Black and grey tattoo of the state of Texas filled with swirling scrollwork on the upper arm.

Texas outline filled with scrollwork

Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A tattoo of the outline of Texas filled with black linework scrolls, curls and leaf-like flourishes. Grey and brownish shading sits within the outline, giving the state a soft, dimensional look. The design fills the centre of the frame against plain skin.

Upper arm Texas State outline Map Scrollwork Swirl Filigree Flourish

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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

Dear Wren, The big stamp finally came out right on Tuesday, and I wanted you to hear it from me before your mother tells it wrong at Sunday lunch. Mr Oakes has tooled saddles in this shop since before the railroad came through, and he said my rosette was too fussy. He was right. I spent three weeks cutting the same curl until my thumb went numb, then trimmed it back to a single leaf that turned twice and let the rest go.

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The outline was the hard part. He wanted the whole state, from the Red River down to the bootheel, filled with flourish so that from across the shop it reads as a map and from up close it reads as wheat leaning in the wind. Every time I drew the Panhandle with scrollwork it looked like a bow tie, so I let the scrolls spill over the edge in places, the way water finds its way out of a bucket when you carry it too fast.

Last night the fair people came through with their painted wagons, and a man from Abilene wanted his initials on a hatband. He watched me set the stamp and asked whether I was drawing the state or just making something pretty. I told him the Gulf takes whatever you give it. He laughed, paid in silver, and left his old boot behind for re-soling.

Love, Ada