Tattooing today has taken on a whole new meaning than it has, let’s say, just ten years ago. It’s growing by leaps and bounds, and will continue to grow. Statistics say that in the United States, better than one out of every ten persons has a tattoo. This breaks down to one out of every five men and one out of every fifteen women. With the population rising as it is now, more people than ever are going to want to be tattooed. Somebody has to put those tattoos on. There are a lot of great tattooists out there, and there is room for more. Let’s hope this site meets its goal by turning you out as one of them. If You read, study and practice the things outlined in this site, there is absolutely no reason why you can’t be a good tattoo artist. If you are real serious, you must be devoted to the art. After all, what you get out of it depends on what you put into it.

Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Epilogue | 1 Comment »

Legislation
Legislation regulating the practice of cosmetic tattooing is being implemented rapidly. An up-to-date status of legislation by State is posted on the Internet at: www.micropigmentation.org.
The American Academy of Micropig-mentation provides nationally recognized Board Certification which includes rigorous written, oral and practical exams for candidates with at least one year experience. Tattoo artists who wish to perform cosmetic tattooing benefit from extra training in eyeliner and lipcolor safety and pigment selection and can find Board Certified trainers at www.micropigmentation.org.
Pigment Removal
Importantly, cosmetic tattooing cannot be hidden from sight by clothing as can body tattoos. Misplaced or undesirable color on the face is not often easily removed by laser due to discoloration which occurs from photochemical changes in pigments such as iron oxides and titanium dioxide. Non-specific chemical irritants or exfoliants can result in scarring, unsatisfactory results and prolonged redness. This may be due in part from overworking the skin with needles rather than the actual product. Pigment removal is illegal in many States and the FDA pays close attention to such products. “Most states are inclined to consider this topic to be a medical/surgical one and outside of the scope and training of dermatechnicians and tattooists” writes Dr. Chip Zwerling of the Academy of Micropigmentation.
Cooperation and Education
The exchange of information between the traditional and cosmetic camps of tattooing will benefit both the artists and their clients. It is not a battle of talent or skills but rather an earnest desire to achieve excellence and understanding that will gain respect between these diverse professionals.

Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by admin
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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
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In areas where the skin stretches and moves, the scabs are easily torn off before they are ready. If this happens, the area where it was still attached will bleed. In doing so, it will bleed the color right back out. That particular area will revert back to skin color. Every minute the area is in its healing process, it is susceptible to problems. The shorter the healing time, the better.
Try to guide women away from getting tattoos on their arms because many employers won’t hire women who have visible tattoos, but once they are aware of the situation, if they still want one, go ahead and do it.
Try to guide people away from getting their lover’s name on them. It’s sure to change with time. You’ll find yourself covering a lot of them up anyway, ones that other people did. If you must tattoo names on, do them in red or light blue so they can be easily covered up in the future.
Skin is an important matter in tattooing. It is your canvas for art work. Please pay attention to all that has been said, and your tattoos will look pretty and heal with no problem on any type of skin.

Posted on August 20th, 2008 by admin
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If no friends are to be found, you can stretch a large area by using the outside of your left palm, ring and little finger to push upwards. Use your little finger and the outside of your right palm to pull down as you tattoo with the same hand. This is easier than it sounds and it gets easier with practice.
These elaborate stretching procedures are mainly for the outline, so you don’t smear any of the lines on the stencil before it has been all outlined. Once the outline is on, you can easily stretch small areas of skin as you proceed through the rest of the operation, using your left hand as illustrated, to do the stretching.
A short word is in order here about some of the first skin you will come in contact with. You will need some skin to practice on. You are going to need some skin of some kind to learn on and get the basic feel of things. In the beginning, start on yourself. If you are right handed, you can cover most of your left arm and both legs yourself. Why not? You want to tattoo don’t you? Let’s not get squeamish. It’s better to make mistakes on yourself first than other people. If you plan to make a career in tattooing, you’ll find it difficult to market a product which you yourself don’t endorse. Once you’ve covered yourself with fine tattoos, it’s time to start looking for friends. You can always find people to work on for free, who aren’t that particular at first. Usually a deal can be made where if you tattoo them for free, they will advertise around where they got it. It’s a good form of practice for you. They get a good free tattoo, you get to work on different people, and you also get the benefit of some free advertising.

Posted on August 13th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Skin | No Comments »