This is a simple but effective transfer method. The materials needed are a design, a hectograph pencil or pen with hectograph ink and a sheet of high grade tracing paper. First the design (face up or reversed) is taped to a drawing board or secured to a clipboard. Then a sheet of high grade tracing paper is taped or secured over it. The paper should have a 100 percent rag content and be fairly thick in texture to take the abuse of handling. Be sure to cover the entire design and use an economical style of placement (like in a corner of the paper rather than in the middle, so you can conserve space and use the rest of the sheet for other designs). You should be able to see the design through the tracing paper. If youcan’t, build yourself a small light table to make the job easier.

Take a pencil and copy the tattoo design on the paper. It may have to be drawn over a few times to get a solid line. Cut it out, leaving a one inch border around the design. When you are finished doing this, you have the completed stencil. How you get this stencil on the skin is the same method you would use with the ink method or the duplicating carbon. The best adherent to do this with is an ordinary deodorant in stick form. When you have a place where the tattoo is to be located, and have prepared the part with alcohol and a clean shave (covered in detail elsewhere), just rub a little light layer of deodorant on the skin and place the paper stencil right over it. Rub it with your fingers for a few seconds and whisk away the paper. Behold, the design is on the skin. Check the alignment and let the customer check it also. It takes a certain knack to do this cleanly every time, so a great deal of practice is required on the tattooist’s part to get it down pat. It is easy to practice this, since it can be washed off and tried again. Your friends, wife or yourself work well as practice models.

Posted on September 1st, 2008 by admin
Tags: dragon tattoos, tattoo art, Tattoo designs, tattoos

Filed under: The Stencil