Flash Tattoos

How it works today

Flash tattoos are a staple in the tattoo industry. They can be used in various ways and are the gift that keeps on giving. Flash tattoos, or flash, as it’s more commonly known are pre drawn designs that are available to be sold as tattoos. Different shops have different flash policies so there can be confusion. As far as our shop, all flash designs are sold once. Flash can be altered or changed to suit your ideas most of the time; there are certain pieces that are sold as is and cannot be changed. If we do change it enough the original piece will sometimes go back up for grabs.

I have heard of some different terminology around the industry where flash can mean that the designs are smaller and will be sold more than once, where their up for grabs are medium pre-drawn pieces that will only be sold once. This policy reminds me of historical tattoo shops where flash designs on the wall could be tattooed more than once. It just depends what type of shop you go to, we pride ourselves on being strictly custom so we will only do tattoos once. But don’t be shy the easiest way to find out is just ask!

Flash is often coloured to give people an idea of the artist’s vision and get you engaged with their work more. Like with the design itself colours can be changed to suit you or done in black and grey. 

Flash has changed a lot over the years. In studios such as Bert Grim tattooed in, flash sheets littered the walls, you picked, sat down and got it. In today’s day most artists sell flash online on social media platforms, a favorite is Instagram.  If you’re looking for flash I’d definitely recommend starting with Instagram. Not everything is online though, and nothing beats going into a shop and flipping through flash books.

History

Lots of American Traditional tattoos that were common for sailors to get and their myriad of meanings were flash designs that they earned and looked forward to. Of course there was also just for fun flash that wasn’t tied to a specific nautical or military meaning. To learn about more of these specific pieces checkout: American Trad Part 3: Symbolism.

Collectors

Antique flash sheets are now sought after for their historical value. flash tattoo sheets are becoming hot collectors items. Some flash collectors aren’t even tattooed or tattoo fanatics but the antique flash sheets speak for themselves and appeal to tons of people both indulged in the industry and not. 

Tattoo Archive has a great little blurb about flash sheets and collectors that I think is worth the read, “A few years ago when I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin visiting the Dean Jensen Gallery, I was invited to view a collection of flash that had been assembled by a CEO of a local company. This collector was neither tattooed nor had any real connection to the tattoo world, other than his appreciation of tattoo flash as an art form unto itself. In the sitting room of his condominium overlooking Lake Michigan, he had displayed one of the finest-looking collections of flash I have ever seen. Beautifully framed and mounted, these antique sheets were hung with great care in a well lighted room.

As one sheet was signed on the back, the frame had been designed to show the signature when flipped over. It would be safe to say these sheets of flash had never seen such care. In their past life, they had spent years hanging in smoky tattoo shops, and some of them had thumb tack holes on the corners where tacks were pushed thru them into walls.”

Even if you don’t want a flash piece, flash can be a great way to get to know an artist’s style and decide if you’d like a custom piece by them. At least at our studio, artists draw flash because it’s things they’re interested in and in their style. So you get to see what they really love. I talked about this in a previous post as well but every artist has their own style, so whatever you get from them will have their certain flair on it, flash is a great place to showcase this. Flash is a great start to researching your artist.

https://www.tattooarchive.com/history/flash.php

Gatekeeper

Hi there! I'm Taylor, you may know me as Sterling Skull reception, or gatekeeper, or most recently Tater (thanks Chris). I love writing, creating and I love tattoos; so what better way to use my passions than to bring you a personal experience of our studio via a blog! Welcome, please stay a while!