Black and grey shoulder tattoo of two roses with scrollwork, lace-like filigree and dangling beaded chains, shown from the back and from the upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Rose and lace shoulder piece in black and grey

Neo-trad · Shoulder · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo covers the shoulder and upper arm and includes two large roses, a filigree pendant with a central round motif, and strands of beaded chain hanging down. The roses are shaded with smooth grey tones, while the lace pattern and scrollwork use dense black linework and solid black areas. The left photo shows the back of the shoulder and the right photo shows the arm from the side, with a plain background and no colour ink visible.

Neo-trad Shoulder Upper arm Back Rose Lace Filigree Pendant Chain Bead Scrollwork

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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

The boat from Lerwick only runs on Tuesdays now, so you learn to pack the week into a single carrier bag. Your grandmother's shawl goes in first, folded in tissue, the way she taught you, because lace that has been worn to a funeral and a christening does not forgive careless handling. Under it sits the tin with the filigree pendant, a small silver thing with a round glass eye at its centre, and the broken chain that nobody has ever managed to mend without knots.

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Halfway across the Sound the wind comes round from the north and the crossing turns ugly. A woman from Unst, who has been sick twice into a paper bag, asks what you are carrying so carefully. You tell her roses. She laughs and says every knitter on the island says that about their pattern, then asks to see, and you open the tissue and the lace spreads across your knees like frost on a window.

By the time you reach Hamnavoe the sea has flattened. Your aunt is waiting at the pier with a barrow and no patience for the delay. She takes one look at the pendant and says the chain was never meant to hang straight; it was meant to swing, to catch the light when a woman turned her head at a wedding. You have heard that before from her and never believed it. Tonight, with the lamp lit in the kitchen and the tin open on the table, you thread the last bead and watch it sway.