Realism tattoo of a woman in a red lace masquerade mask with a red feather, shaded in black and grey on the outer thigh.

Masquerade portrait with red feather on thigh

Realism · Thigh · Mixed · Photo

A woman's portrait fills the thigh, with one hand raised to her lips and red-painted nails visible. She wears an ornate red masquerade mask with lace-like filigree and a red feather plume rising behind her head. The face and hair are shaded in soft greys with fine detail, while the mask and feather are rendered in saturated red for contrast.

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 feather came back from the dyer's on a Thursday, and it was the wrong colour. Hetty had asked for ink black, the same crow-quill shade she had used on every commission since her mother's shop on Harbour Street closed, but the bundle that arrived smelled of madder root and looked freshly cut. She held it up to the window over the sink and swore at the light.

Keep reading

The client was due at four. He came once a year, always up the back stairs, always paying in cash folded inside an old programme from the pier theatre. He had ordered a mask for the midwinter ball in the ballroom above the pier, and he wanted it to look as though it had been lifted from a palace. Hetty had spent nine evenings on the lace filigree, pricking each scroll with a pin so the silver paint would hold. The feather was the only part she had not yet fitted.

He stood in the doorway and looked at the red plume for a long time without speaking. Then he said his sister had worn one like it the last winter before she went north, and he had not seen her since. He did not ask Hetty to change it. He asked for a single stitch of gold thread at the base, so the feather would stand upright whenever the wearer turned her head.

Hetty did as he asked. When he had gone she found the money inside the programme was double the price, and a note in careful handwriting: Keep the black ones for the funerals. This one is for the living. She wrapped the mask in tissue and sat with the pin between her fingers, wondering which of them the gold stitch was really meant to hold together.

More like this

Realism tattoo of a woman in a red lace masquerade mask with feathers, grey shading with red accents, on the outer thigh.
Masked woman with red feathers on a thigh
Colour neo-traditional tattoo on the upper arm showing a woman's face merged with a skull, with a butterfly wing over one eye and a Roman numeral clock behind.
Half skull and half woman face with clock on upper arm
Black and grey realism tattoo of a woman with sugar skull face paint, flowing hair and a crescent ornament on the forearm.
Sugar skull woman portrait on a forearm
Colour realism tattoo of a woman with sugar skull face paint, red autumn leaves and a keyhole on her forehead, on a calf.
Sugar skull portrait with autumn leaves on a calf
Neo-traditional colour tattoo of a realistic blue-green eye inside a red heart framed by gold scrollwork, with black dotted drips below, on a limb.
Eye in ornate heart frame
Neo-traditional tattoo of a woman in a black wide-brimmed hat with red roses and a lace collar, on a lower leg.
Woman in wide-brimmed hat with roses
Black and grey realism tattoo of a woman with sugar skull face paint and a rose, shown on a limb of unclear placement.
Sugar skull woman and rose
Black and grey realism tattoo of a woman with sugar skull face paint, a rose in her hood and a hand touching her chin, on a calf.
Sugar skull woman portrait on a calf
Large coloured and black-and-grey tattoo on an upper arm showing a winged pale face with dark hair, flanked by a green skull and a coloured demonic face.
Winged face and skulls on upper arm
Colour traditional tattoo on an upper arm of a 1920s-style woman in a red headband with peacock feathers, pearls and a red rose with a black centre.
Flapper with peacock feathers and rose on upper arm
Realistic grey skull with a red-rimmed eye and black scrollwork on an upper arm tattoo, with a red rose at the lower edge.
Skull with rose and scrollwork on upper arm
Realism tattoo of a sugar skull woman with a cross on her forehead, cracked hands and a red rose, on the upper arm.
Sugar skull portrait with rose on upper arm

From the plentytattoo archive, uploaded by a user. Is this your work? Ask for credit or removal.