Ashes Tattoo in Portsmouth
Key Takeaways
- An ashes tattoo works a small amount of cremated remains into the tattoo ink, so the piece holds part of the person rather than only their likeness.
- Portsmouth to Sandbach is around 212 miles and roughly three and three quarter hours by car, or about four hours by train through London Euston to Crewe.
- The preparation needs the studio’s sterile setup, so the work is always carried out in Sandbach and cannot be done nearer to Portsmouth.
- Cremated remains leave the urn gritty, unsterile and uneven, and are refined, cleaned, sterilised and decontaminated before any ink meets skin.
- Nothing happens out of view. The portion is prepared and worked into the tattoo where you can watch, throughout.
An ashes tattoo is made by working a small amount of a person’s cremated remains into the tattoo ink itself, so that the piece holds part of them rather than only their likeness. Bubblegum Ink ®, a specialist studio in Sandbach, Cheshire, has created these for grieving families in Portsmouth and right across the country for 20 + years. There is no more permanent tribute, and it is made only once, which is why the single decision that truly matters is who you trust to make it.
The solace it offers is unlike anything that sits in the house. A keepsake or an urn is something you go to. A photograph is something you take down and hold. This is neither, because you never have to reach for it; it is already with you, on the morning walk and through the long evenings, woven into your own skin for the rest of your life.
Why Families Look Beyond the South Coast
Portsmouth and the surrounding towns have plenty of tattoo studios, so it is worth saying plainly why people travel so far north for this. It comes down to one fact: an ashes tattoo cannot be redone. There is a single portion of your loved one’s ashes and a single chance to do it well, and when that is the case, most decide it belongs with someone who has spent a working lifetime on this exact thing rather than with the nearest available artist. Held against that, the journey is a detail.
Coming North From Portsmouth
It is a fair way, around 212 miles, and roughly three and three quarter hours by car up through the middle of the country to Cheshire. The train is a real alternative: into London, across to Euston, then the fast service to Crewe, which sits a few miles from the studio, around four hours in all and a chance to let someone else do the travelling. Most people set the day aside, come up, and find the act of making the journey becomes part of doing right by the person they have lost.
The Care That Happens First
Far more goes into an ashes tattoo than the part you can see, and it begins with the ashes long before any ink meets skin. This is where a specialist studio and an ordinary one diverge completely. As they come from the urn, cremated remains are gritty, unsterile and uneven, and a tattooist who works them in untreated is gambling with how the tattoo heals. That risk is removed here before a thing else is done.
A small portion 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 used that day. The work is meticulous and unhurried, treated with the weight it carries, and it is the reason a tattoo made this way settles as well as any other. The reasoning behind it is on the are ashes tattoos safe page, and the making of the ink on the adding ashes into tattoo ink page.
In Front of You, Start to Finish
One concern tends to weigh heavier than the rest, so here it is answered without hedging: at no point do your loved one’s ashes leave your sight. None of it happens in another room or behind a closed door, and nothing is asked to be taken on trust. The portion is prepared where you can watch and worked into the tattoo where you can watch, the whole way through. It is not a reassurance offered if you press for it; it is simply how every appointment is done.
If handling the ashes is beyond you on the day, you are not expected to. Bring them as they are and that gentle part is done for you, with the respect it deserves, while you watch or turn away as you wish. Grief moves differently in everyone, and the day is built to move with it.
A Name Carried Far From Home
For all that it is a private studio down a quiet Cheshire lane, its reputation has spread a long way. The work has featured on the BBC and in the press at home and overseas, and the memorial tattoo for Treo, one of the most decorated military dogs of recent times, became among the most widely seen pieces of its kind anywhere; that account is on the tattooing ashes into clients page. Paul Cutler, who runs the studio, has been honoured repeatedly as an artist, yet most who come to him have been pointed there by someone they know who left feeling well looked after.
Something Only They Could Have Been
No two of these tattoos are alike, because no two people were. Yours might be a portrait, a signature lifted from a card they signed, a date your family holds close, a flower, a line of a song, or a small private mark that means something to you and to them alone. Whatever shape it finds, it is given the same unhurried care as every memorial worked here before it. The memorial tattoo design ideas and handwriting ashes tattoo pages are an easy place to begin turning it over, and the mum ashes tattoo, dad ashes tattoo and grandparent memorial tattoo pages show what others have settled on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the train or the drive better from Portsmouth?
Both work. Driving is around 212 miles and roughly three and three quarter hours up through the country. The train runs into London, across to Euston and on to Crewe, a few miles from the studio, around four hours in total but with no driving to do. Many prefer the train precisely so the journey home is restful.
Could the tattoo be done somewhere closer to me?
The preparation of the ashes needs the studio’s sterile setup, so the work itself is always carried out in Sandbach. It is the preparation, not the tattooing alone, that makes this safe, and that is what cannot be replicated in a general studio nearer Portsmouth.
How do I get the ashes to you safely?
You simply bring them with you on the day, in whatever urn or container you already have. Only a small amount, about a teaspoons worth is used, and the rest stays with you. There is no posting, no dividing and no preparing required beforehand.
What if I become upset during the appointment?
That is entirely expected and entirely alright. The studio is private, there is no clock being watched, and the day pauses whenever you need it to. Many people find the appointment itself, unhurried and quiet, becomes a part of their grieving rather than something to endure.
Do I need to know the design before I get in touch?
Not at all. Plenty of people make contact with only a feeling and no fixed idea. The design can be shaped together from there, drawing on what the person meant to you, so an early conversation is often where it properly begins.
Am I able to bring someone with me?
Of course. A partner, a sibling, a friend who knew them. The studio is private and there is space for company, and people travelling a distance like this often prefer not to do the day alone.
Roughly how long will I be there?
It depends on the piece, and it is talked through when you enquire so the journey can be planned around it. Nothing is rushed to fit a train, and the timing is set with your travel in mind rather than the other way round.
Does it hurt more than an ordinary tattoo?
No. Prepared ashes sit in the ink and change nothing about the sensation, so it feels like any tattoo of that size in that place. There is more on the do ashes tattoos hurt page.
How long ago they died
Makes no difference to the work. Cremated remains kept in an ordinary container do not deteriorate in a way that affects the preparation, whether it was last spring or twenty years back.
A pet rather than a person
Same process, whatever the animal, and a good share of the studio’s work is exactly that. The pet ashes tattoo page covers it.
Afterwards, back on the South Coast
The tattoo is dressed before you go and the aftercare written down as well as explained, since the day ends with several hours of travelling. Fuller detail sits on the ashes tattoo aftercare page.
What if I need to talk before any of the practical side?
That is welcome, and more common than you would think. Some first calls are about the person rather than the tattoo, and there is no hurry to get to the arrangements. The coping with grief page is there for the same reason.
Reaching Out From Portsmouth
There is no wrong way to start. A phone call suits some; others would rather set down a few lines by email or through the contact form, in their own time, before anything else. Whichever feels easier, a brief note about who you are remembering is all that is needed to open the conversation.
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.
Written by Paul Cutler, founder of Bubblegum Ink ® in Sandbach. Around 30 years tattooing, more than 20 of them on ashes work. More about Paul.