Behind The Needle

There is something about tattoos that is simply alluring. Or maybe a mixture of “somethings”. First, they look badass, but let’s be honest – worn with the proper attitude, anything can look awesome. They can represent anything – even with the obvious depiction of what is visible, it can have a deeper meaning, and in most cases, discovering that deeper meaning gives it even more value and beauty. 

Whatever the reason might be for a decision to get one, there are certain things one should know before getting a tattoo, that is if getting one is something that you want to do. As it is something that will be on you probably your whole life, I believe it is important to know certain things. How do you envision your tattoo? Who would you trust and choose to do it properly? What are your expectations about how it will look like? What does it mean to prepare for the tattoo session?

As I was making all of these questions in my head, I knew I would not be able to answer them fully and properly even with the vast searching on Google, but I knew somebody who could and so it was logical that the first hand experience looked like a better approach to this article than anything else.

Zlatić, K. (n.d.). Kety and Tamara [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/tattootalobitch/tagged/

My hosts were Katarina Zlatić – Kety and Tamara Tatalović. Two incredible tattoo artists that run the MFK tattoo studio in Belgrade. I chose Kety as the person to do my second tattoo (the first big one) and got to witness the preparations she made. Now, to be honest it was not something that astounded me, because to me the preparation was normal, wasn’t it? As it is something that will pierce my skin, the preparations must be made in order to prevent any infections. I heard a lot of stories from my acquaintances and friends of the misfortune to get an infection due to unhygienic and unsanitized tools. I researched and wanted to see how a tattoo artist does their work before allowing them to work on me. It also has a lot to do with the tattoo I wanted to create and have on me, what it represents to me, and I want the artist to feel and mimic that energy as they were about to… well, mark me. As the tattoo had a special meaning, I could not give it to anyone. I made the right chose. Within the following article, I wish to make it easier for everyone that wants to get a tattoo, but do not know where to start, what to look for or how to prepare. I will also shine a little light on what’s it like for the artist creating your tattoo and hopefully make it easier to choose the best one for you. Without further adieu, I hope you enjoy and find it informative.

I came to the studio a bit early. Kety and Tamara were not there yet, so I waited. They came not long after me, with one of Kety’s clients. Tamara also had one a bit later, but she came to prepare for the session. While Kety was setting up her work station and Tamara was fixing herself in the mirror I started:

(R: Radomir, T: Tamara, K: Kety)

2Hot4Stage convetion – tatooing. (n.d.). [Photograph]. Mozart Cultures. https://mozartcultures.com/en/wp-admin/upload.php?item=9947

R: How did you start tattooing?

T: I knew that I would be doing that since I was a little girl. My dad is covered in tattoos, my mom has two, short hair and covered in piercings. Motorcycles, rock music and tattoos are what I was raised on. I enrolled in an art school because of it, so it was honestly a no-brainer. To me it is a lifestyle.

K: I’m the complete opposite. For me this was the last stop. I tried every form of art before this one. My parents weren’t exactly enthusiastic about me being a tattoo artist, and thought that this was a phase that will pass. Even today, when I’m to get a new tattoo myself, they’re like: “Honey, do you really need to do that?”. I wanted to earn money by drawing and painting, and tattooing was the obvious choice. I send e-mails to dozens of artists and finally found a mentor. It was a skill to learn, and when it comes to challenges, I am always for overcoming it.

R: How did you know that tattooing was it?

K: When I saw the happiness people showed after the tattoo was finished.

T: Yeah, definitely! When they look at what you’ve done and are like: “Dude, this is awesome!“.

K: We go through a whole emotional spectre with people from when you make the sketch to finalising the project. It is an amazing journey.

R: How do you prepare yourself for a tattoo?

Milojević, R. (2021c, May 24). The Tools Station [Photograph]. Mozart Cultures. https://mozartcultures.com/en/wp-admin/upload.php?item=9949

T: I get my sleep, I need to be fully rested. Then I eat like a pig haha, shower, tie my hair, drink my coffee and then I come to the studio. My ritual is to input as much positive energy as I can, especially if it is going to be a long session. It is very tiring, for us as artists and for the client, so we constantly need to be the ones to pick up the mood. We then need to sanitise everything, it all needs to be clean and new. 

K: I used to meditate, but I stopped for a while, because I wanted to see how that would affect me. It is amazing how the energy is transmitted, how it affects the whole process – from drawing the sketch to healing of the skin. I could try doing the sketch after a long day of work, spend hours over the pad and make a mediocre one, or make sure I am rested and calm minded and be more inspired when working on a sketch and the project. I wanted to see what I would be like without meditating and how I would act, I made a whole research about it. And due to that I decided to schedule my breaks – an hour, a day, more. And, of course it does affect the amount of clients, but we tend to focus on the quality more than the quantity. In the end, sleep is the most important, as my brain is working properly, and I can focus on the meaning of the tattoo, as well as the technicalities – how the colours will apply, the shading, how the skin might react.

