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My Intro & Studying Tattooing as a Hobby

loserintattooing

By loserintattooing,
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loserintattooing Ex-Lurker

loserintattooing

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Hi All,

I've been getting tattooed for almost 10 years now. The past few years I've become deeply interested in american traditional for the culture and history surrounding the style. The first few years getting tattooed I was naive about what I wanted and who I wanted a tattoo from. I ended up with an unfinished sleeve due to the artist being a drug addict and my decision to not give him my business anymore. This caused me to really reconsider what I value in tattooing. I wouldn't say I regret my non-traditional tattoos, but they just make me stand by traditional values stronger.

Recently, I've been toying with the idea of starting to tattoo myself. I spend my free time (I work full-time and can't apprentice) drawing traditional flash ideas that I would like to have. This probably sounds cliche and many of you are probably rolling your eyes, thinking there is yet another noob who wants to make scratchers on people without going through a true apprenticeship.  I have been doing a lot of research about tattooing and understanding tattoo machines. I'm an engineer and really enjoy the design of coil machines. I started looking at tattoo kits to buy, and soon realized that it would be a mistake to buy these. With the knowledge I gathered from reading and watching videos, I found that I could build my own "starter kit" by buying everything individually and have the materials be higher quality.

So, that's where I am now. I'm about to place my order. I plan on spending a while tuning my machine (I'm ordering some spare parts to play with) and practicing on practice skin and fruit. Most likely will never tattoo anyone but myself, and that's even if I feel comfortable enough doing solid tattoos on the practice skins. I am just hoping to study tattooing as a hobby and I hope that it can be accepted as long as I follow sanitary standards and keep learning.

I love the LST interview videos, so thank you for those and thanks for reading!

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Hands On Champion

Hands On

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welcome to LST!

as you seem to already know in your intro, you probably won't get much support from many folks on your new "hobby." that's a dangerous word that you may not want to use around folks whose passion and life is tattooing. that said, many of the great tattooers today started in their kitchens... but those same tattooers would also tell you that the proper way to learn is to get an apprenticeship.

obviously, things are much different in this day and age and equipment is much more easily attainable. i remember back in the day with the Lucky Supply website had a link to "Tattoo Starter Kits" that would lead to a clown college website. hahahahhahahhaa. basically, what i'm saying is that no one can stop you from doing what you're gonna do, but it's up to you to make the right decisions along the way.

so anyways... what's up with some pics of your tattoos and art?

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Hogrider Hero

Hogrider

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Posted (edited)
On July 12, 2018 at 6:25 AM, loserintattooing said:

This probably sounds cliche and many of you are probably rolling your eyes, thinking there is yet another noob who wants to make scratchers on people without going through a true apprenticeship. 

I know I am.

Maybe there is a forum out there for scratchers where you can discuss designs that look cool but don't work on skin, infections, blow-outs, scar-tissue, vomit-enducing work, and a host of other issues endemic to kitchen magicians.

My advice is just don't. If you are really an engineer, you should be able to afford quality tattoos from qualified artists. That's what this forum is about, not "how to tattoo yourself with your eBay kit."

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J.Stell Initiated

J.Stell

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As opposed to trying to reason with you I will say this..... GO FOR IT. DO IT!!!! JUST DONT F***ing TATTOO ANYONE EXCEPT YOURSELF. 

If you wanna be another rat jumping on this already F***ing half sank ship, your doom is your call..... This ship never had any benefits, insurance, or savings.... No lifeboats either...  

There is a TRADITIONAL methodology to becoming invested into the craft, if you don't want to at least try to go that route, and you have already made your mind up as to what "you want"..... Why are you even here? 

At least take an online Blood Borne Pathogens Class, to keep from getting yourself, or your family sick....

And know, when the rando person at the store comes up to you and asks that question, "you do a lot of your own tattoos?", you can respond.... Yes, and know- to the rest of us, we know it's a big joke and a waste of your own good skin to try to learn on your own body....    

Yes, I am a *** and a total asshole.  I'm married to a big dick, also a tattooer... 

Good luck regardless... 

 

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loserintattooing Ex-Lurker

loserintattooing

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On 7/13/2018 at 10:39 PM, Hogrider said:

I know I am.

Maybe there is a forum out there for scratchers where you can discuss designs that look cool but don't work on skin, infections, blow-outs, scar-tissue, vomit-enducing work, and a host of other issues endemic to kitchen magicians.

My advice is just don't. If you are really an engineer, you should be able to afford quality tattoos from qualified artists. That's what this forum is about, not "how to tattoo yourself with your eBay kit."

