tirelessdrone

[tirelessdrone]

Just thought I’d let you guys know I tried the spirit paper and wow, what a damn difference. They are indeed dark ass lines. And pretty resistant to being wiped off too I might add. Thanks for the tip, fellas!

[tirelessdrone]

I can give you my two cents, however that’s all I have. I spent $500 on a kit 6 years ago and it was a miserable failure. I’m ashamed of some of the work I did back then, even though I’ve seen some of it recently and it aint THAT bad. Two reasons I failed so hardcore. One reason is my roomates vcr ate the instructional tape that came with the kit, so I had nothing at all to go by, nothing. But the biggest thing, I know now, is that I had the mistaken impression that setting the machine a certain way was the key to do a good tat. The tattoo basics book really opened my eyes and forced me to use some uncommon common sense. I know now that the machine can be setup any which way you’d like, so long as it compliments your technique. Where before I would attempt to set my needle depth/stroke length and all but bury the tube tip on the stencil outline. As for the speed I would turn it up or down depending on how hot the needle was getting in my skin lol. Since I have this new kit, even though it’s a way cheaper rig, I’m doing way better stuff, what little I’ve done. I know now that my style is to watch the needle and control depth with my hand. This gives me a very very fine control.

The whole top of my left hand is a skull that I’ve gotten lots of compliments on over the years. It’s complete with shading and all. You’d never know that it was done with a homemade ‘gun’ with a guitar string needle. The guy who did it did the entire piece with that same needle, shading and all. His touch was incredible as I never felt the first twinge of pain in the five hours it took to do, the next day, well… That was many years ago when he and I were living in a halfway house fresh outta the pokey. I hear now that he has his own shop now and does tats for a living. I’d love to see him again. I bet you could hand him needle and thread and he could take your breath away. I’ve also had tats done with a staple on the end of a pencil whilst locked up, again having only a staple did not stop this guy (another person) from doing great work.

I don’t have any real advice at this point as I’m learning as well. What I do know from my experience though, is that putting the burden of good work on a ‘properly’ setup machine is a fatal flaw in the fledgling tattoo artist’s thinking. It simply is not true. Break out the alcohol and roll up a pant leg. Cut some blood lines, you’ll find your sweet spot. Then in about 10 years you’ll be doing big ass portraits on people’s backs :o

[tirelessdrone]

Yep, stencil pencils from Superior. I was afraid someone would say the pencils suck. The spirit paper is kinda pricey, but in hindsight I guess it’s worth it. That’s what I wanted to know. Thanks a lot guys! I look forward to posting a pic of this first tat. I’m gonna get the stenciling down and hopefully lay some ink this weekend if I feel comfortable.

[tirelessdrone]

First of all, rawr at your bits :mrgreen:

You can do what I’ve been doing, run a needle with only alcohol or water. Although tonight a friend came by wanting a tat bad. Once I saw what he wanted I was like I can do that! I look forward to posting pics of my first tat done with some edumacation. I have flatly refused tattooing anyone until now, but the simplicity of this all black piece is do-able.

Good luck to you!

[tirelessdrone]

I’m going to experiment with all the needles I have. I don’t have any distilled water and I have no way to a store or anything, that’s why I used the alcohol. I need to take an art class. Even though I draw already, I’m outta practice.

[tirelessdrone]

I’m a little embarrassed by this, but that’s what being a newbie is all about, right? I didn’t notice that all the machines that cam with my kit are different. Using one of the other machines I was able to get plenty of power from it. I have a tat on my leg that I did 6 years ago or so, I didn’t shade it at all since that’s the part that was not working out no matter what I did. At any rate I threw in a 7 mag and some black ink with alcohol to thin it out in another cup. I was able to outline on edge with the mag needle and cut beautiful lines and curves, beautiful for me any way. A slight tweak of the voltage and experimenting with hand pressure and I had a full spectrum of black/gray that stuck very easy. I couldn’t help but remember the part in the book about mag needles on edge working just like a razor blade, I can’t overstate that. All in all I really enjoyed using the magnum needle on edge for outlining. Any thoughts or punishments anyone would like to dole out?

[tirelessdrone]

Yeah, that does help, thanks.

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