Black and grey traditional tattoo of a rose inside a scalloped heart frame on the upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Heart frame with rose on upper arm

Traditional · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A white rose with shaded petals and leaves sits inside a solid black heart with a scalloped outline. The linework is bold and even, and the petals use fine grey shading against the dark background. The tattoo is photographed straight on against a plain skin tone, with a dark garment and a pale brick wall in the background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Peg,

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I have finished the cushion at last, the one with the heart. You'll laugh, because I swore I'd never sew another heart after the business with Dad's pillowcases, but Mrs Hollis down the Crescent gave me the lace for nothing. It's the scalloped edge off her old wedding veil, and it seemed a waste to leave it in the drawer. I worked the rose in white thread over black wool, and if you squint with the lamp switched off it looks almost like a photograph.

The trouble was the rose. I did it four times. The first puckered, the second had petals like wet tissue, and the third Walter tried to rescue by sitting on it, which you can imagine. The fourth is the one I kept. It's lopsided, but when I hold it up to the window the shading on the petals catches the light the way the chapel glass does on a Sunday morning.

Walter says it is too good to give away and too plain for the parlour, so it will go on the bed we can't yet afford. I told him a cushion is for leaning on, not for looking at, and he said that was the most sensible thing I've said since March.

Come on the Friday, won't you? Bring the good cups. I want you to tell me whether the heart is straight. I can't judge any more. I've stared at it so long that everything looks crooked to me, except the rose.

Love, Nell

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