MAG NEEDLES

[wolfey]

whats the big deal with mag needles.And what are the best uses for this needle. Is there any special way to use this needle WOLFEY

[Anonymous]

Mags are just an alternative to using rounds for fillin and shading . I say they are an alternative , cause most people either use ine or the other . I use mags . The mags are just set up like flats , always with one more needle on bottem so they can be off set . So a seven mag will have 4 on bottem and 3 on top . I think theres a section somewhere on here about how to use them . if u cant find it let us know .

[tat2er1]

mags are great. however there seems to be two kinds that are premade now a days. a "cam" version which is in between a double stack and a traditional mag. great for doing solid color work. i prefer the traditional kind as stated above. less trauma to the skin and great for doing grey wash. larger rounds can be quite dangerous if put into the wrong hands . take a 14 -18 round, or what i like to call railroad spikes. very easy to over work the skin . but of course , i was a mario's convention last year and saw this dude do the most awsome color blend with this type of needle. personal preference. st marc, tyrell, booth all use larger mags to most of thier stuff.
i would start off coloring in a piece of tribal with a 7 mag to get the feel of it. load her up in a slower running shader with a small to med. stroke and "git r dun" !!!!

[Anonymous]

Hey Im a young tattoo artist thats been tattooing pro. for 3 years and I wanna be the best i can and I would like to know if its true that useing a mag is faster than rounds if so so can i get some tips on useing them

[voodoo]

chaous why dont you fill out your profile & stay awhile?
i have yet to use them myself..

[Anonymous]

hmm , i think we covered mags a good deal somewhere , but as far as being faster , I dont really think one is faster thatn the other . Its just personal preference .

[Choppers4Life]

The only way I can see mags being faster would be in groupings of like a 13 mag on up. More area covered at once. I use both mags and rounds. It really does come down to personal preference.

[Mike Brennan]

You can obtian soft graduations and cover a larger area because of the mags layout.
Try a 7mag on a medium tattoo(gray scale). The key is take your time.

[Madd Chef]

Ive used mags and rounds and perfer rounds myself like the 14 ect for big pieces but noticed, and this may just be me but when I use mags they seem to hold more ink then a round.

[Papa Gee]

I like the rounds. It just feels more like drawing with a pen to me. Most of the coloring and shading I do is with an 8 round shader. And I have some 14's and 18's too. I get better color fades with them than I do with mags.

[MedusaQueen]

My favorite needle in the whole world is a 7 mag. I've learned to just about pull any trick out of my ass with 'em, they are very versatile. Just try not to run them side to side, it'll act like a razor. I've learned to manuever the corner into any tiny peice, and I've learned to use each of those 7 needles seperately if necessary, for all sorts of different effects. Pepper dots are common, the fail safe for any needle is go SLOWLY!!! I've worked a little with the rounds, but I personally don't find them as manueverable and versatile. I'm still working on smooth shading with the rounds, but I can't get it as smooth as I can with a mag. Naturalistic peices like animals, portraits and other no-liners are the ones I grab a mag for first, and it's the only needle I need for the whole peice. Play with it. No better way to get the feel. Play with all sorts of needles and you will find which ones are most comfortable for you.

[DOPPLENHAKEN]

i agree with papa g(hey that rymes) :D .if find rounds are more comfortiable for me.but otherwise a 4 mag,cause for me its more versitle :o

[MontanaPiercer]

When I first started I used nothing but rounds because of a bad experience the first time I used a mag. I dug up one hell of a scab on this boy and put them away for months and months. Now after using them a bit, I use them anywhere I can, but for small pieces, I still use 3 and 5 rounds.

[DamienWolfe]

Being a newbie, I'm sure my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt... The first tat I did was with a 6 flat... I ended up cutting (this was on myself, so I can fix). I did another tat (tribal) using a 7 mag last weekend... All I can say is WOW... I didn't cut, the black is even and the shading came out pretty much perfect. I am definately a Mag fan... I still want to try rounds though, just to be thorough.

The needles look a little more intimidating, but the color saturation is 100 times better than flats, not to mention alot quicker. When I needed to go back and touch up a place where I missed there was no skin trauma or any indication that I went over that place twice, or even three times.

I did finally get my machine adjusted properly, and I know that had alot to do with it, but for me, the mag was easier to use than a flat. I'm left-handed, and it seemed right with the mag, whereas I was constantly fighting the urge to change angle and rotate my machine with the flats.

[olboys]

i like using rounds and mags ,but i've found out that rounds chew up the skin more than mags.plus its seems like you can get away with a second pass with mags .if need bee

[MedusaQueen]

Rule of the mag: If it takes more than 3 passes for solidity, you need to slow down and work it in. Also, you shouldn't work it any more than 3 passes, no matter how cool the mag is at not chewing up the skin too bad, too many passes will still chew it up. If your tribal is not solid after the 3rd pass in that sitting, wait until it heals to go back into it. Once you get the feel for that god of a needle though, the skin will let you know what it can handle, and the sky is the limit.

