Hello, and welcome to Billie's Excellent Tattoo Guide!
In this guide, I will cover:
- What getting a tattoo feels like.
- A very, very simplified run down on how a tattoo machine works and what different kinds of needles are for.
- Basic tattoo care.
- EDIT: Stick n Poke tattoos.
Hopefully, this will help people understand tattoos and tattoo roleplay a little bit more than they have on other servers I've been on.
What getting a tattoo feels like:
In short, it completely depends on who you are as a person. If you have a lower tolerance for pain, then you're going to have
a harder time getting tattooed than someone who has a higher tolerance. For example, my mother almost passed out
getting her first and only tattoo and told me that it was a terrible experience. When I got my first tattoo, I was terrified
that it was going to actually hurt that bad and it would put me off of getting anymore. Instead, I found out I liked it.
As you roleplay getting tattooed, keep in mind who your character is. Would they really be wincing and cringing
that hard because they have a few needles piercing the first few layers of their skin?
The above image is subjective. When I was getting tattooed up in the nook of my elbow, it didn't really hurt very much at all.
Getting tattooed on my wrist, however, was really bad. To me, overall, it feels kind of like getting a shot or like a really minor
bee sting. The image is kind of a good base though.
A very, very simplified run down on how a tattoo machine works:
I'm not going to sit here all and take all day writing about exactly what every single part of a tattoo machine does.
Partially because that won't help you as a roleplayer, it'll just add unneeded and sort of confusing information,
and partially because I have no idea how a tattoo machine works beyond a basic understanding. Now that
that's out of the way, let's get started.
To power the machine, you have to plug it into a wall. Regular outlets work. You start the actual machine by
stepping on a pedal that lays on the floor. As long as you hold down the pedal, the machine will continue running.
Believe it or not, that really is just about all you need to know about how it works, other than knowing about the
different kinds of needles, which I will cover now.
Different kinds of needles:
There are many different kinds of tattoo needles, and to be honest, you don't need to get into that much
detail when you roleplay giving tattoos. When I roleplay giving tattoos, I roleplay two very generic kinds of needles.
Shading needles that are used for shading tattoos and applying color to large areas, and outlining needles which
are used for doing the outline of the tattoo and applying a lot of color, very quickly, to small areas. If you stick
to these kinds of needles, you'll do just fine.
Remember to change the needles out depending on what part of the tattoo you're doing.
Basic tattoo care:
Note, this is advice given to me by my tattoo artist. If you, for some reason, are using this part of
the guide to care for a tattoo in real life, then don't. Do whatever your tattoo artist told you. Don't
listen to what some random asshole on the internet has to say.
Anyway, basic tattoo care is as follows:
- Artist will wrap the tattoo with saran wrap, or some equivalent.
- Saran wrap stays on for a minimum of one hour and a maximum of six.
- After the wrap is removed, wash with hot water and antibacterial soap.
- Dab dry with a paper towel, don't wipe, and don't use a regular towel.
- When dry, apply Aquafor or an equivalent skin ointment. Don't use vaseline.
- When your skin starts releasing the liquid that forms scabs, wash your tattoo again and then apply more Aquafor.
- You'll want to wash your tattoo a minimum of 5 times a day.
- After your tattoo starts pealing, you can ease back on washing it. Twice a day will suffice.
- When your tattoo is pealing, you can use non-scented lotion instead of Aquafor to prevent it from drying out.
Stick n Poke Tattoos:
To do stick n poke tattoos, you don't need a machine. To start with you need four things: a needle, a pencil, thread, and ink.
You start by tying the needle to the end of the pencil using thread. This gives you leverage and control over the needle while
you're tattooing that you don't have if you're just holding the needle. Not only that, but the thread is a must have so that the
ink will stick to the needle and go into the tattoo. If you don't the thread, the ink will just drip off.
You dip the needle and thread into the ink. You'll want to use non-toxic ink, so something like pen ink won't work. You
can get real grimey and make your own ink prison style, or you can just buy India ink from an arts and crafts store.
The ink should stick to the thread, and then you can begin tattooing.
This process is far more time consuming than it is to tattoo with a machine. You have to manually make every dot,
so if you're crunched for time while tattooing, you should consider that and only roleplay a small tattoo. Large pieces
take a very long time and don't usually look as good as machine done tattoos unless the artist is very skilled.
That's about it. Thanks for reading. Hope this helps with your roleplay.
