Please first check this page whether appointments are possible at the moment!
You are interested in a tattoo by me, Wiebke a.k.a. Donna Tinta? I look forward to adorning your precious body!
Here is all the information on the procedure up to the actual tattooing session. If you have any questions: feel free to ask!
I know, this is quite a lot of text for you to read. But reading it means both of us can talk on the same ground without fear of misunderstanding. So please read BEFORE sending your request.
About my work
I have been an avid follower of art since I was a child, attending art school in the Luneburg Heath for six years. I followed this up with training as an assistant graphic technician in Bremen, and a degree in graphic design at Hanover´s University of Applied Sciences.
But my artistic journey did not end there. While I was working on my diploma project, the tattooing bug found me and attached itself with a firm grip.
After some time at the tattoo studio «Longestline» in Essen I started my own business «Donna Tinta». Ever since, I have been applying all my experience designing individual tattoos in close rapport with my customers. This is my preferred way of working, but from time to time I also come up with designs of my own which I will put on my website. Should you decide to take one of those designs, I will remove it from the web. I am very much of the opinion that a tattoo should stay singular and unique, so I prefer my tattoos not to be copied, either as a flash, full painting, or body art. In the same vein, I refuse to copy already finished drafts that are submitted to me 1:1. But of course, we can start with basic ideas from existing art and develop something together that is uniquely your own! 🙂
You may have noticed from my work that I have a preference for two very distinct tattoing techniques: dotwork and watercolour style. I also enjoy inking white tattoos, which are a pretty rare trend and require special knowledge and equipment.
As for motifs and design: I am known to be enthusiastic about all sorts of ideas, and will gladly walk off the beaten path with you. Combining the techniques mentioned above with unconventional subjects, like a portrait in watercolour or flowers in dotwork, is a favourite of mine.
Minimum age
I will not ink minors or those who have not yet completed their eighteenth year. Period. And this means no even if their parents give permission in writing!
In no case will I tattoo persons under 21 years of age on their hands, fingers, neck or head. If I have doubts about your age, I may have to check your ID.
Prior to inking, we enter a written and binding contract (which can, of course, be read beforehand). Which probably makes me a German stickler for legal detail, but it makes it safer for both of us.
Appointment requests and eMail contact
On the whole, I would ask you to have a little patience.
You may know that I work with a mobile studio as well as at my own premises. This means that I spend an awful lot of time on the road, tattooing, discussing designs, sketching, painting and, not least, driving to wherever my customers are. This means that appointments can only be fixed via mail (as opposed to on the phone), and it may take me some time to answer.
I do not have a studio wich is open for public in the usual sense of a fixed location. There is no way for you to simply drop by; appointments only.
I do not work alone, but there is really no way for someone to take the all-important duty of discussing designs with you off me. If you write an eMail, I have all the important details at a glance. I devote a lot of time to each individual customer, making sure everything is covered, so some waiting time is inevitable. As a rule, mails are answered in chronological order.
As a first step, you will get a reply, either from me or from Tarn, my partner, who handles some of the initial contact. If your design is clear and needs no further discussion, he might also already fix an appointment with you.
Please do not send requests by Facebook or by phone – I may not be able to keep track of them.
Should you not get an answer within four weeks, please write again. I am not perfect, and with the amount of mail I receive I may occasionally lose one. If I do not react, this does not mean I am not interested!
Your mail should include the following:
- Your full name and address.
- Your age! This helps me to visualise you and may also help me draw up a fitting design for you.
- Your tattoo idea.
- The part of your body where you wish the tattoo to be placed.
- If you have any, send paintings, photos, catchwords, descriptions that may provide inspiration. The more detailed the better.
- Your preferred style (e.g. watercolour style, dotwork, combinations).
- Your preferred time for an appointment («as soon as possible», «in x months»)
- Your personal preference as for appointment times and dates («anytime», certain days of the week, vacation…)
- A price range you would expect to comfortably pay. I must be frank in this: sometimes a customer´s expectations do not match what I would be forced to charge. If this comes out at a time where we are already a long way into the designing process, we both will have wasted time and effort.
- Please be frank about illness, allergies, intolerances, pregnancy and the like. There are very few situations in which tattooing is not possible.
As a matter of course, your personal data and requests will be protected and treated with all confidentiality.
The usual course will be:
- First, you get a general answer whether I am able to do your request.
- Tarn or I will fix an appointment with you.
- You send an advance payment via bank transfer or PayPal.
- As soon as the payment is received, the appointment is fixed. We discuss your design in detail, and fix all the necessary details at a convenient time before your appointment.
I do not enjoy being this strict, but too often it has happened that I put a lot of thought and work into a customer´s tattoo design, only to hear that the person at the other end «just wanted to hear» and did not really mean to have the tattoo.
Down payment
If suggestions or concrete appointments have been fixed, those are not binding until an advance payment of at least € 80,- has been paid to my account, paypal@donna-tinta.de.
