Tattoo Shop AU - a quick, practical guide for writers
Guest Post by lebanon-hangover
lebanon-hangover said: this is based on my personal experience with the industry only, so depending on the era and country you are portraying, it may not be 100% accurate for your setting.
It may not be obvious at first glance, but most tattooists are clean freaks. We work with human blood every day, and we get clients from all ages, ethnic and social economic backgrounds, with all sorts of medical conditions.
We usually mop frequently, bleach the sinks, wipe down everything, and use cling film or bags to wrap everything. I mean fucking everything. We also scrub in, and sanitise the area on the person we work on.
Needles are collected in a sharps bin, and handled very carefully. Medical waste goes in yellow bags, and both are collected by a professional service.
Used ink caps may look full, but the ink gets diluted by blood. Like you dip the inky needle into the person, but you also dip the personâs blood into your ink. These are medical waste too.
Cleaning up must be done promptly after the session. Bin everything disposable, put things through the ultrasonic and the autoclave, and sanitise the area. We may take machines apart, but more for maintenance than cleaning, sometimes we swap parts in them too.
We have two sinks, one for hand washing, one for cleaning.
All inks and needles have use by dates.
The internal dynamics of a studio
Depending on the country, some tattoo shops tend to have ties to biker gangs, and some of those internal dynamics and unwritten rules are often present.
Thereâs a pecking order and itâs dead serious. Basically the longer youâve been in a shop, the higher ârankâ you are, you get the better positioned stations, first pick of walk-ins, etc (Unless the client is asking for someone by name). Regardless of your actual experience in the industry, like if you move into your old apprenticeâs shop, they are still senior to you. If the owner or their partner is an artist, obviously they are on top of the chain by default.
We are self employed, but we have a boss. You are only making money if you are working, but you still have set work hours.
We get paid by the clients, and we pay the studio a cut. In return, there are some items provided by them, and some we buy for ourselves. Usually the chairs, tattoo beds, gloves, cleaning products, clip cord covers, masks, aprons, ink caps, vaseline, green soap, and some basic ink is provided by the shop. We buy our own machines, arm rests, stations, pedals, power supplies, clipcords, tips and grips, needles, special colours, stencil fluidâŠthese are a personal preference, and often depend on the artistsâ style.
We totally ask to try out each otherâs equipment sometimes, or ask for a certain type of needle if we ran out.
The receptionist is usually just one of us, maybe a piercer, but it also can be a hired person in top studios.
The apprentice in the traditional system is often mistreated, and they have to pay for their education, have to be there multiple days a week and donât make any money. Itâs kind of like a tear them down, build them back up again thing to see if they are really serious about the job. Times are slowly changing, but 99% of them will always need a second job. Most of them are working as bar staff.
When you open a new studio, you must visit all the existing local ones and introduce yourself, otherwise you may get a brick through the window. Otherwise thereâs not much beef among individual artists, they are often friends, go to conventions together and party after, etc.
Tattooing is a fairly physical job, stretching skin is very important. We have to also keep our clients safely still, so we often use positions to pin them down a bit. Sometimes you hit a reflex point on the foot or under a knee, and you donât want to get kicked. Sometimes you have to pull away super fast, cos they are sneezing, yawning or giggling.
Most tattooists drink a lot of coffee, tea or energy drinks.
Some people are all rounders, some have specific styles, but we recognise each otherâs art styles. Sometimes we delegate work to each other, if we think our coworkers style fits the concept better. For example if thereâs a person who does script well, we give them those projects.
We donât like when people come in with designs from other artists. Art theft is frowned upon, and we work best with our own drawings.
Most apprentices practice on their own legs, and sometimes we tattoo each other when itâs quiet. Most people have cover ups, or bad pieces from their early days. The artistsâ own tattoos sometimes are in a different style than what they do, but we like to collect ink from friends or colleagues we admire.
In the first 1-2 years one is an apprentice, then junior artist. At 5-8 years of tattooing, you have earned your stripes and are considered an experienced artist.
Conventions are really fun, but can be stressful. You can make good money working at one, and sometimes get awarded for it too. We can also spend a lot at a convention.
Sometimes we poke our fingers by accident, and itâs a scary thing. Good case scenario is just some random dots on your fingers. Letâs not go into the bad case scenario.
We do guest spots sometimes, just to meet new clients, and change it up a bit.
