Black and white drawing of a bull skull with horns, an ornamental filigree pattern across the skull, roses at the sides and hanging feathers, shown as a tattoo design on a plain background.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Bull skull with roses and feathers

Blackwork · Black and grey · Flash

A bull skull with long curved horns faces forward, with its brow and cheekbones filled by an intricate ornamental pattern of swirls and scrolls. Two clusters of roses sit at either side of the skull, with feathers hanging beneath them. The piece is drawn in black ink with fine stippling and solid areas, set against a plain white background.

Blackwork Botanical Bull skull Horn Rose Feather Ornament Filigree

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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 wind has not let up since the Tuesday you left, and the bull skull Dad nailed to the barn gable has finally given up its last bit of hide. I went up the ladder with the wire brush this morning meaning to take it down, and found I couldn't. The horns are still sound, sweeping out wider than my arms, and the old cracks in the brow have filled with dust that looks like grey lace. Mum always said the swirls on the forehead were the wind's handwriting. I used to think she was joking.

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I've been thinking about the roses you pinned to the lintel last summer, the ones that wouldn't open. They're still there, gone the colour of tea, and the feathers Joe tied on the strings are rattling against the wood like someone tapping to be let in. I took them down and put them in the tin with your letters. I hope that's all right. The tin was getting heavy and I needed the top shelf for the seed sacks.

There's a crow that sits on the left horn most evenings now, facing the house, as if counting the windows. I haven't shouted at it. I think it's keeping an eye on things while I'm not sure what to do with the place. Come home when the frost goes out of the ground, and bring the good scissors. We'll cut the ribbon off the gate together, and decide then.

Love, Ada