Design mockup. This page is a layout concept. The phone number, address and prices shown are placeholders, not a real shop's details.

This month's flash, priced on the sheet.

Anything here is tattooed at the price printed under it, one sitting, no consult needed. Custom work is quoted by the hour.

Photo: healed American traditional swallow on a forearm, shot square in daylight against the shop's white wall.Swallow, traditional3 in, $120
Photo: fine-line wheat sprig on an inner wrist, fresh, wiped clean.Wheat sprig2 in, $90
Photo: black-and-grey moth on a calf, healed six weeks.Moth, black and grey4 in, $180
Photo: bold-line horseshoe with lettering, on an outer bicep.Horseshoe and name3 in, $140
Photo: small dagger, traditional, on a forearm, held straight to camera.Dagger3 in, $110
Photo: half sleeve in progress, second session, shot from the shoulder down so the whole layout reads.Half sleeve, in progressHourly, 3 sessions so far
Photo: script lettering along a collarbone, healed.Script, one lineFrom $100
Photo: cover-up before and after on the same ankle, two frames side by side.Cover-upQuoted at consult
Photo: blackwork mountain band around a forearm, healed, arm rotated so the seam shows.Blackwork band$260
Photo: the flash sheets themselves, pinned to the shop wall under the mirror.The wall itselfRedrawn every January
Photo: matching pair of small hearts, two wrists, one frame.Matching smalls$80 each
Photo: healed fine-line botanical on a spine, shot from behind at arm's length.Botanical, fine line$200

Shop minimum and hourly rate

$80Shop minimum $150Per hour, custom $60Deposit, comes off the last session

Most shops will not print these. Ours are the same on a Tuesday morning as they are on a Saturday, and the deposit is credited, not a fee. A palm-sized piece is usually one sitting. A half sleeve is three or four.

  1. Send the reference

    Text a photo of what you want, roughly where it goes and how big in inches, to (816) 555-0173. You get a session count and a price band back the same day, not a form response.

  2. Deposit holds the date

    $60, and the date is yours. It comes off the final session. Move it once with two days' notice and it moves with you.

  3. Stencil, then you look

    The drawing is done before you sit. You see it on your skin and we move it as many times as it takes. Nobody starts a line you have not looked at.

  4. Touch-ups are free for a year

    Colour drops out of some skin, and a healed line can want one pass. Bring it back inside twelve months and there is no charge.

Who is at each station

Photo: portrait of the artist at her station, machine down, looking at the camera. Daylight, no flash.

Beth

Fine line, botanical, script, cover-ups

Fourteen years, licensed in Missouri, apprenticed in Kansas City. Books three to five weeks out. She does most of the cover-up work here, which starts with an honest conversation about what can and cannot be buried.

Photo: portrait of the second artist drawing at the light table, sleeves up, work in front of him.

Dale

American traditional, blackwork, lettering

Nine years behind a machine and the one who redraws the flash wall every January. Takes walk-ins on Saturdays when the book has a gap, which it usually does before noon.

Aftercare, in the order it happens

The first night
The second-skin film stays on. It will collect plasma and ink and look alarming. That is the film doing its job.
Day three or four
Peel it in the shower under warm water, slowly, in the direction the hair grows. Wash with plain unscented soap and pat dry.
Weeks one and two
Unscented lotion twice a day, a thin coat. It will flake like a sunburn. Do not pick it, and do not soak it: no pools, no lakes, no baths.
Weeks three to six
It looks healed before it is healed. Keep it out of direct sun or it will fade at the edges before the year is out.
Anything that looks wrong
Hot, swollen, or weeping past day three is not normal healing. Call the shop first and a doctor second, in that order, same day.