So you think your beginning practice skin work was bad - Here's mine - Day one hour zero!

I don’t like to over criticise ,so coming along nicely ?

Thank you everyone for your kind and constructive feedback, noted and much appreciated. i can't thank you lot enough as i've learnt a lot of helpful skills from reading on here and applying it to bits i'm learning - so kuddos to you all ?

I'm trying to find an area i want to just get absorbed in and then continue to practice, practice & practice even more. I absolutely love it and cannot wait to tattoo myself.

Will certainly try wrapping the mat around my thigh trick and see how tricky it really is .

Stay safe everyone and i'll keep you updated.

Esq said:

Shit these look great!!!!

How did you achieve that Trash Polka look?

Click to expand...

it was a mix of using a magnum needle on its side (so to give it that sketchy look if that makes sense, however i only had a 7 curved mag and ideally i believe a flat magnum would be better) and a 5rl. Now....i have come across a video where i saw someone open up their magnum cartridge needle, squeezed the ends of needle tip together and bent them up n down into themselves (so to make them flat ish instead of being in two rows). I dunno if this is a little trick of the trade but it makes me wonder how safe is it to then use the cartridge after? I dunno? Might try it out one day just to see.

I learnt from a post from another user on here (TexasPT), when shading only have a small amount of needle poking out of your magnum, slow volts and gently go over the areas you want to build up the shade. So this was my first attempt at trying this method. Since learning this i've been adapting it to other bits of work and have started to notice a huge difference in some of my latest work. (Thanks TexasPT)

I've done a few more Trash bits. Quite like the idea of Trash Polka especially the red n black theme. Blue n Black looks good too. I think i got away with the owl because the sketchyness idea lets you get away that solid line look - only my opinion

MalligaMallan said:

I don't want to be a downer (which I of course am), but these are my reflections ? But nothing you can't work on of course! ?? #practicepracticepractice

Click to expand...

No i totally get ya, and your feedback is brilliant and i agree.

I'm lost to be honest and i just don't know where / what style i want to go down. So i'm constantly moving into new areas and simultaneously trying to drill in the basics - whilst trying to learn something new or a new technique. I want to find that area to specialize in then engorge myself deeply into it and practice,practice,practice ha-ha.

On my journey so far i've started to find what i'm liking (Japanese & Trash Polka) and have come across dark Japanese work on Pinterest (so pretty much Japanese style work but only in Red n Black). Doing solid black bits was enjoyable but i liked it in the eastern style so i may pursue that?

At the moment i'm trying to learn using the magnum needle to shade with as its frustrating me. These our my latest bits of work with learning to use the magnum. Again in this i used a 9RS to beef up the outer lines, a 5RL for the bits inside. Practiced a bit of stippling on the flower (however i used the wrong size needle should of went down to a 3RL) then i've been adopting that magnum lesson TexasPT said to someone on here and i'm loving it.

Looking forward to see what you do on yourself. Your work looks clean mate and I love red and black, and trash polka when done right can look real nice eh. I'm impressed with your patience on holding out to tattoo yourself.
Off the subject but where's the name come from are you a longboarder?

Burt said:

Looking forward to see what you do on yourself. Your work looks clean mate and I love red and black, and trash polka when done right can look real nice eh. I'm impressed with your patience on holding out to tattoo yourself.
Off the subject but where's the name come from are you a longboarder?

Click to expand...

Cheers Bud,

It's a work in progress. I'm desperate to tattoo myself but i'm holding out until i get an autoclave. I've got pretty much every other cleaning stuff required in preparation for when i do myself but i just can't afford an autoclave at the moment and my rotary pen doesn't have the ability to fit disposable grips so i want to wait until i purchase one then i can autoclave my grip and feel confident its clean n safe to use on others (well myself, wife and close friends). However i know all to well i can draw some good stuff on mats but when the day comes to doing my thigh i'm gonna be shaking all over the place ha-ha.

As for the name it comes from my youth days when i was a bodyboarder. Obviously sideslip is a term airplanes use when coming into land with cross winds and sometimes as you may be aware when you don't dig your rails in when dropping down a wave your board slips sidewards hence the term side-slipping . So my nick name was sideslipMick as i use to do it on purpose then dig my rail in and go down the line bust a few moves out, look cool for crowds blah blah blah you know how it goes ha-ha. Those days are over but the name has stuck

SideslipMick said:

Cheers Bud,

It's a work in progress. I'm desperate to tattoo myself but i'm holding out until i get an autoclave. I've got pretty much every other cleaning stuff required in preparation for when i do myself but i just can't afford an autoclave at the moment and my rotary pen doesn't have the ability to fit disposable grips so i want to wait until i purchase one then i can autoclave my grip and feel confident its clean n safe to use on others (well myself, wife and close friends). However i know all to well i can draw some good stuff on mats but when the day comes to doing my thigh i'm gonna be shaking all over the place ha-ha.

