In Progress: Phoenix Sleeve

Posted by Cassandra on March 9, 2013
Posted in: In Progress Tattoos. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

As usual, Natan has a lot of in progress pieces happening. John, a Salem local and business owner, came in for his first session last week. The phoenix was a long outlining session, and he sat like a champ! Natan tattoos a lot of phoenixes, but this is the first one to cover an entire arm in a while. We’re looking forward to seeing this progress in future sessions. Of course, more pics will follow!

natan_johnphoenix

With the Boston Tattoo Convention less than six months away, Natan’s schedule is getting fuller. If you need to schedule an appointment with him to continue an existing piece or start something new, we recommend doing so as soon as you can! Give Witch City Ink a call at 978.744.9393, and we’ll get you in his calendar.

First Session: Ganesh & Tribal Coverup

Posted by Cassandra on November 30, 2012
Posted in: In Progress Tattoos. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

natan ganesh1

natan ganesh2

What was initially thought to be just the first session of a Ganesh forearm piece, turned into a solid seven hour session that included a coverup. See that Ganesh Yantra there? Before yesterday, there was some old tribal in its place. It was a long day, but both client and artist walked away happy. Thanks, Michael!

Natan has a couple of smaller openings available in December, both at Witch City Ink and Lightwave Tattoo. If you have an existing piece that you want to work on for a couple of hours, or want to get something small done, give the keeper of his schedule a call at 978.744.9393.

Recent Works

Posted by Cassandra on November 21, 2012
Posted in: Tattoos, Traditional. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Here are a few smaller pieces, recently completed by Natan.

Firstly, a brightly colored lotus blossom and lettering. “Amor fati” is a Latin phrase loosely translating to “love of fate” or “love of one’s fate.”

Second, a Tibetan double dorje. In Tibetan the word dorje means “indestructible.” The dorje is a spiritual weapon used to banish non-truths and bring in the truth. The dorje is often used in a Tibetan Buddhist ritual, where it is twirled in order to bring in truth.

Third, which perhaps shouldn’t be categorized as a “smaller work,” is a bright shamrock surrounded by traditional elements (such as a clipper ship and swallow) in black and grey.

Natan has limited December availability before he sets off to Japan, and his January is already filling up quickly. If you would like to book an appointment with him, give Witch City Ink a call at 978.744.9393.

In-Progress Dragons

Posted by Cassandra on October 23, 2012
Posted in: In Progress Tattoos, Japanese. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

One look at Natan’s portfolio, and it’s obvious that he is heavily and humbly influenced by Asian (particularly Japanese) culture. One of his favorite subjects to tattoo? Dragons, of course. Here are some fun little tidbits from Wikipedia:

Japanese dragons (日本の竜 Nihon no ryū) are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese truth and folklore. The style of the dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet.

Historically, the dragon was the symbol of the Emperor of China. In the Zhou Dynasty, the 5-clawed dragon was assigned to the Son of Heaven, the 4-clawed dragon to the nobles, and the 3-clawed dragon to the ministers. In the Qin Dynasty, the 5-clawed dragon was assigned to represent the Emperor while the 4-clawed and 3-clawed dragons were assigned to the commoners.

Fascinating stuff! The above photo, as well as the one below, are in-progress pieces that Natan has worked on recently. He’ll also be spending some time in Japan at the end of the year and going into January. Envious? We are too.

Flowers & Waves

Posted by Cassandra on October 17, 2012
Posted in: Tattoos. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Happy Wednesday! We have a lot of recent works from Natan to show you, and we thought we’d start off with a nice little sleeve post of the flower persuasion. First up is a black and grey lily sleeve on Jodie, who quickly became one of our favorite clients.

This next pic only shows a portion of this sleeve, which also consists of flowers, but is done quite differently than the above lilies. The colors are incredibly vivid — more so than this photo shows!

Moving away from the floral spectrum, one of Natan’s clients came in with the idea of wanting waves on his forearms. He was pretty excited about these — and so were we!

As usual, Natan’s schedule is filling up incredibly fast, so be sure to give Witch City Ink a call at 978.744.9393 if you’d like to make an appointment with him (even if you want to be tattooed by him at Lightwave — the keepers of his schedule are at Witch City!). As always, keep checking back here for more tattoo photos, travel news, and a little announcement about a customer appreciation party/art show at Lightwave!

2012 Boston Tattoo Convention Wrap Up

Posted by natanalexander on October 1, 2012
Posted in: BTC. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

The 11th Annual Boston Tattoo Convention has come and gone, and it was by far our best year yet. We were able to expand at the last minute and add additional booths to accommodate more artists, there was a significant increase in attendance, and best of all, we had a lot of positive feedback from artists and collectors alike. To everyone that helped make the BTC happen, and to those who attended in one form or another: Thank you, thank you, thank you. We look forward to continuing to grow with you in the next years!

Speaking of, we are already planning and preparing for the 2013 show, so keep checking bostontattooconvention.com for updates. In the meantime, you can find photos from the 2012 show right here. Below are some of our favorites.


Jenny manning the booth for us. See that painting on the right? There will definitely be a post about that here in the near future!
Photo by Iggy Barskov


Myke Chambers hard at work.
Photo by Iggy Barskov


Ladies of the Miss Boston Ink Beauty Contest.
Photo by Iggy Barskov


A shot of just some of the great work that was in the art gallery.
Photo by Tong Mangklarat


Photo by D. Markus Witt


Horikei, who did several tebori (traditional hand-poke) tattoos over the weekend.
Photo by Kathy Kim


Photo by Iggy Barskov


Aerial view! We had about 140 booths — we took up so much space, it would have been impossible to get them all into one shot.
Photo by Kathy Kim

Black & Grey Archangel Michael

Posted by Cassandra on June 16, 2012
Posted in: Tattoos. Tagged: , , , , . 1 Comment

Wow, have you done a Google image search for Archangel Michael tattoos lately? Recommendation: DON’T. So many terrible ones come up! Instead, just take a look at the piece below. And this one, which is also a favorite of those who discover Witch City Ink/Lightwave Tattoo. This is also a good time to remind clients that you should always check out a tattooer’s portfolio before you book a session with them. Everyone deserves to have a thing of beauty on their body.

From Wikipedia: In the New Testament Michael leads God’s armies against Satan’s forces in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan. In the Epistle of Jude, Michael is specifically referred to as an “archangel.” Christian sanctuaries to Michael appeared in the 4th century, when he was first seen as a healing angel, and then over time as a protector and the leader of the army of God against the forces of evil.

New Work: Song Sparrows

Posted by natanalexander on June 13, 2012
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The song sparrow is one of the most familiar North American sparrows. Now, there are many different regional species of sparrows but this is the one you should suspect if you see a streaky sparrow in an open, shrubby, or wet area. And if you catch one singing what is described as a “stuttering, clattering song,” then you have probably just encountered the song sparrow.

Two were brought to life on K’s forearm this week. Take a look! We highly recommend clicking the image to see a larger version.