smooth shadeing

[Anonymous]

any tips to getting the rich smooth shadeing effect useing mickey sharpz t-dial machine with a 7 mag and kuro sumi ink?

[imported_NeedleJack]

Hi,
I personnaly do not own a Mickey Sharpz but yes they are one of the better machines on the market. Regarding color transition from dark to light really it is a matter of your machine being set up correctly. Everybody on the top prefer to go with a longer stroke - add a little bit of power if you are having trouble getting the ink to penetrate tough skin areas.

As far as Kuro Sumi - set up a series of ink caps 1 drop = 1 cap 2 drop = next cap and so on then go and fill all of them with a little water and mix em up. Now you should have all the shades of grey you will need. Regarding the transition. Sling and wipe, sling and wipe, sling and wipe. Make sure you have adequate lighting. Step back at times to see all aspects of your transition. Hope that answered your question. PS -> Mags require an additional rubberband = 3 is good for a 7m. More rubberbands = more power needed to push that bad boy. Later

[Anonymous]

You say to increase the stroke..by how much?I use the nickel/dime method.I notice my shadeing is choppy looking is there some techniques you can describe that will help me smooth it out?

[imported_NeedleJack]

Well:

Dammit just tattoo. Just kidding. Ahh let's see, smooth transition. Well for starters you can't jack hammer ink in when you are trying to create a whispy shade effect. What you wanna do is make sure the needles are puncturing the skin just hard enough to put in some ink without causing skin trauma.

Which brings us to how is your machine tuned? This can and should be posted in the machine tweaks since I'm going into a bit of explaining here. Let's see, the overall tweak we're going for here is that we want our front spring to barely touch the contact screw. That simply means without any power our front spring ever so slightly touches the contact screw. BUT....... keep in mind the principal we use for liners and shaders and that is the nickle shade dime liner. Now before I move on let me explain something.

Say for instance we put a spring on the back and new spring in the front with a slight upward curve to it. Well, in order for us to adjust this we have to loosen the back alen bolt and swing the whole armature bar with the two springs counter clock wise. Now...... pulling up on the whole armature bar we just want to make small corrections to see if it is getting us closer to the contact screw without loosing sight of the fact that we want to be able to adjust this machine to either a liner or shader with relative ease. Once it's adjusted, simply tighten your back bolt down and go to work.

Now you are most likely gonna have to give it more power than a liner because the spring has further to travel up and down. As far as shading, do your thing - like I was brought up to believe, 90% of tattooing is your machine setup, the other 10% is the tattooist, color theory, technique, blah, blah, blah. =) I'm sure there are those who whould disagree with me on this one, but hey, I just do what works and very seldom am I disappointed by the results.

Peace to you

[Anonymous]

so I just got my Kuro Sumi and I mixed two caps , one with one drop the other with two , didnt have to use the second , one drop was even a shade darker than I really wanted . but if I wanted to go over a large area with a light wash , would u recomend using the same technique I would if I were to go solid dark ???little oval then wipe , oval , wipe etc.
? or more of a wipping motion?

[a1tattoo]

nickel and dime gapping has nothing to do with the working stroke of the machine. you can have a dime gap and still have a TWO nickel stroke with the right setup.

[Anonymous]

The nickel and dime gap is a good starting point for those who arent familiar with tuning the machines , thats all . Everyone has there own way of setting up machines , and one persons way may or may nt work for another , these are only suggestions . After one gets a god feel for their machine , they can adjust it to how ever they feel comfortablw with it , theres no right or wrong way .

[olboys]

it also depends on the machine,set up of needles

[a1tattoo]

***theres no right or wrong way***

that's exactly my point. there is no right or wrong way, therefore nickel and dime gapping should not really be a consideration. nickel and dime gap is something taught out of the spaulding a to z book because that's how spaulding machines (and a majority of others) were set up back in 1970. the reason why it's out of date is because machines utilize many different geometries nowadays, not just a basic liner/shader geometry. most decent machines also utilize weighted and/or lengthened armature bars to help acheive the proper machine speed. shortening or lengthening the contact gap is not an efficient way to adjust machine speed. matter of fact, it's also obsolete.

[voodoo]

do you set tha machine differant than for coloring ? how about needle tapers?

[framey]

:evil:

[voodoo]

framemiester what size cap & a-bar would(do) you use?so what your saying its kind'a med. in speed?

[thattt2guy]

I run a pair of Micky's, a MD and a TD.....as long as the machine is set up correctly they both outpreform just about any machine on the market, the only machines i say tie with the tele dials is danny fowlers lifelines....you have the right machine to work with, most likely what your missing is just the experience....take your time, be patient and experiment...It'll come to you, just a matter of hit and miss...With tattooing you can have all the tech knowledge in the world but the only way to truly know what your doing is by.....doing it.

[bostonaca]

when they speak of lining or shading adjustments are they speaking of how much the needle hangs out of the tip? nickle dime etc????? thanks if i buy a ironman what do i have to do to shade and color with it.. will it come packaged as a liner???? what exactly does that mean . someone please help me get started

[wyatt7]

welcome bostonaca

the nickle dime is refering tho the gap between the contact screw and the spring when the armature bar is pulled on to the coils. nickle shader, dime liner.

you can adjust one machine to do both but it will probably not run smoothly and you will not get the results you want

[bostonaca]

i appreciate your time can you just explain to me that if i buy an ironman the only thing i need to do is turn the contact screw nickle dime etc. to turn it in to a shader colorer also . also lower the volts correct for shading and coloring . is that it. and go back and forth on it . i can only really afford one machine. thanks

also wanted to order iron man from needlejack but dont know what i need for a clip cord jack 1/4??? bannana????? thanks

[Going Tribal]

I noticed someone say something about Danny Fowlers Lifeline machines. I use his Flashback(Liner) and Invader(Shader) and they are the best machines I've ever owned. The Flashback is sooo quik & the Invader is such a smooooth shader.

But I agree its all Setup And Technique. Practice, Practice, Practice. I know this sounds annoying but its true. You have to find what works for you. There are a thousand techniques out there.

Sometimes I use a sideways feathering Technique when using Mags to fade. Hope any of this helps. :twisted: