Ashes Tattoo in Ashington
Key Takeaways
- Bubblegum Ink is around 180 miles south of Ashington, roughly three and a half hours down the A1 and M6, and there is no pretending otherwise.
- Most people travelling from Northumberland drive rather than take the train, which means changing at Newcastle and heading a long way down the country.
- An ashes tattoo works a small amount of cremated remains into the ink, so the tattoo carries a true part of the person rather than their likeness.
- Cremated remains leave the urn coarse, unsterile and irregular, and are sized, cleaned, sterilised and decontaminated before they are used.
- Nothing is carried off or done behind a door. The ashes are prepared and worked into the tattoo where you can see them, throughout.
An ashes tattoo works a small amount of a person’s cremated remains into the ink, so the finished tattoo carries a true part of the one you lost rather than simply their likeness. From Ashington, families have come to Bubblegum Ink ® in Sandbach, Cheshire for this for around 20 + years. The piece is made once and only once, with no way to redo it, and so the single decision that outweighs every other is whose hands you trust to make it.
The comfort of it is unlike anything that sits in the house. A grave or an urn is a place you go to; a photograph is a thing you take down and hold. This is neither. It stays with you because it is part of you, through the ordinary days and the ones that catch you out, for as long as you live.
Worth the Drive From the North East
Ashington sits up on the Northumberland coast, and there is no sense pretending the studio is close: it is around 180 miles south, roughly three and a half hours down the A1 and the M6. By rail it is a longer affair, changing through Newcastle and on down the country, so most who travel from this part of the North East prefer to drive and make a day of it. We would far rather be honest about the distance than pretend it away.
That people come this far at all says something worth hearing. An ashes tattoo cannot be lifted out and attempted again; there is one chance to do justice to the person it remembers. Set against that, being nearby counts for almost nothing, and most decide a long drive is a small thing beside putting something irreplaceable in experienced hands. From Northumberland, that is exactly the calculation people make.
What Happens Before Any Ink Is Used
The greater part of the skill in an ashes tattoo is spent out of sight, before the needle is lifted, in the preparing of the ashes, and it is the whole of what divides a specialist from an ordinary studio. As they leave the urn, cremated remains are coarse, unsterile and irregular, and a tattooist who works them in untreated is risking how the tattoo will heal. Here that is never the way of it.
A small portion of your loved one’s ashes is brought to the right particle size, cleaned, sterilised to a clinical standard and cleared of contaminants, then made ready as the ink for the day. It is slow, careful, serious work, and it is the reason a tattoo made this way heals as soundly as any other. The full account is on the are ashes tattoos safe page, and the ink itself is explained on the adding ashes into tattoo ink page.
Kept in Front of You Throughout
One concern weighs heavier than any other for most people, so here is the straight answer to it: your loved one’s ashes are never out of your sight. Nothing is carried off, nothing is done behind a door, nothing asked to be taken on trust. The small portion is prepared where you can see it and worked into the tattoo where you can see it, the whole way through. This is not something offered when requested; it is how every appointment runs, without exception.
If the act of handling the ashes is more than you can manage on such a day, you will not be asked to. Bring them as they are and that gentle work is done for you, with the respect it deserves, while you watch or look away as you need to. Grief moves how it moves, and the day makes room for it.
A Name That Has Reached a Long Way
It would be easy to assume a private studio at the end of a quiet Cheshire road stays unknown beyond its lane, but its name has carried remarkably far. The work has been on the BBC and in the press at home and abroad, and the memorial tattoo for Treo, one of the most decorated military dogs of recent times, became among the most widely seen of its kind anywhere; you can read it on the tattooing ashes into clients page. Paul Cutler, who runs the studio, has been honoured repeatedly as an artist, yet most who arrive were sent by someone they know who left here well cared for.
Made to Belong to Them Alone
No two people were ever alike, and neither are any two of these tattoos. Yours might take the form of a portrait, their handwriting copied from something they once wrote, a date your family alone would know, a flower, a line of a song, or a small private mark meaning something only to you and them. Whatever shape it finds, it is given the same unhurried care as every memorial made here before. The memorial tattoo design ideas and handwriting ashes tattoo pages are an easy place to let a thought take shape, and the mum ashes tattoo, dad ashes tattoo and grandparent memorial tattoo pages collect what others have chosen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it better to make a weekend of the trip from Ashington?
Some people do, turning a long drive into an unhurried overnight, though it is by no means necessary; the work is comfortably done within a single day, even with three and a half hours each way. Whichever suits you, there is no rush put on the appointment itself once you are here.
Do you need the ashes in advance, or do I bring them on the day?
You bring them with you on the day, in whatever container they are kept in. Nothing needs sending ahead and nothing needs preparing; a small portion is taken when you arrive, and the rest stays with you.
Could the tattoo cause a reaction in my skin?
Because the ashes are sterilised and properly prepared, a tattoo made here heals like any ordinary tattoo. If you have particular skin sensitivities or allergies, mention them when you enquire and they can be talked through before anything is arranged.
Is it strange to want this rather than to scatter or keep the ashes?
Not at all, and you would be in good company. Many people keep most of the ashes exactly as they are and use only a small amount for the tattoo, so it sits alongside whatever else they choose to do rather than replacing it. It is simply one more way of keeping someone close.
What happens at the very first contact?
Nothing is committed to. You describe who you are remembering and roughly what you have in mind, ask whatever you need to, and from there what is possible can be talked through gently, in your own time.
How much of the ashes will be used?
About a teaspoon, no more. The rest of what you bring up from Northumberland goes straight back home with you.
Sorting the design out before a drive like that
Sensible, and it is what most people at this distance do. Photographs, a signature from an old card, or just a rough notion can go back and forth by phone or email first, so the day itself is only the tattoo.
Does it hurt any differently?
No. Prepared ashes sit in the ink and change nothing about the feel of the work, so it is the same as any tattoo that size in that place. There is more on the do ashes tattoos hurt page.
The urn has been on the shelf for a decade
Makes no difference to any of it. Kept in an ordinary container, ashes do not deteriorate in a way that affects the preparation, and a good number of people come for someone who was never marked at the time.
Can this be done for an animal?
Yes, and the process is the same whatever it is. Dogs, cats and horses all come through, with the pet ashes tattoo page covering that work.
Looking after it on the A1 home
It is dressed before you go and the aftercare written down as well as explained, which is worth having when the day finishes with three and a half hours at the wheel. The ashes tattoo aftercare page holds the rest.
Reaching Out From Ashington
There is no need to have it all worked out before you write or call; a rough idea and a few questions are plenty to start with. The shape of the design, how the day runs, the drive down from Northumberland, all of it can be talked through once the first contact is made, and never any faster than you want it to go.
Call 01270 385001, email info@bubblegumink.com, or use the contact page or the contact form at the foot of this page. Bubblegum Ink ® is a private, appointment only studio in Sandbach, Cheshire, with around 30 years behind it. For families in Ashington ready to carry a little of someone they loved, this is where to begin.
Written by Paul Cutler, who founded Bubblegum Ink ® in Sandbach, Cheshire. Around 30 years tattooing, more than 20 of them on cremation ashes work. More about Paul and the studio.