Black fine-line mandala tattoo with petal and dot details on the top of a foot, shown in close-up on a white towel.

Mandala tattoo on the top of a foot

Fine line · Other · Black and grey · Photo

A black mandala tattoo sits on the top of a bare foot, built from a central flower ring, a band of dots and an outer ring of pointed petals. The linework is even and fine, with shading only in small areas within the petals and no solid fills. The skin is pale and the ink is a dark grey-black, with the foot resting on a white textured towel.

Fine line Geometric Other Mandala Flower Petal Dot

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The lace order from Mrs Hallam came back with a note pinned to the selvedge asking for the rose to be "less like a cabbage". I have been at the frame since Monday with the pattern pricked on card, and the centre keeps coming out lopsided, so I have started drawing the whole thing out on the back of the mill ledger the way Mother taught us, in ink, a ring at a time.

Here is the trick she showed me, which I have not told anyone at the mill. Start with the small flower in the middle, eight petals and a dot in each gap, then go out ring by ring, and count the dots aloud as if you were saying the rosary. When the circle closes you know it is true. The outer petals are the hard part. They point out like the ends of a lamp shade, and every one must sit exactly the same distance from the next, or the whole thing goes crooked on the page.

Mr Oddie came round yesterday to see the carbon copies and stood a long time over the ledger. He said a pattern like that could hold a whole evening, if you let it. I said I'd let it hold my supper, and he laughed, and then he went quiet and asked whether you were still going to be home for the Feast. I didn't know what to say, so I said yes.

I've finished the centre. It took three nights. The ink dried so black that when I held it to the window the dots looked like seeds that might sprout if I left them out. I've pinned it above the frame where the light falls, and I've told Mrs Hallam she can have her cabbage back with the petals counted properly. Write soon, and come home with your boots dry.

Love, Ada