Of course, you may also pay via bank transfer (which is actually my preferred mode). Please ask for the necessary data (kontakt@donna-tinta.de)
(«If you transfer from a non-EU country, there may be additional bank charges. Make sure the sum you transfer includes those.»)
Please send a mail stating that the down payment is on its way, and the manner of payment. The appointment is considered binding only after the payment has been received.
The down payment will be figured in with the final sum for my work on the tattoo.
Should you, after having advanced the down payment, renege on your decision to have a tattoo, the down payment cannot be refunded if I have already started working on your design. In this case, the down payment will cover the amount of time and work I have already invested. The same holds if you do not appear at the appointment.
A few words about designing tattoos:
I won´t start on a design before receipt of the down payment.
Once you tell me your idea, my creative juices usually start to flow immediately. By this time should already have a few rough pictures in my head. How we should proceed after that is something I can tell you after you have described the idea in detail. There may be details I shall have to research, I might need get good pictures of the objects or animals in question, and draw them in 1:1 scale for the tattoo. Other parts of the same tattoo may only remain in the form of a few scribbles – hatchings or shades do not need to be meticulously sketched. Additionally, it is easier to plan and recombine details on the three-dimensional body than on a DIN A3 sheet. The idea is to have it look great on your body, not just on paper! The final details will be filled in on your skin.
Generally, I develop the design shortly before the tattoo appointment. This is for two reasons:
Firstly, in most cases I am the one who creates the entire design for the customer. This means that whoever has the first appointment also gets to view his or her design first. Also, to give all my concentration and creative energy to your design I have to get the others out of my head before I embark on the next one.
Creative potential is higher if there is not too much time between the design and the actual tattoo. The design is fresh in my eyes and memory if I drew it shortly before the appointment. This means that during the tattooing session, I am still actively processing the design, and won´t switch off my creative center. Don´t worry, though, I will tell you before letting the needle go on any unplanned journeys. 🙂
If it is important to you to have a complete and detailed design long before the appointment, that is possible, of course – if I know this in advance. In that case I will give you a date by which you can expect the complete flash drawing.
In this case, I will charge separately for the design. The design and any part(s) of it stay my artistic property, are not transferrable to other persons and may not be tattooed by anyone else.
IMPORTANT: I refuse to ink copies of already existing tattoos – under no conditions. My deep respect for others´ work does not allow it. If you want a copy of someone else´s tattoo, you have come to the wrong place. Of course, it is possible to use an existing tattoo for inspiration to create something that is uniquely your own.
Fees
Original design and design changes:
€ 80,- per hour, charged in 15-minute increments
Tattooing:
€ 125,- per hour, charged in 30-minute increments
There is no difference in price for black, white or colour tattoos. The complete fee is to be paid, in cash, at the time of the tattoo appointment. There are no exceptions to this rule. (Although I prefer cash, when travelling I will also accept EC card, Mastercard or Visa payment.)
I avoid naming lump prices for tattoos since there are too many variables to be accurate. If I inked one rose every other day, I would probably know exactly how many work they take, and could name a price with good hopes of accuracy. But I do not ink roses every day – and your own special, personal tattoo will happen only once, and never again.
Of course, I will name an estimate of the final fee and the number of appointments necessary. Please note that this is only a rough estimate.
Payment in installments, whether via PayPal or bank transfer, is not possible – neither before nor after an appointment.
Changing appointments
If you have to change the date or time of an appointment, you will have to notify me at least three days before the date!
Should you fall ill or be expecting a child, it is inadvisable to get a tattoo under any circumstances. But please be sure to send me a note at the earliest possible moment, via telephone, mail, semaphore, smoke signals or any other method you can think of! My partner reads my mail and is always able to reach me in an emergency.
The down payment and design will be saved over to the next appointment. Refunds are not possible once I have started working on a design. If you wish, though, you can get a gift voucher for the sum of your down payment.
Right! I hope, reading all this has not put you off tattooing, and answered some of your questions. You will be sent information on the appointment and detailed instructions on how to care for a fresh tattoo once the tattoo design and appointment have been fixed.
Whew… so… if you are still with me, send me an eMail with your tattoo idea. Don´t forget (redundant information!) to include:
- Your full name and address.
- Your age! This helps me to visualise you and may also help me draw up a fitting design for you.
- Your tattoo idea.
- The part of your body where you wish the tattoo to be placed.
- If you have any, paintings, photos, catchwords, descriptions that may provide inspiration. The more detailed the better.
- Your preferred style (e.g. watercolour style, dotwork, combinations).
- Your preferred time for an appointment («as soon as possible», «in x months»)
- Your personal preference as for appointment times and dates («anytime», certain days of the week, vacation…)
- A price range you would expect to comfortably pay. I must be frank in this: sometimes a customer´s expectations do not match what I would be forced to charge. If this comes out at a time where we are already a long way into the designing process, we both will have wasted time and effort.
- Please be frank about illness, allergies, intolerances, pregnancy and the like. There are very few situations in which tattooing is not possible.
Contact Wiebke – Donna Tinta: appointment@donna-tinta.de