Black and grey engraved-style tattoo of an open palm diagram surrounded by French text on the forearm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Palmistry hand and French text on an arm

Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey tattoo of an open hand shown in an engraved, diagram-like style, with the palm and finger divisions outlined in fine lines. Fragments of French text and a small circular illustration surround the hand across the forearm. The shading is minimal and the composition fills the frame, with the bare torso visible at the left edge.

Forearm Hand French text Engraving

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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 Marcel, The plates came back from the printer in Lyon with the palm too narrow again. Monsieur Dufour says the engraver who cut the block for the old manual drew hands like gloves, and he wants every crease and mount named in clean capitals. I have spent three evenings with a loupe and a pot of Indian ink, copying the divisions of a left hand onto card while the candle guttered down.

Keep reading

The text around the diagram is the harder part. Someone set "Plagez votre main" across the margin, and Dufour insists the verb stay exact, because a woman who reads her own future will take every word literally. I told him she will not read the words at all. She will look at the little circle of stars and the crossed lines and believe whatever she likes. He did not laugh. He asked whether I had ever had my own palm read, and I said only once, by a sailor on the Rhône who promised I would marry badly and then charged me for the forecast.

Which brings me to Saturday. Your sister has asked me to stand beside you at the wedding, and I have agreed, though I will be the one with ink on my cuffs. Bring the drawing of the hand she gave you. I want to lay it on the table at the feast and trace the life line for the guests, badly, while the bride laughs at me.

I enclose the last sheet. The palm is open, the lines are fine, and nothing on it has been decided yet. Come early. Dufour wants the plates back by Monday, and I want to see your face when you reach the margin.