Leptotila noted that all tattoos represent times of change or document a big occasion in life.

Leptotila’s first tattoo is a Dragon coming over the mountains surrounded by Celtic knots. Leptotila had just moved to North Carolina. Leptotila met James Vaugn working in Clayton, NC. James was driving front loader/back hoe, taking trash off of work sites. Leptotila liked what James was doing and had never seen good tattoo work. Likes to think their conversations helped to start James’s career in tattoos.

This tattoo is about heritage. Leptotila had wanted a dragon and thinks this is their worst tattoo. The ink has faded quite a bit over the years. It is a memory of James.

This is a tattoo of a fallen angel done by James Vaughn. The angel is above the next two tattoos.

This is a Hell scene. It is Paul Booth’s artwork. It is a picture of Skulls on strings.

Leptotila really liked Paul Booth’s artwork. Leptotila paid James for this tattoo with a pair of blue Doc Martins.

Tattoo of skull with tubes. It is connected to the Hell scene.

Leptotila took James down to Jacksonville, NC for his first tattoo job. Jacksonville was the place for tattoos at the time, in North Carolina. James got the job. Leptotila went there a week after he started. James had some free time and did the tattoo.

James moved to Greensboro, NC and opened a new tattoo shop called Emerald Dragon. Leptotila would head to the shop on weekends, and work in the shop. Helped James price tattoos, manage the clientele, and anything else. Leptotila assisted with repairing flooring, and making the place look nice.

A guy living down there was named Dave Kruseman. Dave had just moved there from California, and became James’s apprentice. James ran the Emerald Dragon for a couple of years.

This tattoo is a old 45 fire record insert done by Dave Kruseman. It’s a reminder of being a kid and listening to Disney records, or whatever music the family had. It’s an adapter for when the whole was to big for the record. Statement of music and youth.

Some people thought it was Neo Nazi symbol. It’s not.

Leptotila moved to Greensboro, NC, and lived with some buddies: Little Tommy and Brad. They were local legends, people who everyone knows, and likes.

Big Tommy lived behind them. There was lots of drugs and partying.

Dave and Big Tommy on Fridays nights would have thousands in their pockets. They all would go out to the strip clubs. Then they owned the strip clubs. All the girls knew Dave and Big Tommy had money. Leptotila was just along for the ride. Leptotila said, “It was a fun ride.”

This is a tattoo of a Sacred Heart with a Crown. Leptotila always liked the Catholic Jesus portrait of a sacred heart with a crown of thorns. Leptotila liked the imagery, but never liked religion. Wanted something on these lines. Big Tommy did the tattoo perfectly.

Big Tommy did this tattoo machine tattoo as well. It’s a reminder of friendship with Big Tommy.

Leptotila had always wanted Tommy to complete the whole chest by starting with big pieces and filling in background. Tommy died before chest could be finished.

Leptotila left there and moved to Chapel Hill, NC. Leptotila met Bruce White, Bruce’s boyfriend Leslie, and Jonas. Jonas ended up being Leptotila’s best friend. Jonas wanted to be a tattoo artist. He would draw pictures he saw in magazines. Jonas would make these pictures his own. Jonas became really good friend with Bruce. Bruce took Jonas under his wing and apprenticed him.

Bruce White did the cherry tattoo. There’s no deep story behind the cherries.

The One Life tattoo. Went hiking in the woods with girlfriend. She had an epileptic seizure while driving the car. She drove them off a mountain. When Leptotila got home he got this tattoo.

This was a fun time in life. This was supposed to be the “I” awakener. Leptotila had kind of slept through it. Stated “Didn’t listen, whatever is was all a party back then”.

The blue birds: During times of war, blue birds are tattooed for good luck. One to take them away, and one to bring them home safely. Leptotila did a lot of traveling back then.

Leptotila had wanted to do more tattoos with Bruce. Never had the time or money. Just talked a big game, could not come up with the cash flow to get started.

Skeleton Key Tattoo. Moved to Alabama for a year. Came back and had Jonas do this tattoo. It is the key to life/the key that unlocks all of the doors, and pathways.

Message in a Bottle/Whiskey Bottle tattoo. This was done by Daredevil tattoo in Asheville NC. This tattoo is also connected to the car wreck. During the car crash, a gin bottle came out of a backpack and hit girlfriend in the back of head.

The tattoo is connected to sailing through life. You have one life to live. You are searching for help. The message in a bottle is a cry for help.

Nautical wheel and North Star tattoo. This is connected to the two tattoos above. Its meaning is sailing through the seas of life.

Kraken sea monster tattoo. This monster has a third eye. It symbolizes obstacles in life.

Anima girl tattoo. Leptotila was really into anima. Met Dave Scearce at Asylum Charlotte, NC. Once it was done everyone said it looked like Leptotila’s girlfriend. Was not the intent when getting the tattoo. It does look like her, but it is not her.

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FTW (Fuck The World) Bomb tattoo. Leptotila was living in Apex\ Holly Springs. Hard chapter in life. Had gotten over a bunch of hurdles. Looking like was going to get head out of ass. Wanted to document this change in life. Wanted Jonas to do it. It was fun.

Don Hardy Green Dragon water spray tattoo. Did not got this tattoo finished. Needed to be somewhere, and it was taking longer then they thought. It needs to be cleaned up. Had wanted a traditional tattoo piece, a three color dragon. A traditional drawing from a legend in tattoos.

