Best Tattoo Needles & Cartridges for Every Tattoo Style

Lockdown Needle's recommendations for tattoo needle and cartridge types, for different styles of tattooing. 

Fine line:

For fine line tattooing I recommend our bespoke DOUBLE TIGHT (Code: DT (C.DT for cartridges) Also named Bugpin Liners, the tightest formation for making super fine, crisp lines. Also used widely for dot-work and stipple shading. The super fine pins are soldered precisely and very tightly. 

Dotwork:

For dotwork tattoos, and stipple shading our DOUBLE TIGHT (DT) Liner and DT Dot work tattoo needles and cartridges have proven extremely popular. Producing super crisp, effortless clean dots and stipple. 

Tribal and Blackwork:

For tribal, large areas of black and blackwork tattoos I recommend filling large areas with our Magnum needles or Cartridges, for smaller areas our Round Shaders. If the tattoo needles a black outline also, I recommend a nice bold smooth needle such as our HOLLOW (HL) formations. 

Blackout:

For blackout tattoos and large areas of black I recommend filling large areas with our Magnum / Mag needles or cartridges, The ultimate saturation is created with these choices. Often a “scrubbing” technique is used to create low trauma, saturated black. 

Portrait and Realism:

Often requiring much finesse, delicate and dainty line work and the softest of shading. The DOUBLE TIGHT (DT) groupings and Bugpins alike provide the finest of outlines. The smoothest of shading can come from our Curved and Curved Bugpin Mags / Mangum needles & Cartridges. 

Traditional:

Traditional tattooing often features bold outlines, crisp solid line work and saturated colour or black. Dark shades & choppier blends. There are many choices when it comes to needles and cartridges for this, Starting with Loose Liners (LL) which give the age old bold, consistent outlines. Many also choose Straight Liners (SL) for smaller traditional pieces or Hollow Liners (HL) if the piece is bigger, or in a tough spot on the body such as stomach or ribs. For shading, usually a regular magnum / mag bar needles or cartridge is used. Personal preference comes into play, but the above is a good starting point, to which you cannot go wrong. 

Script:

For script and text tattoos, a dainty crisp line is always necessary. It does, however, usually depend on the size of the script tattoo. For smaller work, definitely use a Double Tight (DT) liner, or Bugpin needle or cartridge. Our regular Tight Liners (TL) are great for slightly larger script tattoos. Solid clean saturation, low trauma and leaves the tattoo looking great from the start! 

If you're not sure what you need, check out our handy Guide, or Contact us for more information!