Tattoo tipping

I had a totally awkward moment over tattoo tipping today--because I got it in a non-tipping country. My usual artists stateside will wave off a tip, but usually I'll slip about 15% in with the payment. (They also tend to come in UNDER their original quoted price by ten percent, so half the time I'm giving them the money I had planned on paying them anyway.)

But I'm over in Ireland and I got STRONGLY waved off, in a very polite way, but I knew not to argue further. She said "no, you paid a lot of money for your tattoo, there's no need for a tip." Totally blunt, couldn't argue. And I know the tipping rules in Ireland are a lot different from back home so I shut up and put the tip away. So I just plan on telling everyone who heads to Dublin where my favorite tattoo artist is there and hope I pay her back for her great work with further business.

$300!?! wow! is the tattoo made of pure gold?

sorry. i thought it said a 1 hour session. thats not bad at all..tip a little if you like it

the base tip should start at $20 and go up from there. it's not based on a percentage, it should be based on your approval of the final product.

You bought a KIT and you're going to try to do it yourself?
Sell the KIT and go tip a tattooist with the money. You have no business "trying to do it yourself" if you haven't been through an apprenticeship.
No matter how many designs you've drawn for your friends, you don't just figure out things like proper sterilization and prevention of blood borne disease by "trying it yourself."

There's my tip for you.

A tip should be based off of the quality of the service, not a % point. If you feel they did a good job, pay him as much as you want, if not don't give them shit. My artist over charge me and didn't do that well of a job on a basic tattoo. I gave him jack and shit.

i only have 3 tattoos and have never tipped for any of them. my artist has called me to thank me for brining in more work for him from everyone that i have refered to him. i have had a lot of people ask where i got my work done and many of them have gone to him as well. i haven't been back for a couple of years and found out from my sister, that just got work done from my artist a month or two ago, that he was asking when i was gonna come back in for some more work. there are countless way to give a "tip". it doesn't always have to be money.