Black and grey realism tattoo of three feathers hanging from a beaded cord anklet on the ankle.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Feathers hanging from an anklet band

Realism · Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey tattoo on the ankle shows a cord band with small beads, from which three feathers hang on thin cords. The feathers are shaded with soft greys and dark tones to suggest their barbs and curved quills. The photo is taken close up from a side angle on a plain wooden surface, with the tattoo centred in the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The third feather took me most of Tuesday, Tom, because the grey one from the heron kept splitting along the barb, and I would not send you a thing that looked like it had been dragged through a hedge.

Keep reading

I've threaded the three of them onto the cord the way your grandfather used to hang his lures, with the little jet beads between so they don't tangle when the wind gets at them. The band is long enough to go round a wrist or an ankle, whichever you find yourself with on the ship. Mrs Pryce at the chandlery says the beads are only glass, but she says that about everything she sells.

The quills are the hard part. You scrape them thin at the base until they bend like a bow, then let the barbs fall where they will. Don't straighten them if they get wet. The sea will do what it likes with them, and they'll look better for the weather than they ever did under my hands.

Come home for the autumn fair if the tide allows. I'll have the kettle on and the ledger open, and the feathers can hang from the nail above the door until you walk in and take them down yourself. Your loving mother, Ada.

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