Handpoked Ravens | In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn roughly „mind and will“ are a pair of ravens that serve under the god Odin, flying around the world, or better Midgard, and bringing him information and gossip. Huginn and Muninn are attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources: the Prose Edda and Heimskringla. In the Third Grammatical Treatise, compiled in the 13th century by Óláfr Þórðarson and in the poetry of skalds.

Urnes Style inspired Nordic Tattoo with the godess Skadi as a symbol. All handpoked and freehand drawn on the skin. The Urnes style is an art style from the late Viking age, used around c. 1050–1125 AD.

The name of the style comes from the ornamentation on the portal of the Urnes stave church you see below in Vestland County, Norway, and was coined by the Norwegian archaeologist Haakon Shetelig (1877–1955) in 1909.

The Urnes style is the last phase of Viking art. The style is a refinement of the Ringerike style and depends upon interplay of gracefully curving lines for its effect.

The animals are still curvaceous and one or more snakes are included with the quadrupeds. The spiral hip is still used, but it is not as large as in the Mammen and Ringerike styles. The animals have large almond-shaped eyes and often bite one another.

The Urnes style was also often used on runic stones, when the runic inscription was carried within the body of the animal. A good example from Lingsberg, Uppland, Sweden, has a Christian cross and two Urnes style animals which carry the runic inscription.

A handpoked tattoo sleeve done in several sessions.

Urnes Stav Church. Image: WikiArt