Traditional style anchor tattoo with black outline and red and orange accents, sitting on the side of a man's neck behind his ear.

Traditional anchor on the neck

Traditional · Neck · Mixed · Photo

A black and red anchor with an orange ring at the top sits on the side of a man's neck, just behind the ear. The bold black outlines and solid fills are typical of traditional tattooing, with red flukes and an orange and red diamond detail near the base. The photo is taken from behind and to the side, with a dark cap at the top of the frame and a plain background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom, the post boat brought your letter on Tuesday, and the stamp was so smudged I had to guess which island it came from. I'm writing back on the back of Dad's chart of the Sound because it's the only paper left in the kitchen drawer that isn't covered in tide tables.

Keep reading

The anchor you carved on the old mooring stone at the pier end is still there. Mrs Harcourt tried to have it scrubbed off with a wire brush when the council came round, but the red paint you mixed from ochre and boiled linseed has bitten into the grain and wouldn't shift. The orange ring you scratched round the eye has nearly gone, but the black shank is as deep as ever, and the flukes still point up at the gulls.

I went down to the stone on Sunday with a can of lamp oil. I sat there a long time watching the Mary Ellen's crew haul her chain in. Something about the way the diamond at the base sits low in the water made me think of the night you drew it on my arm with a pin dipped in ink and told me it was for keeping things where they belong. I didn't laugh. I've kept the boat in the cove since you left, and the mooring has held.

Come home when the herring run is in, or don't, but send word either way. I'll leave the lamp burning at the end of the pier so you can find the stone in the dark. Your sister, Ailsa.

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