Black and grey rose and mandala sleeve tattoo on a woman's arm, seen in a mirror selfie in a white top and denim shorts.

Rose and mandala sleeve on a forearm and upper arm

Botanical · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A woman in a white crop top and denim shorts takes a mirror selfie, holding a phone that hides her face. A black and grey rose sits near her wrist, and a sleeve of ornamental mandala linework and dotted shading covers her other arm from the upper arm to the forearm. The plain white wall and light background keep the focus on the tattoos.

Botanical Geometric Dotwork Forearm Upper arm Rose Mandala Ornamental pattern Sleeve Dot

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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 Frank, the big top came down in Doncaster on Tuesday with half the town watching from the car park, and nobody cheered when the last pole went. Mr Pemberton has sold the elephant to a man in Hull who keeps it in a field of nettles. He says the rest of us will be paid by the end of the month, which is what he said at Easter.

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I have been spending my evenings with Irene's tin of pricking needles. She does the dotwork on the ringmaster's cuffs, little rings of dots that look like frost on a windowpane when you stand close, and she taught me to stipple them so they hold their line even when the lamp gutters. Last week I painted a rose on the back of the wagon's canvas flap, black and grey, the petals rolled over one another as if they were keeping a secret. Irene said roses on canvas always bleed at the edges. She was right, but it still looks like a rose.

Mr Pemberton saw it and asked whether I could do the same on the poster board, a big flower for the last advert, so the Hull people would know what they were buying. I told him the flap goes with the wagon and the wagon goes to whoever pays for the wheels. A flower only lasts as long as somebody bothers to keep it.

Tell Mum I'm keeping the tin. I'll send you the address when the wagon stops moving, and you can come and see the rose before the damp gets to it.