Ashes Tattoo in Luton
A small portion of a loved one’s ashes, set permanently into the ink of a tattoo: that is what an ashes tattoo is, and at Bubblegum Ink ® in Sandbach, Cheshire, it is the work the studio has built its name on over around 30 years, for families from Luton and every corner of the UK. Of all the ways there are to remember someone, this is the most enduring, made once and never again, and that permanence is exactly why the person you choose to make it is the decision that matters most.
What people from Luton often say afterwards is how unlike a keepsake it feels. A keepsake is something apart from you, set down and returned to. This is not set down anywhere. It stays with you, carried in your skin through the most ordinary hours and the hardest ones, a constant rather than a thing you visit.
A Straight Run Up the M1
For all that Luton sits down in the home counties, the studio is an easy enough reach. The drive is around 138 miles, a little over two hours almost entirely on the M1 and M6, a clean and uncomplicated route north. Those preferring the train can take the line up by way of Milton Keynes to Crewe, a short distance from the studio, in around three hours. Either way it is a day trip, out and back, with no need to stay over.
Worth Passing Closer Studios For
Luton and its surroundings have no shortage of tattooists, so the obvious question is why drive past all of them. It comes down to what an ashes tattoo is. There is one portion of your loved one’s ashes and one chance to honour it properly, with no redo if it goes wrong. Set against that, the extra couple of hours to reach someone who has spent decades on this single craft stops looking like a long way and starts looking like the only sensible thing. People come from across Bedfordshire and beyond for precisely that reason.
Held in Front of You Throughout
The worry that surfaces most often deserves answering head on: your loved one’s ashes never pass out of your sight. Not into another room, not behind any door, not for a moment. The small portion is prepared where you can see it and goes into the tattoo where you can see it, the whole way through. This is not something offered as reassurance when asked; it is simply how every appointment is run, without exception.
If the act of handling the ashes is too much to take on yourself, it falls to no one but the studio. Bring them as they are, and that careful part is done for you, gently, while you watch or look away as you need to in the moment. The day gives way to grief, never the other way about.
What Keeps It Safe
The greater share of the work in an ashes tattoo happens before the machine is even switched on, in the preparing of the ashes, and that is the line between a specialist and an ordinary studio. As they come out of the urn, cremated remains are coarse, unsterile and uneven, and any studio mixing them straight into ink is leaving your healing to luck. Here, that is never left to luck.
A small amount of your loved one’s ashes is brought to the right particle size, cleaned, sterilised to a clinical standard and cleared of contaminants, then prepared into the ink for the day itself. The work is careful and unrushed, weighted with the importance it holds, and it is why a tattoo made this way heals as soundly as any other. The full account is on the are ashes tattoos safe page, with the ink itself explained on the adding ashes into tattoo ink page.
| Bubblegum Ink ® | A general tattoo studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Experience with ashes | Around 30 years, ashes work the main focus | Occasional, as a sideline |
| Ashes preparation | Matched, cleaned, sterilised, contaminants removed | Often used raw |
| Your loved one’s ashes in view | Yes, the whole time | Varies |
| Travelling from Luton | A specialist a straight run up the M1 | Whoever happens to be nearest |
A Name That Has Travelled
You might not expect a private studio set quietly in Cheshire to be known much beyond it, but its reputation has carried a long way. The work has appeared on the BBC and across press at home and abroad, and the memorial tattoo for Treo, one of the most decorated military dogs of recent years, became one of the most widely seen pieces of its kind in the world; the story is set down on the tattooing ashes into clients page. Paul Cutler, who runs the studio, has been honoured with awards more than once, although the people who come are nearly always sent by someone they know who left here well looked after.
A Design That Belongs to Them Alone
These are as different from one another as the people they hold. Yours might be a portrait, a signature copied from something they wrote, a date that means nothing to anyone outside your family, a flower, a line of song, or a small private symbol kept only between you. Whatever shape it finds, it is given the same unhurried care as every memorial before it. To let an idea take form, the memorial tattoo design ideas and handwriting ashes tattoo pages are a quiet place to start, and the mum ashes tattoo, dad ashes tattoo and grandparent memorial tattoo pages show what others have made.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where on the body do most people have these done?
Anywhere you like, and the choice is entirely personal. Some prefer somewhere they will see it often, the forearm or wrist; others choose somewhere private, over the heart or on the upper arm, kept just for themselves. It is worth raising when you enquire, as it can shape the size and design.
Can you work from a photograph of my loved one?
Yes, portraits worked from a photograph are among the most requested pieces. Bringing a clear photo, or several, gives plenty to work from. The same is true of handwriting, where a card or letter can be copied faithfully into the design.
Is everything done in a single day?
Yes. Preparing the ashes and applying the tattoo are part of one appointment, completed in the same visit. You arrive, the work is done with care and without rush, and you travel home the same day.
Could two of us be tattooed on the same visit?
Often, yes, if family members want pieces made from the same loved one’s ashes. It is best mentioned when you first get in touch, so enough time can be set aside for everyone on the day.
What if I am unsure about the design when I arrive?
That is perfectly fine and quite usual. Plenty of people come with only a feeling rather than a fixed plan, and the design is talked through together until it feels right. Nothing is begun until you are sure.
Reaching Out From Luton
There is no need to have everything decided to make contact. A short message saying who you would like to remember and roughly what you are imagining is plenty to begin with, and the rest can be worked out at a pace that suits you. Asking commits you to nothing at all.
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. When you are ready, and only then, a small part of the person you have lost can be made into something you will carry for the rest of your days.
About the author: Paul Cutler is the founder of Bubblegum Ink ®, a multiple award winning tattoo artist with around 30 years’ experience and one of the UK’s most established cremation ashes tattoo specialists. His work has been featured by the BBC and national and international press. Read more about Paul.