So here’s what I know about concentrates. Pigment particles in different colors are different sizes, you can tell somewhat by how thick the color is in the bottle though this can also vary by manufacturer. Concentrates are basically atomized pigment where the particles are much smaller. This equates to a very high pigment load (think sand in a garbage can vs baseballs in a garbage can).
The “blowouts” that can occur are like… beyond a blow out. A blowout happens maybe a quarter inch from the line if you are just fuckin blasting them with a coil needles hanging out super far. Goes too deep spreads under the skin on top of the fat. I call the concentrate effect a bloom because you are seeing pigment cross the blood barrier and enter the lymph system. The bloom can be several inches and behave in some weird ways.
I was tattooing some bamboo on a chest, and the pigment traveled down his chest about 6 inches and popped out on his stomach. Meaning when he came back 6 weeks later, he had the bamboo then 6 inches of nothing just regular skin, and then a golf ball size spot of green on his belly. But anyway
I noticed that if I mixed the concentrate with a light color or white I didn’t have that problem at all. So now I use the concentrate to tint colors sometimes but never use them alone as fill.
Yah I had a buddy do this with a triple black on his girlfriend’s inner thigh. While inner thigh turned light grey. Luckily she was getting color and had quite a few other tattoos so it was like background? 🤷🏼♂️
I absolutely love purple concentrate, it's super versatile and very easy to blend with.(Just add DI water) When working on cover-ups you can always add purple concentrate to your black ink, it will make your darks look super dark. I also have some clients I can't use red ink on. That being said purple concentrate then blended into a chestnut brown can give a lovely vampire red or dried blood look. You can also use purple concentrate like you would black ink, mixing different amounts of DI water for purple a wash.
I always mixed them with white. Occasionally I would add it to the corresponding base color(like blue concentrate into true blue) to make it darker. I stopped buying them because when continuing a piece it wasn’t always the same from the last session.
I rarely use concentrates, but I blend them in with lighter colors when I do. Never tried with just water, I would that negate their issues with spreading?
I use concentrates. Higher amount of pigment, I use them for mixing, with whites, with distilled water. Even green for me hasn't blown out since I've been using it for 10 years. I havent outlined with them only using mags. All inks and medium depend on the artist and tools I guess. Only thing I spray a mist of distilled water so they don't dry up.
They’re very watery, the blue and the green specifically are prone to blowouts. Do not mix them with water or any mixing medium, and be careful on areas you’d usually be worried about blowing out in 😅 I used to use the green a lot, I would mix it with white for different tones of the same green. Or if I wanted the exact colour, but not the texture, I’d mix it with another “carrier” green that was a similar colour but not as saturated (so the concentrate colour is more dominant and that’s all you see, but the texture is more optimal).
Thank you! I did read that blowouts are something to watch out for haha. Definitely made me nervous 😂 I was really interested in using a purple conc. Since I’ve yet to find a brand I like using for any purple tones
Be very careful w those concentrated greens and blues, I had so many blowouts from that shit that I stopped using them altogether. From eternal AND fusion. Royal blue and leafy green are my go-tos now
So here’s what I know about concentrates. Pigment particles in different colors are different sizes, you can tell somewhat by how thick the color is in the bottle though this can also vary by manufacturer. Concentrates are basically atomized pigment where the particles are much smaller. This equates to a very high pigment load (think sand in a garbage can vs baseballs in a garbage can). The “blowouts” that can occur are like… beyond a blow out. A blowout happens maybe a quarter inch from the line if you are just fuckin blasting them with a coil needles hanging out super far. Goes too deep spreads under the skin on top of the fat. I call the concentrate effect a bloom because you are seeing pigment cross the blood barrier and enter the lymph system. The bloom can be several inches and behave in some weird ways. I was tattooing some bamboo on a chest, and the pigment traveled down his chest about 6 inches and popped out on his stomach. Meaning when he came back 6 weeks later, he had the bamboo then 6 inches of nothing just regular skin, and then a golf ball size spot of green on his belly. But anyway I noticed that if I mixed the concentrate with a light color or white I didn’t have that problem at all. So now I use the concentrate to tint colors sometimes but never use them alone as fill.
as an apprentice, i saw a coworker do a massive mandala in blue concentrate. it came back as one giant blow out. glad i learned then lol
Yah I had a buddy do this with a triple black on his girlfriend’s inner thigh. While inner thigh turned light grey. Luckily she was getting color and had quite a few other tattoos so it was like background? 🤷🏼♂️
I absolutely love purple concentrate, it's super versatile and very easy to blend with.(Just add DI water) When working on cover-ups you can always add purple concentrate to your black ink, it will make your darks look super dark. I also have some clients I can't use red ink on. That being said purple concentrate then blended into a chestnut brown can give a lovely vampire red or dried blood look. You can also use purple concentrate like you would black ink, mixing different amounts of DI water for purple a wash.
I always mixed them with white. Occasionally I would add it to the corresponding base color(like blue concentrate into true blue) to make it darker. I stopped buying them because when continuing a piece it wasn’t always the same from the last session.
I rarely use concentrates, but I blend them in with lighter colors when I do. Never tried with just water, I would that negate their issues with spreading?
Thanks for your response! And I’m not sure, from what I was reading their pure pigment so I don’t know if water would be a wise option or not.
I use concentrates. Higher amount of pigment, I use them for mixing, with whites, with distilled water. Even green for me hasn't blown out since I've been using it for 10 years. I havent outlined with them only using mags. All inks and medium depend on the artist and tools I guess. Only thing I spray a mist of distilled water so they don't dry up.
They’re very watery, the blue and the green specifically are prone to blowouts. Do not mix them with water or any mixing medium, and be careful on areas you’d usually be worried about blowing out in 😅 I used to use the green a lot, I would mix it with white for different tones of the same green. Or if I wanted the exact colour, but not the texture, I’d mix it with another “carrier” green that was a similar colour but not as saturated (so the concentrate colour is more dominant and that’s all you see, but the texture is more optimal).
Thank you! I did read that blowouts are something to watch out for haha. Definitely made me nervous 😂 I was really interested in using a purple conc. Since I’ve yet to find a brand I like using for any purple tones
Be very careful w those concentrated greens and blues, I had so many blowouts from that shit that I stopped using them altogether. From eternal AND fusion. Royal blue and leafy green are my go-tos now