Pin and mount me ...

After a visit to the local tattoo parlour to bear witness to the pain of the needle (I looked on as a friend had a kanji character* etched on her person), I am pondering the world of permanent ink myself.

I desire a dragonfly tattoo on the lower back. However, I am torn between the styles of (a) a realistic dragonfly, of the insect collector's pinned and mounted variety, showing the splendid latticed detail of the wings; (b) a Japanese design - where the dragonfly is a simple, fluttering silhouette, its wings and body filled with black or colour, usually accompanied with water ripples - however, although uncommon back home, this image is everywhere here in the summer, from tatami mats to sweat-towels to miso soup bowls; or (3) a dragonfly in flowing, wispy art nouveau style. I also think I'll have no hue on my little damsel, just simple black or grey tones.

Many of the tattoo sites I have perused have terribly gimmicky, cartoonish - nay, ClipArt-ish - designs of dragonflies. Any suggestions for tattoo-searching? Methinks I'll have to hole up in a library for a month.

I adore this lady dragonfly mirror that is all the rage in the vintage cyber shoppes at the mo - it's sold in a pair with a Lady of the Lake mirror. Apparently, women-dragonfly images were popular in the 20s; I must confess I've only espied the dragonfly in its detached, non-womanly form in brooches and other jewellery. In fact, this very day I snaffled up a dragonfly brooch made from old kimono material.

In other entomological escapades, in Flashy Kyuuki, Sir S writes about the enchantment of the firefly festivals in rural Japan. O, what ethereal beauty!

Sadly, I missed out on the local firefly festival here because I was locked up in the schoolhouse, and friends who attended the festival said they could not even espy a glimmer through the mist of rain. Thankfully, I have already marvelled at fireflies on my India tour of '03, when on a canoe in the Keralan backwaters, the creatures trembled luminous on the air above us as the punters sang songs of the fisherfolk.


* Fear not, this was not the Japanese for "Don't walk on the grass" or "Sod off", but the kanji for "love".