APPOINTMENT FAQ
Q- Do you take walk-ins?
A- Generally we work off of appointment, but will always fit in a walk-in if it is possible.
Depending on your design idea, and our schedules, there is sometimes a chance to get you in that day. This depends on what you are looking to get done, and whether we have enough time available. Come in with your idea, talk to us about what you want, and from there we can figure out a plan. If we can’t fit you in when you stop in, we can definitely get you on the schedule.
Q- Will you tattoo a minor?
A- You need to be 18 in Nebraska unless a parent or guardian gives consent and is present with you during the tattoo. We will tattoo a 16 or 17 year old with parental consent, but not above the neckline of a shirt or on the hand. You will need a parent with you, and you both need a state issued photo ID, and a birth certificate.
Q- Do you offer discounted tap-out sessions?
A- Unfortunately tap-out sessions are usually a bit of a scam. If an artist would usually tattoo 4 hours for $600, but charges $600 for a session that lasts until you want to quit, the client hopes for more than 4 hours of work to get a deal. The artist generally hopes to stop short of 4 hours and then they make more than usual and “win” if they are competitively minded.
The problem is that the artist can easily make the tattoo work extremely uncomfortable by working back near previously worked areas, sensitive spots, or tattooing too hard or too deep.
There have been a few artists in our area over the years that have offered tap-out sessions and I’ve had to do coverups on several people that sat through them. One sat longer than the artist obviously planned for and got a bunch of garbage tattooed on 1/3 of his sleeve that didn’t relate to the rest of the design.
Q- Do you offer any discounts or special deals?
A- We don’t discount our tattoo work as we want to be able to give everyone our best. Gimmicky specials mean that a tattoo artist needs to cut corners on supplies, rush to fit in more clients, or has a bad attitude since the price is discounted, not usually the deal it seems. We regularly coverup and fix tattoos done by artists giving out special deals.
Q- Do you use numbing cream?
A- I have used some of the varieties of numbing cream, but generally prefer not to use any. I have a very light hand and make the tattoo process as easy as possible with multiple sessions instead of forcing too much ink into the skin in a single session.
In addition to the possibilities of common adverse reactions to it, it makes the skin texture more difficult to tattoo and causes it to take longer to color areas or can even make the color heal less intense. The numbing agents often include vasoconstrictors which reduce blood flow, that reduced blood flow can affect healing since there are less white blood cells available.
It generally won’t stay numb throughout the tattoo since wiping with soap and water neutralizes its effectiveness and artists have to keep adding additional products made to be used on already broken skin.
Recently, most of the numbing agents have been recalled for violating the legal amounts of Lidocaine. Overuse of Lidocaine can be deadly. The products that could be purchased from safe reliable retailers aren’t available. Unfortunately, tattoo artists are instead buying sketchy products from disreputable businesses that fly under the radar or from overseas sources with no manufacturing oversight.
I don’t like it when a client comes in with a numbing product applied that they purchased themselves due to the number of unsafe knockoffs and bad profiteers selling expired or mislabeled products.
Q- Do you do cover-ups or finish another artist’s work?
A- Coverups are one of the main things I specialize in.
I’d never want to finish someone else’s work if it’s of good quality and there’s any chance that the original artist would be able to work on it again or if the client is just looking for a cheaper price, less time than the artist wanted to put in, etc.
I do not have any issue finishing another artist’s work if there isn’t a chance that the client can be tattooed by them again. Unfortunately, I’ve had to finish tattoos for clients that felt unsafe with the previous artist, the work was poor quality, artist had passed away, etc.
Q- I’ve only had a tattoo in a single session, what do you mean by multiple sessions?
A- Many of the tattoos I do are too large or elaborate to do in a single session. Even smaller tattoos are often better done in more than one session. Giving the linework a chance to heal before shading or color gives the artist more options on how to color it and reduces the chances of scarring that can happen when an artist does too much all at once. Often, I’ll tattoo in multiple sessions, with at least 3 weeks between each one.