How To Do Your Own Tattoo?
Julia
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Tattooing Yourself
- Sterilize your equipment. The main risk of a home tattoo is the risk of infection. Take steps to keep everything as
- Load the needle with ink to get started. Turn on the tattoo gun, line up the needle with the guide line, and get
- Push the needle into your skin. It’s very difficult to push a tattooing needle in too deeply because of
More.
Contents
- 0.0.1 Can you do a tattoo by yourself?
- 0.0.2 How can I do a tattoo at home?
- 0.0.3 Can you tattoo yourself with a needle and ink?
- 0.0.4 How deep do you go with a tattoo needle?
- 0.0.5 What is the correct needle depth for tattooing?
- 0.0.6 Can I use pen ink for a tattoo?
- 0.0.7 Is it OK to use pen ink for a stick and poke?
- 0.0.8 What can I use as a tattoo needle?
- 0.0.9 How hard is it to tattoo yourself?
- 0.1 Tattooing Yourself For Beginners
- 0.2 How do you stretch your skin when tattooing yourself?
- 1 Is Bic pen ink toxic?
- 2 Why you should not tattoo yourself?
- 3 What do I need to know before tattooing myself?
- 4 Is tattooing yourself illegal in UK?
Can you do a tattoo by yourself?
Photo: Mirrorpix/Getty/Mirrorpix via Getty Images Yet another hobby has emerged from inside quarantine: do-it-yourself tattoos. Over the last however many days spent inside, I’ve seen no fewer than three people showing off their new “ink” on their Instagram accounts. Meanwhile, on TikTok, too, people have begun filming themselves testing (and reviewing) various kits they’ve found on Amazon and elsewhere.
The trouble is: Tattooing oneself isn’t quite like picking up quilting or origami. And it certainly shouldn’t be done on a whim with things found laying around the house. “Never ever use stuff you have at home,” says Austin-based tattoo artist Jack Ervin of Bad Bad Tattoo.
“Sewing needles, hand soap, and pen ink are iconic DIY-tattoo implements, and I could never condone tattooing yourself with any of them. Using improvised equipment will hurt more, and the tattoo will age more poorly than a homemade tattoo created with the proper tools.
- ” It’s equally important to keep your workspace meticulously clean;
- “When you’re tattooing yourself, you have to treat everything like it’s contaminated,” says Avery Osajima , a stick-and-poke tattoo artist based in Seattle;
But with careful sanitation practices and the right tools, tattooing oneself is, in fact, fine, and is how many tattoo artists start out. Below, everything you’ll need, from station setup pieces to the very best ointment for after. Before breaking out the ink and needles, you’ll need to set up your station. While it doesn’t need to be as elaborate as the setup a tattoo artist might have, there are a few necessary essentials, like a metal tray , which should be used to store the materials you’ll be working with. “You need to work on nonporous surfaces that you can easily disinfect,” says Osajima, who also cautions against tattooing yourself on any surfaces that can’t be thoroughly disinfected first, like on a carpeted floor or couch.
Speaking of disinfectant, not any random wipe or spray you have at home will work. You’ll need one that kills blood-borne pathogens, like MadaCide, a hospital-grade option that Osajima uses. “That stuff can kill hepatitis C, and HIV, tuberculosis,” she says. You’ll need to disinfect everything fairly constantly: the tray, the surface you’re working on, where you’re sitting. ” Almost every tattoo artist we spoke to mentioned using green soap, a water-soluble vegetable-oil-and glycerin-based soap used before and after tattooing, to cleanse and shave the area and to clean up the tattoo once you’re done. Green soap is ultraconcentrated so you’ll need to dilute it a bit with distilled water (distilled water lacks the trace minerals and microorganisms that can be found in tap water, and which can lead to infection).
“Definitely, definitely wear gloves,” says Julissa Rodriguez , a tattoo artist based in New York. You’ll need to keep a few pairs of gloves on hand while tattooing: one pair to wear while sanitizing your station, and then another to put on while laying down your tools. These are from tattoo supply company Coalition Tattoo Company, which Osajima uses to buy all of her supplies.
Both Osajima and Samantha “Cake” Robles of Tattoos by Cake say that tongue depressors are a must-have for any tattoo station. They’re used in parlors to spread ointment on the skin. The ointment lubricates and moisturizes the skin, which keeps ink from spreading everywhere once you start tattooing. “It really makes a big difference,” Osajima says. “Especially with stick and pokes. ”
As for which ointment to use: Both Osajima and New York–based tattoo artist Sanyu Nicolas like Hustle Butter, which can also be used for aftercare. It has an oily consistency that keeps the ink from sliding around.
