Getting A Tattoo: What To Think About
Design Selection: What Tattoo To Get?
A tattoo is an extremely personal decision. It is something that you will wear with pride and as such it needs to be something you like and will be happy to have on your skin for a long time. If you have doubts, just wait. Wait until you know what you want permanently inked onto your skin, why you want it, where you want it, and exactly what it means to you.
If You Need To Ask Someone Else’s Opinion, then you are probably not ready.
Foreign language characters are very popular choice of tattoos because the characters themselves are beautiful. However unless you or the Artist understand the language, it is definitely not a wise idea to imprint it on your skin permanently. Luckily for us, Chuey speaks and writes Chinese.
We don’t expect you to design your tattoo, that’s our job, but we do need some ideas of the kind of things you like. If you only have a vague idea of what you want, we could do some brainstorming. If you have an image or word already selected, we would need to consult about colour, shading and any alterations to it. We understand that you are going to be eager to dig in, but try to be patient. You want this done right and that means careful planning. Being Patient and Collaborative will yield the best results in the long run.
We only do custom tattoos. However, we can take your picture and redraw it in our preferred style so it is still the same idea but a one-off custom piece. You will always get the best results if you let your Artist interpret your idea rather than copy.
We will not tattoo anything which is racist or horribly offensive and reserve the right to refuse any design.
Placement Selection: Where To Get It And How Big?
You should give considerable thought to size and placement and how it may impact on your life in the future. Sadly, there are some people in the world that may judge you for your ink, which could affect your employment potential.
The folks who choose to get tattoos on body bits that are absolutely impossible to conceal with clothing are making choices about their careers and lifestyles by altering those body parts AND they know it. Face, hand, and throat tattoos are relatively uncommon for this reason. But arm, ankle, wrist, and neck tattoos can also be challenging to mask. The vast majority of tattooed people will want to disguise or downplay their ink under certain circumstances. Your placement choice should make sense in conjunction with your chosen art but do consider your potential concealment-related work-arounds if you put an image on some fairly public skin.
We will not tattoo faces, genitalia, hands (including finger tattoos) and necks (unless you have a huge amount of tattoo coverage, subject to individual consideration)
How Much Would It Cost?
The overall cost of a tattoo will depend on a number of factors: how large the tattoo will be, whether it is colour or black and grey, how well you sit, the placement of the tattoo (rib tattoos typically take longer than anywhere else) and the amount of detail in the design. The best way of getting a ballpark estimate is to come in and chat about your ideas or emailing me with the specific details of your tattoo idea. Cost of the tattoo is calculated by the actual time taken (work of more than 3 hours). Smaller pieces will be charged at a fixed price.
However, please remember – A Quote Is Only An Approximation.
Our charges are as follows:
– Deposit £20 per hour
– Minimum Charge £50
– Hourly Rate £80
– Day Rate £400
(equivalent of around 6 hours work – Day rate as a set price would prove the best value for money. However if you do not sit for the whole amount of time, you will just be charged by the hour, with the day rate as a cap.)
How To Pay?
We love Bank Transfers (although only valid with mobile banking that can be transferred on the spot). Paym, Cash, Bitcoins and Credit/Debit Cards are also accepted (Card payments will incur a 3% surcharge).
Appointment Making: I Know What I Want, Now What?
There is a few ways to get in touch: Email (preferred), iMessage, What’sApp, FaceBook Messenger (Uniz Chuey)
Please include the following:
- Subject matter (can be a list of things or a description of the specific piece)
- Placement
- Rough size in centimetre (cm)
- Colour scheme, greyscale or colour
- Reference images of things you like (it would be really helpful if you could include what you like/dislike about each image that you sent)
- When you would like to get started and what days/times you are available
- For cover-up work, please include photos and measurements of the tattoo you want covering
I will reply within a week or two with ideas or any other queries I might have. Consultation could be done either via email or a meet-up, depending on your preference. Appointment and preparation work will only be undertaken upon receipt of a deposit (which will depend on how long you book in for) Deposits will roll over until, on the last session-it will be deducted from the final amount.
If you need to reschedule or cancel you must do it 48 hours in advance to carry your deposit over. Deposits are non-refundable but can be transferred if you need to change your appointment.
Rough Sketch Before Booking-in
We need an appointment and deposit before we can start the on design and preparation process. Once you have booked in, design should be ready about a week in advance depending on how busy we are. A lot of the time we freehand on on the body on the day of the tattoo as we found it fits the body better.
Emailing The Design
It is a tricky one.. Sometimes we can email a low resolution sketch of your tattoo to you but the majority of the time we are too tied up to do this (we will try our best). Our clients usually trust us to do what we think looks best but we will do our best to accommodate your request when we can.
If you like my portfolio, confident in vocalising your ideas and happy to put your trust in us then we guarantee we will put 101% of our time and effort into your design, making the best tattoo for you.
Medical Complications: What Existing Health Issues To Worry About?
If you have any sustaining, long-term medical conditions or on long-term medication, please seek doctor’s advice beforehand. If you think apply to you, please contact the studio ahead of time, a doctor’s note may be required. You may need a doctor’s note if you have medical conditions like a bleeding disorder, a heart condition, or if you have to take antibiotics before going to the dentist. The consent form you’ll have to sign has a detailed list of these conditions.
Don’t worry, saying you have one of these conditions does not usually mean we cannot tattoo you, it may only mean you might be asked to come back with a doctor’s permission. We want you to be safe when getting tattooed so please understand that we do this for your well-being.