As for the name it comes from my youth days when i was a bodyboarder. Obviously sideslip is a term airplanes use when coming into land with cross winds and sometimes as you may be aware when you don't dig your rails in when dropping down a wave your board slips sidewards hence the term side-slipping . So my nick name was sideslipMick as i use to do it on purpose then dig my rail in and go down the line bust a few moves out, look cool for crowds blah blah blah you know how it goes ha-ha. Those days are over but the name has stuck

Click to expand...

Haha that's why I asked, I only know the name from surfing. I thought there was another surfer on here too, close enough eh.... You ever wanna get back in the water mate?
Good on you for doing everything right, my first few on myself was sewing needle attached to an old DC motor and homemade ink, I thought my lighter was my autoclave haha. Wasted alot of skin fucking around before I realised how much I enjoy it and actually started trying to improve a little bit. But still do stupid shit where I can't even reach or see properly. Post up some shots when you do finally get stuck into your legs

Burt said:

Haha that's why I asked, I only know the name from surfing. I thought there was another surfer on here too, close enough eh.... You ever wanna get back in the water mate?
Good on you for doing everything right, my first few on myself was sewing needle attached to an old DC motor and homemade ink, I thought my lighter was my autoclave haha. Wasted alot of skin fucking around before I realised how much I enjoy it and actually started trying to improve a little bit. But still do stupid shit where I can't even reach or see properly. Post up some shots when you do finally get stuck into your legs

Click to expand...

Yeah one day i'll get back in the water, i miss it badly. life, kids and working gets in the way at the moment but patience will prevail and opportunities will arise for me to get back in the water, just not yet...

That's funny as i remember my mates using needles, lighter and Indian ink from my school days and doing stick n poke on themselves many moons ago .

Defo will post shots of my legs when i do get round to it, until then it'll be buying the odd mat here n there and practice, practice, practice and post for criticism.

Hey, I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on if you know the correct depth on the skins. should you be able to see the design on the other side?

Hola700 said:

Hey, I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on if you know the correct depth on the skins. should you be able to see the design on the other side?

Click to expand...

It will depend on the skin. Practice what would be the correct depth of human flesh since that's what you'll need to know. If you're using standard taper needles, it will be just about the depth of the taper on each pin. Aprox 1.5 - 2 mm

You can also use an orange. If you go through the peel and into the flesh, it's too deep and is just about the same on people.

So finally the long awaited reveal....

apologies it's been a while but i have been busy beavering away in the background trying to get some other bits sorted that will help my progress.

I'll try and keep each bit brief but with enough info, if you want to know more i'll be happy to answer. As always i appreciate your feedback (positive or negative constructive criticism)

First up...The notorious FIRST ever tattoo on myself and human skin attempt!

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8V for the lining
Ink used: Dynamic Ink
Needles used: Cheyenne 1005L & 9RL
Time taken: 1 hour 30 minutes
Issues: Wobbly hands, nervous wreck, sweaty palms, messed up the first line, wasn't in the right position...omg the list could go on and on and on over all the errors i think i did, however it's done and I'm happy i finally made the leap. Learnt lots that day but a great and fun memory.

Left: Finished (well it's far from finished but finished for me that day)
Middle: Healed
Right: Outline

Next up...Second attempt was on my wifes ankle area. She wanted me to do it so i obliged.


Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8V for the lining
Ink used: Dynamic Ink
Needles used: Cheyenne 1003L, 1005L & 5CM
Time taken: 2 hours for first sitting and 2 hours and 30 minutes on the second sitting.
Issues: Had to be done in two sittings as i completely underestimated the time it took me and other factors i didn't consider into account (my wifes pain threshold) so after 2 hours she wanted to stop so that's understandable. Big undertaking and again learnt alot from this. Needle depth in particular working in this area as i feel i may have blown out in the tail area at the very bottom.

Top left: Stencil and outline
Top Middle: Cleaned up and first sitting completed
Top Right: Second sitting was completed after a month as i wanted to allow a few weeks to heal
Bottom left: Healed

Third attempt.

Machine used: CNC P5

Voltage at: 8V for the lining and played about with different voltages for the packing
Ink used: Dynamic Ink
Needles used: Cheyenne 1005L & 7CM
Time taken: 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Issues: So this was done just above my knee. I was actually supposed to have the other half of the skull butterfly as well, but after 2:30 hours i had enough so left it at half done. What did i take away from this - learning to pack black! Bloody hard work and sore closer to the knee area but it was bearable. The dots are purely there because at this point i was curious, what does a dot look like in the skin?

