Black and grey tattoo of a sun with a face and a crescent moon, surrounded by stars and swirls, on a forearm.

Sun and crescent moon on a forearm

Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A tattoo of a sun with a human face sits in front of a crescent moon, with wavy rays extending outward. Stars and curling swirls surround the motif, and small dots are scattered around the edges. The work uses fine black linework with grey shading on the face and moon, and the design is centred on the outer forearm against a plain background.

Forearm Sun Moon Star Face Swirl Celestial

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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

You climb the Skerrin stair at four in the morning with the oil can knocking against your shin, and the sun is still a rumour somewhere below the sea. Your father kept this light for thirty-one years and never once let the glass go dull. The gallery rail is cold enough to sting through your gloves.

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In the east the sun is already lifting, while the moon still hangs over the Ness, pale as a pared fingernail. Old Tamsin at the mainland shop says the two of them meet twice a month and quarrel over who has the better view of the boats. You don't believe her. You believe the tide tables and the wick.

The lamp fails on the ninth night of the autumn gale. You wind the clockwork by hand, sweat cooling on your neck despite the wind, and watch the beam stutter across the swell. The fishing boat Marigold is out past the reef. You count her lights, then the stars the storm has not yet swallowed, scattered over the black like sequins on a coat.

When the beam steadies, the Marigold comes in on it, and the moon slides behind the cloud as if bowing out. Dawn lifts over the cliffs with its face turned towards you, and for once you don't need to watch the sea to know where to stand. The sun takes the rail from you without a word, and you let it.