Clover tattoo

My sister had been pestering me for almost a decade about making a tattoo for my three sisters and I. Something to symbolize our bond.

I’m just not the tattoo type. So when she one day asked me to design something for her that represented her children, inspiration was easy to find.

She said she really wanted a clover, and that it needed to represent her children.

Pencil sketches of clovers on paper, and a page where the letters C, A and P are drawn overlapping into a clover shape — Sketching clovers, and the page where C, A and P first met.

After a few iterations, I realized that I might be able to use the first letter of each child’s name to form a clover. The three letters are; ‘C’, ‘A’ and ‘P’.

It’s always a fun moment when you realize a very elegant solution to a problem. I almost couldn’t believe my luck that these three letters could form a clover.

A sheet of pencil clovers drawn as loops, each a single continuous stroke, next to a larger version of the chosen one — Looking for the stroke.

Now it was a matter of finding the right style. I wanted something very clean. I managed to make it all in one stroke and there was no turning back. This had to be it.

The finished single-stroke clover tattooed on the inside of my sister’s wrist, with the pencil drawing it was made from beside it — On paper, then on my sister.

In the end I settled on this simple balanced single stroke. This was one of those times where I’ve just been able to doodle my way into something I think is quite wholesome. My sister was very happy with it. In case you were wondering, I did not tattoo it myself.

The mark. One line, three letters.

I design sometimes. The rest of the time I build things; those are on the index. Reach me at trolz@hey.com.