A tattoo artist does not magically know everything about applying ink. They must practice applying ink so they can hone their art before they begin to create on the bodies of others. Most tattoo artists do a lot of tattoo designs on their own bodies, and on friends, but they get the majority of their skill practice by using tattoo practice skin.
We wanted our readers to understand this product, and how to use it, so we went to tattoo artists and asked them what their favorite practice skin was. They gave us a list of preferred products, and they gave us detailed information on how to choose the right skin, and why the product should be used.
Top 5 Practice Skins for Tattoo
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The 7 Best Tattoo Practice Skin
#1. Silicone Tattoo Practice Hand by ITATOO
Perfectly proportioned replica of an adult size male hand. The lines and nuances of a real hand are incorporated into this model so the artist will feel what it is like to work on a realistic hand.
This hand can be used for multiple tattoo creations. Once the ink has been put on the hand it cannot be removed, but you can put several different tattoos on the hand in different placements. You can then use the hand as a display model so customers can see exactly how a design would look if they got it put on their hand.
The art of 3D practice shows the artist a realistic image of working on a particular body part. You cannot turn or manipulate the human body and the 3D model allows you to learn to position yourself properly instead of trying to turn your work surface.
Pros:
- Looks and feels real
- Teaches you control and self-management in positioning
- Makes a perfect display model
Cons:
- Hand only
#2. Microblading Supplies by Stylia
Brow microblading is not something that you can do perfectly without practicing. These Tattoo piercing skin pieces allow you to hone the art of microblading so your attempts are perfect when you have a real person in your chair.
These tattoo skin sheets also allow you to practice piercings of the eyebrows and nose bridges. You can learn exact placement and more about actual skin resistance than you normally learn with the typical practice elements of fruit pieces.
These skin pieces have a realistic feel, and they are perfect for helping you to learn to transfer designs onto skin, and how skin responds to different pressures, and substances. You can even use these skins to help you learn to create fantastic permanent makeup applications.
Pros:
- Develop techniques to deal with skin resistance
- Great for learning permanent make-up application techniques
- Feels realistic
Cons:
- Designed for microblading practice not as versatile as some other products
#3. Blank Tattoo Practice Skin by Yuelong
The art of tattoo transfer is one of the most critical of tattoo skills. You must be able to transfer the design you want to the skin. The transfer needs to be clear and concise and that requires you to develop pressure skills, and abilities that only practice can supply. This practice skin is realistic and will allow you to hone those skills to a fine art.
These sheets are large enough that you can perform several small tattoo designs on each one. They also allow you to practice the art of microblading, and certain piercing techniques.
The material is synthetic but it has a realistic feel that will allow you to forget that you are not working on a living human. The clean-up process uses when tattooing these skins is identical to the one you will use when working on a human so you get real-life experience you can gain from.
Pros:
- Large sheets
- Can be used for microblading practice, piercing practice and more
- Extremely affordable
Cons:
- Synthetic substance may not show true color of tattoo inks
#4. Blank tattoo Practice Skin by Gospire
This practice skin is perfect for beginners and for experienced artists. It is non-toxic and safe to use around anyone and even around children and pets.
These pieces really do feel like, respond like, and imitate actual human skin. If you want a real experience of doing a design on human skin then you want to give these pieces a try.
You put the transfer on the practice skin just like you would on real skin. You can erase ink that is transferred by placing Vaseline on the surface before you press the transfer paper onto the skin. Then when you are satisfied you can wipe the image away. If you pierce the skin and put ink into it using a needle you will not be able to erase that.
The skin moves like real skin moves under your hands. You will be able to learn exactly how much pressure you will need to apply to create a transfer. You will also quickly learn how you have to move to manipulate your equipment so you can do the ink work you need to do.
Pros:
- Feels and responds like real skin
- Non-toxic
- Provides real practice so you learn what to do or not to do
Cons:
- Vaseline will erase transfer ink but you cannot remove injected ink
#5. Tattoo Practice Skin by Yuelong
Perfectly designed to mimic the look and feel of real skin. This creates the ability for you to practice outline techniques, transfer techniques, shading, and more. It is even high enough in quality that you can use it to showcase a design.
You can get more practice from this skin because it is 3 mm thick. With that thickness, you can tattoo on both sides of the skin and double the amount of practice space. You can leave the sheets whole or you can cut them into smaller sections if you desire.
Test new inks before you use them on a customer. Test new needles before you use them on customers. Practice new techniques you have been wanting to try, and enhance your skills and abilities using this skin.
If you are practicing the art of transferring the design onto the skin you will find that Vaseline allows you to remove a transfer. You cannot remove ink that has been injected into pierced skin.
Pros:
- Great way to determine how ink will look on true skin
- Double sided tattoo possibilities
- Easy to use for various types of practice
Cons:
- Ink cannot be removed so it is a one-time use product
#6. Double Sided Practice Skin by Stylia
Perfectly formulated to help you practice eyebrow tattoo art, permanent make-up, microblading for brows, and needling. This amazing skin is double-sided and thick enough to allow you to practice on both sides so you get twice the product and twice the practice.
These are silicone skins. They have a texture that is more realistic than latex, and they respond to transfers and inks better than the ones made from pigskin. They are the perfect replica because they feel and respond realistically allowing you to really know how a human’s skin will respond when you work on a live customer.
The eyebrows are clearly marked on the skin by dotted lines. The dotted lines are much larger and clearer than most other eyebrow practice skins so you can see more of what you are doing.
