Fine line peacock feather tattoo with a teal and orange eye on the side of the ribs, with a white top lifted beside it.

Peacock feather on the ribs

Fine line · Ribs · Mixed · Photo

A peacock feather tattoo sits on the side of the ribcage, angled diagonally with the eye near the top. The linework is fine and detailed, with shaded barbs in grey and dark green. The eye is filled with teal and orange, and the rest of the design is mostly grey, against bare skin in a softly lit, dark-toned setting.

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 old bird moulted in June, late for him, Mrs Pargeter said, and by the time I had raked the gravel there were feathers caught in every hawthorn along the drive, long grey stems trailing dull green barbs like wet thread. I gathered them into my apron without thinking, the way you pocket conkers, and it wasn't until I reached the potting shed that I saw the eyes. Each one a small teal window ringed with bronze, and the best of them had a copper rim that caught the light from the door.

Keep reading

Mrs Pargeter had kept the peacocks since her husband Arthur died, two hens and one cock she called Lord Nelson, though nobody had the nerve to say it to his face. The cock had stopped calling in April. She said he was grieving, which I thought was daft, but I didn't say so. I wrapped the good feathers in tissue and put them in an old biscuit tin under the bench, meaning to give them back to her with my wages.

On the Friday she found me kneeling by the rhubarb with the tin open on my knees. She didn't ask what I was doing. She took one feather out, turned it against the sky until the eye went from green to blue to something like a struck match, and said Arthur had planted that rhubarb the year they married and never once eaten a stalk of it.

We stood there a long while. Then she put the feather back in my hand and said keep that one, love, the others are for the bird. I pinned it inside the shed door where the sun reaches at four, and every afternoon since, it has looked out over the beans as if it's waiting for someone to come up the path.

More like this

Black scorpion tattoo on the upper back of a woman photographed from behind against a white backdrop.
Scorpion tattoo on upper back
Black and grey blackwork tribal band tattoo running down the side of a hip, beside a navel and above lace underwear.
Tribal band tattoo on a hip
Colourful peacock feather tattoo with the words Let it be in black script on the lower abdomen, beside a navel.
Peacock feather with script on the abdomen
Fine line black script reading memento mori running vertically along the ribs of a woman whose black top is pulled up to the side.
Memento mori script on ribs
Fine line black tattoo of a flock of birds, a dandelion and cursive script on the side of a torso, above the hip.
Bird flock and script on the side torso
Black tribal tattoo with a spiral and fish motif across the hip and lower side of the abdomen, with a navel piercing visible.
Tribal fish design on the hip
Black and grey fine line paisley ornament tattoo centred on a woman's chest between her breasts.
Paisley ornament tattoo on the sternum
Black and grey fine line tattoo of ornamental script running vertically down the centre of a woman's back, photographed in black and white.
Vertical script tattoo down the spine
Black ink script and ornamental swirl tattoo running vertically down the middle of a woman's back, viewed from behind.
Script and swirl design down the spine
Black and grey botanical tattoo of roses and swirling vines with Chinese characters above, across a woman's back, seen from behind.
Rose and vine tattoo on a woman's back
Small black Roman numeral tattoo reading XII XVIII XCVI on the ribs of a woman wearing a black top and floral skirt, in Lettering style.
Roman numerals on the ribs
Black and grey dotwork and fine line ornamental tattoo on the sternum, with a vertical filigree design between the chest and navel.
Ornate sternum mandala tattoo

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