the act of becoming

We do not pass down a perfect world to our children; we pass down the wisdom and grace we gathered while rebuilding our own.

When Yvonne reached out about this new tattoo, she wanted to dedicate a piece to her daughter that honored the ongoing act of becoming—the profound transition of becoming a mother, and the space she gives her daughter to become her own person.

At the center of the design sits a handmade Japanese teacup—organically shaped, asymmetrical, and imperfectly perfect. The cup represents herself: once fractured by past mistakes, but reassembled through the ancient art of kintsugi, joining broken ceramic panels back together with gold.

Each porcelain panel is detailed with delicate oriental motifs representing the values that restored her and that she now hopes to impart: a willow tree and mountains for faith, grounding, and the presence of God; a pair of swallowsso that she always knows the way home; plum blossoms symbolising endurance, resilience and blooming through life's winter.

In a little unexpected twist, her daughter’s birth flowers (the Lily of the Valley) do not grow from inside of the cup. Instead, they sprout directly from the golden kintsugi seams, proving that growth emerges from healed places. Interspersed among the open blooms are delicate unopened buds, a quiet nod to her daughter’s future, representing a life still unfolding and a person still becoming, nurtured by the values that hold the cup together.