Dana Stephen

[Dana Stephen]

Hey PoisonPinhead,
Hearing of your dilemma made me want to reply to your post, as I have been very, very sick. I take a boatload of pills as well as chemotherapy.
I am just getting back into tattooing as I started in the 1970’s and ended up changing careers.
Now that I am in the predicament that I am in I can n o longer do the type of art based work I did for the last 37 years. I have found that inking has come back to me as if I never took the extended hiatus.

Being on the same meds as you (and maybe more) I know the blood can run a little thin. I did do A couple of panels on my thighs to get back into the swing of things after a while of practising on pig skins.
I think that you may need to be a little more shallow with the needle depth. You will be surprised at how little you need to penetrate to get the ink to stay in.

It is very easy to go past the top layer, the epidermis, and thru the dermis, into the hypodermis.
a millimetre is a very short distance and to pierce the hypodermis is very easy thinking you are not going deep enough. I use to do it way back when I first got into tattooing so I know first hand how easy it is to do, or how hard it is to do! Try keeping shallow and “STRETCH”, it is a very, very important part of getting ink in at the right depth. Try to actually picture a nickel worth of skin and do not go below it!!

Go to YouTube and watch Mario Barth do a couple of tattoos and you will see how he can lay ink in, doing a complete large tattoo without any redness or blood, sometimes if he works over a section, on the fourth layer or in the ditch (opposite the elbow) he will get very light couple of dots of blood that do not persist or a tiny bit of redness, but you will be shocked at how he works the skin with no trauma once so ever!!

To view the skin layer 3D image that is very helpful, right click on the image link below and choose “Open Link In A New Tab”

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Dana Stephen.

[Dana Stephen]

Hi, the “number of wraps” on each coil are for the speed that the magnetic pull reaches the spring, and how fast or slow it gets to the spring is really a personal preference but does follow some guidelines of the three types of machines.
#1 – liner – With a liner most artists like a fast machine. You want the spring to receive the electromagnetic “hit” fast.
So if you think of the electricity flow from the power source to the coils and travel thru “8 wraps” then to the capacitor where it builds up an amount of energy determined by the size of the capacitor and then deliver that in a burst of magnetic energy to the spring. The time it takes to travel thru the “8 wraps” is quicker being a shorter distance of wire than 10 wraps, which takes longer than the “8 wraps”.
#2 – shader – With a shader, the same course of action takes place with the exception of the number of wraps on the shader is usually 10 wraps, some artists will like to use 11 or 12 for their shader. It takes a little longer for the energy to get to the spring.
#3 – Colour Packer – With a colour packer, some artists like a faster hitting machine and some like a slower hitting machine. I have seen some artists use a “13 wrap” machine! It truly is a personal preference, I have even seen liner machines with spring changes used for packing.

The difference between coil and rotary machines is again more of a personal preference. A lot of old school artists stick with what they are used to, a coil machine. And in the same retrospective, a lot of new artists have started with rotaries as they do not have to be tweaked and set-up like a coil machine.
Rotary machines use a small electrical motor, very similar to, and usually replaceable by a train set or slot car type of motor. there are a few different designs including styles that incorporate an armature bar system. Most use an offset cam wheel to drive the needle and some you can adjust the stroke length to control depth a bit. They usually hit hard as they are a “direct drive” system, no springs or adjustments as on a coil machine.

Well, I hope this helps you with your questions and can give you a bit of knowledge as far as the way the machines work.
Good luck in your future inking experiences . . .

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