When I was first starting out on my journey to become a tattoo artist, I quickly realized how expensive this could be. The cost of black ink might be fairly cheap, but colored tattoo inks can cost a lot of money. When you want to practice, you especially want to do it without burning a hole in your wallet. So I used to make my own homemade tattoo ink with pencil lead!
So how to make homemade tattoo ink with pencil? The process itself is fairly cheap and pretty easy to make. The difficult part is getting the right consistency for the ink and the right carrier solution to properly mimic how a professional tattoo ink would transfer the ink. With all said, let’s get to making your own homemade tattoo ink!
Key Takeaways
- Making tattoo ink with a pencil is pretty easy as it can be made with household items. The problem is getting the consistency right.
- Colored ink on your tattoo ink made with pencil is pretty easy. You will have to mix some of the ingredients mentioned below to get the desired color you want.
- If you don’t have pencils at home, then there is no problem! You can try other ways of getting the carbon for your DIY tattoo ink.
- Homemade tattoo ink should be reserved for practicing only as the ingredients might not be safe for actual tattoo use.
Making Homemade Tattoo Ink with Pencil Guide
First and foremost, what you will be needing are the ingredients and materials to make the tattoo ink. So here is the ingredient list and materials you need for the homemade tattoo ink:
- Witch hazel (or alcohol like vodka)
- Graphite pencils
- Mortar and pestle
- Glycerin and propylene glycol (or body wash, shampoo, liquid soap, etc.)
- Plastic lip or bottle cap
- Wooden coffee stirrer
- Knife
Make sure that you are using graphite pencils and not lead pencils. Nowadays, these are made from the carbon in the form of graphite, whereas previously it was made from actual lead which is poisonous! If you have really old pencils, they are probably made from lead so I would suggest avoiding them for this little experiment. With that little explanation out of the way, let’s move on to the actual steps in making your very own homemade tattoo ink.
Step 1: Crushing the Graphite
Take the pencil and then split it down in the middle using a knife to carefully break it. This way, you get the pencil lead without breaking it. Then take the pencil lead in the mortar and crush it down to a fine powder using the pestle. This should take about 10 to 15 minutes of continuous grinding to get that extra fine powder.
Step 2: Adding the carrier solution
Once you are satisfied with the fineness of the graphite powder, then transfer it to a plastic lid or bottle cap. Then add the witch hazel or alcohol (preferably a clear alcohol like vodka). This will act as the carrier solution that will transfer the dye into the skin. Add a drop of glycerin and propylene glycol to keep the solution from drying out.
Step 3: Mixing everything
Take the wooden coffee stirrer and properly mix in all the ingredients you have. As a rule of thumb, you want a consistency that is like pen ink or pancake batter. Too runny and the needle won’t be able to hold the tattoo ink. Too thick and the ink won’t transfer to the skin as well as you would like. Remember, the more graphite you add the thicker the ink will be. The more alcohol or witch hazel you add, the thinner the ink will be. This will take some practice to get the right consistency so make sure you test each batch to see how you are faring.
And with that, you are done! The most crucial part is getting the consistency right. You can experiment with the proportions of the liquid you are adding. Professional tattoo ink uses witch hazel, glycerin, and glycol which is why I recommended it. Of course, if you don’t have these or can’t buy them you could always use the alternatives I have named instead. Even if you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can take a hammer and wax paper and crush the graphite in that too!
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Adding Color to the Homemade Tattoo Ink
So the above step is particularly for black pencils. The colored graphite from color pencils doesn’t really transfer well as ink because they tend to disperse a lot in the carrier solution. So instead, you could try the materials mentioned below to add color to your homemade tattoo ink!
Watercolor paint
The paint in watercolor paint has pigments that are pretty safe to be in contact with skin so you can definitely use this when practicing tattooing. For this, all you will need to do is add dried paint to the graphite in the section above. You will need to make sure it is a bit dry so it mixes when you add the alcohol or carrier solution for the ink.
Dry pigments
Similar to watercolor paints, dry pigments are the way to go to get that rich and vibrant color that you get with professional tattoo ink. Instead of crushing the graphite, you can crush some of the dry pigments instead. You will want the same fine powdery consistency to this as well so you will need that much grinding for this one. For the rest of the process, you will be doing the same as mentioned above.
