If you are a tattoo artist there in town, a magnum needle is a must-have for all shading work. The magnum needles come in a set and have longer tapers as compared to the tapers found on round shader needles.
It’s good to color with magnum because it covers a large space and does the job fast while coloring any area of the skin. Which is also good for your skin. In fact, it does color faster so it does not need to hit on your skin over and over again. Hence it leaves no damage.
In this article, I’m going to talk about how to use magnum tattoo needles. So the first thing you should know is the purpose of the needles in tattooing. They are for shading, sketching, outlining, and much more.
How to use magnum tattoo needles?
If you are new to using a magnum tattoo needle, you might be wondering how to use it for shading. So what I will suggest to you is, always choose bug pin magnums because they are better for skin, and they get a more fine and smooth blend.
Try to use a magnum like a paintbrush. Make sure to keep your tattoo machine as upright as possible while you are blending or shading.
Now if you are trying to pack in black, you gotta use a 45-degree angle and sort of goes against the skin’s grain to try and pack in blacks as solid as you can.
If the magnum needle goes in a straight point rather than going at an angle, it will stick into your skin and it can even jump and hit your eyes.
So basically the mag needles look slow in and out but they are not.
The machines probably run at about 10.9 volts for this. So try to use it like a paintbrush. And, just do sort of brush motions over the skin going slowly a light touching the skin and then coming out again in like a nice soft motion.
You will see it goes in your skin quite nicely and will give you the textures you need. One thing to keep in mind while working with a magnum you need to drag the magnum across your skin by pulling it. You don’t have to push it forward as this will result in pain and your needle will stick into your skin.
Secondly, you just need to lightly brush the skin, however, if you want to get dark hair, you just go over it a bit more.
Obviously, it depends on what ink you use. But this is a very great technique to use a mag brush for smooth blend and shading. Interestingly, you can also use this technique with a portrait with hair, with a woman’s or man’s hair.
Moreover, coloring in a circular motion will bring pretty good results, and by doing so, your magnum will occupy more area and will color faster than a regular round.
While you using a magnum, keep wiping the skin often to see the results of texture. If you want to remove tattoos you can read this guide.
References
Rosenkilde, Frank. “Tattoo machines, needles and utilities.” Tattooed Skin and Health. Vol. 48. Karger Publishers, 2015. 21-30.
Schreiver, Ines, et al. “Distribution of nickel and chromium containing particles from tattoo needle wear in humans and its possible impact on allergic reactions.” Particle and fibre toxicology 16.1 (2019): 1-10.