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Choices

What makes up the price of a tattoo

Nobody can name a fair price without knowing the design. What is possible: explaining which parts determine the price. Then you know what you’re asking for and why one piece costs more than another, even if they are the same size.

Time

The biggest part is the time in the chair. Not just the minutes with the machine in hand: setting up, taping off, shaving, placing the stencil, and cleaning and covering afterwards are part of it too. Every workstation has to be made clean and safe again after each client, so that is in every session.

Design

A custom design is work that happens before the session: drawing, adjusting, fitting it to your body. How that is arranged is something you discuss with the studio. Feel free to ask what happens if you want something changed or if your design isn’t finished yet.

Spot

The same motif takes less time on a flat forearm than on ribs, a neck or a hand. The skin is different there, you move more because of your breathing, and the tattoo artist has to pause more often. Spots that wear quickly or are hard to heal may also need touch-ups more often.

Technique and detail

Lots of very fine lines, solid black or dotwork with thousands of dots take more time than the size suggests. A portrait asks for something different than open linework. That’s why a price per square centimetre says little, and a fixed price based only on a photo is often a poor estimate.

Cover-up

A cover-up is almost always bigger and darker than the piece underneath, and needs more thinking beforehand. The old piece partly decides what is possible. More about this under cover-ups and in cover-up: what works and what doesn’t.

Materials

Needles and other parts that touch the skin are used per client, as are covering film, gloves and cleaning products. The ink also has to meet the European rules. These are not things where you want someone to cut corners. Feel free to ask how the studio handles this; see hygiene and rules.

Sessions

Large pieces are spread over several sessions, because your skin and your head set limits. Ask beforehand whether you pay per session, per hour or per piece, and roughly how many sessions the tattoo artist expects. An estimate remains an estimate: one body cooperates, another needs an extra appointment.

What to ask beforehand

  • Is this a fixed price, or an estimate based on time?
  • What is included, also regarding the design?
  • How does a deposit work, and what happens to it if you reschedule?
  • How are touch-ups after healing arranged?
  • Which payment methods does the studio accept?

Cheap and expensive

A low price isn’t bad by definition, and a high one isn’t good by definition. Look instead at healed work in the portfolio, at lines that still hold after years, and at how someone thinks along with you. You’ll wear a tattoo longer than almost anything you ever buy. So the main question is: who is doing it, and do you trust that person with your skin? A design idea and a spot are enough to ask for a first estimate via booking an appointment.

A deposit

Many studios ask for a deposit when they keep time free for you and are going to make a design. They can no longer give that time to someone else. How it works here, you’ll hear from the studio itself. Ask about it before you transfer anything, and also ask what happens if you fall ill.

Frequently asked

Why is there no price list?

Because the price depends on design, spot and time. With an idea, size and spot, the studio can give you an estimate.

Does a cover-up cost more?

Often it does, because the new piece is usually bigger and darker and needs more preparation.

Can I get a fixed price in advance?

That depends on the piece. Ask whether it’s a fixed price or an estimate, so you know where you stand.

Sources

General information, not medical or legal advice. Aftercare advice from the studio comes first.