Guides
Original editorial content, made for people who want to understand before they buy.
How to read the specifications of a tattoo machine
A datasheet looks like a list of numbers, but each number describes only one part of a machine that, when working, behaves as a whole. Stroke, weight, voltage or runtime say something precise, but none of them, alone, tells you what it will be like to use that machine. This guide proposes a way of reading specifications in groups, relating them to one another: what a datum really says, what depends on context and what is not reported at all. At the end you will find a small method to apply to every Odisage product sheet.
Needles and cartridges: how to read codes and configurations
On the box of a needle or cartridge there is a code of a few digits and letters that sums up gauge, number of points, configuration and often the taper too. Knowing how to read it makes it possible to compare products from different brands and to understand why two needles with the same code are not necessarily identical. This guide explains how the pieces of information combine, shows some examples and compares the main families of configurations from the point of view of shape. The definitions of individual terms are in the glossary: here the subject is how to read them together.
Coil, rotary and pen: comparing architectures
Coil, rotary and pen are the names used for the main families of tattoo machines, but they are not three categories on the same level: coil and rotary describe how the movement is produced, while pen mostly describes the shape. This guide compares structure, transmission, power, adjustments, ergonomics and maintenance, and retraces how the architectures have evolved. There is no winner: the aim is to understand how a machine's behaviour changes with how it is built, and why different artists may prefer different systems.
How to compare two tattoo machines
Comparing two machines does not mean deciding which is the best: it means understanding how they differ, how much those differences matter and which data can really be set side by side. This guide proposes a twelve-point method, from architecture to personal preferences, and explains which specifications can be compared directly, which need context and which are manufacturer's declarations. It is meant to be used together with Odisage's Compare function, which places the data of several products side by side and highlights the differences.
Data, declarations, preferences: the Odisage method
In front of a product, information of very different kinds arrives: measured numbers, manufacturer declarations, design choices, opinions, marketing messages. Mixing them leads to hasty conclusions, such as thinking that more power means more quality. This guide describes how Odisage tells six kinds of information apart, why it shows several parameters instead of just one and why it does not stop at a single number. It is the thread that ties the other guides together and the way product sheets and comparisons are built.
Where tattooing comes from
Tattooing is one of the oldest and most widespread practices in the world, but its history is not a straight line: it begins in different places and times, with different meanings, and reaches the form we know today through voyages, exchanges, prejudice and revivals. This guide retraces the main stages, from the earliest evidence to the traditions of the Pacific peoples and Japan, from the Europe of sailors to contemporary diffusion. Where sources are uncertain or debated we say so, because many "certain dates" read around are not.