Frequently Asked Questions

Generally we work off of appointment, but will always fit in a walk-in if it is possible.  Depending on your design idea, and our schedules, there is sometimes a chance to get you in that day. This depends on what you are looking to get done, and whether we have enough time available. Come in with your idea, talk to us about what you want, and from there we can figure out a plan. If we can’t fit you in when you stop in, we can definitely get you on the schedule.

You need to be 18 in Nebraska unless a parent or guardian gives consent and is present with you during the tattoo. We will tattoo a 16 or 17 year old with parental consent, but not above the neckline of a shirt or on the hand. You will need a parent with you, and you both need a state issued photo ID, and a birth certificate. 

We love to do tattoos for groups of family or friends, and have a lot of fun meeting our clients’ relatives and besties. We can design something that everyone gets the same, or different tattoos that fit together.

Many of the tattoos we do are too large or elaborate to do in a single session. Even smaller tattoos are often better done in more than one session. Giving the linework a chance to heal before shading or color gives the artist more options on how to color it and reduces the chances of scarring that can happen when an artist does too much all at once. Often, we’ll tattoo in multiple sessions, with at least 3 weeks between each one. 

We’d be glad to plan something out with you. 

Everything we do is custom, so once we have a plan, we can figure out the time needed and estimate a cost for the tattoo. Our current hourly rate is $150/hr.

We generally start by getting an idea of what you’re looking to have tattooed, then we can schedule a consultation to meet in person, measure the area it will be applied, discuss options, sketch out a rough draft and figure out the details.

For out-of-state clients, it is possible to do much of the planning through e-mail or online consultation.  

Though we often do larger tattoos, we don’t mind doing smaller tattoos as long as they fit the body appropriately.  We love doing someone’s first tattoo and have patience with those who aren’t used to the process yet. 

Jesse does both Color and Black and Grey, in a full range of styles from portraiture & realism to illustration, abstraction, surrealism and graffiti. He uses faux textures, stone, metal, embroidery, three-dimensional illusion, realistic shadowing and dramatic lighting effects.  He specializes in coverups including scars. Historical woodcuts and etchings as well as comic books, graffiti, and fantasy art are his inspiration.

Aoibhe is still in her apprenticeship and exploring many different styles and techniques, her flash art is cute and weird.

We make sure to give every client the best and safest tattoo possible.

Unfortunately tap-out sessions are usually a bit of a scam. If an artist would usually tattoo 4 hours for $600, but charges $600 for a session that lasts until you want to quit, the client hopes for more than 4 hours of work to get a deal. The artist generally hopes to stop short of 4 hours and then they make more than usual and “win” if they are competitively minded.  

The problem is that the artist can easily make the tattoo work extremely uncomfortable by working back near previously worked areas, sensitive spots, or tattooing too hard or too deep.

  There have been a few artists in our area over the years that have offered tap-out sessions and I’ve had to do coverups on several people that sat through them. One sat longer than the artist obviously planned for and got a bunch of garbage tattooed on 1/3 of his sleeve that didn’t relate to the rest of the design.

We don’t discount our tattoo work as we want to be able to give everyone our best. Gimmicky specials mean that a tattoo artist needs to cut corners on supplies, rush to fit in more clients, or has a bad attitude since the price is discounted, not usually the deal it seems. We regularly coverup and fix tattoos done by artists giving out special deals. 

We have used some of the varieties of numbing cream, but generally prefer not to use any. Jesse has a very light hand and makes the tattoo process as easy as possible with multiple sessions instead of forcing too much ink into the skin in a single session.

   In addition to the possibilities of common adverse reactions to it, it makes the skin texture more difficult to tattoo and causes it to take longer to color areas or can even make the color heal less intense. The numbing agents often include vasoconstrictors which reduce blood flow. That reduced blood flow can affect healing since there are less white blood cells available.

   It generally won’t stay numb throughout the tattoo since wiping with soap and water neutralizes its effectiveness and artists have to keep adding additional products made to be used on already broken skin.

   Recently, most of the numbing agents have been recalled for violating the legal amounts of Lidocaine. Overuse of Lidocaine can be deadly. The products that previously could be purchased from safe reliable retailers aren’t available. Unfortunately, tattoo artists are instead buying sketchy products from disreputable businesses that fly under the radar or from overseas sources with no manufacturing oversight. 

  We don’t like it when a client comes in with a numbing product applied that they purchased themselves due to the number of unsafe knockoffs and bad profiteers selling expired or mislabeled products. 

Coverups are one of the main things Jesse specializes in. 

   We’d never want to finish someone else’s work if it’s of good quality and there’s any chance that the original artist would be able to work on it again. We’ll also turn it down if the client is just looking for a cheaper price or trying to cut corners from the original artist’s concept.

   We do not have any issue finishing another artist’s work if there isn’t a chance that the client can/would be tattooed by them again. Unfortunately, we’ve had to finish tattoos for clients that felt unsafe with the previous artist, because the work was poor quality, an artist had passed away, and various other reasons.