Swallows may be considered as very simple and common creatures, but swallow tattoo designs are considered as one of the most attractive and versatile designs in traditional tattoo art. The swallowart is preferred by both, men and women, which makes it an appealing design option. Additionally, the design can be made unique by incorporating different elements with it, most of which gel with the basic swallow design to create a perfect, new tattoo design. The amazing aesthetic value of the tattoo, coupled with rich symbolism, makes swallow design one of the most popular options in contemporary as well as traditional tattoo art.
These days, a lot of people are opting for bird tattoos when it comes to tattooing, and good examples of bird tattoos are swallow art tattoos. It is often drawn as an image of a barn swallow, also known as “European Swallow“. They are the national birds of Austria and Estonia. Just in case you do not know, swallow is a kind of passerine bird that belongs to the Hirundinidae family. For its size, it just measures around 15-20 centimeters in length. This is one great alternative for some other bird tattoos like the very common phoenix tattoo. Today, the number of men and women tattoo lovers who are opting for a swallow designed tattoo is rapidly increasing. There is no one to blame here since such tattoo is very unique and capable enough in making your physical appearance even more gorgeous.
Swallow Tattoos Meanings
Needless to say, every single design of swallow arts have their own meanings that you should know before opting for these tattoos. The meanings of the tattoos can be greatly affected by the inclusions of the entire tattoo designs as well as their colors. This is the reason why you need to be careful in choosing colors and design if you want your swallow art tattoo to be very meaningful. Here are some of the meanings that you should know:
- Trustworthiness – Marine and sailors are some of the people who are always considering to have a swallow art on their body because of the great significance of the bird in their field of work. Sailors and marines who have this tattoo are said to be very trustworthy and experienced enough in their work. Hence, if you are one of those brave marines and sailors, or you just want to show your marine and sailor-like level of courage, you should consider having such tattoo.
- Financial Success – Another meaning of a swallow art that you should know is financial success. It all started in several cultures in the world that believed that the very first swallow bird that can be seen during spring time is a good sign of financial success and fortune. In case you are now very successful professionally and financially, you can choose to have this bird tattoo. You can also have it if you want to wish yourself a good luck in the coming days.
- Bravery – Bravery is another meaning of swallow. It can be confirmed by the people living in the United Kingdom in the past years. Those good and brave fighters in the said nation were tattooed with a swallow bird on their fists. Those people also believed that a swallow art can make your hands move quickly, which was extremely needed when they were fighting their enemies.
Some other meanings of this tattoo are white supremacy, freedom, victory, and hardship that a person successfully overcame.
Popular Designs for Swallow Art
Just like the other bird tattoos available these days, swallow art tattoos also have a lot of variations when it comes to tattoo design. The only thing you need to do is choose the one that you think fits for your body body. But in case you are too worried to choose, you can always ask the advice of your hired professional tattoo artist. Here are some of the designs that you can take into consideration:
- Colorful Swallow Design – In real life, swallow birds have different colorful colors that you will love. This goes the same with a swallow designed tattoo, for sure. Well, who would not love to have a colorful tattoo design by the way? The usual colors that you can see in this tattoo are blue, red, and yellow. But if you prefer some other colors, you can always do so. It is your own body tattoo, after all. You can always make it look the way you want it to be. You just have to inform your tattoo artist.
- Conventional Black & White Swallow Art – Who would forget the traditional black and white design by the way? It may be conventional, but it is rest assured that this particular swallow design will look great even in this modern era. This choice of swallow art tattoo design is very common to the people who are working in the marines. The image of a swallow bird is more than enough to achieve its gorgeous look. But if you want to add some more designs, you can always do so.
- Swallow with Quotations Tattoo Design – Another common yet extremely gorgeous swallow design is the image of a two swallow birds that are connected to each other through quotes. It is perfect to be placed on your shoulders. One swallow bird on the left shoulder and one on the right shoulder. The quotes will then be engraved in the middle of these two beautiful birds. Can you imagine the final tattoo product?
- Skeleton Swallow Design – They say that skeleton is creepy, but this is not the case when it comes to swallow art. In order to achieve the gorgeousness of this design, it would be best to have two skeleton swallow birds placed on your left and right shoulders. This is a very unique tattoo that you can engrave on your body. Such design is best if it is black and white in color.
- Tiny Swallow Design – If you prefer smaller sizes of a tattoo, then the tiny images of swallow birds would be perfect. This design fits anywhere part of your body since it will only require minimal body space. You can place it on your fingers, toes, ankles, wrists and a lot more. And for the colors, you can always decide whether you want it black and white or a very colorful one.
