Traditional style tattoo of a red phoenix with an orange flame tail and black text beside it, placed on the shoulder.

Red phoenix with flame tail on a shoulder

Traditional · Shoulder · Mixed · Photo

A red phoenix with spread wings and a bold black outline rises towards the upper left, with a separate orange flame tail below it. Black lettering reading KY390 sits to the right of the bird. The flat, solid fills and heavy outlines give the piece a classic look, shown in a close photograph on smooth skin.

Traditional Shoulder Phoenix Bird Flame Lettering

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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 Nell, the lamp went up last Tuesday, and for a minute I thought we had lost the whole top gallery. Smoke came down the stairwell like it had somewhere better to be. Mr Haddow from the mainland boat says the paraffin was at fault, but I trimmed that wick myself and I know what I did.

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We found the Ellen Rae on the slip the next morning with her bow still legible under the soot, KY390 in white paint gone grey at the edges. Her owner, Tom Pryce, walked the rock twice with his cap in his hands, looking for the lens. The brass housing had split like a walnut, but the glass had held, and he sat on the step and laughed until he coughed.

Here is the odd part. Tom keeps a red bird painted on the lid of his tackle box, a phoenix his mother drew for him when he was small, with a tail that looks like it is still burning. That morning it was the first thing the wind found, the lid flapping open on the cliff rope as if the bird wanted to be seen. Nobody talked much about the fire after that. We talked about the new housing instead.

I lit the spare lamp at dusk and the beam went out over the water clean as a new coin. Tell Mother I am well and not to fret about the smell in my coat. The boys say the bird has come out of the fire and will fly again, though I am not sure they know what they mean. Your loving brother, Alf.