Close-up of a small fine line feather tattoo in black and grey on the upper chest near the collarbone.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Small feather on the upper chest

Fine line · Chest · Black and grey · Photo

A single feather is drawn in fine black linework with soft grey shading along its vane and central shaft. It sits on the upper chest just below the collarbone, with the rest of the skin softly lit and out of focus around it. The composition is a tight close-up, with the feather angled diagonally across the frame.

Fine line Chest Feather

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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 fair packs up on a wet Tuesday in October, and you are the only one still sweeping sawdust when the wind drops a feather at your feet. It is grey at the base and darker towards the tip, its barbs fraying where the bird has long since let go of it. Your uncle says it came off a heron that lives in the drained cut behind the showground, and you believe him, because he never lies about birds.

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Over the winter you keep it in the tin where the spare ticket stubs go, and you take it out when the caravan gets too quiet. Mrs Okafor who runs the coconut shy says feathers hold a little of the sky they grew in, and that if you press one flat against your palm and walk to the edge of the field, you will feel which way the weather is turning. You try it in February, in the drizzle, and feel nothing but cold, wet fingers and a dog barking at the gate.

In March a job comes up on the Lincoln road: someone needs a van driven to a fair in Skegness, and nobody else is free. You take the feather along. Past the level crossing a gust lifts the tarpaulin in the back, and the feather lifts off the dashboard, spins up over the hedge and is gone, and you think that is the end of it. You pull into a lay-by to shake the cramp from your hands, and there it is on the bonnet, perfectly still, its tip pointing the way you were already heading.