Introduction to tattoo tools

 Today, Mr. Shi will tell you how to use these transfer tools and how to make a large tattoo stencil. Click the video, you will know how to use these tattoo tools. Mr.Shi: It’s about transferring today. All of the products that we use in this video are provided by the world-famous tattoo supplier-Wormhole Tattoo. You can visit the wormhole tattoo website. Transferring is transferring a tattoo pattern to the guest’s body in different ways. There are many ways to do it. You can choose different ways to transfer it according to the body part, different tattoo patterns, and your operating habits. And I'm going to introduce you to some tools we need to use and different ways to transfer. And I'll make a demonstration. Then you can choose different ways according to different tattoo patterns in your study, in practice. The first one is a copier machine. I often use A3 or A4 paper.  Because these kinds of paper are thicker than others. We need to use a toner copier machine to make a copy of the tattoo. We cannot use a laser copier machine, Ink-jet copier machine, or dot matrix printer. A copy of the tattoo will be like this. The line is black. And we need to use transfer cream oil. What is transfer cream oil? It's a chemical mixture of solvents. It’s a mixture of 500CC lacquer thinner and 2 bottles of red flower oil. It will cause some stimulation to the skin since it’s a chemical. But it volatilizes very quickly. What are its advantages? It can help you to transfer the tattoo pattern to the body part exactly. Why did I say so? Because one of the ways to transfer is by hand. You may change the pattern shapes or make an error if you transfer by hand. So transfer cream oil is good for standard patterns. Such as the totem, geometry, and other small patterns that don’t need to be transferred by hand. The back of the pattern will be on the body part after being transferred if you make a copy of the front of the pattern. Firstly, you need to flip it horizontally with photoshop, then print it. I'll make a demonstration of this transferring method. So we need to use transfer cream oil when we use a toner copier machine to make a copy.  This is one way. The second one is to  use transfer paper. This kind of transfer paper is a single page. It can be used multiple times. Some kinds of transfer paper can only be used one time. But we reuse this one which is good for transferring by hand. Like this picture, you can transfer it by transfer paper instead of transfer cream oil. After sketching the pattern, you need to use a speed stick or transfer liquid to transfer it. You can use one of them. You can pout the pattern on this transfer paper. And then, you can sketch out it. Well, I just sketch out a few lines. After that, as you see there are a few blue lines on the back of the paper. 

 After sketching out the pattern, you can choose different kinds of speed stick or different transfer liquid to transfer it. Why are there so many transfer tools? What are its characteristics? You may meet some problems when you use the speed stick. After transferring, since the speed stick volatilizes slowly, the tattoo pattern will blur. If you accidentally apply it to the tattoo pattern which will also blur. It’s good to use it when you are tattooing on the practice skin. We had better use transfer liquid when we are tattooing on the human body. Then the tattoo pattern has nicer coagulation and moisturizing effects. This paper can be used multiple times. Another kind is a 4 ply transfer paper. The 1^st ply, the 2^nd ply, the 3^rd ply, and the 4^th ply. We can also sketch on this paper. We can remove this white paper in the middle. Look, we can sketch on this layer. It's really thin. It's thinner than a piece of A4 paper. When we are transferring a pattern to the body, especially to a curved body part, it won’t be deformed because of the shrinkage of the paper. There are other papers thinner than it. For example, this copy paper is more absorbent and thinner. 

 It’s ideal for transferring patterns on parts with high and low amplitude. The pattern won’t be deformed either. We can put the pattern draft on this transfer paper and sketch it with a pen. There is nothing on the back of this paper. Let’s open this transfer paper. Look here, there are lines on it. We can use this paper to transfer. After sketching, the blue stuff of this transfer paper will fall off. So, it can only be used one time. This paper is good for hand drawing. When we are using a transfer machine, we have to choose 4 ply paper. I’m gonna show you how to do. There's another kind of paper. It's very thin. What is this paper used to do? It is used for the inkjet printer. We need to add blue ink in the inkjet printer. Before printing, we need to modify the pattern on the computer. Especially, portrait tattoos which are complicated. Or other tattoos we don’t want to sketch. And put this paper into the machine and print the pattern. These are kinds of transfer paper. These are the ways to transfer by paper. Another way to transfer is by hand. You can use this kind of tattoo pen. The drawing is hard to erase if you use a tattoo pen to sketch. You had better use a blue, red or green pen, instead of a black pen. The outline will be black after transferring it to the body if you use a black pen to sketch. 

