Small black and grey bee tattoo with yellow-brown touches on a finger, next to a silver ring and a dime on a dark surface.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Small bee tattoo on a finger

Hand · Mixed · Photo

A small bee is tattooed on the side of a finger, with a shaded body, striped abdomen and detailed translucent wings. The linework is fine and the shading is soft, and the bee is mostly grey and black with a few warmer yellow-brown tones on its abdomen. The photo shows the hands resting on dark fabric, with a thin silver ring on the neighbouring finger and a dime placed beside the tattoo for scale.

Hand Bee Insect Finger tattoo Coin

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

Dear Hal, the swarm came off the apple tree on Tuesday just as the ferry was pulling out, and it hung from the lifebelt post outside the chandlery like a brown fist. Mrs Pengelly from the chip shop wanted it gone before the lunchtime crowd. I told her a swarm is only a family looking for a new house, and bees are rarely in a hurry to be rude about it.

Keep reading

I went up with the skep and a clean sheet and shook them in slowly, the way Dad taught us, without any flapping. Half of them climbed in on their own. The queen I found by the way the others kept turning towards her, as if she were counting them. Nobody got stung but Mrs Pengelly, who had to be told twice to stop waving her tea towel.

Mr Oakes paid me for the job with an American dime, which he said was lucky for a bee. I told him luck was for people who didn't keep bees. He pressed it into my palm anyway and said to set it by the hive so the hive could see what a good day's work bought. I've put it on the hive stand under a flat grey stone, heads up, the little woman in profile looking out past the breakwater.

They've settled into the old crate by the wall. Last night I went out with the torch and the whole box was humming like a harbour full of boats coming in on the tide. I'll bring you honey when you're home. Don't let the sea talk you into another winter. Yours, Nell.