Questions to ask my artist

I will be getting my first tattoo in the fall, and I have found an artist who's work I love and I really think he would do a great job creating my custom tattoo (and my first tattoo for that matter). What questions are necessary to ask your artist?

1. Can I see Pictures of the work you've done? Images should be amazing, not just ok. It sounds like you have that one covered. 2. Are you licensed? All tattoo shops should be licensed by the local board of health. The artists should be as well, but some laws are different on how they handle that one, sometimes the shop license covers everyone. Artists should be trained in CPR, 1st Aid, OSHA Bloodbourne Pathogen training, and Prevent- ing disease transmission at the very least. 3. What steps do you take to prevent cross-contamination? Artists should be maintaining a clean environment, new sterile single use needles for every client, sterile instruments, bagged spray bottles, clip cords, machines, barrier protection on power supplies (or finger condom on the knob), unused ink gets disposed of, all surfaces should be cleaned after each and every tattoo with Madacide or Cavacide (or an equivalent) and HB Wipes. Rinse cups disposed of properly. Artists should be changing gloves regularly during procedure, and not touching anything that would be touched later on with or without gloves such as cell phones, ink bottles, sink knobs, etc. 4. Can I see your autoclave, and a copy of your last spore test? Check with your local health department when autoclaves must be spore tested, usually it's monthly. Either way, find out if they're complying with the spore test. It gets sent into an independent lab for analysis and a copy gets sent to the tattoo shop which they're supposed to keep on file. This insures that the autoclave is functioning properly and sterilizing the instruments correctly. There is a little color changing mark on the bag that instruments and needles get sterilized in that will change color when processed, but it only changes color when the autoclave hits about 200 degrees F. This is not sterilizing so don't fall for the color changing on the bag line. Spore testing is the best way to tell if it's working properly. Some shops use the 3M Sterigage strips in their cycles and keep a log for each sterilization cycle. This is an acceptable alternative to the bag changing color.

Thanks alot! Very helpful!

The K-man hit all the important points to go over...remember if your artist falls short on any of these topics or can't or won't answer your questions...RUN don't walk...RUN out the door!!!..T