Earstretching.net

Oh yeah, because stabbing yourself and others with dirty needles and stretching recklessly/telling others to do the same is "right on."

Seriously... RADCAZ, you can say what you want about stretching, but the fact that you're piercing other people really bothers me. You could get someone seriously hurt. If you want to be a piercer, find someone to teach you and work as an apprentice for at least a year until you do this. Learn how to use an autoclave, too. Please.

just cuz he is piercing others doesnt mean he is using dirty equipment. I know a ton of piercers who dont work in shops, who have dun sum of my piercings and alot of my other friends. Most of us cant afford to pay for an apprenticeship. I personally am a Scratcher, alot of my friends are scratchers. I learn from sumone who worked in a shop years ago who learned out of his garage. >.> not everything has to be dun in a shop or by the book.

Do you own an autoclave? Do you sterilize each piece of jewelry in it before you use it on someone? If not, you're putting people at risk. Period.

Edit: I'd also be curious to see some of the piercings you've done. Calling yourself a "scratcher" isn't something to be proud of to be honest. And an apprenticeship doesn't usually cost money unless they're just looking to rip you off; most of the time you do it for free or they pay you a little.

I dont do piercings... lol i said im a scratcher so u would understand but i guess u still dont. in terms u can understand im an apprenticed tattoo artist who does not work in a shop... I use only fresh sterilized needles, sterilized unopened grips, unopened gloves, and wipe down my clip cord, powersource cord, and frame before every tattoo. So yes, my shit is very sterile. In California, mainly the part where i live u will never find a shop that wont charge for an apprenticeship, flakey people ruined it so now u have to give a 500 dollar payment in order to apprentice assuming they decide u are good enuf. An they dont pay you for ur work until u finish the apprenticeship if they decide to hire u.

Oh, I thought you meant you were doing piercings too. But yeah, "scratcher" is a very negative term in the tattoo world. I can't say anything about the quality of your work because I've never seen it, but I can't imagine you're giving someone as good of a tattoo that they'd get from a true professional.

I'm not picking on you and I don't mean to sound like a jerk; my boyfriend has done lots of home tattoos and was a scratcher himself although he hasn't done any for a while. And I'll be honest, his tattoos are crap. I just don't see why people would want homemade tattoos when they can get a beautifully-done one by a professional but I guess you get what you pay for.

My tattoo guy is a current scratcher he used to work in a shop when he lived in dallas texas, a few yrs ago. He is very professional and cleans, always opens his needles and equipment in front of you so that you see it is brand new clean and safe. He has a tattooing table. He has all of his books with his work provided for you to look at, references and stuff like that. Tattoing hasn't always been legal in sc in the last 5yrs tho its made a huge turn around, in 2008 you had to be 21 or get a parent to sign for you, its illegal here for them to tattoo above your shoulders or on your hands it has to be like half an inch from wrist to hand ratio when getting a wrist tattoo.

Not all scratchers are shady or do bad work, I wouldn't trade my hips tats for a thing in this world, there are really decent artists who work from home, for my tat guy he perfers working from home bc he doesn't have to split tips or rent a booth or listen to other ppls crap, its how he makes his living and he is good at what he does.

Tattoos and piercings are a thing of trust, going into a shop or someones home is a matter of choice and trust, if you don't trust whoever the person is then you shouldn't be there period, bc professional or not, shop or someones home your trusting someone else to put a hole in your body or ink in your skin there is never a guarantee that the working your getting is going to turn out as awesome as you hope. First shope I ever I got a tat in I didn't any of the artists there, but I trusted a complete stranger to give me a tattoo.........

I guess that makes sense... there are crappy tattoo artists who are "professionals" with studios just like there are crappy artists who tattoo from home. I'm just used to scratchers around here who are absolutely terrible. Like for example, I saw a lady at work once who had a tattoo that said "Hell's Angle" instead of "Angel" and her whole arm was full of random words that looked like they'd been drawn on with a ballpoint pen. So that's what I think of when I think of home tattoos, haha.

Yeah I know what you mean, if seen some pretty crappy stuff but from professionals and non professionals

Yeah I know what you mean, if seen some pretty crappy stuff but from professionals and non professionals and the same goes for piercings, I have seen some really good and some by by both also. My back and foot tats where done by a first starting out artist and they aren't the best things or worst I have ever seen but they are almost 6yrs old too and need to be touched up. All artists start out somewhere, its not just about talent bc alot of ppl can draw but drawing on paper and on skin are 2 different things, its also about having a network of ppl who support you, without the support and trust of others willing to sit down and let a stranger put a needle in them there wouldn't be tattoo artists or piercers. And that pretty much goes for every kind of profession, without the trust and support of others(most complete stranger) there wouldn't be anything, no fashion shoes, car shoes, tattoo shows, realestate, architects, doctors.....etc without some form of trust in others the world wouldn't be what it is today,

Sorry lots of typing errors up there^ my cat kept getting on my keyboard.....she is quite the nosey feline