tattoo costs

Getting Serious

♦    Forms and ID requirements

♦    Health concerns

♦    How much these things cost

♦    Appointments and consultations

Every industry has developed a certain way to do things, which makes the industry more efficient. It makes the life of everyone involved that much more convenient. The tat­too industry is no exception. A standard has grown that is fairly universal, give or take a little. In this chapter, we will go over some of the official procedures needed to get a tat­too as well as what some of the standards are today.

The Release Form

As you probably know, a tattoo is a permanent change to your body. There is no going back once the tattoo is done. Your skin is broken during the process, which makes it pos­sible, although unlikely, for you to get an infection. It is

because of these facts that some legal precaution must take place to protect the tattooist and the tattoo shop from lawsuits. Nobody likes being involved in a lawsuit unless you’re talking about a lawyer.

A release form is the form you will need to fill out before your tat­too is started. It is necessary to fill out because it protects the shop legally. You are essentially legally giving the shop permission to tattoo you. This way there won’t be any doubts if any problems, such as infection, were to occur later.

Release forms are really basic. They usually ask for your name, address, phone number, and e-mail. Then they ask if you have any allergies or a serious illness. You are informing the shop and the tattooist if you have anything that will complicate your tattoo process or if it’s better that you didn’t get tattooed. Release forms are also a good way for shops to keep track of customers just in case they need a better photo of the tattoo or just want to see how it healed.

Age and ID Requirements

It is important that you bring your ID when getting tattooed.

In most states, the age requirement is 18. Some states, such as New Jersey, will allow a minor to get a tattoo as long as a legalguardian is there to sign. The legal Tattoo Taboo  guardian must have proof of guard­ianship and a photo ID.Most people use their driver’s licenses for ID. For those nondrivers, a pass­port will do. You really just need some legal document with your birth date on it and preferably a photo.

Health Issues

There are certain situations in which you should not get a tattoo. As we have seen, the release form is designed to elicit information pertaining to that from you. In order to keep you from causing

damage to yourself, tattooists will know the different scenarios that make tattooing dangerous to clients. It is hard to keep clients if they get sick or have bad reactions to a tattoo.

Sometimes you are just having health complications, which can happen to everyone. If this is the case, you may have to wait a little longer in life to get a tattoo. Some complications may never permit you to get a tattoo. It is always important to ask your doctor if you are physically able to get a tattoo. Let’s look at the situations you should be aware of that may postpone your tattoo experience.

Pregnancy

While there is no evidence of direct danger that tattoos will affect your pregnancy or unborn child, most women are advised to delay their tattoo until after the birth. In fact, most tattooists will refuse to work on a pregnant woman.

 Diabetes

If you have diabetes, it can be okay for you to get a tattoo. You should, of course, consult your doctor to be sure getting a tattoo is a good idea for you. But if you find that everyday pains like bumps and bruises are difficult to handle due to your diabetes, then you are better off not getting a tattoo. The risk of infection is much greater for people with diabetes.

Skin Complications

There are some skin complications that could keep you from get­ting a tattoo. Eczema, an inflammation of the skin such as a rash,

should not be tattooed. It would be impossible to tattoo over the inflamed skin. Any really dry, crusty skin will be far too easy to damage while tattooing. Skin that is blistering, such as from poi­son ivy, will also not be able to be tattooed or even tattooed near. If you have a chronic form of eczema, you should consult your doctor before getting a tattoo.

People who suffer from psoriasis should not get tattooed. Psoriasis is a condition that affects the skin and joints. Patches of a person’s skin appear red and scaly due to an overproduction of skin in those areas. Psoriasis can be very uncomfortable and the person suffer­ing from it must be consistent with a healthy diet. Even alcohol can induce a breakout. The condition is not contagious but can spread on      an individual     if that person’s skin is   damaged. If an

individual  with psoriasis   gets a tattoo, there is a possibility that tat­

tooed area will form a plaque of psoriasis. This will consequently ruin the tattoo and will be very uncomfortable for the individual.

