Covering your unwanted tattoo

Let’s talk about coverups! Let me start off by saying I absolutely love doing them. They are however, due to many misconceptions, myths and wrong approaches, a tricky topic. That is why I prefer being honest, and saying it as it is: You can not, unfortunately, fulfill your wish for a brand new, fresh tattoo, by getting a coverup. Because a coverup will almost never be what you wish or hope it would be. Will it be beautiful? Yes. Because I wouldn’t take the project on, if I wasn’t sure I can make it look good. But in order for it to be beautiful and do a successful coverup job, I need complete artistic freedom. That means what you and I both know before I start, is that it’ll definitely be botanical. Other than that, you’ll need to trust that I will draw on you whatever works best. The new tattoo will have to be at least 3-4 times bigger than the old one, and you need an open mind regarding the approach and outcome. Coverups are some of the most challenging and difficult tattoos to do. Which is why most tattooers can’t stand them. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy the process neither, because it’s really really tough. What I do enjoy endlessly, is your face once it’s done and you look in the mirror for the first time. It’s priceless, and it’s the reason why I do this. 

The more space you give me to work with, the better the coverup will be. I know it’s not the best news, and you wished you could combine this with whatever your new tattoo dreams were. Sometimes, if the old tattoo is very small or very light, I will of course try to make it what you wanted. But I can’t promise that, please keep it in mind. In some cases, especially when the old tattoo is script or a bold black tribal, I will advice you to have a few sessions of laser done first, to lift some of the darkness. Again, I know this isn’t fun or ideal, and I know it adds to the cost. But I am not a magician, and when a tattoo is too dark and bold it just isn’t possible to make it disappear without a little help from a laser professional. I can recommend several good laser technician’s, just ask me :) 

Price wise, easy coverups (meaning simple fine line tattoos, very faded tattoos, small and light tattoos) are charged like a regular tattoo.
If your coverup is of the more complicated kind (meaning dark, scarred, colour, script, tribal etc) the price will be higher than a regular tattoo of the same size. All of this will be discussed during your email consultation, before you book. 

Covering scars

Scar coverups are very close to my heart. I met many of my dearest customers through their scar coverups. I am aware of the big deal, commitment that this is, and how much bravery it takes you to get to this point. The rules for scar coverups are different from covering an old tattoo. The size only needs to be a little bigger than the scarred area. If you want for the scars to be virtually invisible, it’s better to give some extra space. If you don’t mind for your scarring to still peek through here and here, the size can be even smaller than the scarred area. In theory, you can cover scars with whatever you like. However after many years of experience working with scars, I recommend using botanicals. They give me the most opportunity to use their shapes and curves to work with the scarring in a way that makes it disappear organically.

The pain of getting tattooed over scarring varies, depending on whether there was nerve damage when the skin first got injured, and how old the scars are. Most people think it hurts less, but as mentioned, it varies. I can work with burn scars, surgery scars, mastectomy scars, gender reaffirming scars, skin graft scars, extreme stretch marks and self harm scars. Which ever of these you’d like covered, I understand you might feel nervous or scared about it. I won’t tell you how to feel, but I can tell you that you can feel reassured that from me there will be no judgement, no shame, and you don’t have to speak about how or why you got the scarring, if you don’t want to. There is no pressure at all. It makes me happy to help if I can, and I’ll do my best to make this a pleasant experience for you. 

Pricing for scar coverups is only a little higher due to the length of the appointments, because I have to tattoo much slower and more cautiously. 

I have a whole section about the healing of scar coverups, please have a look, and feel free to get in touch if you have any further questions.