Carbon Alternatives

My cousin has been showing me the ropes of tattooing, and Ive got a good grip on it. My girl just bought me my own kit and Ive been running into nothing but probs so far. I cant find carbon paper anywhere around here. Ive tried Kinkos, Staples, office Depot, CompUSA, Target, Wally World and noone had anything. I finally found it, but it wont transfer for nothing. Where is this stuff found? Also, the medical soap, what if I used some antibacterial soap instead? Any harm for minor work on myself?

you dont have a clue little man... get a good grip on that.

Your cousin should be able to answer all these questions. If you arnt learning in a respected studio (it sounds like you arnt if your asking these questions), your just fucking up your friends and family. Keep drawing on paper and getting good tattoos until an oppertunity to apprentice at a great studio comes around. Hacking out of your house doesnt do anyone any good. It does create lots of messes you will have to deal with later on, though...

wow...if by some chance you ever luck upon a real apprenticeship you will look back upon your question with great amusement/embarassment...

Jesus christ you guys are beiung assholes and not answering this guys question. Why are u being dicks? so what if he fucks up his own tattoos? it's his mistake to make, and he is gonna fuck up even more if you don't give him some advice other than "just keep drawing until you can get an apprenticeship". Like that's just gonna magically happen? I doubt it. You guys shouldn't act like you're better than everyone else and just answer the person's question you fucking pricks.

http://www.spaulding-rogers.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=5001&Category_Code=GS

You guys keep acting like.t does not take any training for any profession.Even if you were a plumber you have to do some type of training.EVERY PROFESSION TAKES TRAINING.Tattooing even more so because we are permanently marking peoples bodys.And using tools that if not sterile will kill people.Open your eyes people tattooing is not easy even if you have a free apprenticship most of you will most likely still suck and thats the strait up truth.If you dont no the difference between carbon paper and thermofax paper you should not be putting peoples lives at risks because i am willing to bet that you dont no about keeping a sterile environment.Thats before the art even begins,To those that really are artist and feel they dont want an apprenticship,And i am starting to think it is the same couple of girls and guys that keep filling up the forum space with your bullshit.At least get some tattoos from some real artist and maybe asked some questions.Give a little support Read some books.And so on.And the ones that dont have time because they have kids and so on must realize that if you dont have time to find an apprenticship or leave your house and all that you will in no way be able to put in to tattooing what it takes to be successfull. And if you think i am being mean.Tell that to the guy or girl that gets very sick from your dirty needles that you were to lazy to learn the rite way.This is not a joke your playing with peoples lives.

Your right nice person, getting an apprenticeship doesnt "just magically happen'. It takes a killer portfolio and being in the right place at the right time. Neither of those things is magical, though they both take hard work. In fact, they are very concrete steps that if taken will lead to a very fun time working hard at a very important art form. Hell, being in the right place at the right time really consists of getting tattooed by great artists for years, I cant think of any other job that has such a fun application process... Lazy people and those that defend them continue to baffle me. If these people stopped to think about it they would realize that of course one of the most important things about tattooing is patience, both getting tattoos and learning how to do em. Without patience, tattooing is gonna !@#$ you up.... We dont want to help people !@#$ up, we want to help them learn the right way. Stop being lazy people, and stop defending them.

Brian and Gabe nailed it. Its just a matter of laziness. If you people want to just sit around being lazy and hack up your friends with no knowledge on what you're doing, knock yourselves out. Your friends and family are equally as stupid as you if they let you do your thing on them, and then you have the nerve to ask the pros how to do this and that. Remember, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS CLUELESS. YOU'RE THE ONE ASKING US THE QUESTIONS. IF YOU DON'T LIKE OUR ANSWERS, FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO!!!!!! STOP EXPECTING US TO JUST HAND OVER INFORMATION TO YOU JUST BECAUSE YOU ASKED!!! Something you might want to actually try out for a change- TRY PROVING YOU'RE WORTHY OF LEARNING HOW TO TATTOO!!! The spoiled brats are just coming out of the woodwork lately.

Hey "nice person", If everone on this board is being a dick....Why don't you go ahead and tell him? Give him your professional opinion on how to apply a stencil.

Hey Nice person ...do us all a favor and tell us where we can see some of your work (this oughta be REAL good!...Taz

You can get the 3M stencil paper up on ebay or in many of the tattoo shops on the internet. They work well, to apply them just use the old speed stick method. As for the green soap they sell it all over the place and I would stick with it then using any other type of soap..plus I love the smell of it.. smells just like when you walk into a tattoo shop.

Liz, if you had the health training that you claim to have had, you would know that using speed stick is a no-no in terms of prevention of cross contamination unless you're buying a new stick for each and every tattoo and throwing the used one away after every tattoo. If you don't want to get an apprenticeship, thats your own business but don't go spreading misinformation on these forums at the same time when you apparently don't know what you're doing either.

