Solid black mermaid silhouette tattoo on the inner wrist and forearm, in a blackwork style.

Mermaid silhouette on the inner wrist

Blackwork · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A mermaid with flowing hair and a long tail is rendered as a solid black silhouette on the inner wrist and forearm. Small grey highlights and areas of unmarked skin give the solid black shapes some depth and definition. The design runs diagonally across the arm, with the tail curving down towards the lower left of the frame.

Blackwork Forearm Mermaid Silhouette Tail Hair

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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 Nell, the lamp in the back room has been smoking since Tuesday, so forgive the soot on my fingers. Mr Okonedo's shadow show closed for good last night, and he pressed the mermaid card into my hands on the way out, the one with the long tail he cut for the harbour scene.

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You'll remember how he taught us that a silhouette has no inside. You don't paint the hair, you cut it, and the light does the rest. I spent three hours tonight in the empty shop on Gallowgate after the last tram had gone, holding the card against the gas mantle and watching her tail slide across the whitewashed wall like something that had given up on the sea.

The landlady came down at midnight to ask what the racket was. I told her it was only the scissors. She stood in the doorway in her dressing gown and said the mermaid looked like she was climbing out of a window rather than a wave. I think she was right. I went back to the card and left little islands of white along the fin, where the light would catch if anyone bothered to look.

I'm posting you the card with this letter. Hold it up to your kitchen window when the streetlamps come on and you'll see her swim out of the page. Don't be frightened if the bulb flickers. She knows the way home.