Black and grey line drawing of a compass rose with an arrow and ribbon along a horizontal axis, shown as a tattoo design on a white background with no body placement.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Compass rose and arrow design

Black and grey · Flash

The design shows a detailed compass rose at the centre, with its north, east, south and west points labelled, and a long arrow running through it. A ribbon and small ornamental swirls sit near the compass and the arrow tail, and the arrowhead points to the right. The drawing uses fine black linework with grey shading on the compass star, set on a plain white background.

Compass Compass rose Arrow Ribbon Swirl

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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 Hester, the brass rose came back from Mr Oakes this morning with its needle reset, and I have been sitting with it on the workbench since the bell for the second shift. He has scratched a fresh arrow on the back plate, fine as a hair, and told me it is for the crossing, though he would not say which crossing. You know how he is. He has never once given a straight answer when a bent one would do.

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I cannot stop looking at the thing. Four letters on the card, N at one end and S at the other, and the arrow running clean through the middle as if somebody meant to pin the whole country to a line. Mr Oakes says the ribbon is decoration and the swirls are the sea. I think the swirls are where he gave up on being exact and let the weather in.

Father's old chart is still in the drawer under the stairs. You remember the gull he drew in the corner, the one with a face like a clerk? Mr Oakes said the arrow should point the way the wind goes, not the way we would like it to go, and I took that to mean we should stop trying to be stronger than the wind. I have packed the rose in a tin with a cloth round it and will post it Thursday on the Dover coach.

If you find the lighthouse at the south end still lit, send word by the carrier. If not, tell me what the sea is doing and I will work out the rest from the needle. Your loving sister, Ada.