I rode the tube but now i ride the needle as extra needle hang is more accurate and easier to see what your doing.
This is a very timely comment, as I was about to launch another thread on this subject.
OK so this might be contentious but here goes, and I am looking for genuine responses.
Quick BG: I was scratching for 12 years, then quit for 20 years, just coming back. During this initial period I rode the tubes, tried working off the tips but it freaked me out and I never tried again again.
So this time around I've been really determined to master tattoing off the tips. I like the visibility it gives you, the sensitivity for touching in details and tickling elements into a design. As some of you know I spent a lot of months practising this approach on pig and fake skin (100s of hours) before getting onto live flesh.
So now I've put 10+ tattoos on in the last month or so, not so many but I'm easing back in. My very recent experience challenges some things I wrote earlier in this thread...oh the damn reality of it all!
I'm charging buttons as I'm lacking confidence in my process and working far too slow - and the main reason is that my lining is in serious regression. In the years I was riding the tube my lining was a strength, now its a real weakness and i'm struggling to get clean lines of uniform thickness. I feel tentative when lining, continually wiping (line by line) to check I'm on the right track.
So today I set up a machine 'riding the tube' with literally 1mm of needle pretrusion, maybe a tad more. I hit a kind of doodle pad on the top of my leg with a few lines...super crisp, super black, uniform and super quick. Trust me some faith has been restored. I went on to do a few pieces on synthetic skin using diamond tips, then I swithched to undersize rounds (a 7rl in a 5R tube, 5rl in a 3R tube).
The undersize tube method drastically reduces the ink blindness (splurge) typical of tube riding, though I expect to be dipping more often. For now that's better than cleaning and checking every line, when I normally re-dip as well.
So for my next piece I plan to ride the tube, even if its just for the crunch lines, the big ones and those on the perimiter of the design, hanging the needle if I have to add details.
I know there's a lot of negativity to tube riding and my QUESTION is 'why shouldn't you do it?', especially if the linework is coming out solid?
I know about the lack of visibility, but with practise you can mitigate this. You can even start lifting at the end of lines (connections) and watch the tip in...I used to do this all the time. As I said, the smaller tubes help reduce the ink splurge PLUS they locate the needle pretty central in the tip, so you have a better idea where the needle tips are.
I also hear that moving the tube across the skin causes irritation. Well in all the years I did this, I never saw it, so i'm a bit suspicious about this argument. I always used round tips back then.
Really keen to hear your thoughts on this 'why not? question, though my plan is to incorporate it as I continue developing my 'professional' technique - working off the tips.
As a bit of a weird comparison, I thought about the barber shaving your hair, lets say a number 2 all over. Riding the tube seems like using the clippers with the number 2 guard comb on, ensuring the hair is all cut to one length. Working off the tips seems more like using the clippers without a guard...anything could happen!
