Roses tattoo: This is for their grandparents. Their grandfather passed away before they were born when their mom was 20. Their grandma died of tuberculosis when they were 4. This was their grandparent’s favorite color roses, they had these flowers all around the house.

Feathers tattoo: This is for them and their sister. Papa always said, “birds of a feather flock together.” Their sister is the bigger one, and they are the smaller one. This is because she is their older sister.

Initials tattoo: This is their mom’s initials. They got this tattoo when they were 18 years old, on Valentines day. They got the tattoo because their mom went to rehab for alcohol and drugs. Their mom is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. On November it will make 18 years their mom has been clean.

“Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future” tattoo: Even though they walk with the lord, they are not a perfect human being. The Lord died on the cross for them. Everyday they pray that the Lord still forgives them.

Maple leaf with goat Chinese zodiac tattoo: The maple leaf is for their sister. It’s her favorite leaf and they don’t know why. The goat is in Chinese because their papa taught them Kung Fu.

Sun tattoo: They used to hang out at a tattoo shop all the time. They would get picked on because they did not have a tattoo. Their buddy said, “I am going to give you a tattoo.” This is what was picked.

Skeleton Mickey Mouse giving the bird tattoo: They and a bunch of friends in the Marines all got this same tattoo.

JW zipper tattoo: Before their dad passed away, he had open heart surgery. Their dad had a zipper tattoo over his scar. He would always joke with the doctor that they could not go back in unless they used the zipper. So everybody called him Zipper.

EGA eagle globe and anchor tattoo: This is for the Marine Corps.

Anchor heart tattoo and Anchor cross tattoo: They and their best friend got matching tattoos. They had been friends for about 10 years and decided to get tattoos together. The story is the same for both tattoos, and the friend is the same for both tattoos.

Mommy tattoo: The mommy is in their mother’s handwriting. The image is for their first born; she was breast fed.

Paw print tattoo: This is for their first dog. Their dad took the dog and he now lives with their dad.

Lorelai tattoo: This is for their first born. Lorelai is her name.

Monarch butterfly tattoo: This is for their mom. Her favorite butterfly was the Monarch butterfly. They are from Texas. The Monarch butterfly is the Texas state insect.

Perryman tattoo: This was John’s first tattoo. They got it so they don’t forget their last name.

In high tide or low tide I’ll be by your side tattoo: About 4 years ago John got bit by a tick. John’s partner stood beside them the whole time they were in the hospital. She never left John.

John tattoo: This is John’s name so they don’t forget it.

Life and Death tattoo: The tattoo says life one way and death the other way.

Carson tattoo: This is John’s nephew’s name.

Lorelai tattoo: This is John’s daughter’s name.

Rose tattoo: This was their first tattoo. It says Michelle in the rose. They got that just before they got married.  This tattoo is 35 years old.

Classical Justice League tattoos:  They are in a competition with their son who is a comic historian on YouTube. He has all the new Justice League of Superheroes. They decided to go with the old school Justice League of Superheros.

Boston Red Sox tattoo: They got this on a whim. They were traveling down I-95 and saw a tattoo shop in Lumberton, NC, and decided to get a Boston B on their wrist.

Dagger through a heart tattoo: This was DXE’s first tattoo. It was their rebellious tattoo. DXE’s mom hates tattoos. DXE got in trouble for this one. DXE did wait until they were 21 to get the tattoo, but their mom was still pissed. At that time of this tattoo life was hurting so much. DXE thought love was not the only thing that can break your heart, life could also break your heart. In the dagger there is also a rainbow because DXE is LGBT and queer. This is one of DXE’s own designs.

Jack Skellington tattoo: Nightmare before Christmas is DXE’s favorite movie, and Jack Skellington is their favorite charter. DXE wanted a whole sleeve with all of the characters from the movie, but stopped with one due to money.

But Jen tattoo: This is DXE’s best friend’s signature. Her name is Jennifer. It says, “But Jen.” This is because they have a inside joke: any time DXE wants her to do something, DXE says, “But Jen.” Jen normally says no to DXE’s ideas and DXE says, “But Jen.” They have been best friends forever. DXE told her, “You know what I am going to do one day? I am going to get your name tattooed on me.” DXE told her to write down, “But Jen” on a piece of paper. Jen had no idea what DXE was doing. Within an hour, DXE got the tattoo. Jen now has DXE’s initials on her shoulder.

Arrow turning into a paint brush tattoo: This was another one of DXE’s own designs. The arrow represents moving forward. DXE has been an artist all their life. In the last 4 years, DXE has been an on and off professional full time artist. The image is an arrow turning into a paint brush. This for DXE is a reminder to move forward with their art. DXE doesn’t want anything stopping them, as they have stopped so many times. The style with all the rainbow colors is DXE’s style. You will see this type of style in a lot of DXE’s paintings and art.

A funny story of about this one: DXE’s artist name is DXE. In the middle you can see the X. The artist put the tattoo on backwards.  In the mirror looks perfect, but on DXE’s arm it is backwards.

Tribal sun with D in the middle tattoo: The reason for this is at the time DXE was hanging out with lots of people with names starting with a “D.” They all went to the tattoo shop and got the letter “D” somewhere on their bodies.

A3 with angle wings tattoo: There is a little 3 above the A. It is supposed to be A to the 3rd power. DXE’s mom, dad, and brother’s names all start with the letter A. DXE’s mom’s name is Angeli, and  dad and brother’s names are Angel. The wings are because all three of their names are Angel.

Cross with tribal tattoo: DXE drew this cross. DXE did not think about this one much, and just wanted another tattoo. DXE put the cross with the tribal, it has no meaning to DXE. It was just one of those things that DXE wanted.

