What Makes the Mark

♦    How tattoo machines work

♦    What a tattoo needle looks like

♦    What equipment is used

♦    How the equipment is cleaned

♦    The basics of ink

Tattoo equipment is very sacred to a tattooist. The tools the tattooist uses determine how well the tattoo will turn out.

It usually takes years for a tattooist to find the equipment that works the best. Learning how to adjust the equipment to work in just the right way takes lots of time and patience. Years of trying new and different techniques and equipment have led tattooists to be very secretive about the brand of tools and techniques they use.

In this chapter, you will get a glimpse of the equipment you will see when you get your tattoo. We will go over the basics of how tattoo machines work and the equipment needed to run them. This information is to help you relax when you get your tattoo by letting you get a little more familiar with

the process. You may not want to have too many questions running through your head while you are waiting for your tattooist to start tattooing you. Having a good understanding of the equipment you see during your tattoo will make your experience much less intimi­dating. The more relaxed you are, the better.

The Tattoo Machines

The advent of the twentieth century brought in many new inven­tions and innovations to make people’s lives much easier and more efficient. The widespread use of electricity brought with it many new inventions that were mass-produced and sold to the public. Western tattooing at this time was taken out of the dark ages: elec­tricity was incorporated into the process of tattooing. This enabled tattoo artists to work with greater speed, and more customers were able to be tattooed in one day. The world of tattooing was becom­ing more of an industry. Early entrepreneurs started to make some real money from selling tattoo equipment and tattoo designs.

Tattoo Taboo

A tattoo machine is called a "tattoo machine." It is a machine and there is no such thing as a tattoo "gun."

Most tattoos today are done with an electric tattoo machine. There are plenty of great artists who use the traditional methods (by hand) of tattooing; they keep the tradition alive and are sought out by tattoo enthusiasts. Many of these traditional

tattooists can still tattoo with an electric machine if they need to. If you walk into any tattoo shop in the world, chances are you will be tattooed with a tattoo machine. It’s much faster and more effi­cient for small designs.

The Creators

New York City takes the credit for being the birthplace for the first electric tattoo machine. It was in 1891, when a man by the name of Samuel O’Reilly patented the first electric tattoo machine. Samuel O’Reilly opened his first tattoo shop in 1875.

It was located in Chatham Square, which is in what is now Chinatown, by the Manhattan entrance to the Manhattan Bridge. O’Reilly took an electric engraving device, which was invented by Thomas Edison, and modified it to be able to tattoo. This device was based on a rotary system. The needle was attached to a cir­cular spinning device to make it go up and down. O’Reilly could now tattoo faster than anyone else in the world.

Seeing the upper hand that the rotary machine gave him, O’Reilly quickly offered the device for sale along with colors and designs. This paved the way for many people to become tattooists. Tattoo

shops began to spring up throughout the major cities and also set O’Reilly up with a small fortune. Many other tattoo supply com­panies began to sell similar machines and equipment. More and more tattoo studios opened and the industry flourished.

Most modern tattoo machines aren’t based on O’Reilly’s rotary design. Today’s machines are based on electromagnetic coils, although some people still use rotary machines. Thomas Riley of London had the first coil tattoo machine patent, which he got in 1891. This patent is closer to modern-day tattoo machines.

Over time the electric tattoo machine was tuned and perfected. Tattooists began to develop techniques to make the machine run better. A well-run and well-tuned machine is imperative in making a great tattoo. It will cause less damage to the skin, so the tattoo will heal quickly and look like it did when you left the tattoo shop.

How Modern Tattoo Machines Work

The modern tattoo machine is a very simple device. It is a two-coil electromagnet, which turns itself on and off through the breaking of its own circuit, like a doorbell. Electricity is fed to the machine by a clip cord via a power supply, which we will go over later in the chapter. The electricity magnifies the electromagnetic coils and pulls a small metal bar, called an armature bar, down to the coils. The end of the needle bar is attached to the end of the armature bar, so the needle is pushed down and into your skin. The instant the needle pushes down, the electric circuit is broken. The mag­nets turn off and the armature bar and the needle go back up.