It is not a good idea to get a tattoo while suffering with this condi­tion, but definitely ask a doctor if you have both psoriasis and the determination to get a tattoo.

If you suffer from acne, you may want to wait until the acne has cleared up or you can find a place on your body that is pimple free. Pimples, if tattooed over, can

eave holidays in the tattoo when it

heals. Then you   will have to get a

touch-up or just   live with a tattoo

with some imperfections. It’s proba­bly best to avoid an area with pimples and just get tattooed on the leg.

Moles

Moles occur due to a concentration of melanocyte skin cells, the melanin-producing skin cells we learned about in Chapter 4 This explains the dark color of moles.

A mole is best left alone or at least not tattooed over. Moles have a tendency to bleed profusely if they are cut or poked with a needle. It’s not certain that tattooing over a mole will cause the mole to become cancerous, but moles are known to form melanoma, which

is a dangerous form of cancerous melanocyte cells. It is the sun’s UV rays that will cause the mutation of melanocytes to become malignant by altering the cells’ DNA. When the cells divide in two, each new cell carries the malignant mutation. Moles can be an indicator of cancer through a color or size change.

Moles can often get in the way when designing a tattoo. It’s best not to tattoo them because, if there is a mole in the way, there will be a hole in the tattoo. Many people like to have their moles incorporated into a design and disguised by a tattoo. When choosing the area of your body you want tattooed, try to find a place clear of moles and other skin complications.

Serious Health Risks

There are some diseases that a tattooist must be very careful of. These diseases live in blood and other bodily fluids. They can be transferred from person to person through cross contamination. Cross contamination is when viruses or bacteria are transferred from one surface to another. Without

the proper steps, such as the     

use of matacide as we have seen in Chapter 5, diseases could be spread through a tat­too. The best way to stop cross contamination is to simply not touch anything that isn’t protected by a disposable cover while tattooing.

Anyone who has contracted HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, should talk to a doctor before getting a tattoo. HIV is a virus that attacks the helper T cells in your blood. Helper T cells are the police of your immune system and usually take care of infections. Without these cells, your body becomes susceptible to infection. The infected state is called Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. It will be another disease that does the dirty work, HIV just opens the door.

Most tattooists won’t tattoo anyone with the disease. The social stigma from HIV is very predominant in the tattoo industry because the industry has been a scapegoat for the spread of diseases in the past. HIV is actually very easy to kill once it is outside the body. It will die when it hits the air, but it can be lodged in small crevices in a drop of blood. Most cleansers will kill the HIV virus and matacide will take it down easily.

The disease that tattooists worry about the most is Hepatitis C. Hepatitis is a term used to describe an inflammation of the cells in your liver. It can be brought on by drug and alcohol abuse, the digestion of a poisonous mushroom, cancer, and many other situ­ations. The symptoms of Hepatitis are flu-like. Also a person will get jaundice, the yellowing of your skin and eyes from bilirubin, a byproduct of the death of red blood cells, which also causes the yellowing of a bruise.

Most people in America have had their immunization shots for Hepatitis A and B. If you haven’t gotten them, you should get them as soon as you can. Hepatitis C, however, has no preemptive cure and can stay in the body unnoticed (and able to be spread) for years and possibly decades. It is spread through contact with blood or through unprotected sex. It is estimated that four times the amount of people are infected with Hepatitis C than are infected with HIV. Depending on the state, 20 to 60 percent of prisoners in the penal system are infected with Hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C can survive on a counter top for over 11 days and still infect someone if it gets in his or her blood. This is why it is so utterly important that you go to a clean and reputable tattoo shop. If you have Hepatitis C, you will want to ask your doctor about getting your tattoo. Like HIV, you may find it hard to locate a tattooist who is willing to tattoo you.

