Black and grey fine line tattoo of a feathered arrow with overlapping geometric circles and dotwork on the forearm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Arrow and geometric circles on a forearm

Fine line · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A feathered arrow runs diagonally down the forearm, with its shaft wrapped in bands and its head at the lower end. Overlapping circles, fine construction lines and small dots surround the shaft and sit behind it. The work is in fine, precise black linework with soft grey shading on the feathers, and the composition is simple and centred on the arm.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

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I meant to say this properly on Saturday, but the school hall was too loud and the sponge was going cold, so I am putting it on paper the way we passed notes behind Mr Baines's back. You asked why I never finished the compass work in fourth year. The truth is I never managed a clean circle with his brass compass. The point kept slipping, and every ring came out with a little hook where it should have closed.

Dad could cut a shaft so straight he split a second arrow down its length with a single pass of the blade. He taught me in the fletching shed behind Coldharbour Farm, with the wax smell and the feathers stuck to everything. He said you never find the centre of a thing by guessing. You draw two circles of the same size and watch where they overlap, then you take your bearing from that point and trust it.

I've enclosed a sheet I drew last month, the one I was too shy to show you at the table. It is an arrow laid over three overlapping rings, with fine lines running out from the middle and dots where the pinhole went in. The point of the compass finally held this time. The arrow points down, to the place where the circles cross, which is where Dad always said to aim when you cannot see the target.

Write back and tell me whether Mr Baines ever got his compass back.

Love, Jen

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