Why it is Important to Know What You Want 

 

Here at Lucky Bamboo Tattoo, we have a very organized process leading up to the booking of your tattoo. Upon inquiring, our staff will call you to discuss details.  These details aid the artist in obtaining a quote for time. This quote will give us insight into availability and pricing, as we multiply the time needed by their hourly rate to determine the cost. There are several factors that are considered, in obtaining a quote.  Let's go through these various details. 

 

 The first, what is the image that you are wanting tattooed? This seems like the most basic detail but is the foundation of the tattoo.  Say you are wanting flowers; we want to know the type of flower you would like. Now as an example let’s say the flower is a rose. Are we wanting a top view of the rose, does this include leaves? Maybe you are wanting a different view of the rose, maybe from the side to include a stem, thorns, and leaves. Now you can see how the description "rose" can be interpreted several different ways. Our artists are drawing in advance in preparation for your appointment. This draw time is outside of the shop-hours in their own personal time. If you come in wanting a totally different design, you are still responsible to pay the hourly rate of the time you booked. While that time will be spent re-drawing and likely, additional time will be needed to fully complete the tattoo. 

The second detail we will need to know is the size of the tattoo. This can be tricky as common measurements are no longer common knowledge. You may not necessarily need to measure with a ruler or tape measure, comparison to an everyday item can be helpful. Some descriptors may seem helpful but remain rather vague. Let's discuss everyday objects and comparisons that are NOT helpful. When a client would like their tattoo "the size of my hand", unfortunately we have never met, and there is no way to determine what size their hand is. Another example seems silly, but has been used a few times, "I am 5 foot 7 inches, I wear size 32 pants and they fit me well" as well as "I weigh 135 pounds". A great example that we can all picture would be comparison to a dollar bill, that is 6 inches by 2 inches. Very attainable and easy to picture for everyone. The size is a huge factor on how much time is needed. 

Another factor we discuss is the placement, where you would like your tattoo. For example, let’s talk about tattoos on the ribs vs a tattoo on the thigh. The thigh is a nice mostly flat muscle. It is easy to manipulate and typically does not stretch very much. The ribs, however, can be difficult. Beneath the skin you have bones, and cartilage, and the skin there is rather stretchy. Take a moment to stretch to the side. You can see how much that skin stretched. Picture a 4-inch tattoo in that area, when relaxed it is 4 inches, when stretched it can nearly double in size. The skin is pulled taught while tattooing, meaning the artist is tattooing the image almost doubled in size so when relaxed, it is the desire size. This affects not only the time needed to complete the tattoo but the cost as well. 

 There is also difference between color, and black and grey tattoos. A lot of time goes into saturating the skin to achieve deep and rich colors.  Having some time between your sessions will allow your skin to heal and your artist to go back in with those colors to really make them POP! Think about getting a watercolor tattoo. The blending of 2 colors isn't going to take as much time as blending 6 colors. It's something to take into consideration. Black and grey tattoos simply don't require as much time.

And finally, the art style, from American Traditional, to illustrative, to new school, all the way to realism. Each style of artwork requires not only a different amount of time, but a different skill level, all factoring into the time needed and the final price. 

Therefore, it is very important to know what you want when obtaining a quote. We would hate for miscommunication to lead to time wasted and dissatisfaction. In closing, really think about what you are wanting, and offer clarification to those who are helping to assist you with booking.