them’s inkin’ words

or, perhaps they’re not…

…so, sue me – when i need a topic i turn to work.

there’s a metric fuck-ton of bit-worthy shit in the body modification industry. today i wanted to focus on a few things i here at work that bug me and the bulk of my co-workers out.

get your gun – this is one of the biggest pet peeves in the industry. if you refer to a tattoo machine as a “gun” you’ll instantly lose some respect from a reputable aritst…and that’s if you’re a client. if you do it to me in the course of looking for work you more than likely won’t get hired. to review, this is a gun:

and this is what is used to do tattoos:

and there we are. like wise…

a piercing topic – this is the newer annoyance in the piercing side of our industry side for me. customers will come in and ask to “take a look at our piercings” but they mean “JEWELRY”. what’s funny as hell is this mainly happens with female clientel, and you’d think if ANYBODY knew the word “JEWELRY” it would be women. i’m just saying. so remember, a “piercing” is a hole in your body and the blingy shit that goes in it is “jewelry”. and yes, this even counts when it gets big…

let’s really GAUGE this problem – a lot of people (piercers) hate when you use the word “gauge” for anything other than a size term. in reality the word “gauge” only exists because jewelry is measured (in the u.s.) using the “american wire gauge standard”, a measuring system set up to measure wiring for electrical work. so the “ten gauge wire” your electrician uses wire a plug in your house is the same thickness as the “ten gauge ring” in your ear. but people always talk about “gauging their ears” as a term to for stretching their ears up to a larger size or compliment my “gauges” when they’re referring to the plugs in my ears. fair enough. “dope” used to mean simple-minded instead of drugs, “gay” used to typically mean happy. actually, i guess in many ways it still does. moving on…

“how much do y’all charge for sleeves?” – also see “per letter” or “per word” for the folks that would rather we write on ’em rather than draw. i only know one place that has a “sleeve” price, and that’s prison. we’re not prison. likewise, we’re not a print shop, so we don’t charge per letter or word. most good shops will price one of two ways – per tattoo or per hour. pieces that take two or more hours are usually per hour as that’s more “bulk pricing”, but smaller pieces you throw out a flat rate. that “per letter” shit is some straight up hood business. and per sleeve? only paid for in commissary…

“you know, it’s PERMANENT“ – this is the only real personal one for me other than the whole “gun” thing. if you mention this once while i’m dealing with you, that’s fine. i’ll chalk it up to nerves. but two or more times and it marks you, in my eyes, as pretty damn high maintenance. don’t be that customer. we know our shit isn’t temporary, that’s why we take everything from our hygene to our art skills seriously…and so should you.

and then there’s the way too common…

let’s get tatted up! – i don’t know why, but this one just bugs me as well. just don’t say it so i can be happy, okay?