STUDIO POLICIES
APPOINTMENT POLICY:
Unless you are a walk-in client getting tattooed on the spot, an appointment can not be made without a deposit. Therefore, appointments must be made in person at the shop. The only exception is for repeat clients who have a deposit already at the shop, and clients who live more than 1 hour away or live out of the state. These clients may book an appointment via phone or email but must have their deposit to their artist via mail within one week from setting up the appointment in order to keep the appointment. You will be scheduled for consultation and 1-2 appointments (or more) depending on how long your tattoo will take.
DEPOSIT POLICY:
Deposits are required to book an appointment and are a down payment for your tattoo. You can use your deposit at your final session upon completion of your tattoo. Deposits are non-refundable. Deposits are not transferable to another person or design if you change your mind. You can risk losing your deposit only if you do not follow the policies below. If that happens you will need to come in and pay another deposit to make or keep any future appointments. Tattoos that will take less than 30 minutes to complete will require a $60 deposit, unless you are getting tattooed by Michelle. Tattoos that will take more than 30 minutes to complete, and any tattoos by Michelle will require a $100 deposit. Deposits must be paid in cash only unless you live out of the state or over an hour away. In these cases you may mail your artist your deposit in cash or check or pay it via phone with pay pal. Please be aware there is a fee for clients who wish to use pay pal.
LATE POLICY:
If you are more than 30 minutes late without calling ahead of time you will be considered a no-call no-show and you will lose your appointment and your deposit.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
A 1 week notice is required to cancel your appointment and keep your deposit. This is to make sure we have enough time to fill your spot as we count on our clients showing. We have found 1-2 days is not enough time to fill an appointment so 1 week is the new policy. You must make real contact with your artist if you need to cancel. This means via phone, facebook, email or face to face. Voice mail is only checked once a week so please do not cancel via voicemail as you could risk losing your deposit. If your artist is unaware of your cancellation it's on you. It is your responsibility to make contact with us. If you cancel 3 times in a row (regardless if you have given a 1 week notice each time) all of your future appointments will be erased from the scheduled and offered to other clients without any notice. If you cancel your consultation you could risk your tattoo appointment date being pushed back to ensure there is time for a consult before your appointment. Our artist's time is very limited and valuable, please respect that.
DESIGN POLICY:
The design is considered property of the artist. If you are unhappy with the design we will work with you to make the needed changes to make you love it. We will not do any design approval via text message or email. ALL designs are approved of the day of the tattoo in the studio. If you take a design to another studio without paying your artist for the design, this is considered theft and you will be prosecuted to the fullest.
FAQ:
How old do I have to be to get a tattoo in WA state?
LEGALLY according to WA state you MUST be 18 years of age to get tattooed in WA state by any artist. Wether in a licensed studio or in your friends house, it is illegal for anyone to tattoo a minor. Not only will the person applying the tattoo be in trouble, but so will your parents.
If I am under the age of 18 years but my parents are willing to sign for me, can I get tattooed?
Nope, this is illegal.
Do I have to have an appointment to get tattooed? Or do you take walk-ins too?
Although appointments are preferred to give adequate time to the design process, we do take walk-ins on a 1st come 1st served basis. This also depends on which artist you decided to go with. Some artists are booked out with appointments and may not be able to fit in any walk-ins while others may only have 1 or 2 small appointments for the day and so are more likely to be able to make time for walk-ins. Any large projects such as sleeves, back pieces etc, will have to be scheduled due to the time it takes to design the best possible tattoo design we can for that body part.
What is the difference between a custom shop and a street shop?
A street shop caters to more walk-in clientel as they have premade designs on the wall, called "flash art", readily available for the client to choose a design to be tattooed immediatly. Whereas a custom shop does not have any "flash" or premade designs available. Rather the artist will draw you up a unique original design unlike anyone elses to be tattooed on you. Sacred Soul Tattoo does not have any flash available in the shop.
How do I choose the right studio to get tattooed in?
RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH!! Ask around to your friends & family, look up studios online, and read about them on review websites such as Yelp. A good shop will have plenty of good reviews. You want to make sure a shop is licensed and provides sterile tattoo services. Ask to see the autoclave and ask about how they ensure sterility at their studio. GO TO THE STUDIO! Do not call around or price shop. You want to make sure the studio is super clean, smells clean, has friendly nice artists who actually care about your tattoo and your tattoo experience AND the studio should have portfolios filled with high quality completed tattoos for you to review.
My friend tattoos out of his/her house and is willing to tattoo me super cheap. Why should I go to a studio instead?
NEVER GET TATTOOED AT YOUR FRIENDS HOUSE... NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY THERE IS NO WAY POSSIBLE TO CONTAIN THE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN A HOUSE TO PROVIDE A STERILE TATTOO ENVIRONMENT. Science has proven the presence of a microscopic off-spray that gets on things in the area where the tattoo is being done. Couches, etc are porous and therefore unable to be sterilized. Gross! It's not worth risking your health. Your friend is not licensed. He/she probably has had no training at all in sterile procedures and or tattooing so you will most likely end up with a nasty, poorly done, and infected tattoo... or worse HIV, AIDs, HepC, MRSA or some other incurable disease. No amount of money is worth damaging your health so don't price shop... invest in a good tattoo, by a good artist in a good studio.
Is your studio licensed by the state of WA?
YEP! We are licensed by the state with our master licenses, shop licenses, and artist licenses. We are also Blood Borne Pathogens Certified and renew our First Aid Certification every year. We follow all WA state laws set forth for the body art industry and we go above and beyond the state standards. We are also randomly inspected by the King County Health Department and are proud to say we have passed every time.
