This site is no substitute for a formal apprenticeship
This site is no substitute for a formal apprenticeshipThis site is not a substitute for a professional apprenticeship with a licensed tattoo studio. Nor is this site a definitive source for learning the art or trade of tattooing. An apprenticeship is the ONLY universally accepted way to learn proper safety practices and sound technique.
While we welcome members of all levels, we STRONGLY advocate staying away from skin until you've received formal training from someone who works in the field. Hell, even hair stylists must complete over a year of courses, pass a state health board exam, and apprentice under a professional studio before earning a chair.
The trade of tattooing has a rich history and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. If you respect the art, please show your respects by learning the right way.
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Issues With Shading.. Color Packing.., I feel like Im starting from square one.. |
 Sep 9 2009, 08:37 PM
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#1
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So I recently started to get much more serious about honning my technique and really understand what is going on with what I am doing..
Ive taken advice from a few friends in the tattoo world and started working strickly on line work (on pig) not giving much effort to shading or anything. just laying a stencil and doing line work.. and then on to the next peice.. line work line work line work.. and my line work is getting MUCH more consistend.. straighter lines and smoother even line strengths (or atleast better then before).. so today I decided to run some shading.. since Im feeling pretty strong with line work (lots of room to improve.. but you get the point).. Im riding the tube.. hanging the needle out (when the A bar is pushed down) about 2 mill .. running about 6.5 volts with a 50%-48% duty cycle.. (thats all my PS reads out) anyways.. Im holding the machine at around 45 degrees.. and I noticed that on the first pass a few times the needles actually sliced the pig skin.. and in a few other places the needles got hung up on the skin.. am I running my machine to slow? its the only thing I could think.. as I have read that 2 mill is a good depth for shading/coloring.. the machine sounds good.. nice and smooth doesnt boog down or anything.. but I was getting sooooo irritated.. Oh for the record.. Im running a 7mag tried adjusting hand speed didnt seem to make a diffrence.. Im thinking its a machine speed issue.. but with a 50% duty cycle I thought that would be the right setting since the machine really did sound great any advice would be great.. even a direction in which to check things out to figure what Im doing wrong.. -------------------- No forgiveness for my sins, I preffer punishment
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Sep 9 2009, 09:00 PM
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#2
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were you stretching the pig skin? sometimes some spots need strething others not so much, been awhile since i hit the piggy
if you had a good stretch id put it down to machine speed, as in going to slow for your hand, 2mm depth is a bit to i prefer about 1.6 across the board, shading lining colorpacking, although of course the shader hits so soft itll never reach that depth. cant help you much more then that hard to diagnose machine problems online. -------------------- The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they're going to be when you kill them. |
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Sep 9 2009, 09:33 PM
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#3
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You may know this already, but needle hangups in my experience have been due to two things; the needle is still too far out of the tube on the way up, or the machine's not hitting hard enough.
Do you have any needle hang when the a-bar is nuetral? When riding the tube, a little hang sometimes is o.k. because the front spring does give a little on the way up, but it could be that the needle isn't retracting back into the tube far enough, and is snagging as the mag tip runs along the skin. Also, pig skin is obviously tougher than real skin. If your machine's not hitting hard enough, the needle might simply be getting snagged due to lack of power. Especially if you have a soft hitting machine. Regarding the cuts, pig skin is tough, but it's also dead. Sometimes the pig skin may smell and feel fine, but might already be deteriorating causing it to slice and tear easier than normal. -------------------- |
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Sep 10 2009, 01:54 PM
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#4
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thanks guys..
JD.. no the mag isnt hanging out at all when the A bar is in the neautral postion.. that was the first thing I double checked too... was just weird I never had a problem like this before.. and with all my attempts to fix it, it kept happening.. the only thing I didnt do was mess with my machine much... Im thinking maybe its just hitting to soft.. it is a very soft hitting machine. (is a forgiven shader) I'll try that out tomorrow.. Paint.. thanks for the tip... I will concentrate on my stretching more tomorow when I hit another peice of pig.. I was stretching but I cant say if that was or wasnt part of the problem.. -------------------- No forgiveness for my sins, I preffer punishment
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Sep 10 2009, 04:20 PM
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#5
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did you loupe your needles and check em first
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Sep 10 2009, 06:38 PM
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#6
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QUOTE (jrf134 @ Sep 11 2009, 12:20 AM)  did you loupe your needles and check em first yep.. and after I snagged the first time I checked them again.. looked good.. no burrs or anything.. -------------------- No forgiveness for my sins, I preffer punishment
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Sep 10 2009, 06:59 PM
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#7
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My guess is it was either voltage or some fucked up set up issue that you didn't see. My bet is next time there will be no problems. Time will tell I guess.
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Sep 11 2009, 11:35 AM
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#8
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i think i know what is. can you post a pic of your machine so i can see how it's set up
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