Tattoo of a cross formed from two looping ribbons with curled ends, the vertical ribbon pink and the horizontal ribbons grey, on reddened skin.

Ribbon cross in pink and grey on skin

Mixed · Photo

The tattoo shows a cross made from two interlocking ribbon loops, each ending in a tight curl, outlined in black. The vertical ribbon is filled with pink and the horizontal ribbons are shaded in grey and silver, giving them a soft highlight. The cross sits centrally against a plain, slightly red area of skin, with no other elements in the frame.

Cross Ribbon Swirl Loop

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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 Tom, Mr Ashworth came into the shop on Tuesday with a shoebox and asked whether I could make him a ribbon that would pass for a cross if you squinted. He wanted it for the lych gate at St Aidan's, where his wife is to be remembered on the first Sunday of the month. I told him I was a haberdasher, not a sculptor, and he said Mrs Hale had promised him I could tie a bow that would make the vicar weep.

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So I sat at the back counter with the lamp pulled low, the spool of pink satin you sent me from Leeds last spring, and the grey silk that has been gathering dust since the war. The trick was to let the loops overlap without losing either one, so each ribbon had to pass under and over the other like two people stepping round each other on a narrow pavement. I pinned the curls with a hatpin and steamed them flat, then steamed them again because the first attempt sagged in the middle.

He came back at closing time and held it up to the window without a word. The pink ran straight up the middle, and the grey shone where the light caught it, so it looked like the silk had been folded over itself on purpose. He asked what he owed me. I said nothing, and he didn't argue, which I think was the kindest thing anyone has done for me all month.

He left the shoebox behind. Inside was a photograph of a woman laughing at something outside the frame, and I have propped it on the shelf by the button tins where the customers can see her while they choose their thread. Write soon and tell Mother the wool order came through.