BLOODLINE

SO a thought occured to me the other day reading some posts on bloodlines.

As we all know, and those that dont ill tell you, a bloodline is tattooing with water to lubricate the needle, It marks the skin and makes the "blood" rise to the surface to do various techinques such as smoke and what not but leaves the artist some parimeters to work with. The "beauty" of the blood line is in the fact that when the tattoo heals,....Its gone.

My thought: since we all practice on everything from banannas to rubber, why couldnt we practice on real skin doing bloodline work? If you wanted to get a feel for real skin without messing somthing up, wouldnt this make a great way to gain confidence by applying the stencil and following it on real skin? Its going to vanish and heal in a few days and then its gone.....

Its just a thought but i would definately like to hear your comments on the subject.

viper.

I forget where I read it and I forget which artist it was, but I was reading an interview a few years ago with a really famous really good Japanese artist and he was talking about his apprenticeship. In the interview he talked about how he used to use his mentors tools at night doing exactly what you're talking about, he would sit and tattoo his legs for hours without ink. If I'm remembering the story correctly one day his mentors wife asked about some scabs on his legs and he was busted, but his mentor showed him his legs which were covered in line and shade work (and some bad tattoos) and told him "I should've thought about not using ink when I did that". LOL His mentor got him working with ink not long afterwards. I really wish I could remember which artist it was the article is really good, I'll try to find it.

I hope you do find it..I would be very interested in reading it. I mean think about it. You practice on your leg, you get a feel for how deep or shallow your running, you definately get a feel for real skin, gain some confidence, and once the blood dries up a bit you see how well you did....in a week, its gone. NO harm no foul...........I may have to try it and see how it works, of course it will be months considering im deployed right now, but i would be will do give it a whirl nontheless......

Awesome idea!

OK I've been searching all day and can't find the article, I know I have it around here somewhere. I think it was an interview with Horiyoshi III, either way I know it was one of the well known Japanese artists. I think it's a great idea though, it would definitely give someone and idea of what their machines felt like to clients.

No problem.....If anyone does do this please let us know. It would be a while before i am able to do this...

I have done this alot on my legs. work great it does fade away and if it look good I put the ink to it. and it was great I could feel how the needles worked .I had to do it to my self just to know how I was making the people I did work on felt.

So I've been practicing on everything from fruit to pig skin and have done 2 real tattoos on people who gave up their skin for me to "experiment" on. Then I came across this topic and thought,"what a great idea!" I pondered the idea till yesterday and said F**k it! and went to town doing a bloodline on my leg! First,OWW! second,excellent practice,and third,if it scars,it'll be an awesome one! I say it is excellent practice because everything is real except the ink.So if I mess up,no worries,it'll only be ugly till it heals.Only drawback is I feel the needles and in certain areas the sting is worse and instinctively,I pull back the machine or rush the line so it isn't as smooth as I'd like it!(I know,suck it up! Right?)So thanks a million viper!Best practice skin ever!

LOL.....no problem!