Left: Sorry no outline but this was it completed.
Right: Healed

4th Attempt...

Machine used: CNC P5

Voltage at: 8V for the lining and think about 9V for the packing?
Ink used: Dynamic Ink
Needles used: Cheyenne 5CM
Time taken: Again around 2 hours
Issues: I attempted to start with outlining but on the first "H" i wasn't happy with the effect so decided i'm just gonna use the curved mag and make it look rough as that's how i wanted it. If anything i wish i didn't try to add black to the red writing parts (supposed to mimic smudging - very poor attempt haha) I also left out the smile. As you can see i added this next to my skull butterfly. Enjoyed playing about with this one. Beginning to feel more relaxed now, getting to grips with my machine and setting up my work station more efficiently.

Top Left: Putting the stencil on
Top Middle: Stencil on
Top Right: Finished
Bottom Left: Healed

5th Attempt...


Machine used: New machine Sol Nova

Voltage at: 8 - 11V
Ink used: Dynamic Ink
Needles used: Cheyenne 3RL & 5RL
Time taken: 2 hours for first sitting and 2 hours on the second sitting.
Issues: Learning dotwork, getting a feel for my new machine, playing about with different needles and tapers. Mainly this was a learning process. New pain areas on the shin, playing with stencil application techniques etc.

Sorry i haven't got any first attempt photos of this? I'm sure i did take some but can't find them, for some reason they're not with the rest of my tattoo photos i've taken along the way? Anyway, I've been fascinated with geometrical dotwork for sometime and decided that i was going to have a go. I've got a good set up now at home and getting to grips with how i like to apply my stencils. It's time to start honing in and getting to really know what particular needles do and how to best use them.


Picture: Healed
Area: Ankle/Shin

6th attempt...

So my wife found this piece on Instagram and asked if i could do it for her. Now i understand that you shouldn't copy straight for straight from another tattooists work, i fully get it and understand as i wouldn't want it to happen to me, so i take no credit for this design but i did alter it slightly from the original (besides the original is far far better than my attempt) but this piece will be a one off and for my wife only.

Machine used: Sol Nova
Voltage at: 8 - 10V for the dotwork
Ink used: Dynamic Ink
Needles used: Various needles from Cheyenne, KillerInk, Kwadron and Envy Elite
Time taken: 2 hours for first sitting and 2 hours on the second sitting.
Issues: My only issues where trying to establish the right voltage to get the dots to show. I know that at about 10V my machine will put a decent dot into the skin but my wife found it hurt to much so i played around with the volts and found i was able to complete it without her enduring to much pain around the 8V - 9V area. Normally my wife can sit really well during a tattoo session as she's some big tattoo work on her other leg but she reckons cause it's me doing the tattooing she doesn't want to sit any longer in the pain so we decide to end the sessions around the 2 hour mark, hence why all our sessions are about 2 hours. But without her I'll have not been able to do what i have so she's been absolutely brilliant.

Top Left: Dotwork outline finished and started abit of fill on the bottom. 1st session completed
Top Middle: 2nd session completed after 4 weeks of healing.
Top Right: 3rd session finished, all completed after roughly another 4/5 weeks of healing - mainly this session was darkening up areas that needed addressing.
Bottom Left: The original design my wife found in Insta. Since finding this i follow this woman now as her dotwork is amazing.




I've come to the conclusion that i need to trial out using Short Taper needles(its the only taper i've not tried yet) but i feel that if i want to continue doing dotwork i'm gonna need a harder hitting machine or machine with a longer stroke of at least 4mm (just my opinion from research and practice, i may be wrong and i just need to work on my technique more). I've bought some geometric designs to start practicing with and a friend has kindly said he'll donate some skin but i've said i'll wait until next year as I'm trying to get to grips with some software first (Sketchbook on my Surface tablet - Thanks DKJ for helping) to help create the designs first for his arm.

Remember i'm completely self taught, mostly from listening and looking at others work from here and it's taking me almost a year to get to this point. I've learnt lots along the way and looking forward to continue learning more. At the moment i want to go in all directions with tattooing, but i've figured first that i'll just concentrate on dotwork pieces for a while, i quite like that style of work. Or maybe i shouldn't? What do you think?

Cheers everyone,

Super nice to see! I must digest it all a bit before commenting

I just dived into this thread fully, it was so helpful to watch your journey! I need more updates!!