Black lettering tattoo on a forearm, with song lyrics set in a looping, ribbon-like shape across the inner wrist and arm.

Lyric loop tattoo on a forearm

Lettering · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A forearm carries a tattoo of lyrics written in a looping, ribbon-like shape that crosses over itself. The script is thin, dark and evenly weighted, with the words following the curves of the design. The ink is almost entirely dark grey to black against pale skin, and a plain background of blinds and fabric keeps the focus on the arm.

Lettering Forearm Lyric Loop Quote Text

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The ribbon came off the Hollins loom on Thursdays, rolled tight in a tin, and only Margaret Pilling knew how to read it. Her father had taught her to start at the knot where the thread crossed itself, because that was the one place the words agreed on where they began. Everyone else in the mill saw a plain black braid. Mr Aske from the London warehouse saw a nuisance, and wanted it cut to length without a second look at the weft.

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He came up the stairs on a wet Tuesday with a sample card and a short temper. "Plain," he said. "Plain, or we find a weaver who can count." Margaret didn't argue. She took the spool her brother Tom had left on the bench the morning he sailed for Halifax, the one with the figure of eight he had pencilled onto the card, and she followed his letters round the loops until they stopped at the crossing. Every letter he ever sent had begun the same way: I am not gone, I am only going round.

She cut the ribbon at the crossing rather than along the edge, and tied the two loops around her own wrist so the words ran across the pulse. When Mr Aske asked whether the order was complete, she held up her arm and let him read it, though he could only find the first word, and the rest of the story stayed where it had always been, in the knot.