Once you have decided what you want permanently inked into your skin, you get to start the preparation for creating a tattoo. This procedure is done by the tattooist and involves getting the customer into the chair and getting the area to be tattooed ready to receive the ink. This will involve the cleansing of the area and the removal of any hair. Then the artist will apply the picture to the area to be tattooed by putting an image transference paper known as flash with the outline of the image to be tattooed onto the skin.

Then the tattoo artist prepares the colors of inks he or she desires to use and the caps to hold the ink. The needle tips are chosen that will be needed for the creation of the tattoo. A good tattooist will make sure that he adheres to the health code and keep all the area clean. Most of the items, like needles and ink caps, are one-use-only and will be sterile wrapped to help reduce the chances of infections and diseases spreading.

Taking a machine that uses a needle to lay the ink deep into the skin makes a tattoo, so this means a lot of tiny puncture wounds are being made. There will be some bleeding. Under normal circumstances this will not be great. The main thing to avoid is drinking alcohol. Alcohol has a thinning effect on the blood and will produce a much greater amount of blood loss. No reputable tattooist will perform their services on one they know to have been drinking.

Depending on the size of your design and how long your tattooist is willing to work at any given moment will dictate how long it will take to get a tattoo finished. If it is small it can be done in one sitting usually in about 30 minutes to an hour. Medium to large sized tattoos can be done in one session. However, sometimes they are done over a period of several sessions some days apart. Very complex and large tattoos are almost always done over several sessions.