Black ink mandala tattoo with layered petals and fine geometric detail on the upper arm near the elbow.

Mandala tattoo on the upper arm

Geometric · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A large mandala of layered petals and concentric rings sits on the upper arm, with a central circle of dotted and radial detail. The design is worked in black linework with solid black areas between the petals, and the skin tone shows through the lighter sections. Partial lettering is visible above the mandala at the top right edge of the frame, and the background is a blurred indoor setting.

Geometric Upper arm Mandala Flower Ornament Pattern Lettering

Find an artist for this

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 rain had got into the big top again by the third week of October, so Dad sent me out before breakfast with the wooden rake and a bucket of dry sawdust. Nobody had asked for the ring to be raked like that since the Bristol season, but he said a ring with petals in it looked like it meant business, even if the business was three old ponies and a man who juggled eggs.

Keep reading

I started at the centre, where the iron drum stood, and worked outwards in rings, dragging the tines so each petal came up sharp against the one before. Eight petals, then sixteen, then a scalloped edge like the lace on Mum's christening gown. It took an hour if the light was right. Mrs Okonedo from the candy stall said it was the only thing on the site worth looking at, and she said it with the cheerfulness of someone who had been told she'd be staying on through the winter for nothing.

On the Thursday, the council man came with his clipboard and a letter about the field. We had until the first of December. Dad watched me from the entrance flap with his hands deep in his coat, saying very little. When I finished, the petals stood clean in the lamplight, and he walked out onto the outer ring as carefully as a man crossing ice.

That night the wind came in off the marsh and took the whole pattern apart by morning. I found the rake leaning against the centre pole and one pale dot of sawdust where the drum had been, like a coin someone had dropped and not bothered to pick up. The ponies were already loaded. I raked it again anyway, starting from the middle, because it is easier to make a thing twice than to explain why you stopped.