Berlin or Paris

Hamiltonion

Hey guys,

I've been meaning to get my first tatoo done for ages but the price (E300 estimates) is just too high.

I'm going to be in Berlin and Paris at the end of July, I'm guessing Berlin in particular would be far cheaper than here? Could anyone advise me?

Cheers

Raze_them_all

300 for something for the rest of your life is far too high??

Marty McFly

When it comes to tattoos, you pay for what you get.

Look at it this way would you rather get some cheap poor tattooist to tattoo you and your left with some shocking looking tattoo on your body for the rest of your life.

Or pay 300 or more get a great tattooist to do it, and have a tattoo youll always love. Its a simple answer for me.

Also dont just walk into any studio ad let someone tattoo you find out who your artist is going to be and do some research on them look at there work see if you like what theyve done.

Hamiltonion

I'm well aware its for the rest of my life, and I'm on here asking could anyone recommend someone in Berlin or Paris, because the fact of the matter is prices in Berlin are far below that of here, for food, drink, services etc.

Just because I want to get something done in a cheaper country dosent mean I'm not doing my research/making a lighthearted decision

Marty McFly

Hamiltonion wrote: »

I'm well aware its for the rest of my life, and I'm on here asking could anyone recommend someone in Berlin or Paris, because the fact of the matter is prices in Berlin are far below that of here, for food, drink, services etc.

Just because I want to get something done in a cheaper country dosent mean I'm not doing my research/making a lighthearted decision

Ok thats good, it was just from your first post it did seem like you were making a lighthearted decision.

I dont know if youll be able to make your way to them but there in Wurzburg 221 miles from Berlin im sure youd be able to ge a bus or something to them.

I would love a tattoo of them there work is amazing especially the beuna vista style. Im not sure about there price but you could always email and find out.

http://www.buenavistatattooclub.de/

Black Sheep

I'd be surprised if Buena Vista Tattoo Club, linked to above, or the likes of Loxodrome Tattoo in Berlin are any cheaper than the most expensive of Irish artists. They're both world class studios. People definitley travel to get work done there - but it's because of the calibre of the artists, not because they're cheap.

Honestly I'd be surprised if, on average, you'd see a difference in price by more than 50 euro either way. Tattooing is relatively time-intensive and there's a limit to how low most artists will go. I guess you could turn up in Berlin or Paris and try and find some back-alley scratcher offering tattoos at a knockdown price using a tattoo kit he bought on the internet ... But really we have plenty of those guys in Ireland. But you probably know this if you've done your research. :pac: If you're really looking to be tattooed in a city with a low cost of living you might consider looking further afield to the likes of Budapest.

I'm kind of bemused that 300 euro is the figure that is a deal-breaker for you. If we were talking several thousand euro I could agree that that would be a lot of disposable income by anyone's terms. But 300? Really...? I know we're in a recession and all ... But if you put a euro away every day for the next year then you'd have your money and more.

Diceicle

300 seems a little on the low side to be running off to Europe for a tattoo. I get the impression that you're going to be in Berlin or Paris anyway, but why would you want to spend the limited time you have there in a tattoo studio? Its not like you're going over specifically for a tattoo for an artist in particular.
I disagree with people saying good tattoos arent cheap, that's not an axiom that can be applied to all situations and while people who give this advice have good intentions, it doesnt make it correct, you could, in theory, go to somewhere like Cambodia and find a gem of an artist that could rival any western artist and pay a fraction of the cost because the cost of living is much lower in certain countries, so comparatively you do get a cheap tattoo.

The thing I would be most concerned about is the time you will have to talk to the artist about what you want. To give them time to draw it for you and to actually get an appointment.

Now, I have gotten a tattoo abroad, but it was much more expensive than you would pay here. And I was on holidays for 6 days and was in chatting to the artist every day before actually getting it done. Would you have time to do all that?

Black Sheep

I do actually take the point that yes, tattooing cost is dependent on the cost of living in a given country up to a certain point... For example, the cost of shop leases in Manhattan and the general cost of living in the likes of Sweden mean that tattooists working there are expensive by the standards of almost anywhere else. Conversely, I've mentioned before that you can get a kick-ass tattoo by some of the best in the world in Hungary, Poland, Russia etc. and at a relatively lower cost because of the lower cost of living in those countries.

But that said for most people's purposes it remains true that if there is a spectrum of tattoo costs in a given country then the cheaper end of the market is likely to be composed of the scratchers and the more expensive, in-demand, end of the market is likely to be made up of the talented and established.

Someone like Boris in Budapest is an amazing artist and relatively 'cheap' by our standards. You could probably head over there and find someone who charges even less than him ... And they'd likely be his inferior local competition.

As Robert Heinlein wrote, 'TANSTAAFL' ('There's no such thing as a free lunch'). If you want the best you usually pay for it.