 

These pictures are all of the same tattoo. Reminder got this tattoo when just out of high school, living with dad, and about 19 years old. Reminder was accompanying a childhood friend to get a tattoo. Reminder ended up getting this tattoo at that time.

Reminder has always been interested in art and expression. At that time Reminder was very defiant towards their parents and used to lie a lot. Reminder’s parents were very strict Catholics. Reminder’s family is very segmented because there was a divorce which split up the family.

This tattoo was based off a pic. It is the kanji symbol meaning honesty and family, which are very important to Reminder.

Reminder doesn’t want to get any more tattoos – this is it!

The bearer of this tattoo, Odorato, lost more than 200 pounds. Odorato is not very spiritual, but there is something greater than the highest and lowest weight in this world. This tattoo indicates that God is greater than the ups and downs in life.

Odorato’s grandmother’s name was Violet. “She was the best grandmother there was.” The fact that this name is also a living organism makes it very meaningful. Violet loved flowers, and always cared for plants, so the name Violet fit her well.

 

This is a tattoo of Celtic knots. The bearer of this artwork, Coigreach, used to believe they had Scotch-Irish ancestry. This symbol was on the back of Coigreach’s wedding program. Coigreach has now come to find out they are only 6% Scotch-Irish, and also 9% Slovak, 19% Italian, and 66% Scandinavian. Coigreach next is planning to get a Scandinavian tattoo.

This is a “Tree Of Life” tattoo. Coigreach was a science teacher, and strongly believes in science, but also feels they are a part of nature. This all goes into Coigreach‘s philosophy of things that go beyond. Coigreach is not interested in “God,” but more interested in how we create our environment, and how we work with the environment to make ourselves better.

This tattoo represents both John Lennon and the Picasso Peace Dove. The bearer of this art, Tranqui, got the tattoo after graduating from a master’s program. Tranqui was working full time and had a dark cloud in their personal life. Once Tranqui finally graduated, this symbol represented that you can imagine, and do what ever you want to do, if you try hard enough. Tranqui tried hard enough, and achieved their goals.

This is an Argentinian design from the Pampas tribes. The bottom line is earth, and up above, mountains and valleys. The top line is heaven or the sky. This artwork symbolizes one’s journey through life. It represents a deep connection to roots in Argentina.

 

The bearer of this art, Lehrer, states that all of their tattoos are infused with woad.

Woad is a mineral extracted from flowers. An example of this would be in Brave Heart: the Celts had blue stuff on their face, which was woad mixed with lime. This was very important to the Celts.

Lehrer envisioned these tattoos in dreams before getting them engraved on their body. One tattoo involved going back in time and seeing an ancestor with the tattoo. Lehrer got the tattoo on the same spot.

Lehrer said their last will and testament states the tattoos will be preserved by a taxidermist.

This is a Celtic age iron sword with Celtic knot work wrapped. Lehrer was supposedly descended from Brain Bowery, who’s the king that defended Ireland from first Viking invasion.

The Valknut – Lehrer associates the meaning of this artwork with sacrifice. Lehrer got it even though they believed this symbol would screw them out of getting jobs.

Celtic Cross – This is a pre-Christian symbol. Its meaning is focusing male energy and fertility of female. Some people feel it’s a model of our galaxy. This symbol is found on Mayan ruins, and it’s very similar to the Norse Solar Cross.

 

 

 

 

 

This eye is tattoo magic. The eye used to have words in old Germanic script (piktick spelled wrong). The tattoo was done with blood, woad, mixed with ink. A previous girlfriend of many years has the same tattoo. When the relationship ended, the eye was filled in.

This tattoo is a big middle finger on heart. Here’s some history of the middle finger: In 1066 the Romans invaded the Saxons. When the Romans would capture the English bowmen, they would cut their middle fingers, ending their careers. When the Romans would approach, English would show them their bow finger. It’s a symbol of Lehrer’s wife’s hand.

This is the first tattoo that Designer got. Designer has Irish ancestry. Designer wandered into the tattoo shop with sister, and this tattoo is an artistic composite of a couple of designs found in the shop.

Designer designed this tattoo. It was created from a couple of different ring designs. This is the one Designer always wanted — it was like a placement.

Designer views tattoos more as a decoration than anything super meaningful. This tattoo allowed Designer ownership over their own skin.

Chains left the Jehovah’s Witnesses at age 22. Chains spent lots of time hiding in music. This tattoo was from the band Silverchair, which made an album called Frogstomp. Chains was hiding from problems, was unhappy, and did not agree with organized religion. The tattoo symbolized Chain’s attempt to stop running from problems and to confront them head on.

This tattoo is from the Judas Priest album, “Screaming for Vengeance.” It’s Chain’s all-time favorite album. It’s all about male bravado and machismo.

The 804 is the Virginia outline, which is where Chain was born. The 919 outline is where Chain became an adult after leaving the “cult” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Chain had a girlfriend who was a tattoo artist that designed this tattoo. They had really good sex, which made Chain a stronger person. She took a picture of herself and made it into a tattoo.

This is described as a hand holding cards and a Polaroid. Reminders of past loves.

“Shut Up Legs.” Chain used to be rickshaw and bicycle messenger. Jens Voigt won the Tour de France. At the end of the race, he yelled “Shut Up Legs” in German. This was because his muscles were depleted.  This tattoo reminds Chains of that.

Slaughterhouse five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, ends every chapter with “so it goes.” Shit happens in the world, and there’s only so much you can do about it.