We spend a lot of time drawing up things, and designs are meant to fall on specific muscles, stretch with the skin a certain way, so they are tailored to the body proportions of the client. A good tattoo is also an optical illusion, complimenting the body shape.
Social media presence is like a second job, you need good photos, and you need to market yourself.
Tattoo ink does not wash out, so some stains are inevitable when pouring it out. Those ink bottles get stuck so easily, and we wrestle them a lot. We try to avoid it, but wearing all dark colours is a thing for a reason.
Tattooists need to have a good âbedside mannersâ too. We get nervous or self conscious people, and we are told personal things during long sessions. For example scar coverups and memorial pieces can be very emotional.
We have pretty good poker faces and first aid trainings. People can faint, get shaky, throw up, some have seizures, have b.o., get sweaty, etc the same way as at a blood donation event? Itâs no big deal really. We sit them down, give them some water and some sugar, and re-book them if necessary. Most artists keep some wet wipes, mouth wash, deodorant, sweets, maybe even some clean clothes at work, just in case.
If someone comes in with a wild idea for a jobstopper, we would sit down and have a long talk. If they havenât got many tattoos, we usually try to stir them towards more safe choices, offering them creative ideas. Itâs like those jedi mind tricks sometimes.
If someone is undecided, we show them our own hand drawn flash sheets. Once its gone, its gone tho, we donât use the designs twice.
Pinterest is full of photoshopped fake tattoos, some that wonât even work as real ink. Many people also touch up their work digitally on photos, so some clients have really unrealistic expectations.
We can totally tell if someone is intoxicated or hangover. It thins the blood, and they bleed out the ink, and itâs super annoying. if itâs bad, they will be sent home and rebooked.
Some folks are self conscious about body hair, their size, stretch marks and scars. Chances are, we have seen similar, and we arenât bothered by it, because itâs work. Surgery scars, scars from accidents, self harm scars, burns, we see it all the time. We shave some really hairy dudes all the time girl, your legs are fine. Seriously. If something makes tattooing you dangerous we will tell you.
Fit, muscular people are harder to tattoo because they are really firm. Its a workout for us.
Everyone gets midnight messages about the aftercare from nervous clients, and drunken booty calls about getting inked right at this second. We have copy paste repliesâŠ
We get creeps sometimes. Stalking, weird conversations, tmi info dumps etc.
Other things to include (for fun, or for plot reasons)
We sometimes have those âoh fuckâ moments. We all do, but mistakes can be fixed, and we play it cool.
Tattooing takes time. Usually 30 minutes to multiple sessions though years and years.
Healing tattoos takes about 2-4ish weeks, and your characters shouldnât go roll around in dirt, sunbathe, swim, pick at the scabs. Nasty infections, and messed up tattoos would be the results.
If you have a strong immune system, and you get a lot of work done in one sitting, you may get a brief bit of a temperature. Itâs normal, and will go away.
Its a lot easier to get seriously drunk after getting a tattoo. Be careful.
We sometimes draw on each other for practice with our marker pens.
Tattoos are inside the skin, not on top of it. Imagine a low opacity, skin toned layer over the ink, adding to the healed tattoosâ colour. Please stop making your characters skin fully transparent.
Heavy blackwork and palms are done in multiple sessions.
You canât cover up moles, because if they develop skin cancer, the dermatologist canât see the signs.
Thereâs a stereotype about piercers having blacked out sleeves.
Stencil fluid looks just like cum.
You get that annoying itch on your face when you scrubbed in, put on gloves and finally ready to go.
Some artists have a strong preference for coil or rotary machines, and they bicker about it a lot. Coils are louder, more punchy, and more traditional, perfect for lineart. They can be customised, and they last forever. They are also called glorified doorbells by people who prefer rotaries. Rotary machines are smoother, lighter, and often use needles that are pulled back into the cartridges for safety. They are better for shading and delicate line work. Older tattooists often say they are dildo or butt plug shaped, overly delicate and are for âsoft millennialsâ only.
Every artist owns like 5 to 20 machines, and they have specific machine builders they are loyal to.
The âwhich cable is broken and cutting outâ guessing game. Clip cords and pedal cables get worn out easily, and that results in your machine running really jerky.
Walk-in always show up 10 minutes before closing.
We often look quite silly at work. Sleeves rolled up, folks use all sorts of plastic ppe, headlamps, and we tie up our hair. Add couple of purple smears from carbon paper, and we arenât scary at all.
