Two matching black and grey mandala tattoos on the inner forearms, one on each arm, with bangles and a turquoise bead bracelet above.

Matching mandala tattoos on two forearms

Geometric · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

Two matching mandala tattoos sit on the inner forearms, each a radial design of petal shapes, leaf motifs and a dotted outer border around a plain central star. The linework is fine and black, with grey shading in the petals and dotted detail along the edges. The image is a close-up of the two arms pressed together, with gold and floral bangles and a turquoise bead bracelet on the wrist and blurred plants behind.

Geometric Dotwork Forearm Mandala Floral pattern Petal Leaves Star Dot

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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It is gone two in the morning and the lace machines on Hyson Green have been quiet for hours, so the only noise is the kettle and the rain on the yard gate. I found Nan's pattern book under the stairs tonight, the one with the pencilled circles. Every page is a rosette like the ones she taught us to crochet, petals in rings, leaves tucked between them, and a border of little dots as if someone had pricked the paper with a pin. In the middle of each one she left the same plain star, with nothing inside it at all.

I asked her about that once. She said the middle was for whoever was sewing it, and you put your own name there when you were ready to own the piece. I thought it was daft. I still do, mostly.

Tonight I sat at the kitchen table with a fine nib and a bottle of ink and drew one out for myself, the way she showed me, petal by petal, working outwards so the edges would meet. It took until the church clock struck one. When I got to the star I held the pen over the paper for a long time, and then I thought of you, three hundred miles off on a ship's deck, and I left it empty.

I am sending the sheet with this letter. Keep it flat in a book so the dots don't smudge. When you come home I'll show you where to start, and you can fill the star however you like.

Love, Ruth