Ashes Tattoo in Nottingham
An ashes tattoo is created by mixing a small quantity of a person’s cremated remains into the tattoo ink itself, so that the finished design holds a real part of the one you have lost. Bubblegum Ink ®, a dedicated studio in Sandbach, Cheshire, has carried out this work for Nottingham families and people across the country for around 30 years. There is no more permanent tribute, and none that allows so little room for error, because it is made once and never again, which is why the hands behind it are everything.
Grief leaves you reaching for ways to keep someone near. A shelf of photographs, a box of their things, the urn itself, all of them sit apart from you, things to return to. A tattoo made with their ashes is not like that. It is not somewhere you go; it is something you are, from the moment it heals, every day you have left.
How Far, and How You Would Travel
Nottingham is an easy reach, more so than many assume. The drive is around 65 miles and a little over an hour, running west on the A50 and A500 to meet the M6 near the studio. There is also a direct train, with East Midlands Railway running hourly from Nottingham straight to Crewe in well under two hours, and Crewe is only a few miles from the door. It works simply as a single day, by either means, with no need to stay over.
The Quiet Work That Comes First
The greater part of an ashes tattoo is not the tattooing at all, but what happens to the ashes beforehand, and this is exactly where a specialist diverges from an ordinary studio. As they leave the urn, cremated remains are gritty, unsterile and uneven, and a tattooist who works them in untreated is trusting your skin to luck. That is not a chance taken here.
A small part of your loved one’s ashes is refined to the right particle size, cleaned, sterilised to a clinical standard and cleared of contaminants, then prepared into the ink that will be used that day. It is slow, careful, serious work, and it is the reason a tattoo made this way heals exactly as any other does. The full account is on the are ashes tattoos safe page, and how the ink comes together 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 Nottingham | A specialist a little over an hour away | Whoever happens to be nearest |
Why People Pass Their Local Studios By
Nottingham has tattooists of its own, so it is fair to ask why anyone would drive past them for a studio in another county. It comes down to one unbending fact: there is a single portion of your loved one’s ashes, and one chance to do it justice, with no redoing it if it falls short. Set against that, an hour or so on the road is nothing, and most people would far rather place something irreplaceable with someone who has spent decades at this alone than with whoever happens to be nearby.
Kept in Full View, Always
The worry that surfaces most often deserves a direct answer: your loved one’s ashes are never out of your sight. Nothing is carried off, nothing is done behind a closed door, nothing is taken on trust. You watch the small portion being made ready and you watch it go into the work, the whole way through. This is not something offered only when a client asks; it is simply how the studio works, on every appointment, without exception.
And if you find you cannot handle the ashes yourself when the moment comes, you are not expected to. Bring them as they are, and that careful part is done on your behalf, with real tenderness, while you watch or look away as feels right. Grief moves differently in everyone, and the day makes room for that.
A Name That Has Carried a Long Way
It would be easy to assume a small, private studio off a Cheshire back road stays unknown beyond its lane, but its name has gone a great distance. The work has been shown on the BBC and written about in the press at home and abroad, and the memorial tattoo for Treo, one of the most decorated military dogs of recent times, became one of the most widely seen of its kind anywhere; the story sits on the tattooing ashes into clients page. Paul Cutler, who runs it, has been recognised with awards more than once, yet most of those who arrive were sent by someone they trust who left here well looked after.
A Design That Belongs Only to Them
Each of these tattoos is as distinct as the person it carries. Yours might be a portrait, a line of their handwriting kept from a card, a date your family holds dear, a flower, a few words, or a private symbol meaning something only the two of you ever knew. However it takes shape, it is treated with the same unhurried care given to every memorial before it. To begin turning ideas over, the memorial tattoo design ideas and handwriting ashes tattoo pages help, and the mum ashes tattoo, dad ashes tattoo and grandparent memorial tattoo pages show what others have made.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the appointment take a whole day?
Not necessarily a whole day, though it depends on the size and detail of the design, and nothing is rushed. The ashes are prepared and the tattoo completed in the one visit. From Nottingham, with the journey only an hour or so each way, people often travel in, have it done and are home by evening.
Is the ink something I could buy and take elsewhere?
The ashes are prepared and the tattoo carried out together, in the studio, as a single piece of work, so it is not a matter of supplying ink to use somewhere else. The preparation and the tattooing belong to the same careful process, which is what keeps it safe and right.
What happens to the ashes I do not use?
They stay with you. Only a small amount, roughly a tablespoon, is ever needed, so the great majority of your loved one’s ashes go home with you exactly as they came. Nothing is kept back.
Can the design be added to later on?
Yes, memorial pieces can often be built on over time, whether that means extending the original or adding alongside it later. If you think you might want to in future, it is worth saying early so the first piece can be planned with that in mind.
I am worried I will get upset on the day. Is that a problem?
Not at all, and it is expected rather than awkward. This is emotional work, and tears are part of it for many people. The studio is private, the pace is yours, and there is never any sense of needing to hold yourself together or hurry through.
Reaching Out From Nottingham
There is no need to have it all decided before you make contact. A short note saying who you would like to remember, and roughly what you imagine, is plenty to open the conversation; the design, the ashes, the day and the journey can all be worked through gradually from there, in your own time.
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. Whenever you feel ready, a small part of the person you have lost can be made into something you keep for good.
This page was written by Paul Cutler, who founded Bubblegum Ink ® and is among the longest established ashes tattoo artists working in Britain today. He has spent around 30 years on memorial work, holds awards from the Rat’s Hole show in Daytona, and has seen his tattoos covered by the BBC and the international press. More about Paul and the studio.