A Day in the Life of a Tattoo Apprentice

It's been many years since I did my apprenticeship, 16 to be exact, and although the tattoo industry is constantly evolving and progressing, I feel that the fundamentals and the values it holds remain the same.

It's time for me to give back: Offering my first ever tattoo apprenticeship.

I feel like I am at a stage in my career now where I am in the position to pass on some of these values, knowledge, and skills to an aspiring young artist. The prospect of having an apprentice excites me as I can mentor them, watch them develop, and become (hopefully) a brilliant tattoo artist.

I advertised that I was looking for an apprentice on the studio Instagram last week @blacktapestrytattoo. I wanted to be transparent from the get-go with regards to what will be expected of the apprentice, so the ad read as follows:

“We’re looking for an apprentice to join the gang here @blacktapestrytattoo. The perfect applicant must be highly motivated with a passion for art and tattooing. You would be expected at the studio 3-4 days per week. Duties would include emails/calls/socials/admin, setting up for artists, and keeping the studio clean - all whilst learning how the studio runs. You’ll have the opportunity to come to conventions with the team to get a better feel for the industry. Please note this is an unpaid apprenticeship. After around 6 months, you’ll start practising on fake skin, then once you’ve proven you're up to it, you’ll be moving onto real skin on unpaid clients/friends before progressing onto paying clients. (Just to give you a rough idea of the length of the apprenticeship)”

Let's clear this up : The instagram backlash about an unpaid tattoo apprenticeship.

After reading some of the comments on the Instagram post, it seems that a lot of people felt that it is unfair not to pay an apprentice and expect them to do tasks such as cleaning, calls, and emails, so I have decided to go into a little more detail about what I expect of a tattoo apprentice, what they can expect to get in return from me, and why I think that it is a fair offer.

Please note that this is just the offer that I put on the table; other tattoo apprenticeships in other studios may vary slightly:

What I expect from a tattoo apprenticE

Be in the studio for at least 3-4 days per week from 9:30 am-5:30 pm.

Sweep & mop the floors at the beginning of the day.

This is one I’d like to go into a little bit more. Cleanliness and hygiene are of the utmost importance in a tattoo studio. We come into contact with dangerous bodily fluids and need to ensure that cross-contamination does not happen. A clean floor is just the beginning of maintaining a clean and sterile tattoo studio, which is why it is necessary for an apprentice to take on this task. You have to learn everything from the bottom up. Please bear in mind that my studio is 5x8m, so not a huge area to sweep and mop and it takes a maximum of 10 minutes. We have a communal kitchen/bathroom which is cleaned by an external company, which is included in the service charge I pay to the building.

Set up the tattoo artists’ stations and beds.

This includes sanitizing the areas and wrapping all surfaces in clingfilm. Ensure that the stations have gloves, paper towels, and all other consumables. This is an essential task so the apprentice is familiar with everything that is used during the tattoo and so they will know how to set up their own station when the time comes.

Greeting clients and putting them at ease

Welcome clients into the building, offer them a drink, check their ID, ask them to fill out a tattoo consent form, and notify the tattoo artist if any of the answers are a cause for concern. It is important to understand what these causes for concern may be and what to do in those situations.

Answer the phone and reply to studio emails.

This is another one I wanted to go into some detail about as a few expressed concerns that the tattoo apprentice does not need to be my ‘secretary’. Black Tapestry Tattoo is an appointment-only studio; we have no shop front, no passing trade, and do not have a front desk that needs to be manned throughout the day should someone walk in off the street. As we are a fairly new studio, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and all of our artists deal with their own bookings via their own personal email addresses - we do not receive many calls or emails to the studio. (This is something I am working on this year by spending money on the upkeep of this website and paying for advertising on Google and Instagram. So hopefully the studio and the artists within become busier and more established.) So to think that the apprentice is going to be some sort of ‘secretary’ is totally incorrect. I myself personally take care of my own emails so the apprentice would not be required to spend time doing that.

However, it is important that the tattoo apprentice needs to answer calls and emails. Let's say a potential client calls up asking how much ‘X’ would cost and how long it takes to heal - the apprentice needs to be able to know how to correctly price the tattoo and advise the client about the healing process - something that they will learn as they progress in their apprenticeship by being in the studio around the artists, asking them questions, and learning from them.

Order studio supplies from online tattoo retailers.

This is important as it allows the apprentice to become familiar with every product we use in the studio, what those products are used for, and the best places to source them.

Clean artists' stations after each tattoo.

