The Life of an Apprentice

I remember as a child living in Spokane Washington, always being drawn to art, especially tattoos. Seeing beautiful works of art forever imprinted on someone’s skin made me want tattoos of my own, but also made me want to be part of the body art community. I immediately took to all things art-related and began drawing, painting, and sculpting anything I could. Once I got older, I began looking for an apprenticeship in the tattooing industry.

Living in Los Angeles, there are tattoo shops all over the place and it was difficult to get into the scene. I was contacted by a shop in Spokane,WA and was offered a free Tattoo apprenticeship (which is almost unheard of). The only stipulation was that I had to move to Washington, which I was more than okay with. I packed my stuff and moved with the hope of learning all I could about tattooing.

First thing first, I had to take a bloodborne pathogen class to learn about how different diseases are spread and how to prevent the spreading of said diseases. I learned how to properly set up and break down the artist’s tattoo stations using gloves and always being aware of open needles and fluids, preventing any cross-contamination. I was taught the importance of a clean work environment; i.e. sweeping, mopping, disinfecting. I learned to use the right kind of cleaning supplies like bleach and medicine because of the fact that alcohol and many other cleaning agents don’t actually kill hepatitis or HIV effectively. While taking all the proper precautions are necessary, one of the biggest way to prevent the spreading of diseases in to wash your hands with antibacterial soap before and after tattooing.

Next came the endless stenciling. In order to get the practice, I was given many, many pages of tattoo flash and told to trace each of them twice. At first, my lines were shaky and didn’t quite match up perfectly, but as they say, practice makes perfect. Eventually, I was stenciling faster, straighter, and more precise. I practiced the placement of different pieces on myself and friends to get the hang of where they would flow best for the body art and also the practice symmetry and balance. Today we have fancy stenciling machines in our shop that print the Tattoo stencil for you, but when I started learning in 2010 everything was done by hand.

After stenciling came learning the mechanics of a tattoo machine. My boss sat me down and taught me about how a coil machine works. An electrical current from the power supply box is sent through the clipboard and into the battery of the machine. The battery directs the charge to spring and an armature bar which is connected to the needle and thus causes it to bounce back and forth. So many different things affect exactly how the needle will hit the skin and how the ink will disperse, such as how high or low you run your power supply, how far your needle is sticking out of the tube, how tight your rubber band is, and even the placement of the rubber band.

Before I was able to work with a machine, I had to learn how to sterilize it and how to sterilize the steel tubes that we used. That was when I was introduced to an autoclave. An autoclave is a device that either heats up and pressurizes or heats up and vibrates. Both kinds are used to sterilize all kinds of tattoo, piercing, and medical equipment. You can’t put a machine in an autoclave so you must use a mix of bleach and water or magnitcide to wipe it down. The tubes, however, are made of solid steel and need to be cleaned differently. First I was taught how to scrub them down, inside and out, and then package them in special sterilizing pouches. Afterward, the tubes are stuck into the autoclave and it is set to a proper temperature and time.

Once I got that down, I finally got my own equipment and began practicing on myself and my friends. It was definitely a shock to learn how such a different medium worked and felt. The various body art techniques and use of different sized needles were not taught to me originally because my boss at the time was honestly not the best teacher and was mostly using me for labor. I have since expanded my horizons by learning by experience and practice, but a lot of my fine-tuning in the field came from the shop I am currently apprenticing in now.

The shop I’m in now is fantastic. Not only are all the artists easy to get along with, but they are all very knowledgeable about their craft and willing to teach me. Since coming to this shop, my tattoo work has improved drastically. I’ve learned so many little things that I was never originally taught. It feels like I learn something new everyday and I love it.

All in all, the experience of being an apprentice is something I wouldn’t trade for the world. I get to make the world a more beautiful place by decorating people and even though it’s been a hard journey, I’m now where I wished I was when I was a child. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the definition of living the dream. Now im at the best tattoo shop in the world and can’t believe the talent im surrounded by. If your ever looking for the best tattoo shops in Spokane, Then check us out at All About It ink Spokane Washington.