Ask Guy 8

Q) I did a name and the first letter came out fine cause I only made one pass. But the rest of the letters were a little sloppy so I went back through them to clean them up and they ended up blowing out. Can I only make one pass on the wrist area? Maybe from going over them twice I ended up cutting the skin? I was using a tight 5 round at about 6 1/2 volts, moving slow so I wouldn't mess up. Any advice would be great because now I'm affraid to do wrists!

A) The wrist is a tricky area to put detail into, but you shouldn't be afraid to work it. Since you are wanting to slow down for precision purposes, try turning your power down as low as you can get away with; tattoo for a minute, wipe, then see if you need to add more power. Some parts of the body- the wrist and inner bicep are good examples- are more prone to blowouts because of the skin's thinness and relative lack of fatty tissue padding it; in these areas, the best approach is simply caution with your power levels. When moving slowly, you need to use proportionally less power, or you'll hit the skin too many times in too small of an area; which can also cause blowouts. This is a relatively simple issue, but its solution lies not in any simple fix but instead in an overall more cautious, steady approach to those types of skin.