Then why the hell do they use it to apply the tattoo in the shops and if Im so wrong what is it then?? My husband and I have both had tattoos done and thats what they used so Im going on what Ive seen myself. I would also say if you clean the skin with the green soap you can also apply the stencil and you should still get a good outline off of it but dont listen to me im not an expert... And well he says hes only doing himself. Again Ive kindly asked you not to bother with me. And for your information I have looked into a apprenticeship in my area and Im getting all the training and information that I need. Thank you and good day!!

believe me, I would love nothing more than to not bother with you, but when you're telling people what to do when you don't even know yourself, and what you're telling them could potentially spread disease, thats where it hits a sour note, and I will have no problem correcting you. If you don't like what you hear, then stop offering information that is wrong and potentially dangerous. You, my dear, along with many others are going by outdated information and living by it. Try keeping up with bloodbourne pathogen training and prevention of disease transmission classes and you won't have to deal with people like me telling you what your saying is wrong. Then maybe your dream will come true and we won't bother with you

Im going by what I have experienced myself so I guess the artist that did the lizard man..i wont use his name for privacy reasons...was using the wrong method then..if it is so out dated then what would be the correct procedure to apply a stencil since your the "expert", wouldnt want to give false info to anyone. O' thats right you wont divulge that information.

What do I have to put my certificate up here for you eyes to see that I have passed with flying colors on the proper course to make you happy.

Liz why do all of us have to have the same argument over and over..... As Gabe has said as well as others this is not a forum for teaching the technics of tattooing. We try to be nice and let people know their is a proper place to learn.It is getting very redundant saying that! We as artists are too busy to be a babysitter in helping you learn the proper way of doing things. For every one thing we tell you to do correctly your going to do two things wrong. We have one response to you and others trying to learn at home, PLEASE get a formal apprenticeship thats our answer if you dont like it, post somewhere else.

Simply put and understood. I respect your opinions because your not disrespectful. I understand your discontent with people trying to learn at home but simply telling someone the proper way to apply a stencil isnt really harmful in my opinion. But you can get the proper information if you just look around the internet or get a tattoo and watch how they do it. I understand this isnt the place to learn techniques, but instead of being rude and mean like some people on this board it can be simply put like you stated. Enough said...

"But you can get the proper information if you just look around the internet or get a tattoo and watch how they do it." i just watched an open heart surgery on the medical channel. im going to give my wife one for shits and giggles.... oh yeah the reason not to use speed stick.... you shave a customer then run speed stick over fresh shaved skin picking up bacteria or any blood bourne pathogeons. then you put the cap on it .. in comes your next customer and you shave them. take contaminated speedstick from previous customer and apply to the new customers freshly shaven area transmitting any blood bourne pathogeons to the area. but hey thats how the other guy did it..

Love you too!! How can you compare heart surgery to applying a stencil.. So how about this use speed stick for the stencil then throw it away after every use...there no CROSS CONTAMINATION!!

You know I guess there is a chance of cross contamination with the speed stick so its better to error on the side of safety and not use it as has been done it the past and my guess still is in many places. So instead of blasting it why don't you tell what you use. Ok! Oh, and by the by, the main ingredients in the speed stick are bactericidal and kill more “germs” than green soap, that’s how the stuff works to keep odor down. I guess the same could be said about using Sharpies to free hand a stencil they should be new and only used once too (I wonder how many thought of that). I would say that a solution with IPA and/or ethanol in water could be sprayed on and would do the job with out the fear of cross contamination, I will have to try it to see how well it works. Thanks for all the help, I don’t know how I could learn anything with out it! Oh I forgot this is not the place, Oh what could I have been thinking

Again, just one more reason why the Internet is a poor teacher. You have one person telling you her opinion, and others telling you there's. Under normal circumstances not a terrible plan, but when it comes to something like cross contamination, there should be no arguing, or opinions, and people not in the business, should keep there two cents to themselves. Speed stick is a poor choice for stencil transfers. For one it will breed much cross contamination if allowed to get out of hand. It's out dated because of what we've been made aware of in cross contamination techniques. The anti bacterial part of Speed stick while capable of killing the germs that make odor, are a poor substitute for say staff infection, Hepatitis, and a host of other nasty virus's. IM sure there are people out there still using it, but its a bad habit, and not one that should be taught. Any item used during the tattoo procedure, is either barrier protected, or tossed at the end of the tattoo. This includes pens, razors, etc... Keep in mind people didn't where gloves in this industry for years. A bad habit that was corrected. This is one of those bad habits that should be corrected, in a shop environment, not a forum. If your asking about something as simple as stencil transfer, is obvious that you've no idea what your doing, and there fore should not be asking here. JOE

One good technique is to use a surgical prescrub on the area being tattooed. Technicare is great but Iodine will usually work well. Clean the area well with isopropyl alcohol or benzochlonium chloride to remove the prescrub. Shave the area, if needed with a disposable razor that you use exactly once. Everything I listed above should be available in single packs which minimize the reuse of containers. Where necessary use dispensers, such as spray or squeeze bottles, that you touch with sterile hands or gloves and don't touch again for the rest of the procedure. Any bottle that you may need to touch during the procedure should be covered with a disposable surface barrier, in most cases a sandwich baggie with a corner cut out of it. The stencils are most easily made with a 3m thermofax machine but the paper can be used to make handrawn stencils. The stencil can be applied using Tincture of Green Soap( some artists apply this straight whilst some prefer to cut it with distilled water and/or glycerin and/or alcohol and/or you name it, witch hazel anyone?). This should also be applied from a sterile container. Coat the area with a light application of your stencil spray and then press the stencil paper firmly against the skin, usually starting from the center and moving outward. You may need to make some cuts in the paper so the stencil will lay across the intended area. If so, use a pair of sterile siccors and make the cuts BEFORE you apply the stencil. There you go, don't give anybody Hep or Staph or Strep.