Of the five experts we spoke with, four recommended using the slower, simpler stick-and-poke method (in which you dip your needle in a cupful of ink, then press the needle into the skin to create an image or word out of individual dots). A tattoo machine has a motor and requires you to be extremely intentional about speed and how much pressure you’re putting on the needle (too much force could lead to a “blown out” tattoo, and the potential to scar your skin). Osajima particularly likes the relatively thin Tight 5 needle from Black Claw, which she calls a good, standard starting needle, and which she herself uses for the majority of her line work. ]
For extra-tiny tattoos, she likes to reach for the Hella Fine 5 Liner needle. And if she needs something even smaller she’ll reach for the Hella Fine 7, which produces even thinner lines.
To make holding the needle more comfortable during the process, Osajima recommends wrapping it in self-cohesive tape. “I use the two-inches-thick one,” she says. Three of our experts name-checked Dynamic as their ink of choice — it’s affordable, they say, and performs well. “It’s one of the oldest and most popular brands that tattoo artists use,” says Robles. Osajima agrees: “It creates a nice, dark, solid line,” she says, “and I like the consistency. With hand-poke tattoos, if the ink is too thick it can get globby and obscure what you’re trying to do. ” If you’d rather not invest in individual tattoo materials. Rodriguez recommends this ready-made kit from Pick and Poke Tattoo , which comes with three needles, black ink, an alcohol pad , gloves, stretch wrap, tattoo ointment, and sticks, along with an instructional guide on how to safely tattoo. While what design you choose is entirely up to you, the artists we spoke to recommend keeping it simple and easy to execute. There are two ways to create your tattoo design: stenciling and free drawing. Stenciling requires a few more steps than free drawing but creates a precise guide for you to follow, and allows you to tattoo just about any image you want. Once you settle on an image you’ll need to print it out and then trace it onto the top sheet of the stencil paper, which will transfer the design onto the stencil below. For ensuring the tattoo stencil stays put throughout the tattoo process, Robles and Osajima suggested first shaving the area clean with a sharp razor, then applying Stencil Stuff, a solution designed by tattoo artists that helps the stencil stay in place. Apply a few dots in the area you’re tattooing, then rub it into the skin until it creates a sort of clear, tacky film. Then, press your stencil down and wait a few minutes before peeling it away.
If you’d rather draw your tattoo freehand, or don’t have access to stencil paper, you can draw your tattoo with a surgical pen instead. (This will stay on your skin much better than a regular marker or ballpoint. ) She likes this one from Viscot in particular — it’s double-sided with a thicker and thinner point. “The longer it has to dry, the better it sticks,” Osajima says of the pen. “If you make a mistake while drawing I’d recommend wiping it off with rubbing alcohol.
[A note: Needles cannot be reused. You must use a different needle for every tattoo. To dispose of needles, you have to use a special sharps container — this one from OakRidge, is small, easy to store, and designed for home use.
” A note: All of the drawing should be done prior to tattooing — pens shouldn’t be used on broken skin. Once you’ve completed the tattoo, aftercare is key. After completing the tattoo wash it immediately with Green Soap to get rid of the excess ink; then apply a thin layer of ointment on top. (Robles likes A+D ointment, but Hustle Butter was name-checked several times as well. ) Then wrap the tattoo in plastic wrap and let it sit for at least three hours.
- After that, Robles recommends keeping it covered with ointment for three to five days while it heals;
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How can I do a tattoo at home?
About This Article – Article Summary X To make your own temporary tattoo, first draw or print out the design you want to use. Then, place tracing paper over the design and trace it with a pencil. Trace over the design again with a non-toxic, black felt-tip marker to make it dark, then cut off the excess paper around the design with scissors.
Clean the area of your skin where the tattoo will go with rubbing alcohol and let it dry. Cleaning your skin first will help the tattoo stick better. Place the tracing paper face down on your skin and wet it with warm water using a washcloth.
Let it sit for 30 seconds, then carefully peel off the tracing paper to reveal a faint outline of your design. Now, go over the design on your skin with the felt-tip black marker to make it pop. Sprinkle baby powder over the design, dust it off, and spray liquid bandage on your tattoo.
Can you tattoo yourself with a needle and ink?
What is a stick and poke tattoo? – Also known as hand-poked tattoos, stick and poke tattoos are created by dipping a needle in ink and manually poking the skin with it. While the technique is certainly more beginner-friendly than machine tattoos, that doesn’t mean it’s any less legit — they’re just as permanent and have a style of their own.
“I do think hand-poked tattoos can look just as nice as machine tattoos,” Vivien Su, a 21-year-old part-time tattoo artist in Singapore told VICE. She started hand-poking last year, while the country was in lockdown, and recently opened her own studio.
