white ink

Am having an ace of spades done actual size - will the large area of white background need to be done at a later stage than the spade design and outline? Any other advice on white ink? Thanks.

I had an allergic reaction to white ink. Very strange. It was months after I got my tat, and all of a sudden it started to itch in one spot like a bug bite or something. After a few days other parts of my tat started itching too. Took me a while to figure it out, but I finally realized it was JUST the white areas...they were all raised within the black outline. So weird. Anyway, that came and went for a few weeks/couple months, and then...voila! The white is GONE! Anyway, I tell people and they think I'm nuts...they say stuff like "I thought you could only be allergic to the red ink." Duh...I've heard other people say they had reactions to other colors, one being yellow. Anyway, I know that's not really what you were asking, but I just wanted to share my experience with white (and I only had a little!)

personaly i like to stay away from using large amounts of white. if i were doing it i would recomend doing some highlights around the a and the spade and the outline. white is pretty hard to get really solid and it may need a touch up after it heals. i have a couple good sized areas of solid white and it tured out ok , thought not as large as your ace will be. i wouldnt worry about haveing an allergic reaction. i havnt heard of anyone haveing a reaction like that to white but somepeople just will not hold it and the sun can fade it pretty damn fast.

This may sound weird but could help, you didnt list the type of ink your useing but i have had the best results with starbright white heres the weird part it seems to pack in larger areas if i leave the top off in a clean area untill the white goes from a soupy texture to a texture or thickness of white school glue it also seems to hold longer im sure you could speed the process using heat (some people do the heat process with black in order to have a more brilliant black) but i allow it to form on its own! I also would suggest turning your power down a little and think of it as putting in tribals! end of sermon!

As a non-tattoo artist I can say that if you really have yer shit together, you can make white ink stay and work (and in large areas). I say this looking at the Egret tattooed on my right leg that goes from ankle to knee. Very large white bird. Lou Jacque is the man!