I like mags especially for............um........everything?

[XHAZE]

Although I think I have read everything in the forum I am missing something in regards to the mags. There is a lot of good advice but seems to be more warnings than tips. I have been using rounds for a long time and can get all of the desired effects. A downside to that is larger pieces of solid colour or black are very time consuming which leads me to the mags. The term "whip shading" is new to me although is have used this technique in portrait work successfully with 14 rounds for a long time.
I have some 7 mags that I want to use for some solid colour or black for starters.
You can slice. dig holes and overwork with a mag - got it.
How crucial is the angle of the needles eg 90 v 45 degrees.?
Can I tilt it slightly to the left and right ?
Can I work in any rotation at all or just "straight push"
I think everyone has got the idea of what I'm looking for. The mag lining from Medusa was interesting but I'll start with shading.
Hangin to to try them but take too pride in my work and reputation to "have a go" on a customer.

[Luckyshot]

well with most shading you want to keep a pitch on the machine,i hold a 45 degree angle on my gun while using a mag,youll find its alot easier to slice with a flat then with a mag,when dumping the color,try keeping the mag wet,wetter the better,and kneed the skin as if it was a chunk of dough,keeping a little more pressure on the skin to pack the colors in,
i started with 7 mags,and now strickly use 9 and 13s,the 9 isnt much diffrent then the 7,but with the 13 in larger areas you get a better tansition from area to area,like it was said earlier for coloring and solid fill youll cover a greater area,with a lower chance of damaging the skin,BUT dont think it wont damage it,a mag can hamburger an area just as bad as a round,so REMEMBER eep the needles wet(alot of ink in the tube) especially while getting comfortable with it,itll save your customers skin,and yes you still follow the same rule of thumb for filling with the mag,,small tight circles,as the mags get larger so can the circles

[MedusaQueen]

I've found the mag to be very versatile, as you've probably read. The comparison of a mag to a paint brush is very similar, except the needles don't bend and turn like a paint brush, instead you have to rely on your wrist to do so.

Through a lot of trial and error, I've found you can rotate your circles in any direction, including elongated circles, like ovals, you can angle the needles in almost any direction, and watching the needles enter the skin will show you whether or not you are cutting. Whip shading with a mag will tend to give you (me) pepper-dots, a spotted shading, but if you whip it slowly and steadily, that should clear it up.

For dark, solid shading, do tight steady circles relatively slowly, up to 3 goes in the same area, but certainly no more (I perfer up to 2 times), and the density of the skin should dictate how much it can take. For light, soft shading, I widen my circles slightly, go just a little quicker, and lighten up on the hand so it's barely going in. For a solid light shading, I dilute the black heavily (the lighter you want it, the more water you use) and fill it solid with the small steady circles, just like a solid black tribal but it's grey wash, so it comes out lighter. You don't necessarily have to keep the mag in one angle all the time. Instead of whipping straight out, try whipping slightly to the side. Then try whipping slightly to the side with a little pull back around. Just like you would use a pencil or brush to round edges with shading, you can do that with a mag; try shading a circle to look like a sphere. One mistake I have seen an experienced shop artist do again and again was always shading in the same direction. There is no definition, the peices look flat and undistinguished, and you certainly can't determine what is supposed to be rounded. You want to shade in the direction of the shadow. Try going from left to right dark to light, then go the other way, right to left dark to light. And again from the bottom up dark to light and then from the top down dark to light. From there you can work from any angle all around. Don't let your hand get set in one motion for all shading. Train it to be used to every direction.

As for the angle of the mag, a 45 is perfect for almost anything, but you will find after trial and error that you can manipulate that as well to get the desired effect you are looking for. All in all, the best way to learn a mag is to use it in all different ways imaginable. The wetter the needle the better for beginning yes, but sometimes you want it to run out a little in the lighter areas. Also, if you keep it too wet, the ink will puddle, and you will not be able to see the needle entering the skin, which is vital if you want to see how the needle is affecting the skin. I tend to dip, wipe, and stick. Well, I'm off to work, but I hope this is sort of the info you were looking for, any other questions, I'll be happy to help, and everyone else's input is great. It may sound confusing on the forum, I could show a lot better than tell, but this will have to do for now. Peace out....

[XHAZE]

I used a 7 mag for shading wash today.It was a 3 needle outline i did
about 3 months ago and shaded with 14 rounds. It goes from his "solar plasticx" bone to his elbow.
I had to push a lot harder than the rounds, a lot more . Yes,I had to keep it wet. I could see that if it was too dry that you don't get too many tries.
I am having trouble putting stuff in my gallery. Can I email photos to somone who can fix them.
thanks medusa and lucky the advice was good. Thats why i come back to this forum.
Ps....MQ... I got pepper in some sweeps.

[voodoo]

go thru photobucket!

[framey]

:evil:

[stealthninjamark]

1 thing noone has talked about so far......
how do you know when to use a mag vs. a flat?
certianly the 2 different needles have 2 different effects and uses.