Pros:
- Large and clear indication dots
- Responds like real skin
- Double the practice space
Cons:
- Only intended for eyebrow tattoo practice
#7. Silicone Mannequin Head by Beyelian
The silicone materials used in the creation of this mannequin head make it feel like real human skin. It also allows you to do things like transfer tattoo stencils to the mannequin and see exactly how the stencil would look on a real human face or neck.
This is a great practice tool for makeup artists and for people who are training to place eyelash extensions on people. You get the experience of real feeling materials and on a head that is not going to move while you work.
You get to adjust your style and how you hold your hands and tools because the mannequin is truly shaped like a human head.
You can also practice piercing placement for nose piercing using this mannequin.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Feels like real skin
- Versatile for tattoo practice or piercing practice
Cons:
- Inly for neck and face tattoo practice
Things to Consider of Before Buying Tattoo Practice Skin
Before you begin to puncture human skin with a myriad of needles it is best for you to practice and learn the craft of tattooing. Many people practice on fruit to learn the exact depth at which they can penetrate the skin without causing excessive bleeding, pain, or distortion.
The fruit practice cannot give the artist the same real to life experiences that practice skin can do. With practice skin, the artist can see exactly what the ink is going to do when it is transferred to the skin, and they can feel a natural feeling of resistance to their needles and pressure.
What is the Tattoo Practice Skin
Tattoo practice skin is actually a man-made substance that is designed to allow the artist to practice needle angles, techniques, colors, and see how different designs will look on areas that might be curved.
The way our design appears on paper is often different than the way it appears when placed on human skin. The synthetic skin substance allows the artist a better understanding of what they need to do to make the design on the skin look as great as it does on paper.
Why Use Practice Skin
Practice skin comes in sheets and can be wrapped around curved objects to help the artist develop the skill they need to create designs on faces, breasts, and the supple skin of the fleshier areas of the body.
You have always heard that practice makes perfect, well practicing the art of tattoo on a synthetic skin that feels very much like skin, and reacts to the ink much like skin, allows the artist to be better at their job.
Type of Tattoo Practice Skin
Rubber and Plastic
The initial practice skin was a rubber formula or a plastic formula that created a realistic skin that gave the tattoo artist a life-like substance and the ability to practice their art on a substance that responded very much as real skin responds.
Silicone Body Parts and Silicone sheets
The latest practice skins are silicone items that are more advanced and more life-like than any other skin ever produced. The silicone body parts allow the artist to see what it is really like to work on a foot, wrist, hand, or other body parts.
Benefits of Tattoo Practice Skin
Practice skin allows you to mimic the application of a real-life design on human skin. You can even place the practice skin on a human to help you get more of the realistic feel of what doing the work will be like.
When we practice tattoo skills on pieces of fruit or other objects, we have a tendency to turn the fruit, or the item we are tattooing to make it easier for us to reach the areas we need to work in. When we tattoo on a human, we cannot turn them and twist them to our convenience, we have to be able to adjust our angles, and our delivery to create the best-finished image.
The tattoo skin:
- Responds to the needle more like real skin responds
- Allows you to see what the design will look like on a human rather than just on paper
- Allow you to develop movements and the ability to adjust the way you hold your needle so you can create the best work
- Helps you to learn the precise distant to insert the needle so you get the ink in the best location and cause the least pain
- Allows you to practice the image transfer and learn to make the transfer using the right amount of pressure.
How to Use Practice Skin for Tattooing
To begin using the skin you must first decide where on the body the skin is going to be. If you are going to be creating a tattoo on a face or neck you might want to place the skin sheet on a mannequin head. If you are going to be working on an arm you might want to get a friend to allow you to place the skin on their arm.
Next, you want to use transfer paper and a thermal copier to create the tattoo transfer just like you are going to do when you are working on a real individual. You want to take the transfer paper and transfer the design to the practice skin just like you would if you were working on a living being.
Next, you want to follow all of the protocols and steps you need to follow to place the ink in the skin using your tattoo gun. Be sure that you wear gloves and take precautions just like you would if you were working on a living person.
People Also Ask for Tattoo Practice Skin
What is the best material to practice tattooing on?
The practice skin that is preferred by the majority of the tattoo artist is the silicone skins and the silicone body parts. The skin feels realistic, it reacts to the ink transfers in a realistic manner, and it is capable of allowing you to see the difficulties you might encounter while transferring or tattooing a particular area like a hand.
What is the best fruit to practice tattooing on?
The fruits that are used the most are honeydew melons and grapefruits. Oranges work well and so do peaches. With oranges and grapefruits, you can quickly learn to discern the depth your needle should be because the fluid will leak from the fruit if you set the needle too deeply.
Can you reuse tattoo practice skin?
You cannot reuse the practice skin for applying ink. You can use different sections of the skin and do multiple small tattoos on just one piece, but once you have put the ink transfer on the skin and deposited the ink with the needles of the tattoo gun you cannot erase that ink.
Is tattoo practice skin available in different sizes?
Tattoo skin is available in different sizes. You can also get skin that is formed in the shape of body parts. You can get skin that has markings on it to help you learn to do things like tattoo eyebrows. There is a wide variety of skins available.
Conclusion
Tattoo practice skin is a great tool for tattoo artists. Beginners can learn to create their artwork before they begin to practice on living customers. Experienced artists can try out new inks and new techniques without any worries or risks.
The newer silicone skins are a very realistic feeling. They respond to pressure and to ink just like human skins and they accept the ink well.
If you are looking to do hand tattoos, we suggest you try the Silicone Tattoo Practice Hand by TATTOO. It is realistic and makes an awesome showcase of your work when it is completed with ink.