Black ink ornamental feather tattoo with blackwork and dotwork detailing, placed on the upper back near the shoulder blade.

Ornamental feather on shoulder

Blackwork · Shoulder · Black and grey · Photo

A tall feather with a central shaft and detailed vanes fills the frame, with circular and floral motifs set within the feather. The linework is black and fine, with solid fills and stippled areas creating contrast against the skin. The tattoo sits on the upper back at the shoulder, with the subject's hair falling over the right side of the frame.

Blackwork Dotwork Shoulder Feather Floral motif Ornamental pattern

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tomas,

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The customs man at Dover unpicked the tissue round your feather before I'd even got my breath back. He held it up under the strip light the way you'd hold a letter you suspected of lying. I told him it was a quill from the old stationer's stock, which was true enough, because I had painted the vanes myself with the fine brush you left behind, one rosette at a time, sitting at the back counter while Mum did the till.

He turned it over. Round the shaft I'd worked small circles, each with six petals, and between them a row of tiny dots that I stippled until my wrist ached. He asked what it was for. I said it was for you, and that you'd know what it meant, and he laughed and said that wasn't an answer a border took.

Then he found the rosette near the tip, the one I'd filled in solid black, and his face changed. He said his nan had a tablecloth stitched with exactly that flower, and that she'd made it the year before she died. He pressed the feather flat between two cards, wrapped it up again, and waved it through with a nod.

I am writing this on the back of the receipt so you'll know it arrived. The feather is in the envelope with this. Keep the good brush, and mind the salt on the rail.