Man's Best Friend

Or in this case, woman's best friend!  Animal portraits have long been a part of tattoo, and while many people aren't aware of this, just stopping long enough to think about the love people have or their pets is enough to illicit a head nod.  For many of us our pets are the closest living members of our family.  They are friend, confidant, and champion all rolled into one.  Well, dogs at least.  A cat would eat you if you died.  Even the goldfish at Cardinal Tattoo are pretty, but they're hard to pet.  Well.  This has been fun.  

Bernini Angel

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Cardinal Tattoo is constantly striving to be the very best.  It is with great pride that we present one of the fruits of that labor to you here in the form of this Gian Lorenzo Bernini angel sculpture tattoo.  If you live in the greater Nashville area and your tattoo artist isn't doing this level of work, we ask that you swing by Cardinal Tattoo between the hours of noon and 10pm any day of the week and see what all the fuss is about.  This tattoo, performed by our resident realism artist Will, was made in just under 9 hours.  Will charges a  daily rate of $600, so that is all this amazing piece cost!  We sincerely hope that you will give us the opportunity to amaze you and trust us with your next tattoo.

Jane Russell

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This is a depiction of Jane Russell, opposite Bob Hope in 'The Paleface'.

Lucky Luciano

This latest addition to Wayne's gangster collection delves into the world of the Italian mobster.  Judging by his severely scarred face and not-so-straight eyes, let alone his rap sheet, Lucky Luciano was not a man you wanted to cross.  The photo below is a few weeks healed.

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It's a Girl!

This Sunday, July 29th, Cardinal Tattoo welcomed a new member to our family.  Lillian Rose Celeste Davis was born 6 lbs. 5 ozs at half past the hour of 7 in the evening.  Mother Karen and baby are home and doing well.  Dad could probably use a drink though.  We are currently taking appointments for Karen's return in September.  

Albus Dumbledore

It's Albus Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series!  Coming to our Harry Potter Fan Appreciation Day?  This guy is!  Combining our love of tattoo and all things wizarding, This Saturday promises to be great fun.  Cash prizes for contests, raising money for charity, good food and drink along with great people are a recipe for an awesome night!  Visit Cardinal Tattoo this Saturday, July 28th to get in on the festivities!

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Walkens Welcome!

Pssst, hey!  Due to overwhelming demand for our work, Cardinal Tattoo was forced to go to a by-appointment-only scheduling format.  Well, We are proud to announce the addition of two new artists to our team so that once again we can accept walk-in business.  We always strive to offer the best service we can for our beloved customers. Stay tuned to Cardinaltattoo.com as we add two new portfolios to the site!

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New Pricing for Will

We always ask our customers if there's anything we can do to improve and honestly the only thing they've managed to come up with is the fact that Will only does very large tattoos.  While it's true that he is in high demand for large multi-session tattoo work, Will himself expressed concern for his customers who wanted smaller pieces but couldn't get in because of his all-day-only rate.  So Cardinal Tattoo put our thinking caps on and came up with a solution:  a tiered approach to Will's pricing!

So, as an experiment, Cardinal Tattoo's resident realism artist will be offering the following session rates:

$400 for 5 hours from either noon-5pm or 5pm-10pm. This will be suitable for smaller work like realistic black and grey roses or skulls, etc. small portraits or certain animal portraits.

$600 for an all-day (based on an 8-hour day, this will include most portrait work)

$700 for a 10-hour day.  This will be best for people getting large-scale work on areas of the body that are less painful, people with time constraints or budget concerns, and those with an especially high pain tolerance.

These rates are designed to insure that everyone interested in getting work from Will has access to him.  So if you wanted that small skull, single rose, smaller-than-average portrait, or anything in general but didn't want to have to spend the full $600 this is a great opportunity for you.  Unfortunately Will doesn't have time to do even smaller tattoos, the demand for his work is just too great, so the 5-hour session will be the minimum. 

We sincerely hope this new tiered approach will provide you with the flexibility to get whatever you want from one of Tennessee's most award-winning tattoo artists!

Leatherface

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Gunnar Hanson played Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.  His character was perhaps so frightening because it was based off of several real-life serial killers and mass murderers.  Also maybe because the possibility of taking a wrong turn and ending up on the bad side of town hits so close to home.  If you take the time to re-watch this classic horror film, feel how the director builds the tension until the climactic first appearance of Leatherface, so violent and sudden, it gets your ever-lovin' author here every time.  This particular addition is the final portrait in a horror sleeve on our buddy Curtis, who works at the not-to-be-missed Nashville Nightmares haunted attraction.  The sleeve includes Sam from Trick or Treat, Chucky from Child's Play, The Leprechaun from his namesake movies, Ghostface from the Scream series of films and television, Michael Myers from Halloween, as well as an appearance from Danielle Harris' character from the same movies, Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series, and Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street.  We love horror movies and if you do too make your way down to Cardinal Tattoo and commemorate your favorite film with a horror-themed tattoo!