*Authors note: During the interview, the girls were preparing their workstations, wrapping almost everything in cellophane, putting napkins over the carts before putting the machines and needles on them. The girl Katy was working on, was waiting patiently and when the time came to continue with the project (this was their 2nd session), Kety cleaned the skin with water and alcohol.

R: Has it happened yet that a client does not know what kind of tattoo or tattoo style they want, no specifics on how it should look like? How do you work around that?

T: Intuition. If you can not get detailed information on the tattoo, you must try and enter the persons psyche, try to get to know them and figure out what they would like. It happened a hundred of times, that a person does not know what they want, they have a vague depiction of it and you got to go with your gut. Most of the times when I did that the customer was like “Bingo! That’s it!”. The bigger problem can be if people know specifically what they want. They envision the lines differently and how it should all look like. They do not understand that the skin is not a piece of paper, and we are not printers. The skin reacts, it’s biology and it changes over time. Unless you are extremely pale, it will not look like it does on paper.

K: Sometimes, it can be a good thing if the client does not know what they want or how they want the tattoo to look like, as it gives us more creative space. It also happens a lot that somebody comes in here with a picture of a tattoo they saw on the web, and they say: “I want that!”, but it’s a bit unethical, as somebody might have taken a lot of time to think the design through and create it. It might have a special meaning to that someone and to simply copy it would be kind of wrong.

If the project is long, and a tattoo takes long hours to make, it is completely normal that a line is not as straight as envisioned. We are working on skin, as it reacts to the needle and the pain, it changes shape, it bloats. Even if we were working on paper, long hours can be very tiring. I think that tattoo artists have the best concentration. Almost every other art (not including something where the clay to stiffen after a certain while, or something similar) and every other artist can take a brake and continue later, but in tattooing, you need to have a lot of patience and concentration as we are working with people and have a big responsibility towards them.

R: What are some of the crucial things that need to be done both by the tattooist and the clients, and what should clients already know before coming to the tattoo parlour to get their tattoo?

T: No alcohol 24 hours before or after the session, although almost nobody pays attention to that. Like Katy said, no substances that dilutes the blood. That includes any medications you might be taking. During the pandemic a lot of people are taking aspirin which thins the blood in your veins, which can be a big problem if we are not informed, as the coagulation is far slower than usual and the skin does not regenerate as fast as it usually does. If you have a pet, it can be a problem, as any kind of licking by your pet can also infect the wounds. Change your sheets before you lay in your bed, you do not want to lie down in a dirty bed after tattooing. It is very easy to get infected, but also very easy to prevent infection, you simply need to know what to do. 

Milojević, R. (2021a, May 24). Kety continuing the session [Photograph]. Mozart Cultures. https://mozartcultures.com/en/wp-admin/upload.php?item=9966

K: Basically, no substance that dilutes the blood. Both the artist and the client should be well rested. Do not come to the session on an empty stomach. You need to be relaxed and as positive as possible. You can not go to the pool until the tattoo heals and it depends on the person, some people heal faster than others. No tanning salons as every wound, if exposed to the sun, can be darker than the rest of the skin when healed. The workers of the cosmetics industry would tell you the same.

R: Are there different kind of methods and styles to tattooing, or does it depend on the artist?

T: Of course there is. Each artist has his or her own style, but there are also general styles. You have realism, dot work, old school, new traditional, trash polka, black-and-gray, cartoonish, etc. Each style has its own way of colouring, shading, drawing. Kety and myself are what in the industry is called All-arounders, which means we do all styles, but of course, there are some styles that each of us prefers more than others. I adore dot work, and am really trying to practice it. I love how good it looks, because it focuses on the texture of everything. I like to mix styles, one of my favourite mixtures is colour with black-and-gray. But in the end, it’s not the style that is important to me, but the design, and one design might not look good on one tattoo, but it will on the other, and it might not appeal to one customer, but it will to the other. Neither of us, is actually willing to stop at just one tattoo style.

K: You also have different styles depending on the tools you use, like stick n’ poke, and there are various versions of this. There is also a method that I do not remember how it is called, but the new kids, how I would call them, seem to be using it – they take the ordinary tattooing needle, not the short one with the cartridges, but the long one, wrap it, sterilise it, and start poking, leaving little dots. Now dots are very hard to do. And a lot of these are people that are working on their own accord, but there is a rule to everything and a specific reason why it is done that specific way. To do the dots, you need to know how deep the needle goes under the skin, and with the stick n’ poke it is not as visible when the colour breaks as it is with the machine. It can look amazing, but I do not know anyone myself who knows how to do that properly and professionally. Then you have Tebori, it is also a stick n’ poke method originating from Japan. They have a sort of a fork, work with both hands, and there is also another person whose job is to stretch your skin. It is a very serious and hard technic and those who mastered it can create beautiful tattoos, beautiful shadowing.

