Black and grey dotwork and fine line tattoo of a geometric rose, arrows and triangles stacked vertically along the ribs.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Geometric rose and arrows down the ribs

Dotwork · Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

A vertical column of geometric motifs runs down the side of the ribs, starting with stacked chevrons and a shaded triangle, then a rose built from fine geometric lines and dot shading. Below the rose, circles containing dots, arrows and small diamonds lead to a half-moon enclosing a triangle at the base. The work uses fine lines and stippled dots in black and grey, with no colour, and the composition is centred and symmetrical on the torso.

Dotwork Geometric Fine line Ribs Rose Arrow Triangle Circle Dot Geometric shape Chevron Diamond

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The fiddler at Thornley Hall would not tune until the lamp was lit, and the lamp would not light until somebody walked the floor from the door to the stage without looking down. That was the rule the old carpenter had cut into the lintel: a row of chevrons pointing inward like birds coming home. Most who tried were looking at their feet within three steps. Tilly Brack, who sewed for the mill girls and had no patience for rules, went up the boards with her chin high and her boots loud.

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Halfway she passed the painted triangles on the wall behind the bar, and the rose someone had sketched in soot above the door, all its petals made of straight lines. There were dots beside it that the children counted when the band was slow. Each dot, the carpenter had said, was a step taken by someone who had gone before. Tilly counted them with her eyes shut. Eleven. Twelve. Somewhere below her the bow hung in the air.

At the stage she should have turned, but the brass half-moon set into the boards held a small triangle that caught the lamplight and threw it back at her. She stopped to look at it. The fiddler, a thin man called Owen Pell, leaned down and said the floor had never wanted anyone to be quick. It had only wanted someone to notice where they were standing.

Tilly laughed, the lamp flared gold, and the first reel began before she had even turned around.