Key Takeaways
- An ashes tattoo carries a small amount of a loved one’s cremation ashes inside the ink itself, so the tattoo holds part of them rather than only representing them.
- Bubblegum Ink developed its process over six months with pharmaceutical researchers based near the studio, and manufactures its own ink in house.
- All cremation ash contains heavy metals, medication residues and contaminants, and these are removed before anything is mixed into ink.
- Birmingham to Sandbach is roughly 65 miles, a little over an hour up the M6, with the studio sitting just off the motorway.
- Bring the whole container and Paul separates the teaspoon or so that is needed on the day, so there is nothing to measure out at home.
What An Ashes Tattoo Is
A small amount of a person’s cremation ashes is prepared, worked into tattoo ink, and applied as a tattoo. What you end up with is not a picture of someone. It is a piece of them, carried in your skin.
That is the whole reason people are careful about who does it. There is one set of ashes and one chance at it. A tattoo made badly can be covered or lasered, but the ashes are gone. Everything below is about why that changes how the work has to be approached.
A Process Built From Scratch
Birmingham has no shortage of tattooists, and plenty of them are good. The question is not whether someone can tattoo. It is whether they have a process for the ashes, and most do not.
What generally happens elsewhere is that the ash goes into the ink untreated. Sometimes it heals fine. Sometimes it does not, and the client is left with a patchy, raised or partially rejected tattoo made from something that cannot be replaced. That is the risk being taken, whether or not it gets explained.
Paul has been tattooing for around 30 years and has spent more than 20 of them on ashes work specifically. In that time the studio has not had a rejection. That record is the reason people from across the Midlands make the drive rather than book locally.
Getting Here From Birmingham
The studio is in Sandbach, Cheshire, roughly 65 miles from Birmingham and a little over an hour by car straight up the M6, coming off at junction 17 or 18. It is close enough to be a morning out rather than a day of travelling, and there is no need to stay over.
By rail, Birmingham New Street runs through to Crewe in around 40 minutes, and Crewe is a short distance from the studio.
The design does not have to wait until you arrive. Photographs, handwriting, or simply a rough idea can be sent across beforehand and worked through by phone or email, so the day itself is the tattoo alone.
Pets Get The Same Process
Not everyone who comes is carrying human ashes, and that has been true from the start. Dogs, cats, horses and rabbits all come through the studio, and the preparation is identical whatever the animal.
Some of that work has travelled a long way. The memorial for Treo, one of the most decorated military dogs of recent years, became one of the most widely seen tattoos of its kind anywhere. Those stories are on the tattooing ashes into clients page, and the pet ashes tattoo page covers the wider work.
What Happens On The Day
This is not walking into a busy shop with a receptionist and other people waiting. The studio is private and appointment only. The space is quiet, the time is yours, and the day moves at whatever pace you need it to.
Bring the ashes in whatever container they already sit in. Around a teaspoon is used and everything else goes home with you. If measuring out a portion yourself is more than you can face, you do not have to, and Paul handles that part while you watch or look away as the moment asks. There is more on quantities on the how much ashes for a tattoo page.
The finished tattoo looks like any other tattoo, heals the same way and needs the same aftercare, which surprises most people who have not seen one before. Some clients want to talk about the person throughout. Others prefer the day quiet and let the tattoo do the talking. Both are equally welcome.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the ash need treating at all?
Because it is not clean. Every set of cremation ashes contains heavy metals, medication residues and grains of wildly differing size. Putting that into skin untreated is a real risk, which is why the cleaning, sterilising and sizing happens before the ink is made up.
How much ash should I bring?
Bring everything you have and Paul takes the teaspoon or so that is needed on the day. Nothing needs dividing at home, and whatever is not used goes back with you.
Will the tattoo look different to a normal one?
No. It looks identical, heals the same way and takes the same aftercare. There is nothing about the finished piece that marks it out unless you tell someone.
Does it hurt more?
No. Once the ash is prepared it behaves like ordinary ink, so the sensation depends on where on the body it sits rather than what is in it. The do ashes tattoos hurt page covers it.
The ashes have been in the house for years. Does that matter?
No. Stored in an ordinary container they do not deteriorate in any way that affects the preparation, whether it has been two years or twenty.
Can more than one person go into a single tattoo?
Yes. Each set is prepared separately and worked into a different part of the design, so neither is blended into the other. Mention it early so the piece can be planned around it.
When is the right time to get in touch?
There is no wrong point. Some people ring within weeks, others years later. If you want to talk about the loss before anything practical, the coping with grief page is there for that.
I have more questions than this covers
The main FAQs page goes deeper across the whole subject, or ring the studio and ask directly.
Getting In Touch From Birmingham
