The first tattoo Gestas got was in the late 1990’s. Gestas traveled to Atlanta with some friends for tattoos and piercings. Gestas went in for a sailboat tattoo and left with the three crosses of the crucifixion. Gestas always had intended to add the rainbows around the tattoo as a sign of hope and to offset the deadly message of the crucifixion. The rainbow did not occur until Gestas moved to Raleigh in 2005.

The rest of the tattoos were completed by Rob Meyers.

Tiger Face tattoo was first tattoo Gestas got in Raleigh. This is for Geaux LSU!

Gestas‘s left leg sleeve is indicative of Louisiana swamps. Gestas went in expecting to have a leg sleeve comprised of water, cypress trees, and small animals. Rob first created the possum’s face. Gestas remembers saying, “Oh, that’s big.” Rob said, “trust me.”

Next the alligator was added. This took a long time due to the details. Gestas wanted to stop when they were halfway done. Rob insisted they continue. The session went on for 9 or so hours. Gestas needed liquor to get through it all.

The next part of the sleeve was the raccoon, which is located between the alligator and possum. Next was Rob’s interpretation of a cypress tree.

In later sessions he completed the work with cattails, sky, sunlight, mosquitoes.

Gestas‘s right leg has a Cajun Crawfish playing an accordion in front of an outhouse. A catfish, crap, shrimp, and oyster can be seen dancing around the corners. There is also an armadillo drinking a beer. If you look closely, the name Jack’s Beer is there. Part of it is whited out because that was an error, and he never finished having it corrected. It should read “Jax” beer. Jax Beer is a beer from New Orleans which no longer exists.

Gestas’s right arm includes an alligator chef boiling craw fish. The craw fish think they are in a hot tub, so they are wearing sunglasses and sipping on drinks.

Second Line Umbrella tattoo. This is connected to jazz funerals. Gestas states to note the Fleu de Lis on top and how the rainbow, sun and sky from over the crucifixion tie nicely into the artwork on the back.

Left Arm Sleeve. Just above the wrist is the Flag of Acadian. The tattoo also includes a magnolia, the state flower of Louisiana, and a pelican, which is the state bird of Louisiana.

This is a Sling Shot Tattoo from Gogol Bordello Gypsy Punk’s album, Underdog World Strike. Volker’s girlfriend was getting a tattoo. Volker wanted to get a tattoo and thought this design would be cool. This is a band that Volker likes a lot.

Leg Sleeve Tattoo. The artist, Erick Lee Volker, was coming up with ideas to put on their leg. They went with a mohawk skull, circuit board, and bomb. Take a detailed look at the bomb. The explosion is only on one side of it. The reason for this is when they got to other side, it hurt too much to continue! The leg sleeve took over fifteen hours, broken into 3 sessions. Volker had always loved leg sleeves. Volker wanted to do full arm sleeves as well, but working in IT, it didn’t seem like a good idea. Volker can get away with the leg sleeve.

This is a shoulder Viking Tattoo. The artist is Vanis Orr. Volker likes to tell people they got the tattoo in honer of their grandfather who was a viking. It is in honer of him raping and pillaging through out Europe in the early 1000s. The tattoo is a Viking Skull wearing a helmet with one broken horn, and a snake going through eye. The waves are Japanese style. Mix of Japanese and traditional style. Then there was a troll for added Viking energy.

This was Volker’s first tattoo. Volker wanted to get something non offensive and kind of cool. They did it on their 18th birthday. They got the tattoo at Red Dragon in Richmond, VA. Volker somewhat regrets this dragon. Thinks it looks kind of lame now, and it has a weird tail. Not strong regret. Volker might cover it up, or give it a top hat and golden tooth.

Life in Russian Cyrillic. Volker thought it looked cool. Volker studied Russian in college and wanted to get tattoo in Cyrillic. Hates to admit it, but stole the idea from Russian band called Teraconnie. It was on one of the band members wrist, and Volker liked the way it was written. Volker took to tattoo idea to the artist, Vanis. In a friend’s apartment helping move, there was a weight bench. Vanis created the tattoo on the weight bench, with a friend’s pit bull kept coming up and licking Volker during the tattooing.

This used to be an anti-swastika tattoo. The problem was that it wasn’t clear that it was anti swastika. The red line through the swastika could look a little like flesh. The tattoo could have looked like holding swastika close to heart. Volker had to get it covered up. The artist Erick did this artwork. The star covers up the previous tattoo very nicely. As an FYI, the stars are also not connected to Russian mafia.

Motorcycle Wings tattoo. Dad has the same tattoo. Went up for Christmas both got the tattoos. It’s a motorcycle as dad rides cross-country for a fund raiser.

Joejoe’s Note: Sadly, the arrow tattoo picture was too blurry to post. Owner of this tattoo, if you read this, please contact me on the contact page and send me a new picture of the tattoo!

Arrow tattoo. All of the three other sisters have the exact same tattoo. The arrow has four leaves and the last leaf is filled in as they are the youngest. There is a heart connecting all of the leaves.

These tattoos represent Eternal Lover and Eternal Life, which are gifts from God. Angelist stated that Real love and Pure Life is Jesus Christ.

This tattoo depicts a sunrise. The sunrise is life, and a new beginning. Around the sunrise are daggers that come out at different times in life. You don’t know when the daggers will come out.

Eve tattoo. This tattoo represents love and Eve, who was the first Woman. Angelist associates love with women. The ivy is there to represent life after death.

Crucifix tattoo. The crucifix is above sin to represent that the crucifix conquers sin.

A better picture of the sin tattoo.

Peace Tattoo. After you die, you can have peace.

Devil Tattoo. Angelist stated, “The devil is real and he is everywhere. The devil is real but you can have life after death. The devil is real, but on bad days I can keep the devil at arms length.” The tattoo is located on the arm.

Birth Date Tattoo. This represents the start of Angelist’s life.

Japanese Kanji for self. Angelist stated it was a representation of self, and that is what tattoos are.

Time tattoo. This is the time Angelist was born.

Ygari Khong: This is the person’s name and a statement they will not forget their girlfriend. It’s written in Vietnamese. I was sitting next to Ygari in an airplane. They were flying to Vietnam to see their girlfriend for the first time in 17 years. Ygari got the tattoo to remember her.