Berries
Berries are really cool and have been used by ancient tattoo artists to make natural color pigments! These are especially popular with the Native Americans who strained berries to extract the color from them. Take the berries in a sieve and crush them so you get the liquid. After getting the juices, mix that with gum Arabic or honey to get the consistency you are looking for, and then mix it with witch hazel or alcohol to get the tattoo ink.
Tea bags
Similar to how you are doing it with berries, you can get realistic-looking brown ink with the help of tea bags! Kinda limited in the selection of colors but in a pinch, it can also replace graphite pencils too! Just like the berries, you will want to strain the tea bags to get the liquid and mix it with gum Arabic to get the ink-like consistency.
Alternatives to Pencil for Homemade Tattoo Ink
Now you might be wondering, what if I don’t have graphite pencils, how am I to get the carbon needed for the tattoo ink? It is fairly simple, just a little more heat is required to get the carbon. So let’s see the things that you can burn to get the carbon that you need.
Soot
Soot products are what prison tattoo ink is made of! The limited resources available in prison mean that people need to get creative. So one thing they do is burn cotton balls dipped in baby oil and collect the soot that they release on a piece of metal. Then they brush it off to obtain the soot in a paper to get the carbon needed for the homemade tattoo ink! And instead of the fancy witch hazel or alcohol, baby oil acts as the carrier solution in prison. Quite risky in prison but at home, you can do this to easily get the soot needed! Just be careful that you don’t set off any fire alarms while making it.
Charcoal
Just like burning to get the soot from cotton balls and baby oil, burning wood to form charcoal is another way to get the carbon needed! This has been how ancient tattoo artists used to obtain the black pigments needed to deposit in the skin using animal bone knives to pierce the skin. The charcoal can come from both wood ash or bone char and is simply brushed off to obtain the necessary powder for your tattoo ink.
Plastic
While I would advise against using this, it is still possible to burn a bit of plastic to obtain the soot you need. However, please be careful of the fumes that are produced when burning plastic. It is very toxic and causes breathing problems and possible lung issues. Not a method I want to advertise but it is a popular way to collect soot in prison which is why I wanted to include it here.
Why You Should Be Using This Ink for Practice Only?
The fact is that you should be using homemade tattoo ink for practice purposes only! Practicing with professional tattoo ink can seem like a waste on silicone skin, pigskin, or fruit skin. That is why it is cheaper to make the tattoo ink at home and then use that to practice.
If you make the ink enough times, you can reliably get the consistency of tattoo ink that you can buy from stores. Those are considered to be safe, what you make is not. Along with that, there are other things that you would have to worry about like discoloration and faster fading. Homemade ink isn’t meant to last forever, no matter how many of the same ingredients you are using. You will see this more with color tattoos where they will look whiter very soon!
The other thing is infection and allergic reactions. Tattoo ink in itself is prone to cause various different reactions in the body because of how a new tattoo is a wound with a foreign substance embedded in your skin. Because you are using ingredients that have not gone through rigorous tests, you have no way of knowing how the human body will react to them. That is why you should only use it for practicing and that is it!
FAQs
What do prisoners use to tattoo their skin?
They attach a needle to a pencil and dip it in their DIY tattoo ink and pierce the skin to deposit the ink in the skin.
What did ancient tattoo artists use to tattoo their skin?
They used to use sharpened tools like bone picks and sharpened knives to pierce the skin to deposit the ink.
Is vegan tattoo ink safe?
Vegan tattoo ink is made from plant-based materials that have been tested on the skin. They are safe, non-toxic, and just as good as normal tattoo ink that is made from metal! Select shops use vegan tattoo ink so if you want the vegan option you should ask the artist or shop if they can tattoo you with vegan tattoo ink.
Final Thoughts
I hope with everything I said, you have more of an insight into what makes tattoo ink really have an effect when you are tattooing. The different parts and ingredients in regular tattoo ink have a part to make it last on the skin for a while. When you are practicing it is a waste to use these so instead making the tattoo ink on your own can be cheaper and way better to practice. You also get to understand what materials you like in the tattoo ink and how much one ingredient is to the other. However, please make sure to only use it to practice. Don’t try to tattoo yourself or your friend for practice, it can be very dangerous! So be responsible when you are tattooing.
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