FAQ

A full day session usually runs from around 11:00am until approximately 17:00, depending on the project. At the start of the appointment we will go through the tattoo design together, discuss the size and placement, and make any final adjustments if needed before applying the stencil.

During longer sessions we will take short breaks throughout the day, so please make sure to bring water, snacks and lunch with you. Once the tattoo is finished, I will clean and wrap the tattoo, explain the aftercare process and answer any questions you may have before you head home.

Sapphire Ink Delft is located in the centre of Delft, only around a 5 minute walk from Delft Central Station, directly across the HEMA in the city centre.

I highly recommend travelling by public transport where possible, as parking in Delft can be expensive and street parking fines are heavily enforced.

If you are coming by car, I recommend parking at Marktgarage Delft, Willem Naghelstraat 1, 2612 XD Delft. The full day parking rate is approximately €18. Another option is to park for free near IKEA Delft and walk into the city centre.

Tattoo pricing depends on several factors including size, placement, detail, style and the amount of time required. Once I have enough information about your idea, I can provide a price estimate or project range.

As of 2026, the full day session rate is €700. A full day session usually runs from 11:00am until approximately 17:00. For larger or more complex projects, sessions may occasionally run longer than scheduled. If this is the case, I will always discuss this with you beforehand any additional costs if they apply or not.

Professional tattooing involves much more than just the hours spent tattooing during the appointment itself. At first glance, tattooing can seem like a very high hourly rate, however a large amount of unpaid work happens outside of the appointment that clients never see.

I currently tattoo around three days a week, however I usually spend at least two additional unpaid days working on the business. One of these days is often spent designing tattoos and discussing projects with clients online, while the other is spent handling business related tasks such as social media, portfolio preparation, flash designs, photography, bookings and design revisions.

I also work as a freelance artist, meaning a percentage of every tattoo goes directly toward studio rent and tattoo supplies before taxes are deducted. From the remaining income, I also need to cover the unpaid days spent working on the business, alongside quieter periods throughout the year where bookings naturally slow down, particularly during months such as December and January.

Many tattoo projects also involve several hours of custom drawing and preparation before the appointment even begins. Tattoo pricing therefore includes custom design preparation, consultations, free talking appointments, free touch up appointments, studio costs, professional equipment, hygiene materials and the many hours spent creating and applying the tattoo safely and correctly.

Once all of these costs and unpaid hours are realistically divided out, the actual hourly income becomes far more reasonable than many people initially assume. This also does not even include the many years of artistic study, training, practice and education required to reach the level needed to consistently create this kind of work professionally.

It is usually not possible to give an exact price for a sleeve project upfront. The total cost depends heavily on the complexity of the design, the level of detail, the amount of coverage and how many sessions are needed to complete the project.

Every person's body is different, and even two sleeves with similar concepts can take very different amounts of time depending on arm size, skin, placement flow and detail level. Some sleeves may take several sessions more or less than another similar project.

Because of this, sleeve projects are usually approached one full day session at a time. As the project develops, we get a better understanding of the total amount of work and time required to complete the sleeve properly. A method to estimate how long it takes: I can usually tattoo almost a full A4 page in a full day session, depending on the complexity of the project.

Many people assume smaller tattoos should always be very cheap because the actual tattooing time may be shorter. However, a large portion of the work and cost of a tattoo exists before the tattooing itself even begins.

Whether a tattoo is small or large, the appointment still usually involves consultation time, discussing the idea with the client, custom design preparation, stencil preparation, studio setup, hygiene preparation, opening sterile equipment and full cleaning procedures afterward. Material costs such as needles, inks, gloves, machine protection and other disposable hygiene products are also very similar regardless of tattoo size.

Smaller tattoos can also sometimes require extremely careful and technically demanding application, particularly with fine detail, lettering or micro realism work. Because of this, smaller tattoos are often relatively more expensive compared to their physical size than larger ongoing projects, where setup time and preparation are spread across many more hours of tattooing.

Micro realism tattoos can age very well when designed appropriately for the skin and placement. Extremely tiny details may soften over time, which is why I carefully design micro realism tattoos with enough negative space and contrast to remain readable in the future.

Yes. Depending on the existing tattoo, it is often possible to rework, refresh or cover older tattoos. This depends on factors such as darkness, size, colour saturation and skin condition. Coverups and reworks are discussed on a case-by-case basis.

If the existing tattoo is very dark or heavily saturated, laser removal sessions are often recommended before beginning the coverup process.

Each laser session lightens the existing tattoo, which creates far more design possibilities for the final coverup. The darker the original tattoo is, the darker and heavier the new coverup often needs to be in order to successfully hide it.

Starting with laser removal can make a huge difference to the final result and often allows for more flexibility, lighter designs and better long term outcomes. Although laser removal can feel expensive and time consuming initially, it can often save a lot of time, money and frustration in the future.

It is also important to keep in mind that once white ink is tattooed over an existing tattoo, laser removal becomes much more difficult, as laser machines cannot properly target pigment underneath heavy white ink. Also the more you touch up or cover a tattoo the more pigment in the skin and the more sessions of laser that is needed to remove it. So if in any doubt it's always safest (and possibly cheapest) to just go with laser first.

Not reliably. While white ink can temporarily soften or lighten the appearance of an old tattoo, the original darker pigment underneath will usually become visible again over time as the pigments settle and mix within the skin.

Although it may look effective initially, white ink is generally not considered a reliable long term solution for fully covering existing tattoos. White ink also makes future laser removal significantly more difficult.

All tattoos naturally soften and lighten slightly over time as part of the normal healing and aging process. Colour tattoos do not automatically age worse than black and grey tattoos. When applied correctly and cared for properly, colour tattoos can remain vibrant for many years.

Sun exposure, friction and placement on the body generally have a much larger impact on fading than whether a tattoo is colour or black and grey. Areas exposed frequently to sunlight or constant friction may fade faster over time if not protected properly.

Yes, absolutely. Colour tattoos can work beautifully on melanated skin tones when designed with the skin tone in mind.

Fresh tattoos often appear brighter initially because the pigment is still sitting very close to the surface of the skin. Once healed, the epidermis settles back over the tattoo, which naturally softens and slightly filters the colours underneath.

Warmer tones such as reds, oranges and warm greens often remain especially vibrant and readable, while cooler tones such as blues, cold greens and purples may appear softer due to the warmth of the skin tone naturally neutralising some of the colour intensity.

That being said, cooler colours can still look beautiful and should not automatically be avoided. Proper colour selection, contrast and placement simply become more important during the design process.

There are limits to how small a tattoo can realistically be while still aging well over time. As tattoos heal and age, the ink naturally spreads slightly within the skin. This is a normal part of the tattooing process, as the body continuously interacts with the pigment over the years.

Because of this, tattoos that are made too small or too detailed can eventually lose clarity, with lines and details slowly blurring together over time. This is especially common with extremely tiny fine line lettering and micro detailed tattoos with very little spacing between elements.

Certain areas of the body also tend to spread more than others due to movement, stretching and skin texture. Areas such as the ribs, armpit area, side of the shoulder and other high movement areas often need tattoos to be designed slightly larger than normal so they heal and age properly. When designing tattoos, I always try to balance detail, readability and longevity to ensure the tattoo still looks beautiful years from now, not just on the day it is done.