Fine line black tattoo of cupped hands, an eye motif, branch shapes and moon phases on the back of a neck.

Hands and symbols on the back of the neck

Fine line · Neck · Black and grey · Photo

A fine line tattoo sits centrally on the back of the neck and shows two outlined hands facing each other beneath a symmetrical motif of branches, a half-circle eye and small stars. Dotted accents and a column of crescent moon shapes run down from the hands. The linework is thin and uniform in solid black ink, with no shading, and the design is centred neatly within the frame.

Fine line Dotwork Neck Hand Eye Branch Star Moon Dot Symbol

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The ferris wheel at Ashworth Green finally stopped groaning on Tuesday, so I thought I could write properly. Mum says you'll be back by the Harvest Fair, but I'm not holding my breath. Dad's stall is still under the canvas by the pie tent, and the old fortune booth has been shut since the spring. Mrs Pargeter says the woman who ran it left a tin box behind, and she wants it gone before the council comes asking.

I opened it on Thursday with a hairpin, because the key was nowhere. Inside there were no coins, only a bundle of cards drawn in fine black ink. Two hands, palms turned towards each other, held the same little wreath of branches above them, with a half-moon eye tucked into the middle like someone was keeping watch. Under the hands the moons went down in a neat line, one fatter than the next, until the last was just a sliver. I thought of you straight away, because you always said the eye was the bit to trust.

So I've put one card in an envelope with this letter. Don't laugh. Keep it somewhere the dew can't reach, and when you're on the next coast and the lights go out on the sea, hold it up to the sky and count the moons. Mrs Pargeter swears the last one is for whoever is coming home.

Write back soon, or come and tell me I'm daft in person.

Love, Beth