Black and grey dotwork tattoo of a bow and arrow with feathered fletching and dotted guide lines, placed on the upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Bow and arrow on upper arm

Dotwork · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A bow and arrow sit at the centre of the design, with a crescent moon and a faint circle behind the bow. Dotted lines and fine stippled points trace the arc of the bow and the flight of the arrow, with solid shading on the feathers and arrowhead. The design is entirely in black ink and grey tones, framed by the curve of the upper arm.

Dotwork Geometric Upper arm Bow Arrow Feather Crescent moon Circle Dotted line

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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 Tom, the bow came back from Mr Pryce's shed on Tuesday, wrapped in a feed sack and smelling of linseed. He has put a new string on it and shaved the belly down so it draws without a fight, which is more than the colliery ever did for either of us. You will laugh, but I stood in the lane at six this morning and shot at the Plough's sign across the road, and the third one went through the gap where the R has fallen off.

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Mam says I am to stop mooning about the moon. She means the one over the headgear at night, hanging there like a clipped fingernail while the cage goes up and down. I told her a crescent is the only shape a thing can have and still be sharp enough to hold a line. She did not argue, which is how I know she is worried.

The lads at the top say the shift at Nine Pit is short again, and the men walk home in the dark with their lamps turned low to save oil. Bess Kendall's brother has gone to Bristol for work on the docks. I keep the feathers you sent in the tin with the boot polish: two grey goose and one barred, all from the marsh that flooded in March.

I will send the arrow with the next parcel if the post office lets it through. Keep the bow tight in your kit and remember what I said about the wrist. Write soon, and tell me the sea is not as bad as they say. Your loving sister, Nell