Close photo of a black rune-style tattoo on the inside of a wrist, with an open copy of City of Bones and its chapter 14 page beside it.

Black rune tattoo on a wrist beside an open book

Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A black, bold rune-like symbol with curved strokes and a looping centre sits on the inside of a pale wrist. The ink is solid and uniform against the skin, and the background shows an open paperback at chapter 14, titled Fearless, with a dark patterned cloth behind it. The composition is close and slightly angled, with warm, soft light and a white border.

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 Nell,

Keep reading

The lost property box came up from the cellar this morning with a bent umbrella, two left gloves and a paperback nobody had claimed since March. I was going to put it straight in the bin, but the book had been opened to chapter fourteen and someone had pressed a dried primrose flat against the page. Nobody leaves a flower in a book they don't love.

Inside the back cover, in blue biro, somebody had drawn a symbol like a question mark tied in a knot, with a looping eye in its middle. Mr Okafor from the ticket office says it's a crossing mark, the sort kids copy from films. I told him my grandfather drew the same thing in the margins of the signal logs during the big freeze, and he laughed, but I haven't stopped thinking about it.

So this afternoon I went down to the platform at four, the hour the Penzance train used to come through full of soldiers' wives. I stood where the yellow line is and waited. The rails hummed, the shutter at the goods yard rattled, and a girl in a green coat ran past me holding her ticket out like a passport. She was gone before I could ask her anything. I left the book on the bench, open at the primrose, and walked home without it.

Maybe that's the answer. Some things are meant to be found by whoever needs them next. Come up at Easter and we'll look at the logs together.

Love, Dad

More like this

Black fine line botanical tattoo of wildflower stems, leaves and daisy-like blooms running down a forearm resting on an open book.
Wildflower stems and leaves on a forearm
Fine line serif script tattoo on a forearm reading 'i spent my life folded between the pages of books', with an open book behind the arm.
Book quote tattoo on a forearm
Solid black silhouette tattoo of a woman's profile with the words Jane Austen in script beneath it, on the inner forearm, with Austen novels stacked behind.
Jane Austen silhouette and script on wrist
Small solid black swan tattoo on the forearm, with a silver bracelet and white beads at the wrist.
Small swan tattoo on forearm
Black lettering tattoo in a typewriter-style font reading history will be kind to me, running down the inner forearm near the wrist.
Typewriter quote on the inner wrist
Small teal numerals reading 398.2 in a simple script on the inner wrist, with a hand holding a Grimm's Fairy Tales book and a tiara behind it.
398.2 numerals on the inner wrist
Small black fine line tattoo of angular chevron-like marks on the inner wrist of a hand resting beside a mug with a painted woodland scene.
Thin angular symbol on an inner wrist
Black fine line script and symbols on the inner wrist, including a lightning bolt, a platform 9 3/4 sign and a Deathly Hallows triangle.
Fine line quote and symbols on a wrist
Black dolphins curving within swirling linework tattooed on a wrist, in a bold blackwork style.
Dolphins and swirls on a wrist
Fine black script tattoo on a forearm reading 'i spent my life folded between the pages of books', with an open book behind it.
Book quote script on a forearm
Small fine line black hummingbird tattoo on the inner wrist and forearm, with the hand raised against a pale fabric background.
Hummingbird on the inner wrist
Small black block-capital lettering reading BE PRESENT BE LOVE on the inner wrist.
Be Present Be Love lettering on the inner wrist

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