 You will be confused when tattooing. Because you don’t know whether the lines are done by you or not. You will find that some lines are missing when you erase it. If you add lines again, the overall, the fluency, and the combination of the pattern will be a little worse. Some tattoo artists like to follow the lines or the outline when tattooing. If the lines break off, even though you fill in the lines, their color and fluency will not be combined with the previous ones. So don’t use a black pen. You must use a colored pen. After transferring the pattern to the body, if some lines are not transferred, we can use a pen to fix it. 

 Sometimes we need to modify the tattoo pattern or we need to add some ideas, we can use this pen to modify. Compared with the original one, you will know where you modify and what you add. There is a pen refill inside it. You can change it at any time. This is the pen refill. Well, this is one method. Another way is to sketch by hand. Some artists who have painting skills want to sketch by hand. He may use many colors when he is designing a tattoo pattern. You may be confused with so many colors. Which color is the best? This is actually related to the art method. Because when designing a pattern on the body, the artist has to make an outline way. So he would choose the lightest color. When the outline is done, he will choose a slightly darker color than this. For example, he may choose blue. Then design the details and combine them. After doing these details, he needs to do something more elaborate or design finer details. After designing, he will use a darker color to make the final draft. Then a design is finished. So the final color is the color he wants to use when tattooing. So he has to use a lot of color pens. Some tattoo artists like Chinese paintings. If he wants to add a calligraphy font, Chinese painting or splash ink effect when designing a tattoo pattern, he won’t like to use a hard pen. Sometimes he will choose to do it with a brush pen. 

 The effects were done by it, such as fluency, pobi, ochre, and the superposition of colors, which might be the effects that the tattoo artist wants to perform. If he draws with a hard pen, he may not achieve these effects. So this method depends entirely on the tattooist's tattooing habits and the size and shape of the pattern. Some patterns are very simple, he directly uses transfer cream oil. Some patterns are complicated, he uses transfer paper. Some patterns are very fine. he prints them directly, instead draw it by hand. Some patterns need to be modified by hand. It all depends on the tattoo artist and his painting skills. Some people are good at what kind of painting tools, and he uses similar tools when designing tattoos. Another paper is sulfuric acid paper. Sulfuric acid paper is a transparent drawing paper. What’s its function? It plays a role in sketching, typesetting, and puzzles. It helps us to save time.  For example, this tattoo is very popular right now. A lot of customers want to get such a tattoo. We need to print it every time a guest comes, which will waste our time. Wasting time may cause customers loss. We will use a sulfuric acid paper to make a template on the light table in advance. After the template is made. We will also add other patterns based on this graphic. Take this design as an example, a peony is below the fish. Then you can add lotus, sun, hill, rock or wave around this fish. We can make many different designs. When customers choose patterns, they will have more choices. That is some introduction to these tools. We will make a demonstration of how to use these tools and how to sketch them. Now let me show you how to use the copier machine.  

