![]() ![]() Thayer is from an era when "ships were made of wood and the men were made of iron." Sailors were proud of their chosen occupation and often wore that pride on their skin, choosing tattoos that showed their line of work. ![]() This dubious distinction led to the current two year, $9.6 million restoration. Thayer as one of the nation's most endangered historical places. In 1993 the National Trust for Historical Preservation named the C.A. The Tattoo Archive has done historical slides show on board the Thayer and I have personally had the pleasure of sleeping on board. She serves as a stage for sea based plays and as a hands-on educational experience for people interested in life aboard a sailing ship. Today, the Thayer has become a beloved historical treasure. as a floating storehouse in World War II. Notwithstanding, the Thayer has had a remarkable career, progressing from lumber hauling to the fishing trade to serving the U.S. The Thayer's lumber career ended in 1912 after being seriously damaged in a heavy southeasterly gale. That soon changed as lumber mills opened in California, Oregon and Washington. It is hard to imagine, but as late as the California Gold Rush in 1849, East coast vessels still hauled New England lumber 13,000 miles around Cape Horn to San Francisco. She was designed to run between Washington and California with heavy cargos of Douglas fir. The Thayer was a classic turn of the century three-masted lumber schooner and she played a large part in the reconstruction of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Thayer, a partner in the San Francisco-based E.K. Thayer in his Northern California shipyard (located across the narrows of Humboldt Bay from the city of Eureka). This 400-ton black wooden schooner is now out of the water having what historians say is the largest and most extensive rehabilitation of a merchant vessel in United States history! Thayer has long been an attraction at the San Francisco Hyde Street Pier as part of the historical ship collection. ![]() I’m super proud when I can pass this on.The 109-year-old C.A. I read a few books and I traced a thousand designs. They are wanting to connect to this age old tradition. They are wanting to become tattooed, and I am the Dallas tattoo artist to do it. Focus on what they are wanting to achieve. Some Waylon softly singing in the background, the massage table laid out in the center of the room, the tattoo machine turned up LOUD, and we can focus on the task at hand. The private studio at Heart in Hand helps me to work big and quick like this. I liked that this tattoo was hammered out in one furious four hour session- just hammering down and tattooing, man. More importantly, sometimes, is what is not there! Leaving some things left unsaid in a tattoo is like the difference between someone who never stops talking and someone who knows how to say what they mean. That is the difference that experience brings to the task of tattooing. But I saw them, and learned from them, like any good tattoo artist should. Lord knows I messed up many color jobs in the past! They were subtle mistakes that the customer never knew was made. I think all the colors came out well- a nice balance in contrast and flow, something I aim for in every tattoo. He captioned this one very well and I’m glad I made the letters bold and colored ‘em in true blue. Traditional Tattoo Wording and ColoringĪ nice touch was the wording he chose to have added- some would say artwork doesn’t have words but this is tattooing- and words sometimes drive the point home. I also liked the fact that it was just another clipper ship, we weren’t reinventing the wheel, just trying to make it as round as possible. Large tattoos give you that loud statement we all want to hear. It’s a little on the bigger side for traditional American tattoos, but hell, it’s 2017, and we all want impact from our tattoo designs. I ended up choosing this clipper ship tattoo design. There were also bold, in your face tattoos that were on the small side, just like the guys used to do on the Bowery, out on the west coast on the pike, and up in the northern midwest where you probably didn’t want to keep your shirt sleeve pulled up too long for the cold. I saw great pieces that were still in progress, beautiful flowers and natural elements, and individual tattoos that were everything the customer could dream of. In choosing I scrolled through my photos of the last month. The choice was hard- the traditional tattoos I get to create are like children, you cannot have a favorite one. Young Graylin’s traditional clipper ship tattoo would have to take the cake for the first tattoo of the month in this new section of my website. ![]()
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