Vivien likens hand-poked tattoos to “drawing on a sheet of paper,” and machine tattoos to “drawing on your iPad. ” While machine tattoos will probably give a cleaner look, she thinks that both offer different effects.
How deep do you go with a tattoo needle?
Just How Far Does The Needle Go? – Now that you know a little more about the machine and the needle, it’s time to discuss the third essential piece of the puzzle—your skin. The tattoo needle goes through 1/16th of an inch of skin. That might not sound like a lot of skin, but it is really going through five sublayers of the epidermis, the dermal layer, and also the top layer of the dermis.
Among these layers is a collection of sweat glands, hair follicles, connective tissue, fat, and blood vessels. During a tattoo session, the needle passes through the epidermis and epidermal-dermal junction, opening a passage in the 2mm-thick dermis.
The dermis is ideal for a couple of reasons. It is far enough not to bleed out and isn’t exposed. Knowing this, the tip of the tattoo needle is minutely adjusted to ensure that it enters the skin to the correct depth. If you were to look at a tattoo needle in the machine, you will see that it sticks out no further than 2mm.
What is the correct needle depth for tattooing?
So, how deep, to be exact, should a needle go into the skin? The answer is – approximately 1/16th inch deep into the skin. This means that the ink will be placed exactly between the 2mm of the dermis layer.
Can I use pen ink for a tattoo?
Pen Ink – With the number of art stores and online warehouses that you can purchase from, pen ink should never be an option for tattooing. Pen ink is easily accessible and cheap. Still, it is not meant to enter your body in any way, shape, or form. Pen ink is highly toxic and unsterile.
Is it OK to use pen ink for a stick and poke?
Use India Ink – Joe Raedle/Getty Images News/Getty Images Do not use just any old ink for your stick and poke. Ink, like the ink from your pen, is not sterile and can be highly toxic. A non-toxic ink, like India ink, would be your best bet. It’s natural, carbon-based, and less likely to cause infection.
What can I use as a tattoo needle?
Stick and Poke Tattoo Needles – The most common stick and poke tattoo technique, commonly called the ” needle and thread tattoo technique ” consists in inserting a sewing needle right between a pencil’s eraser and the metal socket. The dental floss is then rolled around the needle to create an ink container.
With a careful use of dental floss and proper needle sharpening, you can get away with tattooing using sewing needles. However, these tools aren’t optimal for stick and poke tattoos since they don’t retain ink as well as tattoo needles and aren’t as sharp. Moreover, they are imprecise and less hygienic. In my experience, the simplest and most enjoyable way to proceed is to use stick and poke tattoo needles.
How hard is it to tattoo yourself?
Tattooing Yourself For Beginners
You’ll End Up With a Surface Tattoo – If you’re looking for a temporary tattoo stick to henna and lick ’em stick ’em options. If you do your own tattoo you’ll most likely only scratch the surface. The proper tattooing process penetrates 1/16th of an inch into your skin.
That may not sound like much, but it’s actually five whole layers of the epidermis. When doing the tattoo on your own, a lack of experience not to mention your own pain receptors will keep you from going as deep as you need to.
A DIY tattoo will fade much earlier that one done by a professional.
How do you stretch your skin when tattooing yourself?
Is Bic pen ink toxic?
Is a Bic Pen Toxic? – The package itself usually tells you it’s non-toxic. So you’re safe. A Bic pen is a regular ballpoint pen, so if you’ve read everything above, you already know you’re good! Personally, I like to use Bic pens the most, I really like their feeling and there’s a lot of colors to choose from. Also, from experience , I never had problems with extra ink spilling from my pen. From all the Bic pens I’ve bought, it has probably happened once or twice. Another advantage is that they’re quite cheap and can come in big packages if you wish to get a lot of them at once and save them for whenever you need them!.
Why you should not tattoo yourself?
Getting any tattoo carries some health risks. However, performing your own tattoos puts you at greater risk of: contracting serious infectious diseases, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV. contracting severe skin infections, including bacterial infections such as ‘golden staph’.
How hard is it to tattoo yourself?
You’ll End Up With a Surface Tattoo – If you’re looking for a temporary tattoo stick to henna and lick ’em stick ’em options. If you do your own tattoo you’ll most likely only scratch the surface. The proper tattooing process penetrates 1/16th of an inch into your skin.
- That may not sound like much, but it’s actually five whole layers of the epidermis;
- When doing the tattoo on your own, a lack of experience not to mention your own pain receptors will keep you from going as deep as you need to;
A DIY tattoo will fade much earlier that one done by a professional.
