“Live leaf” tattoos are works of body art that will leaf you breathless
Floral tattoos are among some of the most popular tattoo designs that exist today. But you’re about to see a take on floral tatting that will change your mind about them entirely. (This isn’t your basic rose design.) A tattoo artist named Rita from Kyiv, Ukraine, who’s got over 324,000 followers on Instagram, is showing off her unique way of creating the most beautiful floral tattoos you’ve ever seen.
They’re called “live leaf” tattoos, and Rita uses real dried flowers for the design. So you know how tattoo artists usually draw an outline on paper, imprint it on the skin, and then tattoo over it? Well, Rita does things a little differently. She applies ink to a dried flower of the client’s choice, presses it into the client’s skin, and then tattoos over it.
It’s so simple, but it’s radical. We’ve never seen anything like it. It produces a 3D look that seems natural, elegant, and breathtaking. Most of her Instagram posts feature this tattoo design, and you can get positively lost scrolling through her designs.
That one is a “tiny pansy flower from my herbarium,” Rita writes. Um, when can we book an appointment?! With most of the posts, she writes in the caption what flower she uses and where it’s from.
They’re gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. A few weeks ago, Rita (how beautiful is she?) was visiting Milan, where she worked temporarily as a guest artist.
Cross your fingers she’ll come to a tattoo parlor in the States, because we need one (or five) of these “live leaf” tattoos pronto.
