Saturday 28 May 2011

Sugar Skull tattoo meaning, design and pictures

Continuing on from our Blog about Skull tattoo meaning, design and pictures, there’s also Sugar Skull Tattoos.

Sugar skulls are commonly used in conjunction with the Day of The Dead festival which is a Mexican Tradition.
On November 1st is All Saint’s Day which is a celebration of children & infants that have passed away throughout the year and November 2nd is All Saint’s Day, a day for celebration of all adults have passed away.

Just like skulls, some people get Sugar Skulls to commemorate a death of a person, a renewal of life, or just because they like it!


By Andy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

Skull tattoo meaning, design and pictures

Skull tattoos have a number of symbolic purposes. Majority being death and mortality. At first glance they may look gothic or negative, they don’t always mean what they resemble !

Skulls can be drawn as cutesy doodles, demonic spirits, celebrations etc. Each person that has a skull on them has a reason for it. In not every case they are meaningful but in some, they may be !

Skull symbolism may include:
* Overcoming death or a tough time
* A past life or changes in ones life
* Protection
* Power
* Strength


Some of our work:


By Andy

By Andy

By Andy

By Andy

By Andy

By Andy

By Andy- Jimmy’s hand

By Andy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy- Freehand

By Jimmy- Freehand (part 2)

Tribal tattoo meaning, design and pictures

For the majority, tribal tattoos are originally from ancient tribal art and don’t really have a significant meaning. Although some designs do have certain meanings for specific tribes.

Most designs have solid black lines and tend to be random patterns of lines and curves that are put together to create an abstract form of art.


Here’s some of our work:

Jimmy fix up- Before

Jimmy fix up- After

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy


By Andy

By Andy

By Andy

By Andy

Tattoo Process- Part 2 – Sterilization & Prep for Your Tattoo

Any puncture wound has potential for infect and the transmition of diseases so most of the process focuses on the safety of the tattooist and the clients.

To eliminate the possibility of contamination, majority of the materials used in tattoos are disposable and single use only, including:
* Inks
* Ink cups
* Gloves
* Needles

Most single-use items arrive in sterile packaging, which the artist will open in front of the customer.
Reusable materials (the needle bar and tube) are sterilized before every use!
The only acceptable sterilization method is an autoclave (a heat/steam/pressure unit often used in hospitals and dental clinics)  they kill every organism on the equipment.


 Before working on customers, tattoo artists wash and inspect their hands for cuts and abrasions and put clean gloves on. Then they do the following:
•Disinfect the work area with an EPA-approved viricide.
•Place plastic bags on spray bottles to prevent cross-contamination.
•Remove all equipment from sterile packaging in front of the client.
•Shave and disinfect (with a mixture of water and antiseptic soap) the area to be tattooed.


They will then dispose of the gloves used to set up, and put a fresh set on before commencing work.

Tattoo Process – Part 1 – Ink, Machine & Your Body

Tattoo artists create your permanent tattoo by injecting special ink into your skin.

This is all possible by using an electric-powered tattoo machine (It’s not a tattoo “gun” as people believe: GUNS KILL, MACHINE CREATE!).

The machine moves a solid needle up and down to puncture the skin between 50 to 3,000 times PER MINUTE!
Don’t worry though, the needle only penetrates the skin by around a millimeter!


Modern tattoo machines have the same basic components no matter what brand of machine they are using:


•A sterilized needle
•A “tube” which draws the ink through the machine
•An electric motor linked to a tattoo power supply
•A foot pedal (just like those used for sewing machines, which controls the movement of the needle)


When you are looking at a tattoo, you are looking at the ink through the Epidermis (outer layer of the skin).
The ink is actually in the Dermis (second layer of skin) which is more stable, hence the permanence of the tattoo!



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Lettering & Word Tattoos

Wikipedia’s definition of “lettering”:The letters inscribed on something, esp. decorative ones

 Wikipedia’s definition of “words”:A single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence and typically shown with a space on either side when written or printed.
We love hearing stories about why people get certain names, words or quotes permanently tattooed onto them… Best thing, there’s no rules about it!
Just like any tattoo.. You get what you want, the style you want and where you want it !


Here’s some of the tattoos our artists have done lately:


By Andy

By Andy

By Andy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy

By Jimmy


By Jimmy

By Jimmy

Get to know us- Custom Skins Tattoo- AKA Gabba Tattoo Studio

Andy “Fang” – Tattooist

James “Jimmy” – Tattooist

Brett “Brett~O” – Tattooist

Lauren “Lolly” – Apprentice tattooist & Receptionist