Why you should not tattoo yourself?
2) Infection – Most people do not have any idea about infectious materials and spreading disease. The moment the ink punctures the skin blood can microspray up to 9 feet! That means that anything you touch is essentially covered in blood, and that’s not including the obvious mixed with ink on your hands and on their skin.
What do I need to know before tattooing myself?
About This Article – Article Summary X Before you can give yourself a tattoo, you’ll need to purchase some supplies, like a tattoo gun and tattoo or Indian ink. Once you have the supplies, look online for a stencil, which will help you draw the outline for your tattoo.
When you’re ready to start tattooing, sterilize your equipment to guard against infection. You should also make sure your working area is clean so it’s as safe as possible while you create the tattoo. As you work, wash your needle regularly to remove excess ink, which will help create the clearest possible lines.
For tips on how to clean and care for your tattoo once it’s complete, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 822,180 times.
Is tattooing yourself illegal in UK?
By Lila Allen BBC Two’s Revealed series Tattoos are thought to be more popular than ever, but some people are taking things into their own hands and tattooing themselves. The dangerous trend is said to be growing. Why? Celebrities have them, even the prime minister’s wife has one and, according to one survey, so do a third of British adults.
- It’s safe to say the tattoo is now mainstream;
- But the popularity of this body adornment is also being blamed for another trend – DIY tattooing;
- While no official figures exist, trained tattoo artists say they are increasingly being asked to cover botched, amateur inkings;
Many have been done with kits bought over the internet for as little £60, they say. Environmental health professionals fear that amateur tattoos have a high risk of infection, and are calling for them to be banned. “If it is cheap and cheerful, it is going to be nasty,” says Andrew Griffiths from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.
“I don’t think they should be available at all because I think they present a great risk. If it is possible to ban them then I think that is what we would like to see. ” With a DIY kit simply the click of a mouse away, and costing a lot less than a professional tattoo, it’s easy to see what part of the attraction is.
But there are other reasons why people are prepared to risk a messy tattoo and an infection. For Hazel, 21, from Glasgow, it was all about retaining artistic control. She wasn’t happy with her first tattoo done at a parlour, claiming the professional artist did things she didn’t ask for.
She says she feels more in control doing it herself and it hurts less. “You know where and when to expect the pain,” she says. Her love of tattoos resulted in her starting to ink herself and her friends. She got her first tattoo of a star with a pink leopard-print design in a licensed studio at 18.
Keen to become a professional tattooist, she looked for an apprenticeship with a studio, but when she didn’t succeed a friend suggested she give it a go herself. She bought a kit for just $45 (£32) from China on eBay. It came with no instructions and, despite having no guidance from a tattoo artist, she says she managed quite well.
- She has now tattooed herself twice, on her foot and on her wrist, and also done designs for her friends;
- One of her DIY tattoos became infected but that has not put her off;
- She blames herself, not the kit, and took antibiotics to clear it up;
She is not breaking the law by tattooing herself, even without training. But it’s a different matter when it comes to her friends. The law says you can tattoo yourself, but tattooing others must be supervised by a licensed premises. Both tattooist and client must also be over the age of 18.
The regulations aim to ensure health and safety procedures are followed, with the correct kit and equipment used. Philippa, 18, is an apprentice tattoo artist and as such comes under the supervision of the licensed parlour training her.
She already has 13 tattoos and plans more at the rate of one every couple of months. She has allowed untrained people to tattoo her in her bedroom. A previous boyfriend tattooed her with her sister’s name and a friend recently tattooed her with a black cross on her hand.
She says the lines are wonky, but has no regrets. “They’re all part of my life story,” she says. But serious injury or infection could also end up being part of your life story. If equipment is not sterilised properly, people run the risk of being infected with diseases that spread through the blood, such as HIV or hepatitis C.
There is also the possibility of an allergic reaction to the ink, as well as having something ugly and messy permanently marked on your body. Of course, these are all risks that also come with having a tattoo done professionally, but registered parlours have to follow strict health and safety procedures.
- The higher risks associated with self-tattooing are a cause for concern among industry experts;
- Gary Valentine is a tattoo artist and parlour owner in Elgin, Scotland;
- “Any teenager that knows how to use a computer can, in a couple of clicks, order equipment,” he says;
“It takes years to learn to tattoo. They’re dabbling, messing around in their bedrooms and they are running a serious risk of serious injury or infection. ” People contacting BBC Two’s Revealed programme about DIY tattoos have had mixed experiences. Some have had them done on a kitchen table by a friend, and been perfectly happy with the result, but others have ended up in hospital and say it is worth paying money to get them done professionally.