Black script quote wrapping the ribs and side of the torso, with a teal realistic butterfly tattoo near the hip and an inset close-up of the butterfly.

Script quote on ribs with butterfly

Lettering · Ribs · Mixed · Photo

A black script lettering quote curves across the ribs and around the side of the abdomen, with the words following the body's contours. Near the hip, a teal and blue butterfly is shaded with soft gradients to look three-dimensional, and an inset close-up shows it more clearly. The composition pairs crisp black linework with the coloured butterfly against pale skin.

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

Your mother says the ferry is booked for Tuesday, so I am writing this on the back of the tide tables, which is the only paper in the kitchen not yet full of lists. I keep looking at the windowsill where your jars used to stand. You were seven the summer you filled four of them with caterpillars from the bramble behind the church, and you named every one, and you were heartbroken when Mr Gunn's dog got into the shed and knocked the lot over.

Keep reading

The one I remember best was the fat striped one you called Duncan. He stopped eating one Thursday and hung himself upside down from the lid, going grey and still as a bit of old rope. You came running up from the shore with your face screwed tight and said the world was over for him. I told you that was a long way from the truth, though I could not have said what the truth was. I just put the jar by the range and said we would wait.

On the Saturday the jar cracked open, and what came out was blue and green and crumpled at the edges. It sat on your thumb as if it had always meant to be there. You carried it down to the harbour wall and let it go, and it climbed the wind above the boats like it had been waiting its whole life for the chance.

So go to the mainland. Be frightened of the buses and the noise. Just remember that a grey stillness is not the same as an ending. Write to me from wherever you land, and put a stamp on it, because the postie does not come up the road for free.

Love, Nan

More like this

Black fine script lettering tattoo across the upper back, two lines of flourished text running over the shoulder blades.
Two lines of script quote across upper back
Black ink sak yant tattoo across a woman's back, with a vertical line of Thai script, a star, two tigers at the lower back and a tribal design on the left side.
Sak yant back piece with two tigers
Black Polynesian style tribal tattoo with triangles, swirls, flowers and a bird motif curving across the ribs, with a hand resting on the skin above it.
Polynesian style tribal band on ribs
Black tribal tattoo with sweeping linework across the lower abdomen above the waistband of blue jeans, with the navel visible above it.
Black tribal design on lower abdomen
Black linework dreamcatcher with blue shaded feathers running down the side ribs of a person in light-wash jeans.
Dreamcatcher and feathers on the ribs
Colour tattoo of snapdragon, chrysanthemum and daisy flowers with a vertical Latin script line on the side of the ribs.
Flowers and Latin script on the ribs
Black script lettering arranged in a heart shape with two small hearts inside, tattooed on the side of a person's ribs.
Script lettering in a heart on the ribs
Black tribal swirl tattoo with sweeping scrolls on the lower abdomen, beside a navel piercing.
Black tribal swirl on the lower abdomen
Black silhouette tattoo of a fairy holding a dandelion clock on the upper back, with birds and seeds drifting up towards the neck.
Fairy with dandelion clock and birds on upper back
Colour tattoo of a blue butterfly with black swirling vines, green leaves and red berries on the upper back near the shoulder blade.
Blue butterfly and vines on upper back
Black and grey fine line tattoo of a beaded anklet with a small heart, with a shaded feather swirl on the top of a foot near the ankle.
Heart anklet and feather tattoo on a foot
Black linework tribal tattoo with swirling spirals and a small turtle across the upper back and down the spine, photographed in sepia.
Tribal swirls and turtle across a back

From the plentytattoo archive, uploaded by a user. Is this your work? Ask for credit or removal.