This happens so rapidly, it creates the infamous buzzing sound you hear in every tattoo shop.

The needle pierces your skin approximately 50 times a second. Depending on the machine, the tattoo design, and the tattooist, that number varies. Some tattooists like to run the machine faster while others prefer a slow and steady technique.

You Needn't Be Afraid of Needles

You don’t need to be afraid of this needle. It’s completely different from the needles your doctor tortured you with when you were a small child. Hypodermic needles are really just sharp tubes designed to either take stuff from you, or put something in you. Tattoo needles are only for putting something in you, but unlike the hypodermic needles that go deep into your veins and body tissue, tattoo needles only go into your skin. Tattoo needles do not go very far into your skin, which we learned in the previous chapter.

Needles are very important in the tattoo process. They are the actual device that puts the ink into the skin and causes that lovely feeling of tattooing. They must be sterile and can only be used once on one person. Theymust be discarded after each use and stored in a sharps con­tainer until properly disposed

of by a special waste disposal company. Luckily, needles don’t cost very much at all, so it’s no sweat just tossing them away.Tattoo needles are made up ofsmaller pins, which are soldered together in a grouping. The group­ing is then soldered to a needle bar, which gives the needle that long shape. This can be a time­consuming process and is why some old-timers used to use the same needle all day and only make a new one when that needle was too dull to pierce the skin. Laws have been put in place to keep people from doing that. Of course, by today’s standards with today’s diseases, the idea of reusing a needle is disgusting. Tattoo artists can now simply buy new needles from the many supply companies available. It is easy and cheap to purchase ready-to-use tattoo needles of all different sizes.

Some artists still choose to make their own needles, which enables them to cus­tomize each needle the way they prefer it. There is a whole line of products tat- tooists can buy that allow the making of needles to be much easier and faster.

There are two basic kinds of needles: liners and shaders. There is one needle for making the outline of the tattoo, and one needle to fill in or shade the tattoo. Many artists, depending on the design, will use different sizes of lining needles to have varied thicknesses in the line weight of the tattoo. Some artists also like to have a small shading needle set up so they can get into the small areas, and a larger shading needle to fill in large open areas of the tattoo.

Liners

A liner needle is a group of pins that are soldered in a round forma­tion. The needle grouping has to be a round shape or the lines of the tattoo will have an uncontrolled calligraphy to them. This may look very unprofessional and could ruin a customer’s tattoo. The pins have to be in perfect alignment, or they will cause extra dam­age to the skin. This can cause the tattoo to heal weirdly and may possibly cause scarring. The last thing you want is a scarred tattoo.

As we have seen, there are so many different designs and styles in tattooing, as well as the different techniques to do them, that the liner needles must come in many sizes. Liner needles are catego­rized by the number of pins in the needle grouping. The number of pins in the needles runs from 1 to about 14 for liners. Some artists may use a larger needle than 14 for lining, but that is rare.

Shaders

Shading needles are flat and square-shaped like a flat paintbrush. They are wide in order to cover more space using fewer pins. The flat shape also helps to create smooth shading. A magnumshader, or just “mag” as we say in the business, is the most used form of shader. Mags are good for filling in and shading because the pins are spread apart, so it’s harder to chew the skin than if the pins were just flat across.

Shading needles come in many sizes, ranging from 4 to up to over 41. These large needles are the size of your thumbnail. They are generally only used for really large tattoos like a back piece.

Some shaders are round in shape like a liner and can be used to line as well. These are good for getting into little corners or to fill in up against a line. Some tattooists prefer round shaders for filling in tribal tattoos. It is up to the artist as to which shape of shader best fits the needs of the tattoo.

Some tattooists use disposable tubes. These are made entirely of plastic. They are good if a tattooist is on the road and doesn’t have access to sterilization equipment, which we will go over later in the book. Plastic tubes can wear down quickly from the friction of the needle, which is problematic for use on long tattoo sessions.

