ARTICLE
NOMADIC PISTON SPRINGS
NOMADIC PISTON MtOVES UP AND DOWN
VERY QUIET
LOUDER
SETTINGS ALLOW YOU TO ADJUST THROW
ORIGINAL OLD-SCHOOL LOOK & FEEL
“I LIKE THE FEEL OF A MACHINE IN MY GRIP THAT WAS HANDMADE BY SOMEONE WITH
A LOVE FOR TATTOOING AND THE ART OF MACHINE BUILDING.”
BY
KYLE WILLIAMS
T
here is a certain pride that goes into setting up a piece of
iron to lay down a classic tattoo design. There are also a lot
of things that can go wrong with a coil machine. I’m no builder
myself, but I can strip a coil machine and put it back together, as
well as diagnose and fix just about any problem that comes up.
They are cheep to fix, and build, but I would rather spend my time
tattooing.
Some of my coil machines have been running for a couple years
now and haven’t had a single problem yet (knock on wood). Coil
machines have a short pause at the top of the needle stroke,
while the electricity charges to drive the needle down into the
skin.
With rotary machines, there is continuous movement, allowing
the needle to spend more time in the skin than a coil machine.
This could be seen as a faster and more efficient way of tattooing.
So what this means for the artist is, the hand movements need
to change a little to accommodate the actual time the needle is
spent in the skin.
Amazing coverage artists like Canadian James Tex use rotary
machines and can cover a great area in an astonishingly short
amount of time. When paired with years of tattooing experience
and an alien-like photographic memory, it seems to me that this
is the only way to tattoo. But irons can hit hard and fast, and can
put in colour and black and grey just as quick. it definitely comes
down to personal preference and choice of what machine a tattoo artist would use.
In my experience using both machines, I like to use them for different projects. My favourite machines are a couple that I had
built by my late friend Jay from Addictive Tattoos out of London,
Ontario.
If your a kitchen wizard, come by our shop, Rising
Tide Tattoo. I have some bolt cutters and a finger
donation bin with your name on it!
Issue 2 | West Coast Ink | 27