Category Archives: Getting a Tattoo

Like most tattoo shops, we price by how long the tattoos are expected to take.  We have a shop minimum to cover basic costs of doing the tattoo regardless of how tiny or quick it is (you can call for our current minimum).  This is a session minimum, not a minimum for each tattoo done in a session, so sometimes it’s cheaper to do tiny tattoos at the same time as another tattoo, big or small.

We will give you a quote before your tattoo appointment, which is usually a range, depending on how long the tattoo actually takes.  You might hear, for example, a quote of “$75 to $100” or “$200 to $300,” which is a best-case, worst-case scenario.  Some people have skin that takes ink easily, some do not. Some people sit very still, other people are twitchy or have trouble not moving. The same tattoo on two different people can take very different amounts of time, and our pricing reflects that.

In our shop, the average hourly also drops the longer you sit for a tattoo — the first hour is the most expensive, the second a little less expensive, and the third hour is a little cheaper than that.  This is because we can average out the cost of the materials and sterilization, which come to about $40-50 per session, regardless of the size or time needed to do your tattoo.

Our best deals are on Half-Day sessions, which save customers about $50-100 compared to our regular pricing, and on our Buy-a-Day full-day sessions, which can save hundreds of dollars when compared to doing a large tattoo in several small sessions, or doing several tattoos in separate sessions.  If you’re thinking about multiple tattoos or large work like sleeves and back pieces, talk to us about our current pricing on Half-Days and Buy-a-Days.

Oregon state law prohibits decorative tattooing on anyone under 18 years of age.  There are heavy fines, and most tattooists follow the law.

We know that many people under 18 are anxious to get a tattoo, but we encourage you to wait it out and get a medically safe tattoo once you turn 18.  Most people offering to tattoo minors are unskilled underground tattooists (aka “scratchers”) who not only give bad tattoos, but don’t have the knowledge or equipment to do medically safe tattooing.  No one wants an infection, whether it’s a small staff infection in your tattoo, or something really dangerous like Hepatitis B or C, which can seriously damage your health or even kill you.

It’s better to wait till you’re legally able to get a safe tattoo in a shop.  In the meantime, you can use the time plan the perfect tattoo once you’re of age.

In our shop, minors are welcome to visit, ask questions, and even get the design going for that 18th birthday tattoo.  Get informed, plan carefully, ask the right questions, and give your design ideas some time to develop.  You’ll be much happier in the long run with your tattoos and your health.

It is possible to design tattoos to work with scars and stretch marks, but there are some limitations.

• Scars should be at least one year old.  We want them to have stopped changing texture and color before we tattoo over them.
• Many scars take pigment, but often heal uneven in color, or the texture of the scar shows right through the design.  The best thing to do in these cases is to use images that have similar shapes to the scarring, and designs that avoid flat solid colors, which just highlight instead of camouflage the scar.
• Some scars and stretch marks just don’t take pigment well – they are too keloided (permanently raised), knotty, or delicate to get the ink in.  In that case, we can try to design something that works AROUND the scar, or along with the stretch marks, leaving the untattooed skin as part of the design.
• Very light scarring or slight stretch marks usually don’t affect tattooing much, but we still try to avoid using flat solid colors over the scarred areas, as the texture pops right out instead of being hidden by the tattoo.

Every scar is different, and most tattoos designed to hide scars or stretch marks are custom designs. Come talk to us about your particular situation, and we’ll see what we can do.