Long tattoo sessions

Let's say you want your arm fully sleeved (which means, if you don't know, having your entire arm tattooed). It's highly improbable that you'll do it all at once. Even if you could stand it, the tattooist probably can't (though s/he may not admit that).

Common sense alone says "do it in sessions". How long should a session be? Well, there's two people involved in this activity, and it's important that you let the tattooist work in the way they like. If your tattooist says they won't tattoo for more than three hours, respect that. If they say they want to tattoo you for twelve hours and you think you can't handle it, respect yourself and find someone else.

In my opinion, a four to six hour stretch of tattooing is the longest amount of time that a sitting should be, for both the tattooee and the tattooist. Of course, there are always exceptions. I was at a convention once where a woman got a tattoo that took 13 hours (and the tattooist was working hard and fast). When they were done, they both looked halfway dead. So, yeah, if you want to get tattooed by someone at a convention or when you're visiting somewhere far from home, the ordinary rules get thrown out the window.

But optimally, four to six hours is the limit. For one thing, you, as the person being tattooed, is going to run out of adrenaline and all the lovely chemicals the brain makes that are "natural opiates" which keep you from feeling pain clearly. When tattooing, I noticed that the average person runs out of steam at about 3 1/2 hours. For some people, it takes less time and, of course, others can go on and on and on. But at some point, it starts to really hurt, and I mean it. Tattooists joke about the fact that even the most hardass tat addict is gonna feel like that damned paper towel with the soothing cool water on it suddenly feels like coarse grain sand paper. And around that time, most people start to bleed more, so tattooing them becomes more difficult.

If you got lost in my wordiness, I had written that this takes four to six hours, but trutfhfully, four hours is most peoples' limit.

After four to six hours, you will probably also be shaky, cold, tired and in need of a good meal, a beer and a lot of sleep. I'm not kidding, but after a really long tattoo session, you are not fit to drive. If you must, sit yourself down and eat some red meat first.

Note: If you are paying your tattooist by the hour instead of by the piece, give them a tip. Even though they may be charging a good sum per hour, tattooists make more money doing small pieces with set prices. When they're working by the hour, you are usually getting a good deal. The tattooist is psyched and they (mostly) tend to work fast under these conditions. So, be a good sport and give 'em a tip.