It’s good to know what type of tattoo needles you’re going
to use before you start your first tattoo work.
Well, you see a tattoo needle consist of several small needles grouped attached
to a needle bar. There are many types of
tattoo needles – Group, liner, single, round, flat, magnum, shader. These types
of needles have their specific use and depends how the artist use it.
Obviously, you can’t use a liner to shade a tattoo or use a shader to create
outlines. Basically, their specific use is related to what they are called.
Anyway, let’s go discuss them one by one and get into
details. There are four common types of
needle groupings.. Let’s start with
These kinds of tattoo needles can come from single to 14
round. If you’re going to check the
image you will see that the round needle looks like a perfect circle. These are commonly used for shading tight
parts of the tattoo.
Flats:
I rarely use this kind of needles when it comes to shading.
But, they are good in filling a tight part of the tattoo. This needle comes from 4 to 15 needles
groupings and if you’re going to check the image, the needle grouping are all
straight and placed tightly together.
Tights:
This type of needles comes from 3 to 14 needle groupings.
Tights are commonly used for outlining. similar to round needles this type of
needle has also a circular shape but unlike the rounds tights has needles that
are grouped tightly together to make a perfect lining.
Magnums:
I always use this kind of tattoo needle when it comes to
shading. Because this one has two rows and their grouping is widely spread out
it can be very good in filling in solid colour. There are two types of Magnum
needles, one is regular and the other is double stacked. Double stacked means
that the needles are more grouped tightly together compared to a regular Magnum
needle.
Curved Magnum:
Similar to a regular Magnum, but this one is much bigger and
the tip of the needles has a slight arch to it. I always use this when I’m
making Japanese tattoos like Wind bars, clouds etc. This one is also commonly
used in filling colors into a portrait tattoo.
Now you know the types of needles and their uses. Next post will be about types of Inks. Hope this one helps.
