Berlin artist completes freehand circle tattoo that appears in motion

Berlin artist Chaim Machlev, known professionally as DotsToLines, completed a freehand circle tattoo that wraps a client’s torso without a stencil and only resolves into a perfect ring when the wearer extends his arms. The piece turns movement into part of the design, a rare test of control in geometric tattooing where a line that looks exact on skin can drift the moment the body shifts.

Machlev described the work in his August 8, 2025 post, “Completing the Circle,” as a tattoo that exists fully only in motion. He said the back of the piece was first tattooed earlier in 2025, then the front was finished months later, making the circle a two-part project rather than a single-session build. The back lines arc from shoulder to shoulder, while the front closes the loop across the torso, so the circle only reads as complete when the client stretches out his arms. Shared by Complex, the piece drew strong engagement because it shows how far geometric tattooing can be pushed when the body itself becomes the canvas and the measuring tool.

Machlev’s official bio says he was born in Israel, moved from an IT career into tattooing after getting his first tattoo, apprenticed in Berlin, and later relocated to Los Angeles. His website says he has 14 years of experience and focuses on flowing line work, sacred geometry, and custom designs shaped to the body’s natural curves. That approach matters in work like this: a circle built across a rounded torso has to survive breathing, muscle movement, and changing posture, which means the tattoo has to be planned for motion instead of stillness.

His portfolio also places him in a larger exhibition circuit, with work shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s “TATTOO forever” in Rome in 2016, the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv in 2016, and the London Tattoo Convention in 2017, 2018, and 2019, along with Berlin Fashion Week in 2022. A current public listing identifies Machlev in Berlin, Germany, and gives him a 4.8-star rating from 106 reviews, with recent feedback split between praise for quality and criticism of price and demeanor. For geometric tattooing, this circle lands in the hardest category of all, because the line is never truly finished until the body moves.