Black ink tattoo of a stylised hand with lace-like filigree and dotwork shading on the inner upper arm of a person in a pale patterned blouse.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Ornate hand tattoo on the inner arm

Blackwork · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A small black ink tattoo shows a stylised hand or bird-like form with an ornate, lace-like fan of filigree behind it and a patterned cuff at the wrist. The linework is fine and detailed, with dotwork stippling and solid black areas giving depth. The image is a close crop with a dark background and no colour ink.

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 lace merchant's daughter had no patience for the sea, so when the boats came back to Porthkerris short a man each spring, she sat on the harbour wall and sewed. Her needle was a sliver of bone, her thread the grey cotton off her father's spare nets. Every evening she stitched a fan of little flowers, the kind the Breton women used on their collars, and every evening the gulls came down to look at it.

Keep reading

One evening a gull landed on her wrist and would not leave. It had a bent beak and a patient eye, and when she lifted her hand to shoo it, the fan of lace lifted too, as if her wrist had been trying to fly all along. She laughed and called it a fool. The gull tilted its head and tapped the cuff she wore, a band of knotted thread she had worked the winter her brother drowned, and it seemed to her that the bird was waiting for her to finish the pattern.

She finished it that night by candlelight, the last loop closing around the cuff. In the morning the boats came home in a line, all of them, the brother's among them with his oars shipped and his cap in his hand. Nobody in Porthkerris ever asked her how. The gulls still come to the wall at dusk, and if you watch the lace merchant's girl's hands, you will see her wrist lift a little, the way a thing does when it knows the weather is turning.

More like this

Black and grey dotwork tattoo of a long-beaked bird with an ornate patterned tail on the forearm of a person whose hand rests on a lace garment.
Ornate bird tattoo on forearm
Black ink anatomical heart with roots and branches on the inner wrist of a raised hand, in a botanical style.
Anatomical heart with roots on a wrist
Black fine line botanical tattoo of a trailing fern sprig on the upper arm, with a tiny outlined heart on a finger.
Fern sprig on upper arm with small heart on finger
Fine line black botanical tattoo of a blossoming branch with leaves and small buds running across the inner forearm near the wrist.
Blossom sprig on a forearm
Small black and grey mountain range tattoo in fine line style on the inner wrist and forearm of a raised fist against a wooden floor.
Small mountain range on the inner wrist
Black and grey botanical tattoo of a lavender sprig with fine linework on the inside of a forearm, against a white striped wall.
Lavender sprig on a forearm
Small black fine line tattoo of a mountain range on the inner wrist, with a raised fist and a wooden panel background.
Small mountain range on a wrist
Black fine line tattoo of two botanical sprigs with small flower buds and a dotted arc, on the inner forearm near the wrist.
Fine line sprig and dotted arc on the forearm
Black and grey fine line tattoo of a reclining figure with leafy foliage on the upper arm.
Reclining figure with foliage on upper arm
Black and grey shaded butterfly tattoo with detailed wings on the upper arm of a person wearing a grey top.
Black and grey butterfly on upper arm
Black fine line tattoo of a profile head with flowers spilling from the hair and hands holding scissors, on the upper arm.
Profile with flowers and scissors
Traditional black and grey tattoo of a crescent moon with a smiling face and a black cat sitting on it, on the upper arm.
Crescent moon and black cat on upper arm

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