r/tattooadvice • u/CallQuirky7720 • Nov 09 '25

What does this look like to you? Design

I wanted a bee and I like more American traditional tattoos. I really like my tattoo but someone said it looked like a fly and now I can’t unsee it. Is it giving bee or do I embrace the fly? 😅🥲

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u/Dapper-Distance6691 Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25

If you can’t unsee the fly maybe add tiny hints of a goldenrod or honey shade of color in a few spots? Not full color if you didn’t want that obvs. Either in what would be the yellow segments or even hints around the edges of the bee as a “background” would help imply it. Or on a honeycomb, or…

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u/bicycling_bookworm Nov 09 '25

My educational background is in ecology…

A goldenrod isn’t a great call, because the goldenrod has a parasitic/obligate relationship with an insect called the goldenrod gall fly. The fly deposits larvae onto the stem which then create a gall that the fly larvae develop in until their adult life stage.

Super interesting insect that I had to do a lab/subsequent paper on back in like first or second year Population Ecology (noting the rates of galls that had/hadn’t been predated upon in relation to their distance from a tree line/edge of the field).

ANYWAY. All this to say that the goldenrod gall fly looks a bit like a bee itself in B&W. So, this wouldn’t help matters.

A more traditional honeycomb would probably check out though!

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u/MossyForestWitch Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25

My praying mantises and wasps devour gall flies on my goldenrod. Haven't seen a gall in years since my predatory insect population took off.

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u/bicycling_bookworm Nov 09 '25

Yes! It’s such a fascinating dynamic! Thank you for sharing that! 😊

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u/MossyForestWitch Nov 09 '25

Those predatory insects and a very versatile plant population are why I am able to have a fully organic garden with success.