Black lettering reading We're all stories in the end above a red bow tie tattoo on the side of the ribs.

Quote and red bow tie on ribs

Lettering · Ribs · Mixed · Photo

A close photograph of a tattoo on the side of the ribs. Black hand-lettered text reads We're all stories in the end, with the word stories set larger than the rest, and a red bow tie sits below it. The lines are clean and solid, with simple shading on the bow, and the bare skin and blue and green clothing fill the rest of the frame.

Lettering Ribs Quote Text Bow tie

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

Dear Tom,

Keep reading

The lambing shed froze over again last night, so I've been sleeping in the front room with the range going, which Dad would have had something to say about. I found your red bow tie in the pocket of the old waxed coat when I was sorting the hooks. It was folded into a neat little square, the way you used to fold cricket scorecards. I didn't know you still had it.

I know what you'll say, that it's rubbish to keep a bow tie from a wedding that never happened. But I sat on the milk crate in the barn with it in my palm and thought about that line you scribbled on the back of the feed invoice that autumn, the one about how we're all stories in the end. You said it came from some programme about a man who travelled in a police box, and I told you that was daft. Maybe it was daft. The ewes don't care either way, and neither does the wind coming off the top field.

So I'm writing this down, because you always said a thing only counted once it was on paper. The tie is going on the mantelpiece beside the clock. The lambs will be up at four, and I've told Mrs Pryce we'll manage without you. Come home when the thaw comes, if you want the next chapter told properly.

Love, Annie