We get a lot of phone calls and people stopping in expecting to get tattooed the same day. As much as we would love to take care of everyone right away, it's simply not possible. Let me explain why...

​Supply and demand. You're not the only one wanting a tattoo. This is a great time to reflect back to when your parents told you "if you want something important, you must be patient." Tattoos take a lot of time and effort (I will touch back on that shortly). And A LOT of people want a new custom tattoo. A LOT. It really comes down to first come first serve. Who makes their appointments in advance wins. They get put into a calendar and those days pile up. So hearing  that the artist won't be able to fit that into their calendar for X amount of weeks or sometimes months is very common.

​Tattoos take time. A lot of time. Even a small butterfly on your ankle needs to be drawn and sized and a lot of the time there are multiple drawings that go into even the more simple designs. Now picture a big piece. A full sleeve. A full back piece. These are appointments that endless hours of work are put in.

​Imagine a restaurant on a Saturday night. A lot of people will call in and make reservations to eat a few days, a few weeks and sometimes a few months in advance. As more people are setting their reservations the less and less tables are available. Now imagine that each meal takes 1 to 8 hours to prep, cook, dish and allow the time for the customer to enjoy their food and allow time to get the table cleaned up for the next patrons. Now that restaurant that your picturing with 25-50 tables and an army full of staff, erase all those tables and all that extra staff and leave only a few tables and a few dedicated employees. Those tables are going to be booking out much further.

​In this entirely real situation, some people will say "eh screw it, McDonalds is open and we can get in and out in 10 minutes." This is very true. But then I would highly recommend looking at the quality and the experience. You can get that Mcdonalds meal super quick. But is it quality food? Is there any real experience there? Need I say more?

​I would also like to touch on deposits. All reputable studios require them. They hold your appointment in the calendar. They can range in price, depending on individual studio policies, but it is entirely common for deposits to range anywhere between 50.00 and 200.00. If someone makes an appointment and that block of time is set aside for them and they decide to just skip it, it hurts the artist. That's a good chunk of their day that they are not getting paid for now. There is drawing time even before the day of the appointment and if someone decides to just bail, there should be some compensation. Also these deposits make it much less likely for someone to flake out because they have something of value already tied up in it. These deposits are credited to the final cost of your tattoo and are costing you nothing extra. Its just a small payment upfront to help protect the artist that is working for you.

​I hope this helped you understand that quality tattoos tend to have a wait. Sometimes people need to cancel or reschedule and there is a random opening and you can get right in. But when you call, don't plan on that. Plan on a little bit of a wait that will be worth it in the long run.

​Thank you for taking the time to read this!
​-Tyler





​

Since we opened on April 1st of 2017, we have been asked countless times "why the name Red at Night?" It's a fair question and I would be more than happy to fill you in!

​About eight years ago, I came across the name in a song. The song was called 'Red at Night' and was from a band called The Gaslight Anthem. I was curious on the phrase and looked it up to learn more about it.

​It goes back to the more 'traditional' sailor days. Back then, they used a phrase, which was 'Red at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailor's take warning". They used to use the sky to judge upcoming weather. 'Red sky at night' meant that good weather was on its way and that they were blessed with calm waters. 'Red in the morning' meant that there was bad weather coming.

​This all gets broken down by dust particles and air pressures and clouds/lack of clouds.
​I'm not a meteorologist, so I wont bite off more than I can chew in explaining the science behind it.

So, back to Red at Night Tattoos and Piercings...
​I heard the song; fell in love with the song. I learned the meaning; fell in love with the meaning. I always knew that one day, I would own my own tattoo/piercing studio and that's what it would be called.

​When the time came when the reality of opening a studio was a reality, my business partner, Mike and I got on the subject of what to name the studio that we would open.
​
​"We should figure out a name." Mike said.
​"Red at Night Tattoos and Piercings."  I replied.
​"Dude! I love that! That's an awesome name!" Mike replied.

​Easy as that! It was so organic and easy.

​For us, what Red at Night means in our business is this- Good things on the way. Positivity. Hope. Welcoming weather.

​So now you know why we are Red at Night Tattoos and Piercings!

One other neat fact that I would like to add- after we settled on the name and everything was actually happening, I messaged my sister to fill her in on what was going on with me (she lives on the other side of the world). I told her about the name and it got emotional for me. My mom passed away when I was 12 and my sister told me that our mom taught her that phrase and that our mom used to say it all the time. After hearing that, I took it as a sign from my mom that I was on the right path.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

​-Tyler Hamline