This is an essential task so the apprentice understands how to correctly clean up after a tattoo and ensure that the space is sanitized ready for the next client. Something that they will then have to do daily when they have completed their apprenticeship. Again this is a super important fundamental task that they must do to minimise the possibility of cross-contamination and ensure that they are working in a clean environment.

Clean and sterilize steel tubes using the ultrasonic and autoclave.

These are two extremely important machines in a tattoo studio as they ensure that the equipment that we use daily is clean and ready for the next tattoo. A lot of tattoo equipment today is single-use and disposable, however, some artists (myself included) still use steel tubes which we re-use, so it is imperative that these are cleaned correctly. Another task the apprentice must learn so that they can be assured that the equipment that they are using is safe and sterile for use.

All of the above daily tasks may seem unnecessary to some of you but they are the fundamentals in maintaining a clean and safe environment for clients and artists. These values have to be instilled in tattoo apprentices from the very beginning so that they understand the importance of cleanliness and hygiene in a tattoo environment.

All of these daily tasks should take a maximum of 1-2 hours per day depending on how busy the studio is and how many different clients pass through the doors on any given day. For the remainder of the day, the tattoo apprentice is welcome to sit with the artists, watch them tattoo, ask questions, practice their drawing, watch seminars, or read tattoo books. I personally think that 1-2 hours of ‘work’ per day is a very small price to pay for the benefits they will receive in being an apprentice at Black Tapestry Tattoo.

The offer: What I will give to the apprentice in return

My time.

I will give the apprentice my time. I will explain and show them how every single part of the studio works. I will show them how to correctly set up and break down a tattoo station. I will show them how to set up and use a tattoo machine. They will learn how to use coils, rotaries, and pen machines. I will sit with them whilst they practice tattooing on fake skin. I will have conversations and discussions with them about various aspects of tattooing and the tattoo industry.

My knowledge.

I have traveled all over the world to work with and learn from some of my favorite artists. I have competed and won awards at conventions. I have spent tens of thousands of pounds on every different type of machine, needle, and ink to find the right tools for the job at hand. The apprentice will have full access to the knowledge, skills, and techniques that I have painstakingly collected over the past 16 years in my tattoo career.

The Studio.

The apprentice will have full access to the tattoo studio which has top-of-the-range equipment and supplies. They will learn to tattoo with the best machines in the right environment.

Other artists.

The apprentice will be able to learn from the other artists in the studio and all of the other guest artists who pass through. They will be able to learn a variety of skills from a wide range of tattoo styles.

Life skills.

I will teach my apprentice how to best organize their diary. How to market yourself correctly. How to build a trusting relationship with your clients. How to set yourself up in business and how to do your taxes.

Opportunities.

The apprentice can accompany the studio to tattoo conventions to fully immerse themselves in the industry and have the opportunity to meet or learn from their favourite artists at the shows.

A career.

Once the apprentice has proven that they are able to tattoo solid and clean tattoos on skin, then they will be taking the first steps into one of the best and most rewarding careers out there. It's not an easy ride, but if you have passion, ability, commitment, and the right attitude then the sky is the limit.

I understand that not everyone is in the position to be able to spare 3-4 days per week unpaid but unfortunately, that is the offer that I am proposing. It is the same offer that most of the tattoo artists that you know will have received and eagerly accepted. A tattoo career is something that needs to be earned, not something handed out for free. It is a sacred art dating back thousands of years and needs to be fully respected and understood. When you get a tattoo, you are being scarred for life; surely you want to sit comfortably in the knowledge that the person sat in front of you with the needle and ink has been through the correct training and has learned the importance of cleanliness and hygiene?

A longstanding history of tattoo apprenticeships

When I did my apprenticeship, that was the ONLY way you could learn to tattoo (besides just buying a tattoo machine off of the internet and having a go on your mates) - Nowadays, you can pretty much learn most things on YouTube, which is helpful, but will only get you so far. An apprenticeship in a studio will teach you so much more than what you can learn from YouTube, not to mention the fact that you would be starting your career in a well-established and respected tattoo studio surrounded by skilled artists with years of experience - definitely something that YouTube cannot offer you.

To sum this all up

All of the above is what I can give back to my tattoo apprentice in return for their time, their commitment, respect, and enthusiasm. If you’re still here and reading this with me, then I thank you and I hope it has given you a deeper understanding of why I feel that an apprentice does not need to be paid money and they will be earning a wealth of skills and knowledge which will be the building blocks of an amazing career which some can only dream of having.

To quote Mark Twain, “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Thanks

Chris a.k.a Bintt

21/07/2024 - Update - We are no longer looking for a tattoo apprentice. Thank you.