blacksandtattoo

I have tried wrapping a tattoo with saran wrap for 48 hours (cleaning and rewrapping it a couple times a day of course). The guys that told me this method of healing recommend it for color tattoos, but not for black and grey work. Apparently, since black and grey work isn't as traumatic as full-on color, so it isn't worth all the grossness that accompanies keeping your tattoo wrapped up that way.

One of the best benefits?! I was in Hong Kong at the time, and in a city full of germophobes, nobody wanted to bump into my arm because of the crazy looking bandage I had on!

The color came out bright as hell, and the healing after I stopped wrapping it was way more comfortable than the usual moisturizing technique. The skin that peeled off I felt was thicker than normal, but none-the-less a very effective way to heal a tattoo.

Hello! I just posted an entry on aftercare at Blacksand Tattoo Co. | Now Open!. I would really appreciate if any of you could take some time to read the entry and give some feedback/suggestions regarding the process I describe in the post. Thanks!

This guy won't let go!

Here are a couple of things I've done lately. Critiques welcome!

The Pearl has a deal on this April. They are offering $100 daffodil tattoos with %100 of the cash going to cancer research. That's a special I can get behind.

I like the concept! From now until the local Relay for Life event, all proceeds we get from any cancer ribbon tattoo will get donated to ACS. It's a good cause, and community involvement helps to improve the public's perception of our industry.

I did 11 hours on my back at a convention with a break to enter a tattoo in a contest. Brutal session, but I won second place in the competition, and eventually got my first professional gig working with the artist.

Better view of a couple stickers... I'm always down for a swap if I have any available, so if anyone is interested, let me know!

@blacksandtattoo

More artwork than tattoos. Hopefully that changes to "more adventure than artwork and tattoos."

Invest in a non-photo blue pencil. It allows you to start out with basic shapes and sketchy lines (I always find it helps to draw "skeletons", gestures and work out composition first). I go through those things like there's no tomorrow.

This is one change I made a couple years ago that helped me overcome some obstacles I had trouble with for a long time. The blue pencils are softer and easier on the paper. Sort of like training wheels, especially if you have a habit of pressing harder to get a darker value instead of switching to a softer pencil when you're rendering an image (giant hands don't help either). Once I figured out that the pencils aren't very light-fast, I started to think of the drawings as more disposable, so it was easier for me to throw something away and start from scratch. Spending more time constructing drawings rather than trying to patch them up really boosting my productivity.

@chrisv

Good luck buddy! If you can see yourself doing it, don't give up until you get there!

I put these light sabers on the biggest Star Wars fan I've ever met... Literally!

This dude was 6'9" and made the shop look tiny every time he came in!

Wow... There's a lot of really good stuff in this thread!

I've been trying to use up some of the art supplies that I've had laying around for the last couple of years, and I ran across some full sheet labels. Everybody's been having a lot of fun making stickers to slap all over the place!

Hafa Adai from Guam! Blacksand Tattoo Co. is a new studio in town, and we would like to become a part of the Last Sparrow community. There are many topics that interest us by virtue of our lifestyles and profession, and we might just go crazy talking amongst the three of us all the time!

Just so everybody knows, there is plenty of wall space in the shop right now, so I am more than willing to trade artwork with other artists. I'm not going to push the issue, but if you are interested, you can see some of the artwork on Instagram @blacksandtattoo, andeventually I will have some examples put up in the gallery.

Thanks everyone!