color not taking in skin

[chibones69]

Im just starting out and ive been using myself as a test dummy. My lining is coming out pretty good but when I shade or color it seems to come out blotchy, uneven and in many spots not at all. Ive been following the forums for a few months now ive learned alot from all of the posts. But I have not seen any posts on this problem, if there were any I must have missed them. I can really use some help on this I would really like to fix what I screwed up.

[el tatuaje]

sounds like your not stretching your skin enough or at all, it's really tough for someone to tattoo themselves and do a good job, mainly because they can't properly stretch their own skin.
hope this helps, by the way welcome to the forum, read all the post and learn all you can.
el

[chibones69]

thanks, I thought I was stretching the skin enough but I could be wrong Ill try to stretch it more. Ive also heard that tattooing is hard to do on yourself so I figured that if I can do myself good then someone else wont be a problem. Thanks again

[el tatuaje]

tattooing your arms is very hard without help, you have a better chance of doing a decent job on your thighs and inside your legs, calfs, and ankles
because you can use the hand that your are not tattooing with to stretch out the skin properly but anything else is pushing it for a beginner ,it would be a bad choice unless you really don't care how your body looks and i wouldn't wish that on anybody.make sound choices my friend and do good work on yourself if you plan on using yourself as a portfolio.
el

[chibones69]

Thanks again. Thats where I started, on my leg. Id be a fool to try anywhere else let alone someone else for my first tats. The way I see it is that if I made a mistake(which I did) I can fix it. thank god its not a major problem. And thanks to you for your advise I definitly will use it.

[Hardskull]

good advice EL!

[thew750]

Slow down, if you're stretchind enough and not getting smooth lines it's because uour moving too fast. take your time. speed comes with practice.

GL

[FORGIVEN]

SMALL CONSECUTIVE , OVERLAPPING CIRCLES TO PACK THE COLOR IN , TRY SLOWING YOUR MACHINE DOWN , BE CAREFULL BUT TRY HANGING THE NEEDLE OUT A LITTLE FARTHER , ONLY TRY THIS ON YOURSELF TILL YOU GET THE HANG OF IT !!!! GOOD LUCK AND WELCOME TO THE FORUM !! :wink: P.S. make sure you give yourself plenty of time to heal , especially if you tore some shit up !! :shock:

[chibones69]

stretching and slowing down and overlapping, I think I will have to do that as they say "You live and you learn" and so far Im getting great advice. And yes I really tore my shit up. So I guess Ill have to follow the advice and try a new tat. thanks everyone. If you have more advice Im definitly all ears

[thew750]

We'd deff like to help what and how r u running your machine?

[Papa Gee]

There are a lot of reasons that color might not go in solid. Ranging from incorrect form to a setup that isnt right for laying down solid color. Are you using one machine to line and color with? What needle grouping do you use most often to fill? How many rubberbands do you put on the machine to color with? What voltage do you work at to color? What angle do you hold the machine while coloring?

If you're getting good results with a liner but cant seem to get color solid you should look at how your machine is set up to begin with. Everytime I do color I do a small test patch first to check to see if my machine is laying it down solid. If it's spotty I adjust the voltage either up or down depending on what gives me the best results. Experiment a bit before taking off trying to fill a large area and having to struggle through it.

Also how you put the color in is as important. Use small overlapping circles and dont get impatient. Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. If you're using flats or magnums you should hold the machine at about a 45 degree angle to the skin.

[chibones69]

I have 3 cciron basic machines 8, 10, 12 coil, I set-up all 3 nickle and dime then adjusted from there. ive been running between 6 and 8 on speed. Coloring with 10 wrap and 7 round shader and 14 round shader needles

[chibones69]

coloring with the 12 wrap set at nickle contact screw set back toward coil and spring tweaked downward slightly

[FORGIVEN]

TRY SOME MAGNUM NEEDLES , WIDER COVERAGE , LESS TIME IN THE SKIN AND MUCH EASIER TO SHADE, AND EASIER TO GET A GRADUATION OF COLORS AND BLENDS !!!

[Ladedeth]

I am new to the forum..but my husband, Gremlin, isn't.
I have noticed that if I don't angle my gun right, the ink doesn't go in as good.

[FORGIVEN]

Welcome to the forum, Ladedeth !!!!!!, Gremlin's wife ,huh ?? I'll pray for you :lol: , angling the machine definately helps !! but w/ lining you should be carefull w/ the angle its easy to get blow-outs if you dont pay attention !!!

[Ladedeth]

Sorry I should have said angling while filling in not lining lol