Scars

Scars can be a bit tricky to tattoo over. As we discussed in Chap­ter 4, scar tissue is different from regular skin. There are a few things you need to know about getting scar tissue tattooed.

First, a scar from some form of surgery must be fully healed in order for it to hold ink. A scar that is tattooed over too soon can get worse and be more sensitive. Usually a year of healing will do for really deep scars. If you feel the scar is still too sensitive, wait until it seems ready or ask your doctor.

Second, the tattoo will only go over the scar; the texture of the scar will always be there.

There are many different treatments for reducing the appearance of scars, such as laser surgery or dermabrasion.

Third, scar tissue can be thick, and it may take a couple of dif­ferent sessions with the artist to get the ink in. Everyone heals differently when it comes to tattoos, so it’s hard to say if the tattoo will stick the first time.

Price Range

Different parts of the world will charge different amounts for tattoos. Some places are cheaper than others. Usually countries with weaker economies have much cheaper tattoos. The same goes with cities and towns. Higher rent for a shop will lead to higher cost for tattoos. Also a tattooist who has more experience and is faster will most likely be more expensive than a beginner.

There are a few ways tattooists figure out how much a tattoo is going to cost. It all depends on what the design is, how big it is, and where on the body you want the tattoo. In some shops, the designs may already have prices on them so you can just see for yourself. The three basic ways a tattooist creates the price is by the piece, by the hour, or by the shop minimum.

Per Piece

One way to price a tattoo is to charge one flat price for it. This is usually used for small to mid-sized pieces because the tattoo- ist already knows how long it will take and how much effort the design needs. Placement is key because some spots on the body, such as the stomach, take longer to tattoo. The longer the tattoo takes, the more it will cost..

For larger tattoos, some tattooists will charge per session. That is a flat rate for a certain period of time. It is easy to work this way if you don’t like being run by a clock. Instead the tattooist goes by how much tattooing is to be completed as opposed to how much time was spent.

Per Hour

Many shops prefer to charge by the hour. This way the clock tells you how much to pay, and it is easier to know how much you will be charged. For ongoing tattoos, which take months to complete, the client can reserve a certain amount of hours per session. Usually it’s at least two hours, but not more than four, depending on the tattooist and the client.

Shop rates in the United States run somewhere from $100 to $200 an hour. The average hourly rate is $150. The more popular shops are $180 to $200 per hour. It all depends on who is tattooing you. Remember that good tattoos aren’t cheap.

Getting Started

When getting a tattoo, many shops will have you make an appointment. If you go into a busy street shop and they are too busy to tattoo you at that time, they may have you make an appointment for later in the day. Sometimes you may need to wait a week or two. If you are interested in getting a custom tattoo, in which the artist must draw your design, they will take a deposit and set you up with a consultation so the tattooist can create your drawing. Let’s take a look at these aspects of the tattoo process.

Consultations

If you want to get a custom-drawn tattoo, you will first want to set up a consultation with your tattooist. This is a good time to get to talk with your tattooist about the design you want to get. You can explain why you are getting this design and what influenced you to get it. If you have any images showing different versions of your design, now is the time to give them to the tattooist. It’s kind of fun and exciting, and you can drink a coffee while you have an open discussion.

Your tattooist will use this time to get to know you a little better so he can brainstorm the right vision and style for you. From his interaction with you, he can tell how serious you are (or aren’t) about the tattoo. He can judge your level of commitment to fol­lowing through with the full process of the tattoo.

Tracings

The tattooist may take a tracing of the area you want to have tat­tooed. Tracings are done on either tracing paper or plastic wrap. Some tattooists will take a photo of the area being tattooed to reference the curves of the body part. This is also so that they have the correct dimensions; this way they won’t have to redraw the design if it is too big or too small. Tracings help out most when there are other tattoos to be tattooed around. If you are covering another tattoo, the tattooist will trace the old tattoo. Having a copy of the old tattoo shows the artist what is needed to cover it up.

