If you can imagine it, I can tattoo it

From a very young age, James Nderitu, 23, liked drawing. Then, he did not imagine that this pastime would morph into a career in tattooing, a job from which he earns his livelihood.

“I started as an understudy at a friend’s tattoo parlour in Nakuru after high school. I was 18. I only knew how to draw, but when I started working with this friend, I began to see the different ways that my drawing skills could be applied to the art of tattooing,” he explains.

It helped that he was interested in tattoos, having gotten his first one in high school while in Form One.

Today he runs a tattoo studio located in Nairobi’s CBD, Solar House, (Ralph Hair Works) 1st Floor, Harambee Avenue. The time it takes him to create a tattoo depends on the size and complexity of the pattern.

“Full-body tattooing can take up to five months, working on the client once every two weeks during this period, input that costs Sh160,000,” he says.

On a good day, he attends to around 10 clients, five on a slow day. This number does not include those who come for body piercing – on any given day, he attends to three or four of these. On the side, he makes custom-made jewellery, such as chains, anklets, rings and earrings.

THE PROCESS

The tattooing process begins with him making a sketch of the design that the client wants.

“The client decides on the size and the pattern - some get these images from the internet, which they download and email me. I then use a tracing paper to draw the pattern. Before commencing, I clean the area where I will draw the tattoo with antiseptic, and then I place the tracing paper with the image against the skin. It is then that I begin to tattoo.”

Not all clients come armed with an already existing image though, some just describe the kind of pattern they have in mind, which he then sketches.

Once the preliminaries have been concluded, he hands the needles he will use to the client to ascertain that they are properly sealed.

“I use at least four needles to make one pattern. All the used needles are stored in properly sealed bottles which are then discarded by the Nairobi City County. Apart from the needles, my other tools of trade include a tattoo gun, ink, ink cup holder, needle liner, shader and magnum to shade the tattoo and make it darker. I also require locaine (which is applied in the tattoo area) for clients who need numbing from the pain – this comes at an extra cost of Sh2, 500,” he explains.

The power level he sets on the tattoo gun depends on the skin type. Lighter skin tones require a lower level than darker skin tones. “Lighter skins tend to take in ink faster and more easily than darker skins,” he explains.

The minimum price for a small black and white tattoo is Sh2,000, while a small coloured tattoo costs Sh3,000.

BOLD

“I used money I saved while working for the friend that introduced me to tattooing to set up my business. It took me three months to learn the basics of this job,” he adds. The easiest part of the body to tattoo is the arm, while the most difficult is the neck, which is also the most painful. “More people are becoming bolder and therefore want to have tattoos at more visible places, such as their arms,” he notes.

At the tattoo parlour, I meet Caroline Chege, 22, who is there to get a third tattoo. The first two are on her thigh and back and both depict rose flowers. The third tattoo she is getting is of an alien.

“I really love roses, that is why I have them tattooed on me. This time round, I wanted to try something new, so I downloaded an image of an alien from the internet and came with it,” she says.

Isn’t it painful, we want to know?

“Now I wouldn’t describe the process as painful - I felt more pain when getting the first tattoo on my back. The pain diminished when I was getting the second tattoo, now, I feel nothing with the drawing, just slight pain during the shading,” she says of her experience.

One of the greatest challenge of this business, Nderitu says, is that there are many other tattoo artists, many of whom charge less, for “less exquisite” jobs, which makes some potential clients believe that he is too expensive.

The negative perceptions some have about tattoos also affect his business since they associate having tattoos with waywardness.

“Older people judge a lot. When I got my first tattoo, to avoid getting into trouble, I lied to my mum that it was temporary, so I could remove it anytime,” Caroline says. Nderitu dreams of opening a bigger tattoo parlour and eventually envisions making his mark abroad, in the UK to be specific, to expand his client base.