Booking
If you’re reading this, thank you for considering me as your artist!
This page contains all of the important information you need about the process of contacting me and actually getting tattooed.
How do I book an appointment to get tattooed by you?
All booking is done via e-mail only at alysinhopetattooer@gmail.com. From those e-mails, I pick tattoo ideas that I feel are within my ability/interest. Please take a look at my tattoo portfolio to get an idea of the type of work I prefer to do. I really prefer to tattoo in all black, with VERY minimal pops of color. I do a lot of tiny lines and detailed dot/stipple shading. I require full artistic freedom when designing custom work.
What do I need to include in the e-mail?
In the email please include the following:
- Name.
- Pronouns.
- Phone number.
- Ideas for the tattoo.
- Placement.
- Rough size (in inches).
- Reference pictures.
- Pictures of the area (if there are any moles, scars, or tattoos I need to be mindful of).
- Days of the week that generally work best for you Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 12pm-7pm.
- Budget.
How much do you charge/what is your hourly rate?
I typically charge hourly for everything I do, at a rate of $200/hr. I never know how long a tattoo is going to take, since there are many variables. If you have a specific budget that you’d like to stick to on the date of your appointment, just let me know! We can break the project into multiple sessions to make it more affordable for you.
Do I need to pay a deposit?
Yes! A $100 non-refundable deposit is required at the time of booking once we have confirmed a time and date for your tattoo. That deposit comes off the total price of your tattoo on the day of your appointment. I can accept payments through Venmo, Cashapp, PayPal, and card. If you are paying with a card or PayPal account, you can do so through the website HERE . Deposits are strictly non-refundable. If you have something come up and need to postpone your appointment, let me know as SOON as you find out. I can reschedule you. If you tell me that you need to reschedule and it’s within 48 hours of your appointment, you will need to pay another $100, since it might not be possible for me to fill your original time slot on such a short notice.
Do you have pre-drawn flash?
Yes! I am always working on drawing flash images that I’d like to tattoo. I have a book of flash at work that I continuously add to, but I also have a page on here that has a lot of my flash pieces as well. Clients who are looking to get a piece of my flash will be prioritized and able to get into my books sooner than custom pieces. I also would like to start working on larger scale tattoos, so expect to see a range of sizes from palm size to the size of a large thigh piece. My favorite subjects to tattoo are demon/monster girls, horror, gore, video game shit, medical diagrams and instruments, and spooky nature. Think bugs, plants with eyeball flowers, thorns, dead stuff.
What if I don’t hear back from you?
Sometimes emails can end up in my spam folder or might have been overlooked. Please understand that it may take a long time to hear back from me. I spend a lot of my life tattooing tiny dots onto people, and so at the end of the day, there’s a good chance that I haven’t had any time to catch back up on emails. If you don’t hear back from me in a short amount of time, I promise you that it’s nothing personal. If it’s been a few weeks, you can always send me a follow-up email. Absolute worst case scenario, get ahold of Eric. He’s chronically online and his bald head helps his phone signal come in super strong.
How far are out are you booked?
Lately, I’ll have SOME kind of date open within a few weeks. It might just be on a day of the week that everyone hates, like a Tuesday.
Do you do touch-ups, cover-ups, or reworks?
We stand by our work, which means if you have a tattoo that was done by ME and it needs a touch up, I will do it free of charge.
If a tattoo does not need a touch-up and you are wanting an add-on or change that is outside of the original agreement, you will be charged a minimum of $150. Basically, I’d treat it as a new, separate tattoo.
If a tattoo that needs to be touched up was done by another artist, that is on a case-by-case basis. You will be charged for that depending on how much work the tattoo requires. I may recommend another artist to you, if the style does not match my style.
Cover-ups and reworks are tricky for me. Due to my style of tattooing and heavy use of dot shading, I may need to see the existing tattoo in person, just so I can really grasp what the minimum size of the new piece needs to be. I have the most success covering tattoos that are very faded. If a tattoo is bold or large, I can recommend another local artist to you who would be able to do a better job. Worst case scenario, we may recommend getting a few sessions of laser removal performed on the tattoo first, just to lighten it to a point where it will be easier to hide in a cover-up.
Can I see my design beforehand?
Short answer: No. We understand that you want to be involved in every step of the process of designing your tattoo. It is permanent, after all. I work on designing tattoos in the order of appointments in my schedule. This means that I do not have time to draw anything days in advance. Because of this, I schedule enough time during your tattoo session to make minor changes to the design before we begin the tattooing. I typically have a couple of slightly different versions of your tattoo drawn up for you to choose between, and we can mix and match elements of the design until we find one you are stoked about. If you have additional details or changes you would like to add to your design, please e-mail me as soon as you come up with them so I can draw accordingly.
Can I bring a friend with me to my appointment?
Yes! I’m weird and quiet, so it’s totally fine if you bring a friend with you. That takes the social pressure off of me so I can focus on just the tattooing part of things. But just know that if your friend sucks and is annoying, all of my coworkers are going to beat me with chairs when you leave.
I’m under 18, can I still get tattooed with parental consent?
No. But it’s okay because your idea is prolly bad anyways. I’m doing you a solid, I swear.
Do you use numbing cream?
Nope! That’s typically something that people do an hour in advance, that way it has time to actually work. There have been so many stories about people having bad reactions to it, I don’t want to recommend brands to anyone. If the tattoo becomes too painful to sit through, I’ll more than likely just get to a good stopping point and have you come back to finish it in another sitting.
How do I cancel my appointment?
If you need to cancel/reschedule, please e-mail me as soon as possible to let me know. If you no-show me, I will be losing money. Please try your best to keep me in the loop if you suspect your availability might change. I do not send automated reminder texts to you.
What should I do to prepare?
Take a damn shower. Make sure you have eaten something before coming in. We do have a bunch of free snacks in the lobby, so if you get light headed during the tattoo, one of us will throw candy at you until you feel better. MOISTURIZE YOUR SKIN if you usually have super dry skin. And I don’t mean to just glob on a bunch of lotion right before showing up- that’ll just make you slippery. Drink water. Try to have on clothing that makes the area we are tattooing easy to reach. If that is hard, we do have a little privacy screen I can put up around you, so no worries.
Where are you located?
I work at Mystic Union, in downtown South Bend, Indiana. The full address is 315 N Lafayette Blvd, South Bend, Indiana, 46601. We are in a large brick building that used to be the Carpenter’s Union. We’re next door to a gas station and there’s a Taco Bell nearby.
What is your parking situation?
If you’re looking at the front of the building, there’s a parking lot on the right hand side that has a bunch of spaces. We have a bunch of security cameras everywhere, but still make sure to lock your car doors.