Blackout questions
Does it hurt?
YES! Blackout tattooing is a totally different experience during and after your session.
The session is a lot more intense than a ‘regular’ tattoo and the physical and mental wearing on your body is something to prepare for.
Can you cover anything?
Black covers pretty much anything but be aware depending whats being covered, there might be issues that could arise. These will be discussed with you before booking to make you fully aware. When covering colour tattoos or any white ink in an existing tattoo, this can create differences in the tone of the black as the ink from the previous tattoo will create these differences. White especially can look grey, so please be aware, even with multiple passes it might not fully disappear.
Can you fix my blackout?
Blacking out any skin that has previously been tattooed will always come with more issues than ‘virgin skin’. This will all depend on the trauma on the skin when we start, different styles of tattooing will give different levels of trauma, also the artist doing it too. If you have some well done, soft black and grey work, there will be minimal trauma to the skin. If you have some butchered full colour traditional done by your friend in a kitchen, you will have much more trauma to the skin which makes it harder to work with.
Reworking blackouts done by other artist is always much harder to create a smooth even tone, most of the ones i see are done by good reputable artists in the style they do, but they do not understand that blackout tattooing is a speciality that needs to be learnt and understood just like any other style.
How long does it take?
For me, anywhere from 4-8 hours for a full arm. Look at the higher end more. Everyones skin is different, see the points above, but also the amount of skin and the quality of the skin will affect this. Your lifestyle choices play a massive part in the quality of your skin, what you eat, what you drink, what drugs you do, how much sun you get, if you have a good skin care routine are just a few to name.
How do I heal my blackout?
If you check out the INFO page on the website you can see 2 sheets, one is a before during and after information on how to prepare for your session, the other is the aftercare routine i recommend.
How long should I take off work/gym etc?
Depending on your job type, anywhere from 2 days to a week, it is a beating on your body and you will get the tattoo flu, you'll be tired, sore and feel run down. You will need the recovery time to get the best possible results.
For any sport/ training routine, you want to leave it 2 weeks after your session before starting again.
Can you tattoo over scars?
Yes, as long as they are at least one years old. They will not disappear, and usually will heal darker, this is due to the scar tissue in effect blocking the macrophages the body sends out to remove the ink particles.
Can you tattoo different skin tones?
Yes, any bodies body is welcome with me.
Will it always be black?
Black ink, will always look different in every body, see the above points stated in Q2 and Q3.
Tattooist black will appear a dark shade of blue depending on the ink used and the undertone in that ink. The lighting you see the tattoo in will also affect how it looks, so when you see images on instagram etc be aware even if the image hasn't been edited, the lighting conditions can play a factor into the tonality you see.
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Will my old tattoo be visible?
As stated before tonal variations can occur depending on the previous tattoos colours.
Line work in the previous tattoo can become raised for a few weeks after the blackout as this is the site of most trauma and reaggravating this will cause it to become raised but it will settle down again.
Will i need touch ups?
Healing your tattoo well is almost as important as the application. There are certain spots that might need a second pass, this can be due to the area having a lot of movement, think wrists, elbows, or any jointed area. Also some spots are more prone to needing this because they are tight areas on the body, the ball of the shoulder for example.