MP3: Stornoway – The Coldharbour Road
Sometime between engagement and marriage, Elias and I toyed with the idea of getting matching tattoos. We decided on a design and a location but it remained somewhat of a dare until the last day of our honeymoon when on a bit of an impulse, we each got a solid black star tattooed on our wrists at a little shop in Hanalei Bay. Since that day, roughly four years ago, we have wanted another.
Through the years I have come up with many ideas, good and bad. For some reason it has always felt to me like we had to be in it together. Perhaps this stems from the fact that I hate to do things alone and I cant make a decision to save my life. Every time I brought an idea to Elias, I got either a kind let down or solid no.
Finally, one of my suggestions struck a chord with him. We would each get a piece of the song “Cold Harbor Road” by Stornoway. The first time Elias heard this song, he sent me a verse via text as we often do when a song reminds us of the other. Since then, it has held a place in each of our hearts (read more here).
We each chose the beginning line of a verse:
I am a seabird, you are the Arctic Ocean.
I am a small town, you are a tornado.
Choice of lyrics was easy, location was a bit more of a challenge, but the biggest decision was typography. My sister had told me about a calligrapher who had done some tattoo design, we were sold. I contacted Mara Zepeda and we commissioned her to draw our lyrics. The outcome was breath taking. It was a tough choice:
The final step was to get them permanently inked on our bodies. We got the opinions of some of our friends on artists and the vote was unanimous that we should go to SuperGenius. Ashley Wollaston was our artist and she did a beautiful job translating Mara’s calligraphy to our skin.
Mahnoor
/ October 23, 2011I can’t even come up with the right words to say how beautiful this is. Theresa, the location of the lyrics couldn’t have been better placed.
katie
/ October 24, 2011love the tattoos and all the thought that went into them. so unique and such beautiful calligraphy! well done
brianne
/ October 24, 2011Breathtaking is right! And the sentiment is as gorgeous as the product.
Andrea
/ October 24, 2011If I wanted a tattoo I would want it to look like yours:)
Trude
/ October 24, 2011So, so awesome. Looks absolutely gorgeous! And I love the lyrics. My friends have tattoos on their ring fingers under their rings in Chinese, and to this day won’t tell anyone else what they say. So romantic.
JayEssJay
/ October 25, 2011I’m too big of a chicken to get a tattoo. But I’m totally lovely this.
kim
/ October 25, 2011looks beautiful. nice work team.
-k
Heather
/ October 29, 2011I am in awe. Those are some of the loveliest tattoos I’ve ever seen.
Lucy
/ November 2, 2011This is beautiful. I have recently gone through a really hard break up but seeing how special and real your love is for one another you give me hope. You truly inspire me. This literally took my breath away and brought a tear to my eye. I wish you both all the best xxx.
Chrissa
/ November 3, 2011Life is such a beautiful dance.
I’m not sure if you remember me, but I lurked in your apt and then blogged about it. You and your husband’s story made me cry.
So tonight I was playing way too long on pinterest, and I saw a photo of a girl’s arm. I loved the belt on her jeans, but the typography? I died. So I tracked down this typographer and was digging in her portfolio. I found this photo of a girl that seemed vaguely familiar to me (which is impossible of course) with this amazing tattoo on her shoulder.
3 clicks later and it’s you. Again.
So good to see you. I love your tattooos.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to youtube that song <3
xo
Kari Walbert
/ March 13, 2012Wow- gorgeous tattoos! Thanks for posting the name of the calligrapher- I’m already in contact with her to do a similar tattoo for me! I have know the phrase I’ve wanted and that I wanted it on my shoulder, like yours, for over a year now but I have just never been able to find a font or writing style that I just loved, like you, until I saw this! So again, I thank you!
Kari
PS. Lovin’ your blog too