Colour blending.

[zack_fa1r]

Hi guys im looking to improve my blends, not b and g just colour for now :)

So, as mentioned in a previous post i have a fast hand speed, and alot of the time i feel it fights me with saturation, being a bit of a fussy one i tend to layer colours quite a few times into each other, i havent come across a machine yet that helps me pull away from this habit, does a softer hit mean i can layer more without damage to the skin? or will this just piss it off? how does a super soft 6mm hit from a hyper v3 work in comaprisson to 3.5 with no give? will it put more ink in because of the longer throw? i guess itl bog down alot meaning hand speed must be slowed down? its doing my head in not understanding things!!! i feel i need a machine i can layer over and over without worry of overworking the skin. so many questions. Thanks.
Gary.

[serial1313]

It sounds like you just need to slow down. A stroke 3.5 is a great stroke to blend colors. I blend one color into another once, I might go back into it if I want to darken an area. We might be doing different styles of though.

[tattood]

im trying to brush the colors into one another. ill get more saturation if i do the scrub motion, so to blend ill go back and forth with my mag. i will add my hand is moving really fast as im doing it. seems to be working for me..

[zack_fa1r]

its so hard to slow down, feels strange and when i start getting into it i get back to speed and dont even realise, ill try the scrubbing rather than circle and see what happens on my next cheers.

nobody know anything about the softer hit? maybe a swashy whip or the hyper??

[tattood]

i have a really fast hand also and im the same way when i get going i cant help it.lol.. i will do circles but for me on the 3.5 stroke and above i need to lightly graze the skin to get a nice blend. really not applying much pressure, but when i want it dark i will put the pressure and slow my hand down a bit. im still figuring these no gives out also.lol seems like every tatt im trying sumthin a little different

[zack_fa1r]

yeah i get ya there, i just had some shitty scabby healing on the mrs when i used a damn curved bugpin mag last week and its bean eating me up man, normally use 10's or 12's so i think ill stick with that from now on and keep the bugs for grey shade.

[tattood]

Dude we are going through the exact some thing. Ill have some great heals and some will be kinda rough and it will have my wheels spinning. I get obsessive over it and quite honestly if i hear my shit is scabbin pretty bad it will ruin my day... Im also thinking everyone has rough heals, i just know about mine because for the most part everyone i tattoo is extened family and their exteneded network of friends ..lol.. as an example my boss tattoo every day and is booked 2months out and i have never heard of a bad heal, but as of late im thinking its more hes just not hearing about it because they are just clients and they are not on his facebook or have his cell number.lol, if that makes sense.lol

*also im using the # 10 curved bugpins also do i think those can cause more damage to skin?

[zack_fa1r]

yeah i get ya about finiding out about healing, i always tell em to come back and let me see it after a eek to make sure its going well. sadly a customer has no idea whats a bad heal and whats not though.

bupins are more traumatic yes, i thought a dead giveaway to bad healing was chewed skin, but its not always the case

[(Opted Out)]

Neotat vivace 3.5 at arround 10.2 will saturate very fast with fast hand speed and if your in and out quick enough you can easily make 2-4 passes aslong as you dont bury the whole 3.5mm into the skin

[zack_fa1r]

i like the sound of that fluff, does my bishop have the same motor as vivace? i gots the swiss maxon? and also recomended voltage for bishop is 7.5 to 8.5.

i tried it at 9.2 and my mate said it hurt alot more ha!!

[serial1313]

Don't use bugpins to color w/. Bugpins make smaller holes & sometimes larger color pigment won't go in because the hole the bugpins make are too small.

[nivek]

if you find you are having a hard time with saturation check out textured needles

[hendricksonart.com]

I can use bug pins all day with color even though i still prefer normal 12s. For color I ussually use coils. However my black and grey is done with rotarys and a really fast motion hand speed because i am generally not worried about saturation as much. I cannot use bug pins for black and grey ive tried a couple of times and got some less then desirable heals. Bugpins plus black and grey for me is the only time ive seen a bad heal in the last few years. I am sure this has to do with hand speed and the needles being easier to rip through skin. When i use bug pins and color its a bogged down let the machine do the work kinda technique.

[zack_fa1r]

thanks guys. serial i use electric ink for colour, its real thin so usually goes in nice. Nivek i tried textured needles twice and the skin looked funny almost like it was scratched up, not chewed....scratched so i binned the rest and never got chance to see the healed results so i guess ill never know ha!

its funny you say that about bugpins and grey wash, they give such a soft look for me compared to a size 12, its like two diff artists have done the two pieces if i go to a size 12 for b&g, cant dig it at all.

are there any recomendations for a machine that will do crazy layers and not ruin the skin, at london last year there was a guy called endre from endretattoolondon and he was using a swashy gen 6 i think, the guy had the fastest hand speed and just fucking layered it soooooo much i couldnt keep up, i asked how he could go so fast, he shrugged his shoulder and i cant remember his answer, guess he didnt know ha.

[clint morrison]

Am I the only one who PREFERS bugpins for color? Just wondering. They seem to work better for me.

[serial1313]

You CAN use bugpins to color w/,but for some reason you choose 12s to do color w/. That's what I'm saying. He isn't getting what he is looking for out of bugpins either as far as color goes.

[OwlsDen]

Am I the only one who PREFERS bugpins for color? Just wondering. They seem to work better for me.

