Black and white photograph of a seated woman with full floral sleeve tattoos on both arms and lotus-style tattoos on her chest, wearing a lace bra and studded belt.

Black and grey sleeves and chest tattoos

Traditional · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A seated figure is shown from the chest down, with black and grey tattoos covering both arms in a sleeve of roses, leaves and other floral motifs. Two lotus-style flower tattoos sit on the upper chest, with fine linework and shading that looks traditional in character. The high contrast monochrome studio photograph frames the arms, hands and torso against a plain grey backdrop.

Traditional Botanical Upper arm Forearm Chest Hand Rose Lotus Flower Leaves Fern Sleeve Script

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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 Nell, the frost came early over the high pass this year and took the last of the late roses off the south wall, so I have been stripping the bench in the potting shed instead of sleeping. Your grandfather's budding knife is still in the drawer where you left it, wrapped in a scrap of oilcloth. I found it while hunting for the grafting wax, which I have not been able to find since March.

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The letter from the council came too. They want the nursery sold for a car park by spring, and I have written back telling them what I think of that. But I wanted to tell you about the dog rose on the north bank. You remember the one that grew through the drystone wall and never flowered until somebody cut back the ivy. Last week it put out three blooms, pale and loose, and I stood in the lane like a fool with my cap in my hands.

The fern at the bottom of the bed, the one that unfurls like a hand, has come up through the frost as well, and the lily pond your grandmother dug is still holding water though the ducks have gone. I keep thinking of you on the wall with your sketchbook, drawing every leaf in pencil so fine nobody could tell you had pressed so hard. Draw them for me again when you come up at Easter.

Bring the knife. I will show you how to cut the bud and bind it, and the graft will take if you keep your thumb steady. Your loving grandad, Walter.