9545 Reseda Blvd. unit 2, Northridge, CA (818) 700-2818

Working with a rotary, overworking the skin

Hi guys,
Its exciting and scary writing here, but it would be a privilege to hear the advice of such legendary artists.

I bought a spektra edge x recently, its my first rotary.
I know, Im an asshole for not having patience and buying such a good machine so early. To get familiar with it I tried some shading on an existing tattoo on my thigh.
I wanted to add some really light shades, I think I put 2 drops of Kuro Sumi greywash in a medium cup with water. I tried some sweeping and some circular motions but the skin got swollen up really fast and I had to stop. I never had such raised skin with my coils so Im trying to figure out how to adjust or conform with it.

Any advice? The machine is set to the factory setting which I think is 3.4mm. I set the give to a minimum but not locked. Should I set the machine at around 2.8-3mm for the shading? Or maybe try going faster with my hand speed?

Anyway, the light shades were actually there after the redness went away so it was still a win, but just.
The swelling also went away and its healing normally but Im thinking if I were to do some packing, the skin would get destroyed.

Thank you for any help, I just want this stage to be over with so I can enjoy this fucking amazing machine... I want to be done with all these things so I can get into the actual art of tattooing, Im going crazy here!


Replies:

RE:Working with a rotary, overworking the skin

Hey dude
I haven't tried the spectra edge yet, But I've had the same problem when I got my dragonfly and stingray machines, if you are use to coils, you get use to filing that skin vibration when you're in the right needle depth, Because you don't get that in rotaries, you have to readjust yourself and get use to it, also I find that you can get away with a lot more needle hang using a magnum with coils, than on rotaries, it is realy easy to overwork the skin without noticing. Try hanging the needle less.You'll get use to it aventually. Good luck!
top of page

RE:Working with a rotary, overworking the skin

Nice bro,
thank you for the advice, yea I guess that could be the problem.
Im designing a nice rabbit to put on my thigh. I will spend all day today experimenting and hopefully I wont destroy my leg! Im have a really good feeling about this.

Thank you for your time and help man.
top of page