Enlarged with AI from a smaller original
Compass rose tattoo on upper arm
Traditional · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo
A black and grey compass rose sits inside a circle on the arm, with the letters N, E, S and W marking the cardinal points. The eight-pointed star has solid and shaded points, and fine concentric arcs run through the circle. The photograph is monochrome and shows the tattoo centred against soft fabric and a blurred background.
Find an artist for thisTake 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,
Keep reading
The compass is in my coat pocket, where it has been since Tuesday, and I keep touching it the way you touch a tooth that has stopped aching. Your father bought it from a chandler in Falmouth the summer he was nineteen, and it never once pointed where he wanted to go. He used to say a compass only tells you where you are not, which is why he trusted it so much.
Tomorrow you will stand at the chapel gate in that dress with the mended hem, and Dev will look at you the way he looked at the sea the first time he saw it. I have decided you are both to have the compass. Not to keep, just to carry down the aisle and hand back at the reception. Pass it between you like a bottle that has gone round the table too many times.
Do not let anyone tell you the north on it is the true north. Your father always checked it against the church clock at Porthleven, and it was out by a good six degrees. He said that was the sea's doing and he saw no reason to correct it.
Come early. I will have the kettle on and the blue cups out, and we can sit on the wall and work out which way the wind is going to come.
Love, Auntie Bea
More like this
From the plentytattoo archive, uploaded by a user. Is this your work? Ask for credit or removal.