Essential Tattoo Gear
Tattoos supplies can be very expensive. When starting your tattoo business you are going to need a whole lot of items, before doing your first tattoo. Many people decide to buy a tattoo kit because it is often cheaper to buy everything in a package than to assemble everything you will need and purchase it all separately.
Here are a few of the things you will want to look for when purchasing your tattoo equipment, a basic list of essential tattoo gear:
Your gear arsenal will need to include two tattoo guns, a power supply, a foot pedal, at least two boxes of tattoo needles (one for lining and the other for shading), and at the very least, a box of 36 1-oz, different multicolored, bright inks. You will need at least one 2 to 5-ounce bottle of black ink to start. You are going to go through black ink much faster than all the other colors, so it is very important to keep extra black ink on hand.
Your power supply needs to have multiple voltage/speed settings (look for a variable speed knob). The most fundamental thing you will want to purchase is unfortunately also the most expensive. Autoclaves will put a dent in your pocket, but they are absolutely essential. You should be prepared to spend AT LEAST $2000 for a quality autoclave.
You are also going to need grommets. These rubber nipples hold your needles in place on the flipper bar of the tattoo guns. These are disposable. Most of the barrels, tubes, and tips that you will need to buy will need either to be sterilized with your autoclave, or thrown away. Over time, this will get expensive, so my recommendation is to spring for the autoclave as soon as possible. It will save you hundreds of dollars in the end.
I recommend throwing your needles away rather than trying to clean them. Even if you put your tattoo needles in an autoclave and do a thorough job of cleaning them, they will still carry some small chance of cross-contamination. It is wiser to spend a LITTLE more money to be SURE. If your clients are smart, they will be happy to pay a little extra for the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that you do not re-use needles.
You will also want to purchase non-allergenic gloves, because you never know who is going to be allergic to latex and who isn’t.
A lot of tattoo kits these days will come with fake skin so that you can practice on that instead of your own body. You might want to give that a try if you don’t have a long line of people willing to let you practice on them.
Other tattoos supplies, which do not come in most kits, include:
- paper towels,
- green soap – to help remove ink,
- antibacterial soap – better when shaving the area than shaving cream, because it doesn’t leave a residue on the skin that hinders the transfer,
- plastic baggies,
- rubber bands,
- transfer paper (tracing paper will also work with a clear, scentless gel-stick deodorant),
- disposable razors (dual blades rather than single),
- pipe cleaners (for cleaning your barrels before you sterilize them),
- petroleum jelly,
- A & D Ointment. Tattoo Goo is not recommended because it dries the tattoo too quickly.
- Fine-line permanent markers are also good to keep on hand.