 After printing it, let's deal with some details. Firstly, you need to modify the tattoo pattern and adjust the size on your computer. And then print it. You can also print it firstly and adjust the size with this copier machine. Well, I just printed this fish. How to adjust the size if I think it’s too big? Firstly, put it inside the machine. Then, I am going to adjust the size. I adjust it to about 50%. Look, compared with the original one, it is much smaller. It’s only half of the original one. Then you can compare it with the tattoo area. Make sure whether the size is okay. If it's not the right size. We can continue to adjust it until the guest is satisfied. That's a way to narrow it. How to enlarge it? What if the guest wants to get a back tattoo? Firstly, put it inside the machine and scale it up. Here we go. Let's adjust the size. Start zooming. 100% is of normal size. Now I enlarge it to 150%. Well, it’s now 150%. I’m making a copy of it. As you see, when it’s enlarged, only part of it can be copied. The other parts cannot be copied. So what should I do? Well, I will make my first copy. then only this little part can be copied. This part won’t be copied. After that, I’ll make my second copy. Then this part will be copied. And then the 3^rd copy and 4^th copy. 4 times and 4 parts. 4 times later, these copies would be like this. And then I’ll make a jigsaw. Piece together the jigsaw. Now, I’m going to make it. The copy machine magnified this picture just now. If the guest wants to get a back tattoo, we need to magnify it to 150%. As a result, these copies will like this. 

 Then at this time, I need to make a large stencil. Contrast the original pattern. Peony is on top. Well, it’s almost finished. Next step, then I’ll cut off all the white edges. In the 3^rd step, I will glue them together with transparent tape. The 4^th step is to cut off the extra parts. Finally, .it will be like this. 

 Look, this is what it would be. Then, I need to put a piece of sulfuric acid paper below it. This paper is very thin and very absorbent. And put it below these copies. Remember to put a reusable transfer paper below the sulfuric acid paper. The desk must be hard. Otherwise, I won’t sketch the outline. I need to use a hard pen. A ballpoint pen is okay. Then I’ll sketch the whole lines. When sketching, you can do the marks and changes according to your own habits. After sketching, the pattern will be this. Okay, the outline is done. The next step is to transfer. I want to show you how to transfer it. Plug the transfer machine into a wall outlet and turn on this switch. These lights will be on. Then gently make the two sides apart by hand. And then chooses a pattern that needs to be transferred. I’ll transfer this image. I need to use 4 ply transfer paper. Remove this white paper in the middle. this yellowface down. Insert it in the little slot. Go ahead. Flatten the carbon paper. Then put the paper into it. Insert it in the front slot. Then press the blue button. Hold the transfer paper gently. Don't use too much force. It’s done now. I just transferred this image. Open it and have a look. Compare them.  And cut out the image that the guest wants. Well, I cut out this one. And transfer it to the body. This is an inkjet transfer machine. This machine needs to use a thinner transfer paper. One side is smooth, the other side is rough. Make sure the rough side is facing down. Pick out a picture on the computer. And print it. Finally, it will be like so. It will become a blue image. Some lines of this image are thin, and the shape is complicated. If you transfer it by hand, it will be deformed, which has a bad influence when you sketch it. So you had better print it with an inkjet transfer machine and transfer it to the body part. This is a light table. There is a light under the glass plate. Turn it on. It's gonna be very bright. Then we can compare. Now I plan to make a sketch of this image. And then I put this sulfuric acid paper on it. Look, I can still see the outline. Turn the lights on. As you see, it becomes very clear. I will not ignore the details when sketching. I won’t miss any lines either. The image won’t be deformed. So sometimes I use sulfuric acid paper to make a template. After making a template, I will always keep it. When a guest wants to get such a tattoo, I can make a copy of it and enlarge or narrow it. And I can do it in batch. Sometimes several guests come to my studio at the same time, and they want the same tattoo. At this time I can take the template out. Make copies quickly according to the sizes requested by them. You can do it very quickly. Another way is to make a jigsaw. For example, after I sketch the fish head and I think there is too much space here, I can look for another image. I think I can draw a lotus flower here. I can adjust it from different angles. And then I’m drawing a lotus flower here. Finally, it is a picture of a fish above the lotus. So you can look for a lot of pictures online. And make a jigsaw in this way. So you can create a lot of styles Each guest may have his own requirements. So when you are making this fish tattoo. You can make 20, 40, or even more, styles by making jigsaws. 

 Visit How to Make A Tattoo on Different Skin to learn more about making tattoos.
Article from wormholetattoo.com