Black fine line butterfly tattoo with a curling script letter beneath it, placed on the inner wrist and forearm.

Butterfly and script letter on wrist

Fine line · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A small butterfly with patterned, open wings and thin antennae sits above a curling script letter on the inner wrist. The linework is dark and fairly fine, with the wing panels filled in with simple decorative detail and a little solid black at the body. The ink is almost entirely black on pale skin, shown against a dark background in a close, straight-on crop.

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

The band had reached the last waltz at the Palais, and Dorothy Ashby still had her cardigan on because the radiators had given up by nine. Her partner, Leonard, trod on her hem twice before he found the steps. Across the floor the lights from the glitter ball slid over the wall like a flock of something nervous.

Keep reading

Dorothy had a letter in her handbag, folded into a square the size of a stamp. It had come that morning from her sister Ruth in Leeds, who wrote in green ink and gave every capital a curl. The M at the start of the line had a tail that swept under like a fishing hook. Ruth wrote that a butterfly had come out of its chrysalis on the back step in April, and that she had drawn it in the margin for luck, its wings split into panels like stained glass, two antennae as thin as hairpins.

Leonard asked what she was smiling at. She said the band was flat. He laughed and spun her under his arm, and for a moment the hall blurred into one long bright wing. When the music stopped she didn't reach for her coat. She unfolded the letter on the damp sill of the fire door and copied the little butterfly onto the back of her dance card with a borrowed pencil, pressing hard on the wings so the pattern would hold.

"Who's M?" Leonard asked. "Mother," she said, which was true enough, and she tucked the card back into her glove. Outside, frost had already started on the bus shelter, and the card was warm from her hand all the way home.

More like this

Black and white photo of a fine line tattoo on the forearm showing a small stick-like figure with a trailing line that runs into cursive script.
Small figure with trailing script on a forearm
Fine line black outline of a cat face with whiskers on the inside of a wrist.
Small cat outline on the inner wrist
Black and grey butterfly tattoo with a geometric triangle and dotwork accents on a forearm.
Butterfly and triangle on a forearm
Small fine line tattoo of a bird holding a flower, outlined in black with pale pink details, on the inner wrist.
Small bird holding a flower on wrist
Black and grey dotwork mandala tattoo with the words Let it be in fine script above it, on the inner forearm.
Let it be mandala on a forearm
Small black tattoo of a hamsa hand with an eye in its palm and dotted edging, on the side of a foot beside a coin.
Small hamsa hand with eye on foot
Solid black mermaid silhouette tattoo on the inner wrist, with the tail curving downwards towards the hand.
Mermaid silhouette on the inner wrist
Small black tattoo of a cat with an arched back and raised tail on the inside of a forearm, near the wrist.
Black cat tattoo on the forearm
Black fine line triskele tattoo with ornamental scrollwork on the upper back below the neck, in a black and grey photograph.
Triskele tattoo on upper back
Black fine line tattoo of a butterfly made from scrolls and curls, sitting on the side of the ribs.
Scrollwork butterfly on the ribs
Black fine line tattoo of a lotus flower at the base of a vertical unalome-style line with loops and dots, shown on skin.
Lotus flower with fine line tattoo
Small black and grey anatomical heart tattoo with outlined chambers and vessels on a forearm.
Anatomical heart on a forearm

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