Getting started in tattooing is not like getting started in any other industry. It is more on par with old fashioned times, wherein which a person who wanted to learn a skill or a craft would have to find a mentor and apprentice underneath them, picking up the skill the old fashioned way: by doing it!
This is mostly still the case for the tattoo industry. One side effect of this is that it is a bit harder to come upon information on all the "tools of the trade" so to speak. There are no textbooks out there called Tattoo Supplies 101! With this in mind, this article will look at the basics involves for tattooing supplies, with the beginner in mind as the reader.
When discussing the basic tattoo supplies involved in this line of work, there are a handful of key pieces. Let us look at them one by one.
1. The Tattoo Machine. Also sometimes called a tattoo gun, a term usually shunned by profession artists, the tattoo machine is the central tool used to give tattoos. They are a ton of different tattoo machines of not just different quality, but of different purposes and even size and shape. On this note, it is very important to have a tattoo machine that fits correctly into the hands of the artist!
2. The Power Supply. Tattoo machines are not battery powered. This means they require an external source of power. Many prefer the power supplies that affix via a cable to the machine and then are turned on and off from an attached foot pedal. This is similar in technique to a sewing machines set up with a foot pedal.
3. The Needles. Needles are what pierce the skin and deposit the ink into the skin itself, creating the tattoo. Artists use shader and liner needles to create different effects of various depths to create the tattoo. Needles are to be used once and then thrown away.
4. The Different Types of Ink. Of course ink is also needed to make a tattoo. Tattooing ink is available in all colors, although black is the most readily available and readily used color out there.
These 4 above tattoo supplies are the main equipment pieces used to make tattoos, but there are actually dozens of other supplies that assist. This goes all the way from gloves to grips to rubber bands to cleaning equipment to ink caps and more. As evident by the contents of many tattoo kits available, when starting with the basics - it is the tattoo gun, needle, ink, and a power supply that allow for the bulk of work to be done by any tattoo artist out there.