How to Insert Needles Into Traditional Tattoo Machine

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Part of the video series: Beginning Tattooing Tips

Summary: Learn how to insert needles into a traditional tattoo machine with expert tips from a tattoo artist in this free skin art video clip.

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Presenter

By Jesse Bradley
eHow Presenter

Jesse Bradley has studied many different art forms since 1994 at many different schools and academies around the country. He has always had a passion for tattoos and tattooing so in...read more

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evuser6255 said

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on 5/19/2009 This man is NOT a "PROFESSIONAL" and is NOT showing anything correctly. This is not something you can or should learn by watching a DYI video. You are dealing with public heath and it should be taken very seriously. If this is a career you want to pursue, do yourself and the Tattoo industry a huge favor and seek out an apprenticeship. First and foremost you must be an "ARTIST" before you pursue this. If not, you should not try this period. There is much more to it than tracing lines and coloring inside them. I have been tattooing professionally for 13 years and I am deeply offended that, someone would not only make a DYI tattoo video but, someone who is clearly not a professional. His practices are unsafe and improper. Please remove this series of videos and others like it.

pearlheartgtr said

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on 2/13/2009 Ya gotta love the "Get an Apprenticeship" people. I think they get pissed off that there are tattoo artists out there who are self taught and better than they are because said artists didn't spend a few thousand dollars to be someone's slave. There are a lot of award winning well known self taught artists out there, heck, I see at least one or two that will admit it in every issue of every tattoo magazine.

Just because someone is teaching themselves in their own home doesn't mean that they are a health hazard. I, myself, take certification classes (blood-borne pathogen training) every 3 years (as is required of a tattoo artist on Long Island)and adhere to the safety standards in my own home when I am tattooing. Yes, it is illegal to tattoo outside of a licensed shop here but not everywhere.

I also remember reading in magazine interviews with several 'well known' artists who work by appointment only IN THEIR HOMES.

tattooistmt said

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on 12/4/2008 i am a thirty one yr old tattoo artist,it took me 10 years to try to get an apprenticeship.And when i finally did the guy i apprenticed under never had the time to teach me anything...I learned more from watching the other guys in the shop than i did him.I am not saying tattooing from your home is safe,sterile,or teaches you good habits.What i am saying is that this industry has more negatives than positives and alot of haters...this industry loses out on extremely talented artists due to attitudes and egos....and for a presentation its not important to wear gloves...if you dont have enough common sense to know that then .....so thanks jesse.

tattoobydoo said

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on 9/21/2008 It is dangerous and illegal to tattoo outside of a licensed tattoo studio. Also, you'll probably develop bad habits, not to mention how much longer it will take to teach yourself.

bennystattoo said

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on 8/2/2008 wow how does someone who has crappy equipment can outline properly and can't color/shade properly post how to videos on tattooing this is amazing that you can teach people the wrong way keep it up

Video Transcript

"The next thing I would like to discuss is putting the tattoo needle in the tattoo machine. Once it is removed out of its sterile package, it is going to look like this There is a small rubber grommet that is inserted into the back of the needle and that is to keep it stationary on the machine. One little tattoo secrets is when you pull the needle out of the package, it is going to be straight. With the needle down, you are going to want to slightly bend it so it is arced slightly and I will explain right now why that is. Here is our tattoo machine. You are going to want to hold it from the top and the bottom and insert the needle through the front and you can hold it with your fingers like such and you apply it onto the bar that is here. Now it is stationary. It can't really wiggle around. Now you can see that it is arced down. The reason we do that is as we install the needle tube, this is the reservoir in front of the needle that is going to hold the ink. We are going to slide this up. Now you have to be extremely careful when you do this that the needle in the tip does not bang against the sides because it will dull it. These are razor sharp needles and any burrs or anything like that will affect your tattoo in performance. So as we bring it in, we are going to pull all the way back until the needle slightly pokes out from the front of the needle just a little bit. Once we get it there and it will move back and forth, about right there, we are going to tighten. We want to make sure that it is good and secure. If you look closely, you can see that it is protruding out about a 16th of an inch. Okay that is ideally what you want and you can test it by coming back here with the spring and pushing forward. If you look you can see it moving in and out and that is what we are going to be working with, the tip of the needle. So with the arc that we were discussing it causes it to bow upwards and the reason being we want it that way is because in the traditional machine we have to have a rubber band that is wrapped around the machine like such and you want to make sure that it is even, the tension on here. What that does is the rubber band pulls the needle down so that it is held down against the base of the very bottom of the tip of the needle so that it doesn't wiggle around. "

eHow Article: How to Insert Needles Into Traditional Tattoo Machine