Deposits

To hold an appointment or to have a drawing started, you will need to leave a deposit. This is to make sure you are coming back and the tattooist isn’t sitting there without someone to tattoo. If you don’t show up, the tattooist will at least keep the deposit and hopefully someone else will come in for her to tattoo.

The amount of the deposit differs from shop to shop. If a draw­ing isn’t necessary because you are getting a design off the wall, some shops will only ask for a $20 deposit, and it will be deducted from the price of the tattoo when it is done. Many shops only ask for $50 while some tattooists will ask for at least $100 if there is a large drawing involved.

Many tattooists will deduct the deposit of a large tattoo from the very last session. This is to keep you coming back, as many people move away or are just too busy with their lives to fin­ish their commitment. Also, if a client doesn’t show up for one of his or her appointments, the client can lose the deposit and will have to put down another one to make more appointments

It’s rare, but some tattooists use the deposit as a drawing fee. This makes sense if the drawing is going to take many hours of draw­ing and studying to complete. People seem to appreciate things more when they pay for them.

Drawings

In the consultation, you described your ideas as fully as you can to the tattooist. The tattooist should have a very good understanding of what you are looking for. It should be easy enough for him to start putting your drawing together.

Many tattooists don’t charge for the drawing of a tattoo. They take on the challenge of drawing for you because they believe you are going to get the tattoo. Not many people realize that a tattooist can spend up to six hours or more drawing one design. This is out of his own personal private time. If the tattooist is drawing a subject matter he hasn’t drawn before, it can take him much longer to draw. Also, drawing a cover-up so an old tattoo is “gone” takes an immense amount of work and concentration. This is where tattooing becomes more of an art than a craft, and an art background really makes the difference.

When you come in to see the drawing, the tattooist, if she is there, will study your reaction to know if something needs to be changed. Many tattooists will redraw the design for you if they need to, but only to a certain point. If it’s a large drawing, it’s not too kosher to add or change the ideas of the drawing after it has been completed. Most artists don’t mind a little change, but to redo the whole thing because of a last-second change of mind defeats the whole purpose of the consultation.

Many tattooists will not let you leave the shop with the design or a copy of the design. Many clients ask to do this and often get cross when they are told they cannot. If the design goes out the door, the person with the design can then bring it somewhere else to get it tattooed. You may think that is preposterous but it happens all the time. They will get it tattooed cheaper in another shop by someone with less talent.

When getting a tattoo, you don’t want to feel rushed or feel like you have to tell the artist to hurry up because you have to be some­where. It’s a much nicer experience to be able to sit and not worry about the time. It’s a good idea to always book the correct amount of time for your tattoo. Set your day up so you have enough time. Remember, the tattoo is permanent so take your time.

Many tattooists have a habit of running a little behind on time. Sometimes they are behind by a few hours and you may find yourself wait­ing for your appointment.

It’s a good idea to not make any other appointments for yourself on your day to get tattooed. In addition, getting tattooed can wear you down and make you a little impatient. It’s best to plan your day to be stress free so you can be relaxed for your tattoo.

The Least You Need to Know

♦    You will need to fill out a release form every time you get tattooed.

♦    In most states and countries, you must be at least 18 years of age to get a tattoo and have a picture ID.

♦    There are serious health conditions that may prevent a per­son from getting tattooed.

♦    The pricing of a tattoo will vary from tattooist to tattooist, but the average hourly rate is $150.

♦    For custom tattoos, you may need a consultation so you and your tattooist can go over your idea.

♦   Planning and scheduling should be as flexible as possible.

Beginning the Tattoo Process

You most likely were ready to get a tattoo the moment you opened this book, but now you are better informed and better prepared. Let’s get your tattoo process started.

This part covers the actual process of getting a tattoo. It’s a guide to help you choose the correct design so you don’t have any regrets. And you’ll learn how to find the right tattooist who will ensure you a good experience and a great tattoo.