Black and grey mandala tattoo with a rose, leaves and a hanging crescent moon on the forearm, in a dotwork style.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Mandala and rose on a forearm

Dotwork · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A large mandala with radiating petals fills the upper forearm, with a detailed rose and leaves overlapping its left edge. A fine hanging line with a small crescent moon and feather-like drops extends below the design. The shading is built from stippled dots and fine lines in grey and black ink, set against a pale fabric backdrop.

Dotwork Botanical Forearm Mandala Rose Leaves Crescent moon Feather Chain Flower

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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

Dear Ada, the frost has got into the lock on the orchard gate again, so I've been coming round by the beech wood the way you used to, and I'm sorry this is late. Your father sends his love though he won't say so. He has wrapped the rose cuttings from the south wall in wet sacking for the carrier, the ones you wanted for the vicarage garden, and they are sulking in the cart like a pair of disappointed aunts.

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The mandala you drew for me on the back of the seed bill is still pinned above the range. I count its petals in the mornings while the kettle works up to a boil. Sixteen outer, eight inner, and the middle ring you said was a compass for finding people who had wandered off. Mrs Pryor says it looks like a sun left out too long. I told her that is exactly what you meant.

Last Tuesday I walked to the edge of the forest after dark with the lantern, the way you would have gone, and a feather came down past my face, grey and soft, from an owl I never saw. I threaded it onto the fine silver chain you left in the drawer, the one with the little crescent moon on the end, and hung the lot from the hook by the door. When the lamp swings, the petals turn into a clock with no hours on it.

Come home at Michaelmas if the roads allow. The rose on the wall has come into bloom, the first since you went, and I want you to see it before the wind takes the lot. Bring your pencils. The sun needs one more ring, and I think you are the only one who can draw it straight.