Grey outlined anchor tattoo with swirling scrollwork and a pale blue curved section at the top, sitting on the upper back near the shoulder blade.

Anchor with swirls on the upper back

Back · Mixed · Photo

The tattoo shows an anchor with a pale blue curved shape at the top, which may read as a hat or hull, and a shaded grey shaft and flukes. Curling scrolls flow around the base and sides of the anchor, drawn with dark outlines. Colour is limited to the light teal-blue section, with the rest in soft grey shading on pale skin, centred in the frame.

Find an artist for this

Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom, the cap came back in the post on Tuesday, wrapped in the local paper the way you'd wrap a fish, and I nearly didn't open it. Your dad would have said you left it on purpose. Then I saw the blue of it inside, faded where the sun got it on the back step, and I sat down on the stairs like a daft woman and cried into the newsprint.

Keep reading

The wheel at Hallwell stopped the week after you sailed. Nobody in Hallwell Row has said it out loud, but the men stand about outside the Co-op in their good jackets as if they've forgotten what the shift bell sounds like. Mrs Cairns next door has taken to watching the weather charts on the telly. She says a man with a rope and a hook can hold a boat in a storm, which is more than the Coal Board ever did for us.

I've been thinking about the drawing you made on the back of the envelope the night before you went. You said the flukes were for holding on and the swirls were for the sea trying to get you off. I told you that was soft. Now it's pinned above the sink, and I look at it while the kettle boils, and I think you had the swirls right after all.

Write back and tell me what the water's like off Valparaiso. Tell me true, mind. Your loving mam, Sheila.

More like this

Black and grey tattoo of a pair of scissors with curling vines on the upper back, shaded to look three-dimensional.
Scissors and vines on a upper back
Close photograph of a black and grey outlined angel tattoo with a halo and shaded wings on skin, with no body placement visible.
Winged angel with halo tattoo
Colour tattoo of an ornate key with a filigree heart bow in mint green on the forearm.
Ornate key with green bow on a forearm
Black tribal-style dragon tattoo with a curling body and a sphere near the base, running down the side of the torso.
Tribal dragon tattoo on the side of the torso
Black fine line triskele tattoo with ornamental scrollwork on the upper back below the neck, in a black and grey photograph.
Triskele tattoo on upper back
Fine line dragonfly tattoo with teal and purple wings and black swirling tail and antennae, on a person's back.
Teal and purple dragonfly on upper back
Colour botanical tattoo of pink plumeria flowers, black swirling vines and a black tribal motif with green leaves, on the top of a foot.
Plumeria and swirl vine foot tattoo
Fine line infinity symbol tattoo with blue, white and green flowers on the inner forearm near the wrist.
Infinity symbol with flowers on a wrist
Black and grey shaded Celtic knot tattoo of an interlaced triquetra with pointed leaf-shaped loops on skin.
Celtic knot triquetra with leaf loops
Black and grey tattoo of a female silhouette with flowing swirled hair and a small flower, with curling linework, on the side of the torso.
Swirling silhouette figure with flower
Black linework tattoo of looping swirls and a heart-shaped curl running vertically down a section of skin.
Black swirl and heart linework on skin
Black fine line tattoo of a triangle, circle and vertical line with ornate swirls, above the script word Always, on the upper back.
Triangle and circle symbol with script word on back

From the plentytattoo archive, uploaded by a user. Is this your work? Ask for credit or removal.