Koi fish sleeve tattoo: This is an unfinished sleeve. This was a birthday gift to themselves when they turned 31. DXE was going through heartache, and had moved to back to Georgia from Florida. Everyone DXE had dated said, “you can not get anymore tattoos.” This is DXE’s F-you tattoo. Saying DXE is going to keep getting tattoos. The tattoo is of two koi fish, because DXE is a Pisces. The fish are unfinished as they are supposed to have scales.

DXE tattoo: This is DXE’s company logo. DXE’s artist name is DXE. In the middle is a little character with eyeballs and teeth. These characters are named Crazy Faces, and are DXE’s own creation. Crazy Faces are the seeds to DXE’s thoughts and living in DXE’s imagination.

Abuelita rosary tattoo: Abuelita means grandmother in Spanish. DXE’s family was not a religious family. They were raised Catholic, DXE’s grandmother always wore rosaries.

Flowers tattoo: Back in the day, one of DXE’s friends was tattooing. She needed to practice. DXE said, “You can practice on me,” and this is what they decided to do. The flowers was something simple she could work on.

Butterfly tattoo: DXE did this one themselves. Once, DXE attempted to be a tattoo artist. DXE practiced on their own leg. The tattoo was infected for weeks, because DXE went too deep.

A prayer for the wild at heart kept in cages tattoo: They got this tattoo as matching tattoos with Jen. They got this because every time they get in a relationship they get put in a cage and they don’t want to be put in a cage. Jen picked the quote. They both got the tattoos on the same spot.

Dual Scythe Grim Reaper tattoo: They really like the cycle of life and death. Eventually, they will get something to balance and symbolize life.

DJV skull tattoo: This is a skull wearing headphones, and one ear is exploding out. They had friends that used to be married. The friends had been through hard times. They used to be DJV. In the bottom of the teeth it says DJV. DJV had a contest at a bar where the best use of their symbol would win a mystery prize. Their prize for getting a $50 tattoo of DJV’s symbol was free drinks all night.

Faith tattoo: They got this because they feel that you should always have faith. Good thing are always going to happen.

Ambigram tattoo: This is an ambigram tattoo. It has all four of the people in their family’s name no matter which way you read it. For example Natalie and Jaelyn are their kids names. You can read this in the tattoo forwards and backwards.

Grim Reaper sun tattoo: This was a little Grim Reaper Alrosa got just out of boot camp. This spot used to be a stupid nickname, which this tattoo covers up.

Tribal tattoo: This was Alrosa’s first tribal tattoo. Alrosa got it in 1996to remember when they got this tattoo. If you look at it it’s a ’96. This was one of the first tattoos Alrosa got while in California.

Wild One tattoo: Wild One was a nickname Alrosa had. The sheet music is the intro to Pantera, “I’m Broken.” Alrosa rode motor dirt bikes. Alrosa crashed one time and ripped up their forearms. Alrosa thought they could see bone. Alrosa went up to a friend and asked if it was broken. The friend poked at it and said “nope, you’re broken though.” Alrosa went out and got this tattoo the next day.

Viking symbols tattoo: These are Viking symbols for mankind, strength, and power. Alrosa just got this tattoo because it looked cool. The tattoo was a tab off the wall.

• Editors Note: Alrosa stated this as Viking symbols as this is what the tab on the wall said. This is what the owner of tattoos feels this tattoo is. Not all Vikings were Norse, though.

Powell Peralta tattoo: Powell Peralta was Alrosa’s second San Diego skateboard. Alrosa was in San Diego in the military. A lot of people skateboarded that Alrosa hung out with. It was a cool tattoo and Alrosa liked it.

1971 tattoo: This was the year Alrosa was born. It was that or “made by mom,” so Alrosa figured they would go with the year.

Hell’s Gate sleeve tattoo: This was done by a guy named Roy at Roy’s Iron and Ink in Ohio. It was all done free-handed. Alrosa traded him a Springer 8 over front end for this tattoo. Roy said, “Do you want scary stuff or cool stuff?” Alrosa said “do whatever you do.” After about four hours, they got this. What Alrosa likes about this tattoo is every face has two faces. If you look at it upside down or right side up it’s two eyes a nose and a mouth. The tattoo also used to have some color in the gates of hell, but that faded.

Motorhead tattoo: This is a Motorhead album cover. It was one Alrosa saw and liked it. A buddy of Alrosa was getting into tattooing. He said if Alrosa let him do the tattoo he would do it for free. This was one of Dave Talbot’s very first tattoos he ever did. Dave Talbot is from Ohio.

Hollow tattoo: Alrosa stole this picture off a deck of playing cards. This is the joker symbol. The picture had something under it in the card deck. Alrosa just figured it was cool to put hollow under the joker picture.

Frye family crest tattoo: This is Alrosa’s last name and supposed to be their family crest. Alrosa’s dad had cancer. At Christmas, Allrosa said “What do you get a guy that is dying of cancer? You don’t go buy him a bunch of gifts.” Alrosa went out and researched their family’s last name and found the family crest which is horses and and three shields. Alrosa went to Dave. They worked up this which is horses and English Ivy. Alrosa kind of started the tattoo as memorial for their dad. He passed away before Alrosa got the tattoo finished, and Alrosa has not yet finished it.

Kimberly kanji tattoo: Alrosa’s daughter’s birth date is 1-11-93 and the kanji is Chinese symbol for child.

Kokopelli tattoo: Kokopelli was a indian medicine man. Kokopelli traveled from tribe to tribe. Sometimes he is carrying a sack, sometimes he is playing a flute. The legend was Kokopelli would play the flute to announce to the tribe he was coming. Kokopelli is a fertility god, so when he visited the tribe, someone in the tribe became pregnant. Alrosa put a backpack on Kokopelli and gave him a hiking stick, because Alrosa does a lot of hiking.