Black and grey dotwork lotus mandala tattoo with a central gem motif, placed on the chest beneath the bust.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Lotus mandala tattoo under the bust

Dotwork · Chest · Black and grey · Photo

A symmetrical lotus-style mandala tattoo sits on the chest below the bust, with a central gem shape topped by a pointed finial. Fine linework outlines the petals and scrollwork, while stippled dotwork fills the shaded areas. The design is in black and grey and spreads outward across the torso in a balanced composition.

Dotwork Geometric Chest Lotus Mandala Gem Ornament Petal Scrollwork

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The stone came up on Tuesday from the far face of the number four seam, wedged in the coal like a bad tooth. Mr Pryce had the sense to hand it to me rather than the overman, and I have been carrying it about in my pocket ever since, turning it over until the edges go warm. It is the size of a barley sugar and cut all over into small flat facets, so the lamp light breaks in it like a pond with the fish moving under.

Mrs Gwen Probert at the chapel stall says the shape is a lotus, the flower that comes up clean out of the mud, and that the carving on the chapel window has the same petals. I told her the mud was still on my boots. She laughed so hard she dropped a tin of pasties, and that is the most anyone has laughed in Ferndale since the strike.

On Friday I took it down to Idris Vaughan in Aberdare, who sells clocks and mends watches and knows his stones. He held it to the window a long time and said it is only quartz, nothing to feed a family on, but he drew out the pattern for me anyway on squared paper: fine lines for the petals, scrolls curling off the sides, and a scatter of dots where the shadow should go. He said the dots take the longest and are the only part that cannot be hurried. I thought of you then, the way you counted tiles on the Bethesda wall until you could say the whole pattern blind.

I have put the drawing in the tin with the stone. Do come home at Christmas, and bring that lamp of yours so we can see what the old seam is still keeping.

Your loving sister, Nia