I never asked anyone how to tattoo myself with an ebay kit. I just wrote an honest intro, albeit knowing that I would be called a scratcher and hated on.

 

On 7/16/2018 at 3:23 AM, J.Stell said:

As opposed to trying to reason with you I will say this..... GO FOR IT. DO IT!!!! JUST DONT F***ing TATTOO ANYONE EXCEPT YOURSELF. 

If you wanna be another rat jumping on this already F***ing half sank ship, your doom is your call..... This ship never had any benefits, insurance, or savings.... No lifeboats either...  

There is a TRADITIONAL methodology to becoming invested into the craft, if you don't want to at least try to go that route, and you have already made your mind up as to what "you want"..... Why are you even here? 

At least take an online Blood Borne Pathogens Class, to keep from getting yourself, or your family sick....

And know, when the rando person at the store comes up to you and asks that question, "you do a lot of your own tattoos?", you can respond.... Yes, and know- to the rest of us, we know it's a big joke and a waste of your own good skin to try to learn on your own body....    

Yes, I am a *** and a total asshole.  I'm married to a big dick, also a tattooer... 

Good luck regardless... 

 

I get that the "Traditional" methodology is to get an apprenticeship, but hey, times change and you can't stop that. I went to college, got a degree, did an internship and worked my way up at a software company, AND YET there are still people who get 3 month certificates and can do the same exact thing as I did, but skip college (and paying for it too!). Maybe tattooers can relate to that. On the contrary, there's always the case where a self-taught tattooer is much better than some one who was an apprentice under a shitty artist.

Yeah, I'm not a fool about infections. I'll take the course if I ever decide to tattoo another person. I probably wont tattoo anywhere but my upper thighs, and if I'm walking around the store with shorts that reveal that area, then being a scratcher is the least of my worries. ;)

 

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Hogrider Hero

Hogrider

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3 hours ago, loserintattooing said:

On the contrary, there's always the case where a self-taught tattooer is much better than some one who was an apprentice under a shitty artist.

It's not just those two choices. That's a false dichotomy. ;-)

If you knew you would be hated on for being a scratcher I guess I'm not seeing what you are trying to accomplish here. This isn't a "learn to tattoo" forum; "how to" questions are discouraged and not answered.

It's your body, if you want to ruin it, it's your choice.

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Gingerninja Hero

Gingerninja

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I don't see how this conversation is healthy or positive. The intent of this forum doesn't support your desire to tattoo as a hobby. Why be antagonistic? You can share your tattoo and love of them here but as mentioned, the THIS forum discourages what you are doing. There are plenty of other places that will support your interest in learning how to tattoo. Share your tattoos and/or experiences but please don't be disruptive just for the sake of being disruptive. 

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oboogie Hero

oboogie

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1 hour ago, Gingerninja said:

I don't see how this conversation is healthy or positive. The intent of this forum doesn't support your desire to tattoo as a hobby. Why be antagonistic? You can share your tattoo and love of them here but as mentioned, the THIS forum discourages what you are doing. There are plenty of other places that will support your interest in learning how to tattoo. Share your tattoos and/or experiences but please don't be disruptive just for the sake of being disruptive. 

This. How sad and lame. 

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Hogrider Hero

Hogrider

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22 hours ago, oboogie said:

This. How sad and lame. 

Happens all the time when people join a forum and don't bother to find out what the forum is all about before posting. It's like joining a forum dedicated to fender guitars and then talking about your cheap Chinese knockoff you bought on eBay for $50.

I'm done with this thread, it's pretty obvious he's just trolling now.

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oboogie Hero

oboogie

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46 minutes ago, Hogrider said:

Happens all the time when people join a forum and don't bother to find out what the forum is all about before posting. It's like joining a forum dedicated to fender guitars and then talking about your cheap Chinese knockoff you bought on eBay for $50.

I'm done with this thread, it's pretty obvious he's just trolling now.

It's not worth our time. Hopefully he'll stay away. 

I think all scratchers think they are "different."

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J.Stell Initiated

J.Stell

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Self taught tattooers..... HUMMM..... I can list a few people that I know, personally and professionally, that started on their own, in their houses.... and I know a few of those guys tattooed Richard out of their houses.... But they aren't typical examples of "self taught", they essentially hooked up with very well known and respected tattooers, who took them under their respective wing... and smoothed out their roughness and broke their bad habits...

Ehh, to each their own... 

And this folks is why it's important to buy from supply houses that actually check credentials... 

Trevino, Degan, Deutsch .... just a few. 

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