I prefer illustrations, or the cartoon style, as I used to draw comics. I like something that I will be drawing. All the tattoo styles already exist in drawing, they were just given different names in tattooing. I also like to mix styles, it is something that I find very interesting. Selective colouring is also one of the things that I like to do, like the one we’re doing now, black-white-red, but one of my goals is to transition to making drawings for the clients and of course, the big as contrast as possible. Even so, I must do different styles, no matter what I prefer, it will definitely bore me if I do only one style for a long time, so a mixture of everything is the recipe for us.

R: How did you feel when you did your first tattoo?

T: When I did my very first tattoo, I got an incredible adrenalin rush. It was a little stick-man on a colleague. I felt happy and euphoric that I was finally holding the tattoo machine in my hand and about to do my very first tattoo, there was no tension nor was I nervous, because I was doing it on a friend to practice. Simply adrenalin and a great amount of happiness.

But for my first big tattoo, I was incredibly nervous. It was a Keanu Reeves portrait, from the 47 Ronin, I was technically pushed into doing it. It was another friend who wanted to do it, and he wanted me to do it, he trusted me and at that point I could not say no.

Tatalović, T., & Zlatić, K. (n.d.). Kety and Tamara’s first big tattoos [Photograph]. Artist’s Personal Library. https://mozartcultures.com/en/wp-admin/upload.php?item=9990

K: My first ever tattoo was a really big one – it was a spider web on the elbow of a 2+ meters tall professional boxer. An elbow is really hard to do, as the skin is very thick and on top of that, this one has been hit more than a few times. Due to that, the skin was hardened, so there was no bloating, half the colour faded, but in the end it still turned out OK.

But the first tattoo that I considered a major one, was a realistic colour tattoo of a blue eye located on the forearm. My biggest issue was that I did not know how to properly colour the skin, I was nervous, I was literally shivering, too much colour has slipped out, and it looks like Scarface, but the guy was very cool, he told me “Kety, that is your first colour tattoo, and I’ll carry it proudly”. I was so happy and proud. 

R: How do you choose your tools? Machines, colours, manufacturers?

K: You have coil machines, with copper coils inside them, then pens or rotary machines, plenty of manufacturers, many of them only used because of the brand and they cost a lot, while on the other hand there are other manufacturers that do not cost a lot and still make the same quality of machines, if not better. Recently I decided to switch to rotary machines. They make incredible lines, and Japanese style of tattoos , which requires a lot of lines, has become very popular lately. A good machine can improve your work up to 10%, everything goes faster and better, it’s simply easier, which is why investing in machines is very important. We have four Mara machines, and are absolutely satisfied and, since it is local, if the machines break we can take it to him, so that he could fix it. Rotary machines are best for shadowing and colouring. 

The needles differ as well. There are needles for lining, those rotate in a circle, and can have 5, 7 or even more smaller needles, they are called Round liners, or you have a so-called brush, that has a multiple needles aligned next to each other, and we use them for filling in empty surfaces. Those are called Magnums.

Every artist uses different needles for different styles, or simply use the one they know best. We can not say that one type of needle is wrong for a specific type of tattoo, when it works for that tattoo artist. As we would say here, “we do not want to make as Serbian business out of all of this” (Author’s note: A known characteristic of people in Serbia, is that “everyone knows everything”, even if they don’t, so making a Serbian business out of something would mean to pretend to know more than one actually does). 

T: We must compromise accordingly, depending on what the tattoo requires. It all comes down to that.  Apart from that, personally I found that coil machines are heavy on my hand – it is like that with most female tattoo artists. However, if I am working with something that requires a lot of lining, coil machines are best, so the best compromise we found is the Mara pen machine. The manufacturer is our friend and the machines are incredible, with incredible quality. There are also rotary machines on which you can adjust things, like softness of the impact. We call the effect give. Due to the effect, you can use the same machine for many things, like lining, shadowing, colouring, etc. And apart from Round liners or Magnums, there are also Round Shaders, Loose needles, then different versions of Magnums – Flat Magnums, Super-tight round liners, etc.

We tend not to buy any factory made machines, because if they were to brake, the only thing you can do is to buy a new one. Sending one to the factory will take a lot of time, and might stop your work for a few months.

As far as the colouring itself, you must know that it all ultimately comes down to the artist’s experience, but also know that a lot of things you see on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest or anywhere on the web are mostly photoshopped. People set a lot of filters, and modulate the photos so that they look better. Make sure to know how the tattoo actually looks like before choosing an artist, and how it will look like after some time.