Samurai

Wendell's a soldier, a beast.  A little on the thin side, yeah, but we're not going to hold that against him (skinny guys fight 'til they're hamburger).  If you know him, this image of a samurai suits him to a tee.  It's not the first time Will's done this particular image either, but in keeping with the 'try to keep it original' line of thinking, he performed the tattoo differently than before, by adding white highlights throughout the piece.  Let's face it, with as little sunlight as Wendell's chest gets, that white's going to be perfect for a very, very long time.  This is only the first sitting on this piece too, we're going to tattoo his nipple and add a background of opaque greys.  Pretty cool.  

Barkley

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Melissa had Barkley for years.  He was her dog.  She loved him.  So when she approached Cardinal Tattoo to get a memorial piece for him, we knew it had to be the best (it always has to be the best, it's just the way we are).  

Edgar Allan Poe Raven

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VADER

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It's Darth Vader and it's badass.  Part of a Sith Star Wars thigh piece that will soon include Darth Sidious.  If you don't like Star Wars, we can't be friends.

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of these United States.  He was a Tennessee native.  You can't go very far in Tennessee without seeing a reference to him:  towns, streets, and buildings are named after him or aspects of his life.  He's a controversial figure though, he signed the Indian Removal Act and supported slavery, but that's not what this tattoo is about.  It's part of a Tennessee sleeve, and it's solely about a man's love for his home state.  Home, that's a beautiful thought isn't it?  Even after the best vacation, it always feels good to get home.  He is also credited with this great quote, among others:

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

Ain't it, though?

Lon Chaney's Wolfman

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Dakota has been working on his Universal Monsters sleeve at Cardinal Tattoo for a year now.  He already had Frankenstein's Monster and his Bride, Bela Lugosi's Dracula, and the Mummy.  We have culminated this effort with the Lon Chaney Wolfman you see here.  While we still have to tie in all of the portraits with background and complete the Wolfman's other hand, the nearly complete sleeve is an awesome work to behold, a great testament to the skill of it's creator, Cardinal Tattoo's founder Will.  

If you are interested in some of the very best portrait work available, at the affordable price of $600 per day, Cardinal Tattoo is the place to be!  Will has dedicated himself to working 7 days a week in order to serve those interested in getting work from him in a timely fashion and as such, he is only booking out about 2 months, however he is currently booking weekends in September.  To secure your appointment just come by Cardinal Tattoo at 110 N. Water Avenue on the historic Gallatin TN town square or call 615 527-7102 to leave your $100 deposit (deducted from the price of the tattoo).  We'll see you soon!

The Lich King

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Even before receiving his commission as an officer in the United States Army Alex had been getting tattooed by Will.  Now, prior to taking his first command, the young Army Captain traveled all the way from South Korea to start work on his Blizzard Entertainment sleeve.  This tattoo of Arthas The Lich King was done on the second day of a two-day tattoo marathon.  When you're coming from half a world away, you gotta make those sessions count!

Unicorn Girl

Nicole likes pretty pink things.  She came into Cardinal Tattoo with an image she found on Pinterest and asked us to reproduce that image.  It's a common occurrence, someone brings in art they love so much they want it recorded in their flesh.  As is oftentimes the case, she didn't even know who the original artist was.

Then something pretty cool happened.  After putting a shot of the finished tattoo on Instagram for a few days, a few other fans of this artist let us know who it was.  Her name is Danessa and her Instagram handle is @serendipitytheartist, and her work is lovely.

Visit Cardinal Tattoo today to book your appointment for your own pretty pink tattoo!

No Pets Allowed

It has recently been brought to our attention that local tattoo shops have started allowing dogs.  Someone even accused us of this via social media.  For the record:  Cardinal Tattoo does not and will not allow dogs on our premises (service dogs notwithstanding, may be allowed in the lobby only).  Health codes state that the only pets that may be kept in a tattoo establishment are fish in aquariums, which we do have, and everyone is welcome to come visit them anytime during our business hours!  

Born to Kill

This homage to the Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket is certainly intense, not unlike his films.  The morbid humor of a skull wearing a helmet with 'Born to Kill' written on it will almost certainly be lost on many who think it an aggressive display.  This style of tattoo best serves as a form of Memento Mori, designed to remind us that someday we all will die and must therefore make the best of every moment in our lives.