Neo-traditional colour tattoo of a hot air balloon with folk-style flowers and leaves, sitting across the midsection of the torso.

Hot air balloon with flowers on torso

Neo-trad · Other · Colour · Photo

The tattoo shows a hot air balloon with a patterned envelope decorated with flowers, leaves and a central stylised bloom, and a basket with a small rose and flame. Bold black outlines define the shapes, with shaded teal and blue panels, coral and red accents, and soft purple and teal clouds behind the balloon. The design is centred on the skin with a plain, evenly lit background.

Neo-trad Other Hot air balloon Flower Leaves Rose Cloud Flame

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ingrid, The balloon came down on the north shore the morning after the gale, folded over the marram grass like a laundered sheet. Sigurd and I walked out with the dog before the tide turned. Its envelope was painted all over, teal and blue gone grey with salt, with coral leaves climbing up each side and a great bloom in the middle that looked like something a fishwife would stitch onto a wedding shawl. The basket was no bigger than a bread bin, and tucked beside the burner was a tin cup with a rose pressed into its side.

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There was no one aboard. We found a stoppered bottle wedged under the rim with a pencilled note that said only, "Tell the island the sky is wider than we were told." Sigurd wanted to burn the thing for the tar it would fetch, but I stood with my hand on the cold burner and thought of Mamma, who painted that same bloom on every tile in our kitchen until the damp took them. I told him we would keep it until somebody came asking. Nobody has.

Last night I climbed up to the old lookout with the cup and struck a match under the burner just to see whether the jet still caught. It did, with a small blue roar, and the whole envelope lit from beneath like a lantern. Across the water the mainland lights went out one by one, and for a minute the balloon hung over the dunes, painted and patient, as if it had only landed to wait for the wind to change. I have not told anyone that part. I am telling you because you always believed me.