How to Pack for Tattoo Conventions

The guys over at Mightygoods chatted to tattoo artists to find out what they pack for conventions and travel. Read on to find out their best tips and tricks to help you be prepared to work at any convention…

Rhys Gordon – Has been tattooing 28 years, and he specialises in Japanese style tattooing. Rhys loves traveling, motorbikes, and everything to do with tattooing, he also runs Australian Tattoo History.

How do you pack your gear for travel and conventions? I use Crumpler, an Australian brand. A beautiful matte black travel case, customized internally to suit my needs. After all these years tattooing, I have perfected my convention game. No need to bring my work station.

What top three things do you always bring besides the common stuff everybody bring?

• Stencil machine as convention one generally break or a nightmare to get to.
• Water for both tattooing and drinking.
• Deodorant as they can be hot sweaty events not just for me but also for clients, so everybody smells nice.

What are your top tips for other tattoo artists?

• Travel light and take more money for both fun and supplies
• Bring a plug in battery pack to charge your iPhone
• Cheap hotels are a bad bad recommendation after tattooing all day

 

Archana Nakhua Bhanushali – Started tattooing in 2010 after completing an applied arts course. Soon after working with her tattoo teacher for few months Archana started freelancing and then opened her own studio Ace Tattooz in Mumbai, India with the help of her husband Nikhil, who manages the show.

How do you pack your gear for travel and conventions? I use a hard case tool box to fit in my tattoo stuff for conventions as it keeps my tattoo equipments safe from damage. I double wrap all my colours to avoid spill in case the bottle bursts (its only a safety precautions because generally they are intact with the help of my hard case). If the convention is in India, I prefer carrying my own printer and stencil copier.

What top three things do you always bring besides the common stuff everybody bring?

• My printer, graphite rechargeable power supply and my tattoo stand table from Kings Tattoo Supply are the three things I bring besides the common things everyone brings. Because it took us very few conventions to realise that on the first day of the convention, you can waste a lot of time in case you don’t have these three in place.

What are your top tips for other tattoo artists?

• To tattoo with passion and be consistent with the same energy from the start of the tattoo until the end.
• It’s really important that the tattoo artist is in their best health to perform 100%. I see many having issues with their back because of which they can’t perform consistently, so yoga or any physical exercise that keeps their core fit is a must.

Discover more packing tips from other tattoo artists here.