A tube by itself is too thin and uncomfortable to hold. A device called a grip is used to give the tattooist a wider hold on the tube. Grips make it easier for a tattooist to control the direction of the needle. Grips come in different shapes and sizes. Some are made of stainless steel, while some are made to be lighter in weight by using aluminum or a hard plastic.

Sterilization

It is very important to have a clean and sterile environment for tattooing. Who wants to get tattooed in a dirty shop? Everything must be clean. The health department can shut a tattoo shop down for being dirty, and it’s hard to tattoo if you don’t have a place to do it.

The surface area in the tattoo station where your tattoo will be done must be sterile. Sometimes customers will not understand that their blood cannot get on anything, and will allow their bloody tattoo to touch a chair or an armrest. 

Autoclave

The ultimate machine in sterilization is the autoclave. A properly run autoclave will destroy every form of bacteria and virus with very, very few exceptions that we don’t need to worry about.

They are used in hospitals for sterilizing reusable equipment.

Every tattoo shop should have an autoclave on the premises.

An autoclave works by heating water in a closed unit until it turns to steam. The steam then builds up pressure and heat in the con­tained unit, pushing all of the air out. The steam is heated to 121 degrees Celsius. Bacteria and viruses are then cooked to death as well as suffocated by the lack of oxygen. This lovely device allows tattooists to make sure their needles are sterile. Tubes will also be completely clean and ready to use without the risk of infection.

Ink

Ink is the actual component of the tattoo. Without ink, you would have to settle for branding and scarification. That just doesn’t look as cool and it takes much longer to heal. One of the many trade

secrets in tattooing is the ink. Where to buy the best ink, which will be the brightest, and which will last the longest are some of the great secrets. Today, with so many tattoo supply companies, it is easy to find colors and it is up to the tattooist to try to find the best.

Black

Black is the most common ink color used in a tattoo. It is usually used for the entire outline and for the dark shading. Many people choose to have their entire tattoo done in all black, such as with a tribal tattoo. Black will last the longest in the skin as it doesn’t fade as fast as color can. Black makes the other colors stand out and look brighter.

The black ink used in tattoos is a carbon-based black. Carbon- based blacks are nontoxic so they’re completely safe to use. Usually, some form of Indian ink is used for tattooing. All artists have their own formula for which black they use, so you may see a difference from one artist to the other.

As with the black ink, tattooists have their own formula for colors. Most tattooists will purchase their inks from a supply company, which is quick and easy. There are many different colors available for tattooing. The variety of colors gives tattooists more freedom in coloring the tattoo.

Some tattooists will mix their own colors from nontoxic pigment powders. These pigments are mixed with water and alcohol until the artist gets the desired consistency.

Many artists prefer this method, so they know exactly what is going into the ink they are using.

Gray

Many people like to have only black and gray tattoos. Color is just not what they are looking for. Perhaps they are afraid the tattoo will be too bold and bright with color. Backgrounds for tattoos are usually done with a gray because gray isn’t a strong color, there­fore it will recede and let the other colors around it stand out. I have seen this with some Japanese tattoos where the backgrounds are done in black and gray.

Gray is an easy color to make. It is like an ink painting or an under-painting. Gray is just black watered down to a certain percentage for varying tones. Some tattooists will add some alco­hol for antiseptic reasons. Another way to make a more opaque gray is simply to add a little black to white ink. This makes that battleship-gray tone, which can be slower to tattoo because it is thick but is brighter in the skin than just a gray wash.

The Least You Need to Know

♦   Modern tattoo machines are electric and vibrate tiny needles that introduce ink into the skin.

♦   There are basically two types of needles: one type for lining the tattoo and one type for shading the tattoo.

♦    Professional tattoo shops take great care to sterilize all equipment.

♦    Each tattoo artist has a unique way of working and mixing ink.