new tattooers and equipment regulation...

I've noticed on a lot of the posts here that it is the general reaction to discourage all newcomers to the tattoo field. And I've thought to myself...Is it the huge amount of newcomers to the field that is the real problem, or is it the fact that any newcomer can easily get their hands on equipment that should most likely be regulated in some way? Afterall, the futuire of tattooing does,in my opinion, depend on new and talented arists finding their way to tattoo. Doesn't mass numbers of "wannabe artists" also equal mass numbers of people interrested in tattoos? I mean, obviously if the equipment was not so inexpensive and readily available, one would almost be forced to compete for an apprenticeship to learn the trade.Wouldn't this in some way let the "cream" rise to the top. And do you think there should be some sort of tattoo organization(maybe similar to APT) that should step up and recommend regulations for the sale of equipment to the general public ,for our own industry, before politicians decide to make it their next crusade and decide how to regulate it for us? what do you think. p.smith gully cat tattoo austin,tx. www.tattooartists.org/paulsmith

i must agree with you on the post here for if we are to tattoo SAFELY then the need to EDUCATE one is and should be of one of our upmost prioritys true enough i have seen my share of enthusiast wishing to tatoo wether its for the hot babes or the fast buck and for those that think this is such A COOL thing well then let the smoke clear from your eyes open them up and get a good look at the behind the scenes the hours you spend drawing a portrait for a client the time taken daily to disassemble the tubes clean soak scrub resoak reassemble bag sterilize the time it takes to make needles tune your machines scrub the shop down on a daily basis the days where you set waiting for the door to open to hopefully get a tattoo to buy your dinner that night because you just spent your last set of earnings on supplys and some of your overhead cost along with the endless list of chores to be done to maintain safety as far as the (APT) goes i have talked to several artist over the state regs in different states it seems to me that yes we do need to regulate sales to control these parts of the industry but in doing such are we not labeling ourself as a self centered type in our eyes where we see the daily ontrouge of bad scared work we would say no but to joe public it may be different this is one thing that makes america what we are the right to pursue ones happiness and be self employed to choose our failures and learn from them thus reverting back to those of us that are artist needing to teach those willing to learn and make it a way of life not just a cool fast buck thing to do look around medical supplies along with emergency response supplies are also available to the general public you just need to know where to look while i do agree that just picking up a kit and thinking you can tattoo should be banned forthwit i must stand behind the fact that we as americans have the right to pursue what we want.i would love to see the gov declare a teaching system and issue a certification of course passed before you are released into the tattoo world and along with such you then deserve the right to ask and possibilly obtain a formal apprenticeship to better and fine tune your skills but i have seen on more than one ocassion fellow tattoo artist push for such a deal trying to make the home tattooing illegal and levy heavy fines on those that do such but most attempts have failed misserably or the gov has gone overboard with there standards and make it totaly disgusting and legal dribble to obtain a license so in short i feel that this industry will remain a topic on our minds and we can only educate those in the general publics eyes on the factors of being SAFELY tattooed in a safe enviroment and hopefully the general public as a whole will pull together and rattle the cages of the sleeping senate congress and say we as the people demand a set of standards for this industry just as there are standards for several other carrers

I have a couple things to say about this topic. I guess its a little picky. As for this state and it's shops, it is VERY difficult to have a passion for tattooing ina shop when getting a shop job is SO hard. I worked as an apprentice at Positive Image Tattoos for 2 years and got dicked around, just like every apprentice should. Normal stuff. For a year i never made a dollar (of course), even when i tattooed. I scrubbed floors, and sanitized tubes, took apart autoclaves and cleaned them, dissassembled ultra sonics and fine tuned them, sat for hours in front of a tattoo gun tuning it. I've done tattoos to where after my overhead, I couldn't eat because I had to buy more supplies. I've stayed for four hours over my time to make sure that the customers who waited got what they wanted. I've hand scrubbed bathrooms and basically sucked the dicks of tattoo artists to make my way from the bottom. So I can definitely see how it is very hard to see people make money out of their house. However, I have gone back to tattooing out of my house. Call me a wimp, a fag, a pussy, or a wannabe. I PASSED my apprenticeship stage. I just understand that my passion for tattooing and being a starving artist is great... but it cannot go hand in hand if I want to be the father to my child I see myself being. I choose to continue to tattoo from the side. I see both sides of the ballgame. I know the shop life, and how hard it is... and as many people come to me and say, "This guy did this for me with a kit he bought." Completely saturated with bad Staph infection... I dont agree with not tattooing out of the house, self employment even by means of taxual evasion is human and sometimes necessary. However, for cross contamination, Staph infections, Hepatitis, improper knowledge... I do beleive there are too many risks involved for the CUSTOMER to let people just buy a kit and call themselves tattoo artists. Good Topic.