How I Set Up My Station

Aug 29

I recorded myself setting up for an eyeliner client the other day and wanted to share it with you. I will be linking everything from Amazon below with affiliate links, so if you purchase it helps me out!

With any tattoo, bloodborne pathogens are one of your artist’s biggest concerns. It is super important to only touch things with clean gloves or have the items wrapped before. I typically set up my tray for the predraw, and after predraw as the client is numbing, I put all my predraw tools back and set up for the tattoo. I ensure my dirty gloves do not touch any of my items directly. I am going to show step by step how I set up for my client. If you would like to see how I clean up, let me know!

I start by laying a stretcher sheet over my table. It covers the bed completely, and if your client is cold and the heat is broken (hello, Minnesota), they work as blankets too. I then use 2 dental bibs, one to cover the head spot and one my tray. Next, I grab 2 produce plastic bags. I tape one to use as a trash bag on the side of your cart and wrap a separate, smaller tray with the plastic bag. This separate tray is great because I keep my green soap, water wipes, or cotton rounds on here, so the liquid stays contained. When you wrap your green soap bottle, or any bottle, it is so important to wrap the bottom and all the sides. This way you can grab it and set it down during the appointment with no worries. I only use a minimal amount of green soap at the beginning to cleanse the lids, otherwise I use water wipes to wipe away pigment. I also grabbed saline just in case I needed an eye rinse. Saline is used to remove pigment, so it is important to use sparingly.

I grabbed an alcohol wipe, my charcoal string, caliper, and Academy S pen for the predraw portion. I ended up only using my pen, but I keep the others out in case I need them. I always predraw eyeliner because if their eyes swell during the appointment, it’s hard to check evenness. The Academy S pens are the best predraw pens. It is a gel pen that is dark and easy to see, stays on after you wipe numbing off, and can draw very thin lines. I use Mesonumb for numbing, which is hard to find in the United States. If I need to cleanup anything during predraw, I use microfiber swabs. They are much smaller and more precise than qtips.

I currently use the Microbeau Bellar tattoo machine. This is the only machine I use for services because I love how slim and light it is. It is designed to have minimal vibration, so it is great for eyeliner or nano. I typically use Vertix nano needles. If you would like a post about the needles I use for what, please let me know!

AMAZON LIST

Stretcher Sheets – https://amzn.to/3yihZWK

Dental Bibs – https://amzn.to/3mzpxlB

Produce Bags – https://amzn.to/3zjdNad

Pink Dental Film – https://amzn.to/3gxpTFs

Tray – https://amzn.to/3BbQsrI

Green soap bottle – https://amzn.to/2WjHxoZ

Alcohol Wipe – https://amzn.to/2UNtCai

Charcoal String – https://amzn.to/3mD5AKC

Caliper – https://amzn.to/2WqKtAC

Microfiber tips – https://amzn.to/2WpHJn3

Cotton rounds – https://amzn.to/3gvobnV