How do you provide a sterile tattoo procedure?
All of our needles are single use. Each needle arrives blister packed and sterilized from the manufacturer. After a needle is opened and used on a client it gets disposed of in a sharps container to be properly disposed of. We use disposable grips and some stainless steel grips. The disposable grips are single use, arriving to us sterile and then disposed of after being used on one person. The stainless steel grips go through a 3 stage sterilization process. They go into a soaking tray where the enzymes in the soap break down the biomatter on the soiled tubes. They are then thoughrouly scrubbed with special brushes under hot water until clean. Next they go into an ultrasonic cleaner with Alconox to breakdown any hidden ink that may have been missed. After 2 cycle in the ultrasonic cleaner they are then rinsed under hot water, dryed off, and placed into sterilization pouches with indicators before being put into our steam autoclave. Our autoclave also has an indicator light on it to let us know if the cycle was successfully completed resulting in sterilization or it will light up red if something happened and it needs to be rer-ran. Finally, we log the cyle in our autoclave log and stamp the sterilized pouch with the sterilization date. We also clean our autoclave and spore test it monthly. Our spore testing process is in-house being done in our very own studio so we can assure the quickest action if a test fails rather than waiting 1-2 weeks for an outside company to alert us of our results. We have passed all spore tests done since our door opened. Before tattooing we set up our station wearing gloves, and wrap all equipment (ie. tattoo chair, bottles, clip cords, metal trays, etc) with barrier film to make sure we keep our area clean. When done tattooing we use a medical grade cleaner, such as Cavacide, to clean off all surfaces. This cleaner kills all bacterial, viral and fungal microorganisms such as AIDS, HIV, Hep A, B, C, MRSA, etc. Also, all of our artists are required to be tested for MRSA upon working here to ensure your health and safety.
How do I choose the best artist for me?
The best way to do this is to look through each artist's portfolio and to ask the right questions. Look for an artist who has a portfolio which displays tattoos done in the style you are desiring. For example, an artist who specializes in traditional tattoo work may not be the best artist to do a photo realistic portrait. Ask a lot of questions too. Ask the artist what kind of tattoo work they like or enjoy the best, and what kind of art most influences them. A good artist with good morals will point you in the right direction. If they are not the best for you they should have no problem referring you to an artist within the studio or an artist within another studio who can do the best job for you.
What is the custom tattoo process consist of?
It takes time to create a good custom tattoo. Your artist will draw inspiration for your design from many resources such as books, internet, art history, and their creative mind. Most of the time we get an image in our head already as we listen to you describe your idea. Flow is a big part of what makes a tattoo design good... so we will design the tattoo to fit and flow on the body part in which it is going.
How can I book an appointment?
You must first pay a deposit (see the policies above). Then your artist will schedule you for a consultation and 1 or 2 appointments depending on the size of your tattoo.
What can I expect to happen at my consultation?
You will be able to sit down face to face with your artist to discuss your tattoo idea. We will brainstorm, look at some references pictures, trace out the body part where the tattoo is going so we can take flow into consideration as we are designing your tattoo. We will take notes on color preferences, what the tattoo symbolizes for you, and sometimes quickly sketch out some ideas.
What does it cost to get tattooed?
Every shop has a shop minimum for small tattoos. This is for tattoos that take 30 mins or less to complete. At Sacred Soul Tattoo this price ranges from $60 + tax to $100 + tax depending on the artist you choose. All artists at our studio charge the same hourly rate of $125 + tax per hour. We charge by the hour and use a timer to make sure you only pay for actual needle-to-skin time. Small tattoos generally take 30 mins to 1 hour. The average time for medium sized tattoos is about 2.5 hours to 4 hours. Large projects take more than one session to complete. Most people like to sit for 3 hour sessions on average as this provides plenty of time to get a large amount done. How many sessions it will take to complete your tattoo will depend on the design, the placement, the artist and your skin. Unfortunatly, we can not quote tattoos over the internet or phone... it is best to come in so we can properly quote you based on the design detail, placement, size, etc.
Does it hurt to get tattooed? What does it feel like?
Yep, getting tattooed does hurt. But it is more of an annoying pain and is not super painful. It's not a slicing sensation but rather a sharp hot sensation.
How can I best prepare for my tattoo?
Make sure you get a full 8 hours of sleep the night before and drink plenty of water. You want to be well rested and hydrated to make the tattoo process go well for you. Avoid caffine, alcohol, and anything containing niacin in it 24 hours prior to getting tattooed. You will want to eat a larger meal 1-2 hours prior to getting tattooed to avoid feeling lightheaded when getting tattooed. Also, bring candy or some juice in case you start to feel dizzy or light headed when getting tattooed. This happens when you experience a decrease in blood sugar levels during the tattoo process because your body is reacting to the pain via surges of adrenaline.
Can I take a pain pill or consume alcohol before getting tattooed to relax?
No. Consuming alcohol or taking pills of any kind can thin the blood and make it hard for the artist to do the best job possible. This can also lead to excessive scabbing during the healing process. It is illegal for us to tattoo someone who is under the influence. Also, any and all perscriptions MUST be disclosed to your artist to make sure your perscription will not have an adverse effect on your tattoo.
Can I have an allergic reaction?
Although not common, allergic reactions can happen. We only use organic inks and most of the other products we use on the skin are all natural or vegan. We ask each client about allergies before we begin the tattoo. It is important to be honest with your artist so they can use a different product if needed in order to avoid a reaction.
COMING SOON....
What can I expect on the day of my tattoo appointment?
What will my tattoo aftercare consist of?
What can I expect to see during the healing process?
How can I protect the longevity and life of my new tattoo?
