Ehre den Ahnen

This sleeve is dedicated to the bearers family, so the loving couple in the trunk is symbolizing the parents and each branch is one of the bearers brothers.
Read the runes if you can ;)
Here we´re looking at the new record: Five days tattooing in a row, an outstanding proof of thugness and stubbornness. Gratulations :)
Thanks to Markus for continuing while myself attended to a funeral.

The wheel...

Some strings in the tattoo just end "blind", a very nice way of creating big pieces without letting them look not finished...

Die Niedertracht Gottes (Loki Tattoo)

 This is Loki, the malicious one, depicted here in classic viking age weaving with his mouth sewn shut, perfest solution for people, who talk too much bullshit...

...and off course Fenriz, his son and one of the great beasts, in his mouth he has the hand of Tyr, the god of justice and war.
This is just a part of a whole tigh design, wich will contain at the end Loki and his offspring.
As you can see, it's still work in progress...

Algizhjelmet tattoo

                                   A black metal version of an old scandinavian magic symbol...

Germanic tattoos

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These tattoos are based on so called "durchbrochene Zierscheiben" , mainly found in Allamanic graves, some originals shown below.

(picture source of originals: Wikipedia)

The great beast...

     Inspired by a norvegian stave church bench, the last picture shows the original wich you can find in the Vitenskabsmuseet, Trondheim.

The deer tribe

The deer is a flock animal and you can find it among the oaks :)

strenght

As many people, also this man wished to have some power animals on his skin.

The rune inscript says STRENGHT and we can see a stingray, a bear and a rhino, all interwoven on his arm, he says, his kids love the bear most.

Little big dragon

A nordic dragonsnake, among the small ones a big one, among the big ones a small one, the tree of life is made by Colin Dale, the Thor Hammer by Erik Reime.

Black Metal rules!!!

Check out the music of this fellow with the nice tattoo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFvWCufyu4s

Recent works

 The wolf, a very popular design in nordic iconography, it always fascinated mankind in all cultures, no matter if it´s Sköll and Hati, chasing sun and moon or Geri and Freki as Odhinn´s followers as the god of war and wrath. The Ulfhednir as "wolfskinned" Warriors proove as well the high respect and fear, people had and have for the wolf.

 A mix of nordic and arabesque patterns.......

The Bamberg eagle finished as part of a whole sleeve. Also the eagle was very important to the ancients, in mythology an eagle sits on top of the world tree, making the weather, a falcon sitting between his eyes.
Also the roman legions had the eagle as their emblem.

Deer & Goat

The black art..........

                      Magic.......Read who can and shut up.........(tapping with help of Colin Dale, thanx, bro :)

 Japanese inspired dotwork piece, This tattoo will get it s own chapter soon and you will be surprised ;)

             The growing tree of life, symbolizing family members of the bearer, their names in Runes.

                                                         Inside view of a Vinland warriors arm

                                   The devil, inspired by Tarot cards, still work in progress......

The eagle and the raven, both connected to the highest god in the northern universe, Odin.
His shape-shifting abilitys help him to escape as an eagle from the giant Suttungs hall and his two ravens are legendary ;)

A long journey

The tattoo symbolizes the mans family history in the line of the forefathers. Irrespective of the actual timeline it is designed in the style of scandinavian carvings of the 10th century, beeing somewhat broadminded in taking in motives of other ages.

Concerning the family history, there are no evidences for the time before 1800, but the linguistic analysis of the last name suggests, that the man's ancestors originated from a hill in the southwestern region of today Germany, an area that was populated by the Alamanns during the Migration period.

Most likely the ancestors of the man where peasants, but that is just a guess, so the first character, the eponymous forebear, living on the hill – symbolized by the man's breast – could be a stock farmer, but also a butcher, a hunter or even a priest, making sacrifice - or just cutting the horns of an aurochs, as well.

The next figure symbolizes an armed man moving to (East-)Prussia, the region allegorised by the (post-medieval) prussian coat-of arms-eagle on the shoulder. To stay within the chosen iconographic context, the character is designed as an alamanic warrior.

In East-Prussia the documented part of the history begins: the oldest assured ancestor was a farmer and presbyter.

 One of his sons moved to Westfalen, pictured by the old symbol of that region in the western part of today Germany, the rampant horse, and became a metal worker, represented by the smith-figure. Two generations of metal workers followed him.

The bearer of the actual tattoo eventually choose a different profession and became an archivist. Translating this vocation into the chosen iconographic system, he choose the myth of Mimir and his well. The horn, beeing of importance in different ways to the bearer of the tattoo, completes the circuit.

 

 Allover view of a very complex design, an inkmark of a long journey, of being rooted in land and family, of following the ancient tradition of "carving the skin in memory of the forefathers" (notice double- spiral in the design, symbolizing the flow of life here)

Thanks for visiting me, wherever i was, for the nice sessions, nice food n drinks ;)