Black and grey forearm tattoo of a dotted rain cloud above a patterned teacup filled with waves and a sailing ship, in blackwork and dotwork style.

Teacup with waves, ship and rain cloud

Blackwork · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A rain cloud sits above a teacup whose waves rise over the rim, with a three-masted ship on the crest of the swell. The cloud is outlined and shaded with fine lines, while the rain is drawn as dotted vertical lines and the teacup's floral band and saucer are built from stippled dots. The piece is shown in black ink and grey tones on a forearm, with the design centred and filling most of the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the kettle in the galley has given up, so I'm writing this by the lamp with the tea gone cold beside me. You'll laugh at me for saying so, but the storm off the Dogger came straight out of your mother's good china. The cloud sat on us for two days, rain falling in those thin dotted lines you used to trace on the kitchen window, and then the sea rose up over the rim of the sky like it had been poured. Mr Tolley swore the wave was the height of the chapel tower. We rode the crest of it for a breath, the foresail snapping like a sheet on the line, and then we slid down into the blue-grey trough and the water closed over the gunwale and took the spare anchor clean away.

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We limped into Lowestoft yesterday with one mast sprung and the captain's cup still lashed to the binnacle, unbroken, which he says is the only miracle the Lord has granted this voyage. The saucer, though, that's gone. Somewhere out past the buoy there's a bit of floral willow pattern riding the swell with nobody to drink from it.

I've signed on for the Sarah Jane again in March. Don't fret. The owners say the new mast is oak and the new cook can boil an egg. Keep the spoons polished and the kettle on, and tell Mother I'm keeping my feet dry in the one place I'm told to, which is the bottom of the boat, bailing.

Your loving brother, Tom

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