Black and grey blackwork and dotwork lace-style mandala tattoo wrapping around a forearm, with a dotted chain hanging below the flower.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Lace mandala cuff on a forearm

Blackwork · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A black and white photograph of a forearm with a band of lace-like mandala design wrapping around the arm. The central flower is built from dense blackwork and fine dotwork, with scalloped edges above and below and a dotted chain with small drop ends hanging beneath it. The background shows a tiled floor, a pair of boots and dark clothing, with the arm in sharp focus.

Blackwork Dotwork Forearm Mandala Lace Flower Dotted chain Cuff

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the 4.10 to Halifax is running forty minutes late, so I have bought a cup of tea that tastes mostly of the cup and sat on the bench by platform two with Gran's lace cuffs folded in my lap. You will say I should have left them at home. I could not. The black lace has a rose in the middle made from a thousand tiny knots, and the scalloped edges rise and fall like the iron roof above us. Gran used to say the dotted chain hanging from the rose was her rosary of missed stitches, one bead for every winter Grandad spent at sea.

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A porter with a whistle round his neck has just asked me if the bench is taken. I said it was, by my sister's memory. He laughed and went off towards the signal box, and I watched a pigeon pick at a crust that somebody had dropped on the tiles. The tiles here are cream and grey, and the shadows of the railings lie across them in long stripes. I counted seven drops on the chain before I noticed one was missing. The little black teardrop at the far end has gone, and I have no idea whether it fell in the carriage at Leeds or in the tea.

I am not going to tell Mum. I am going to tell you, because you always found things in pockets that I had given up on. Look in the lining of the brown case when you come through the barrier. If the drop is there, put it on a loop of black thread and bring it to me. If it is not, we will wear the cuffs as they are, one bead short, which is exactly how Gran would have wanted them.

The train is coming round the bend now, and the platform has started to shake under my shoes. I can see your red scarf in the third carriage window. I will finish this when I see you, and you can tell me whether the rose is still in the middle.