Canes won.” It was the most insane hockey game, ever. Ludmila drew this up on the ride home. It was kind of a little pun: Ledmila’s last name is Knight. Ludmila got a shield and swords. It’s more the memory then design itself. Ludmila had their friend do this tattoo one dot at a time, and the memory of hanging out with them was cool.

Blue Rose tattoo: Ludmila got the blue rose with one of the same friends they got the shield tattoo with. We were at a shop hanging out. My friend wanted to get a tattoo. Ludmila just saw this design. It’s by Daniel Higgs. Ludmila stated “Daniel is a wonderful tattoo artist, amazing poet and musician.” Ludmila  saw it was his work and got the tattoo at the same time as their buddy. This strengthened the tattoo bond with their friend. Ludmila stated, “both tattoos are both really good memories of hanging out with my friends.”

Birds tattoo: They are not any particular type of birds. The birds are more symbolic. The birds are in the shape of a subtle “S.” This was for a dog Strider Kolvar who they had for 5 days that died of parvo. Kolvar wanted something not obvious, which was birds in the sky in an “S” shape.

Owl tattoo: Kolvar likes birds. Kolvar thinks they are misunderstood like “bird brain” and it’s really not true that birds are dumb. Owls are very smart. Both of the tattoos are in the same style with no harsh boarders. Kolvar likes things that are connected to nature. Kolvar likes having something on them that is animal life and with nature.

Elf tattoo: This is a tree and an elf. The tree is connected with earth, nature and the cycle of life. Kolvar thought to put an elf in there because the elf is cool. The elf is a connection to the supernatural.