Neo-traditional purple octopus tattoo with curling tentacles, shaded in violet and blue, on the calf.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Purple octopus tattoo on a calf

Neo-trad · Calf · Colour · Photo

A large octopus with curling tentacles fills the leg, with its body and arms shaded in violet and blue. The outlines are bold and the shading is smooth, with lighter highlights on the head and suckers picked out along the arms. The tattoo sits against a plain black background, which makes the saturated purple stand out.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The octopus was back in the rock pool below the slipway this morning, the big one with the notched arm that Dad swore he'd seen in '98. It didn't flee when I knelt down. It just turned its head, slowly, the way Mother used to when I came in late with mud to the knees, and I felt properly caught out. Ruth Penhallow saw it too, but you know what she's like about the price of mackerel, and she'll only say she saw something.

I have been at the dye vats again since you left. Mollusc ink is a devil to work with, it gets into the grain of everything. Yesterday I had violet to the wrists, and Father asked whether I'd been painting the lighthouse, which I had not, though I did think about it. The wool took the colour beautifully. You'd have liked the shade. It sits somewhere between a bruise and a plum, and when the light comes through the window it goes almost blue at the edges.

Last night a storm took the top off the mooring post and the boat's rope came away in a tangle. I found the octopus this morning in the shallows, sulking in the weed, one arm curled round the broken post as if it had been tying knots. I didn't pull it loose. I put a bucket of crab by the step instead, and I stood there a long while watching it decide whether I was worth the trouble.

Come home when the autumn fleet is in. I'll have a jumper dyed for you, and I promise I won't ask you to help with the vats.

Love, Nell

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