An artist in blue gloves working on a forearm sleeve.

Stokes Croft · Bristol

Real hands.
Real ink.
No transfers off a screen.

Four chairs, one back room, and everything drawn for the person it is going on. Book a chair, or come on a Saturday and take your chances.

Book a chair See the work

NineSwallows

We draw everything first

Nothing goes on skin until you have seen it on paper and said yes. That is one appointment before the one you booked, it is free, and it is the reason nobody leaves here with a design they were talked into.

Drawn, not picked off a wall.

The Work

Four recent pieces. Scroll and they deal like a deck.

Traditional colour work up a forearm and a black rose on the hand, holding a tattoo machine.

Colour, forearm and hand

Four sittings

Bold black geometric work across a man's back and up his neck.

Blackwork, back and neck

Six sittings

A fine-line geometric fox in a ring of leaves, on a thigh.

Fine line, thigh

One sitting

Two hands covered in small tattoos, under heavy silver rings.

Hands and fingers

Two sittings

Who is in this week

Four of us, and we do not cover for each other: you book the person whose work you liked.

Ro Blackwork, ornamental Tue to Sat
Mattie Neo-traditional, colour Wed to Sun
Cass Fine line, lettering Thu to Sat
Bern Japanese, large scale By arrangement

Where we are

Ninety-one Stokes Croft, above the record shop. The blue door, not the green one.

Five minutes down the hill and you are at the harbour, which is where most people go afterwards to look at it in the daylight.

Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 11 to 7
Walk-ins: Saturdays, from 11, first come
Deposit: £50, comes off the final price
Under 18s: No, and no exceptions

An artist drawing at the desk by the window, flash pinned on the wall behind.

Boats moored along the harbour under a cloudy sky.

Book a chair

Tell us what you want, where it is going and roughly how big. You will get a drawing appointment first, then a date. The deposit holds it.

Start a booking

or call 0117 000 0000