Popular Design Options For Swallow Art
There is a great variety in swallow tattoo designs, with different elements included in the design to give it diverse meanings. The symbolic meaning of the tattoo can be interpreted by looking at the way the swallow is featured in it. Here are some popular designs:
- Flying Swallow – A flying swallow is like a good luck charm and is believed to bring good luck, wealth and success for the bearer.
- Swallow With Flower Tattoo – Another common design features a swallow holding a flower in its beak, which is a symbolic of the spring, a happy time.
- Pair Of Swallows – A pair of swallows in the tattoo stands for love and loyalty, as swallow is reputed as a faithful bird, having only one mate for life. The two swallow in the tattoo are soul mates and can be dedicated to a lover, spouse, friend or a family member.
- Swallow With Cards – They are regarded lucky for gamblers. Such tattoos combine swallows with cards, poker chips or rolling dice.
Swallow arts inked on men denote power and strength. In traditional tattoo art, one of these tattoos on the hand signified that the man was a tough fighter. In addition to these swallow designs, some other elements which can be featured to create excellent designs are stars, feathers, dreamcatchers, anchors, locks, bows, ribbons, arrows and hearts. Additionally, some names or quotes can be added to this art to give them a very personal and special meaning.
Placement Guide
As already seen, swallow tattoos have made a place in tattoo art because they are charming as well as carry a deep symbolic meaning. They are suitable for both the sexes and can be placed anywhere on the body of the bearer, keeping in consideration the design and size of the tattoo. They can be done in small, medium and large size, which makes them quite versatile.
For larger tattoos, they are best featured on areas like side, chest, back, shoulder, thigh, hip and arm, while the smaller sizes featuring cute little swallows are perfect for wrist, ankle, back of the neck and fingers. When a tattoo design is chosen for a swallow, one needs to bear in mind that it is going to carry a meaning and also that it would be something permanent, which will stay with the bearer for a lifetime. This is the reason why the tattoo design needs to be chosen after due consideration.
Swallows are tiny creatures, which carry big symbolic meanings, associated with god things like health, riches, long distance travel and loyalty.
In ancient times, when there were no complex navigation tools, sailors used to make the estimate of proximity of land with the help of these little birds. They were taken as a symbol of safe homecoming by the sailors. There is a legend related to the origin of swallow art, which started on a ship called the Swallow, on which a mutiny took place. The seven mutineer sailors on the ship had a swallow art inked on their chests as a mark of identification. Later, the tattoo became a mark of experience of sailors and was popularized in this profession, with sailors being tattooed with an increasing number of this art as their experience on the sea increased.
Another notion about this art and sailors is that in case a sailor drowned in the sea, the swallow would carry the departed soul to the heaven. In this way, the swallow tattoo bears a great deal of symbolic significance for sailors.
Swallows also stand for loyalty and love as they stay with the same mate for a lifetime. Swallows are considered as bringers of good luck by some cultures, while they are regarded as a bad omen in others. Some regard a swallow flying in the house as a sign of bad luck, while other take it as a good luck charm for protection.
Some cultures regard swallow art as a symbol of wealth as seeing one swallow is supposed to bring wealth to the person. Others believe that tow swallows signify freedom. A swallow art tattoo featuring two birds is a design inked on people who have come out of the jail and is associated with the term “jail bird”. It is so because the swallow is considered as a free bird, with the liberty to fly wherever it wants too. Some associate the bird with white supremacy, which adds a racial touch to this tattoo.
They are also considered popular as gang tattoos, while a tattoo showing swallow in the fists indicates that the person is a good fighter.
The swallow is also linked with overcoming a struggle to achieve something good in life.
Overall, they are symbolically associated with positive meanings like fidelity, loyalty, hope, victory, strength, protection, success and new beginnings. The design is both beautiful and meaningful, which is the reason of its great popularity.
Though swallow tattoos abound in aesthetic value as well as symbolic meaning, there has been great increase in their popularity in recent times, as they have been endorsed by several global celebrities. Some big names which have been spotted with these tattoos include Johnny Depp, Robbie Williams, Rachel Perry, Mark McGrath, Marianne Faithfull, Marc Almond and Christina Applegate.
Final Words
There is no doubt about the fact that swallow tattoos are extremely meaningful. Meaning to say, this is not just all about beauty, since it will also showcase things about your life like those that you have gone through. This will also reflect to your own unique personality. This is why in choosing a swallow design, you need to take into account your personality.
