A hand presses transfer paper onto a forearm, leaving a black spiky leaf stencil design on the skin.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Black spiky leaf stencil on a forearm

Forearm · Black and grey · Flash

A hand presses a sheet of transfer paper onto the inner forearm, leaving a black stencil of a spiky leaf or feather shape on the skin. The outline is bold and angular, with a few sharp points radiating from a central stem. The image is in black ink only, set against a warm wooden surface and a blurred background.

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 Joe,

Keep reading

The shale came up in the cage on Tuesday with a fern pressed into it, flat and black as the seam it came from. Mr Pattinson the overman wanted it thrown on the tip with the rest, but I asked for it and he shrugged, so it sits on the windowsill beside the clock now, where Mam keeps the egg cups. The spikes on it are sharper than any leaf I ever saw growing, as if whoever made it was in a temper.

Dad says it's three hundred million years old. I told him that's longer than the chapel has been standing, and he said that's the point, nothing down a pit has ever been in a hurry. Thomas came home with a split lip from the Saturday match and sat at the table all evening tracing the shape onto greaseproof paper with a soft pencil, pressing so hard the nib went through twice.

I've gone and done something you'll think daft. I took his tracing down to Hargreaves in the market and had the man make it into one of those transfer sheets, the sort they use for the lads who want a mark they can wash off. I've put a sheet in with this letter. Take it to whatever city you're in now and get it done properly, so there's a bit of Ashgill on you when you're a long way from it. Don't tell Mam I suggested it, she'll only fret about needles.

Write back soon, and tell me whether the sea is really as grey as they say.

Nell

More like this

A dark chevron stencil on a forearm, held in place by a paper band, while a hand wipes the skin with a green cloth.
Chevron stencil on a forearm
Small solid black bird tattoo on the side of a finger, photographed against a pale background.
Small bird tattoo on a finger
Black and grey fine line swallow on the left inner wrist and an open birdcage on the right inner wrist, photographed with the palms facing up.
Swallow and open birdcage on wrists
Black fine line feather tattoo joined to an infinity symbol with script lettering on the side of a finger.
Feather and infinity script on a finger
Black ink botanical tattoo of a thin branch with small blossoms running across a forearm, in a sepia-toned photo of a torso and crossed arms.
Blossom branch tattoo on a forearm
Close view of a small black fine line curled motif tattoo on the wrist of a hand with the index finger extended.
Small black curl tattoo on the wrist
Two black and grey hummingbird tattoos in fine line shading on the inner forearm, one hovering with wings raised and one in flight beside it.
Two hummingbirds on a forearm
Small solid black silhouette of a soaring bird on the inner wrist of an open palm, with a plain pale background.
Soaring bird silhouette on the inner wrist
Four solid black silhouettes of figures in flight, arranged in a diagonal line along the side of a finger, shown on a hand with black nail polish.
Flying silhouettes along a finger
Small black and grey dragonfly tattoo with shaded wings on the inner wrist and forearm of a person in a white top.
Small dragonfly on a wrist
Black ink mockingbird perched on a branch with leaves and the quote It's a sin to kill a Mockingbird in script, on the forearm near the wrist.
Mockingbird on a branch with script on a forearm
Small black fine line infinity symbol tattoo on the side of a finger, held up against a pale background.
Infinity symbol on a finger

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