Modern Grotesque Body
Tattoo Lettering + Sailors
Creates crisp high-hierarchy contrast beneath Tattoo Lettering headlines across menus, websites and labels.
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Letterpress tattoo lettering
Tattoo Lettering
Tattoo Lettering is a decorative plate in cream on charcoal: a swollen display alphabet with notched spurs and heavy serifs, set in two lines with a thin ornamental rule above and below, a small tracked label at the left and a boxed note at the foot naming the collection.
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Get this fontProject & layout blueprintsAt-a-glance maker compatibility
Cutting, print & workflow scorecard.
Sturdy stroke walls and open counters weed cleanly on adhesive vinyl, HTV apparel film, and cut cardstock.
Plotter & output verdictEasy-Weed Vinyl & Print Ready
Recommended minimum scale0.75 in+ cap height
Character set & structureUppercase, Lowercase & Numerals
OpenType & PUA accessSwashes/Tails
Best surfaces & mediaWood Porch Signs · Laser Acrylic · Bottle & Jar Labels
Compatible design toolsIllustrator · Affinity · Canva Pro · Cricut & Silhouette
Visual anatomy & craft review
Letterform structure
of Tattoo Lettering.
The plate is a period composition rather than a specimen grid: an ornamental hairline rule runs across the top, the two lines are centred beneath it, and a second rule closes the frame at the foot. The letterforms are a letterpress display — heavy serifs, notched spurs, a swollen waist — which reads as tattoo flash from the early twentieth century without a blackletter. Because the letters are heavy and the serifs are wide, the face holds at a small size and on skin, which is what a tattoo lettering set is for. The small tracked label and the boxed note are set in a light serif, and the palette is one ink on a dark ground, which keeps the ornamental rules visible without a second colour.
Decorative, letterpress, vintage, ornamental
Two-font hierarchy recipes
Suggested font
pairings.
Tested contrast partners — pairing Tattoo Lettering with grounded secondary typography.
Expressive Accent Script
Tattoo Lettering + Milkbutter
Adds a warm human signature touch for 1-to-3-word callouts without competing against structured serif capitals.
Inspect Milkbutter specimenPractical applications
Project & layout
blueprints.
Concrete hierarchy, scale and production guidance tailored to Tattoo Lettering’s stroke geometry.
Poster for a tattoo studio event
A letterpress display reads as flash-sheet lettering, and the heavy serifs stay legible at the size a tattoo flash poster is viewed from.
Hierarchy & layout recipe
A2 portrait: the event at 110 mm cap height, the artists in a 14 mm serif, and the date at 24 mm. Keep 30 mm margins, print cream on a dark ground, and keep the ornamental rules above and below the block.
Pre-production check
Check the poster at five metres, where the notched spurs can fill; keep the notches above 3 mm. Confirm the 14 mm artists read at two metres and that the rules stay clear of the type block.
Label for a small-batch spirit
A letterpress display reads as an old label on a shelf, and the heavy serifs print cleanly at a small size on an uncoated stock where a fine serif would sink into the fibre.
Hierarchy & layout recipe
Print a 60 by 90 mm label: the product at 16 pt, the strength in a 7 pt serif, and the volume at 6 pt. Keep 5 mm inside the die and print one ink on a textured stock so the notches read as impression.
Pre-production check
Check the 16 pt product on a textured label, where a notch can fill; keep the size above 13 pt. Confirm the 6 pt volume reads on the bottle and that the ornamental rule clears the die.
Sign for a vintage reception
A letterpress display gives a vintage-themed wedding its tone, and the heavy letters hold in paint on a board seen from the far end of a room.
Hierarchy & layout recipe
A1 board: the greeting at 90 mm cap height, the names in a 40 mm serif, and the date at 22 mm. Keep 40 mm margins, paint one colour on a dark board, and keep the ornamental rules inside the frame.
Pre-production check
Check the board at four metres, where the notches can read as damage; keep them consistent. Confirm the 22 mm date reads from the door and that the rules do not crowd the names.
Technical & licence verification
File & listing specifications.
File & glyph specifications
- Style classification
- Decorative · Letterpress tattoo lettering
- Foundry / creator
- Wow Magic
Confirm included OTF/TTF/WOFF formats, full glyph tables and licence coverage on the live store page before batch production.
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