It depends on my mood, I like them for color blending.. I can do solid color with them too..

[serial1313]

I always just use bugpins to do B&G w/.

[zack_fa1r]

any ideas on the machine???

[nivek]

@zack where did you get the textured from ?

[evlink2006]

imho bug pins are bad for color work. The hole they poke isnt large enough to allow the pigment particles to fully settle into the skin so you then have to work the skin more to get the same saturation as you would with say a #12. Textured #12s are even better for color saturation.

As for blending there are two ways to get smooth blends. You can double dip, meaning you start with color A then dip into color B and just keep dipping color B until you are pure color B. I hope that makes sense. The other is the technique I use most of the time and it stems from printing theory. If you look at a magazine picture thru a magnifying glass you will notice there are only 4 colors printed in dots. How those dots overlap and cluster is what determines the color your eye sees. So apply that same idea to tattooing by packing solid color then when you get to the spot you want to start the blend, whip it out like you would in a traditional or black and gray. The take your next color and work it over the top of that whipped area and slightly into the solid pack. wa la insta blend.

[skinmech]

I agree with using Bugs for B&G, simply because the thin viscosity of washes are easier to put into the skin than "thicker" coloured inks..Also, because washes are so thin, the small "holes" than Bugs make, means the blends will be smoother....Providing you take your time,,,,,

[asA]

Id say buy as many of the tattoo dvds from all the crazy color layering guys and take a few thinga from them.. the nate beavers one with the photo real skull and tradional snake and roses has a ton of good info in it. From machines to needles to pigmens.. all those dvds are good stuff.

[tattood]

I agree with using Bugs for B&G, simply because the thin viscosity of washes are easier to put into the skin than "thicker" coloured inks..Also, because washes are so thin, the small "holes" than Bugs make, means the blends will be smoother....Providing you take your time,,,,,

Are u referrring to all bugpins, or the #8's for b&g, whats your take on # 10's, the reason I ask is all i have been using are # 10's for just about everything, I like how they are a bit smaller than the #12's and im able to get in tight spots easier. On the other hand the #8's seem to small unless your using a 15.lol.. I was using #8 5rl for small script but changed back to #12 3rl to tight lines

[Eturnus]

id just keep the bugpins for grey wash because its a whole lot thinner than regular pigment.

[chris-in-cali]

bugpins are ok....but long taper mags seem to do the job just as well and without so many passes (t-tech long taper mags are fucking awesome)
if you are working with a fast hand speed, i would say go with a faster rpm motor....the spektra is perfect for faster hand speeds and thinner ink. (electric)
you get high rpm's at low volts and with the give option you are able to get 3-4 passes in there....it's fucking nice

[DrewsJumpingShip]

I've been using Curved Textured Mags and instead of tight to loose circle motions I tend to go with the stacking technique. To me it seems like with stacking you get a more consistent level of saturation which helps get those smooth blends for. Sometimes I'll do a quick pass over at the end with the circle motion to smooth everything out.

[zack_fa1r]

niveck the textured needles were powerline pin up brand.

hey evilink i do a mixture of the two types you said, i dip and also whip the colour out so you dont see the obvious colour change, i do only dip one alot of the time then wash out the tip then go straight into the second colour, do you circle with your blends or whip out only, been looking at tanane whitfields work and i can see it looks like he whips from what i can make out on his blends (i can see some tracks but very faint).

asa i have capobiancos dvd and its so good to watch, i also have my hand done by him and got to watch that but was a little star struck to remember much apart from he went SUPER DEEP and it hurt so fucking bad.

do long taper mags put in more ink than the medium taper?, are they easier and less traumatic??
ive just got me some killerink size 12' mags and they not long taper like the pin up ones ive been using forever.

so much info here guys really appreaciate it, loads.

[megas]

try dipping your tip to water to make the color work like a wash..if u are doing circular motions for color try the wipping technique like u would do for black and gray...sorry for my bad english.hope u understood what i meant

[evlink2006]

Because my hand speed is so fast it tends to be a modified whip scrub combo thing. LOL

[tattood]

i love the whip, scrub, circle, motion..lol..

[zack_fa1r]

Ill be whip and scrubbing from now on and see what tge diff makes on the healing. Anybody help on the long against medium taper differences?

[Tengu315]

This is what I heard from some one a wile back,and made sense to me...
He said that we are not pushing the ink into the skin ,instead when the holes that are stretched open by the tips of the needles start to retract when the needle is pulled out, it causes a vacuum , which will suck the ilk in.. So the fatter the tip of the needle(short taper) the bigger the holes and more pigment goes in... But there is more trauma to the skin.. I personally think medium taper is best for color and try to get it in with less passes as possible ..
I also think that it's better not to over do it if your having a hard time for some reason ,and have them comeback if possible and go over it later after its healed . It will be much easier the second time and a better result.
It's going to be on them forever so I don't think they will mined a better result.

[PAWNJOB]

@Zack

I don't feel like writing a book right now but if you'd like to pm me with your phone number or ask for mine I'd be more than happy to talk to you and I'll give you an earful about both the needle choice and more specifically the softer or harder hitting machine.

Sent from my SCH-S720C using Tapatalk 2

[casey]

^^ Now thats a cool offer, good man:)

[zack_fa1r]

tengu thats makes sense thanks, pawnjob ive pm'd you man.