R: How would you rate a good tattoo and a good tattoo artist?

T: None of us are competent enough to answer that. People have different tastes. But general “rules” are to blend the colours as best as you can, unless you are working an old school style tattoo, where the contrast needs to be clearly visible. Colours get smudged and you need to take that in consideration, if you want to attract new customers. Black is essential. Black or basically a dark outline, as they emphasise the colours around. Second, the lines need to be straight – if the lines are not straight where they need to be, it is mostly because of the artist’s inexperience. 

Whatever kind of tattoo you wish to do, part of our job is to inform you how the tattoo will look like later down the road. 

As far as the tattoo artist, the client should decide what tattoo artist to go to by informing themselves on the artist’s strengths and weaknesses.

Milojevic, R. (2021, May 24). The Inerview Tattoo [Photograph]. MozartCultures. https://mozartcultures.com/en/wp-admin/upload.php?item=9973

K: I have to say that a tattoo can look good without black or dark lines, but the artist needs to be very good and experienced. The outline does not need to be dark, but it needs to be done right. Colours are mostly there because of the flavour. In the end, the core of the tattoo are the colours that are the contrast to your skin tone. Colours fade and people usually come to refresh the tattoos.

Who are we to tell the people what they should choose, or to judge what they like? In the end, in every art, people look for meaning, and each person has the right to have their own.

R: What do you consider as a complete tattoo artist?

K: It depends on the tattoo artist and their approach. I’m constantly working to improve myself, and I attract clients that are of similar thinking. But some other tattoo artist enjoy the small things, the meaning is not important to them. And, that is what it comes down to again – where the artists feels comfortable and what is their meaning in tattooing. Nobody can say that they are the best at this job. There is no school for this. A complete tattoo artist is the one that enjoys what they do and how they do it.

Author’s note: Tamara was currently talking to a customer that came to his tattooing session, so she was not able to answer the question.

R: Have there been any tattoos or clients that you have turned down when they asked you for a session and if there is why?

Milojević, R. (2021, May 24). The Tattooist [Photograph]. Mozart Cultures. https://mozartcultures.com/en/wp-admin/upload.php?item=9983

K: There aren’t many, but yes there are a few. Mostly because I did not feel like doing that type of tattoo. If I don’t feel like it, or I was oversaturated with that particular style and just could not do it any more at the time, I advise them on whom to contact, who do I think would make the best out of their tattoos and how it would look like.

T: I have not turned down anything, except for some cover-ups that are not possible, like covering a tattoo with lighter colours that the original tattoo. I can find a common language with everyone, as long as they understand what is possible and what is not.

R: What tattoo are you most proud of?

K: The last one. I believe that your last work is your best work, because I evolve with every tattoo, I change, I grow. It happened many times that people came here with some tattoos that I looked at and said to myself “I can do better than that”, and yet some people came here with works from tattoo artists that I follow on Instagram, and when I saw them my jaw dropped, I said to myself “That’s what I want to reach! That’s my goal!”. So my best tattoo, in my opinion, is always my last tattoo. 

T: Oh, that is a tough question. If I had to pick one, there is one specific tattoo of a flower that I did for a woman, but it was a small tattoo. It is special and I am proud of it because that woman was thrilled with it. The tattoo signified her daughter, and she had a specific spot where she wanted to position it, the lines had to be done right, she was very conscious about everything with the tattoo. When we were done, she looked at it and said “Yes, that’s it!”. I was, and still am, extremely proud of that tattoo and the work I’ve done on it, because of what it meant to her and how important it was that everything falls in the right place.

Kety and Tamarą continued their work as we finished our interview and I left the studio. Kety was finishing a large tattoo of a woman in flower pedals with blades on her back and Tamara was doing a cover tattoo of a realistic bus. Knowing both of them for some time, and their approach to their profession, there was no better option for me then to take the first hand approach and create this interview that will hopefully show the tattooing as a profession and culture to somebody that is not yet informed, but would like to know more.  On their Instagram pages, which are listed below, you can find more information on tattoo hygene and care, tattoo rules and many more. 

In the end, if you ever find yourself in Belgrade, and want a tattoo, be sure to check MFK studio. You won’t be disappointed. 

Resources:

This article was made thanks to two amazing ladies and artists, that took time to answer a few questions. Everything written is a transcript of the recording and the photos were given generously by the artists, so that the article would be an even better piece. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed making it. 

Milojević, R. (2021, May 24), Interview with tattoo artists Katarina Zlatić & Tamara Tatalović, Belgrade.

Website link: https://www.instagram.com/feline.tattoo/

Website link: https://www.instagram.com/ketysmileink/