No. 01 / Large Scale
Large-scale work, one session at a time.
Fig. 01 · Full back · 11 sessions
Sleeves · Back pieces · Bodysuits
Japanese-inspired work drawn for the whole body, built slowly over months and years.
We take on a small number of long projects each year and give them the time they need: one client per artist per day, sittings spaced so the skin can rest, and a plan you can see from the first line to the last.
Sessions per project
4 – 30+
Full day in the chair
6 hrs · $1,150
Next open start
February
No. 02 — The Work
Three scales of commitment
Measured in sessions, not hours.
Every large project is drawn as a whole before the first line goes in. These are the three shapes most of our clients choose, with honest numbers for each.
Fig. 02.1 — Arm
Sleeve
Shoulder to wrist, one composition.
Wind bars, water or clouds tie the motifs together so the arm reads from every angle. We design it whole, then tattoo it from the shoulder down.
Sessions
4–6
Hours in the chair
24–36
Typical span
5–8 months
From
$4,600
Fig. 02.2 — Back
Back piece
The largest flat canvas you have.
One central figure — a koi, a dragon, a temple guardian — set in a background that flows over the ribs and down to the hips.
Sessions
8–14
Hours in the chair
50–80
Typical span
10–18 months
From
$9,200
Fig. 02.3 — Body
Bodysuit
Back, arms, chest and legs as one.
We map the whole suit at the first consult and build it outward section by section, often alongside the rest of your life.
Sessions
30+
Hours in the chair
180+
Typical span
3–5 years
From
By plan
No. 03 — The Journey
One back piece, start to finish
Eleven sittings, thirteen months.
A full back piece in colour, sitting by sitting. Every project keeps its own pace, but the rhythm is always the same: plan, line, build, colour, rest.
Sittings
11
Hours in the chair
64
Start to finish
13 months
Rest between sittings
3–4 weeks
Week 0
Consultation
Session 00 · 45 min · Free
We look at your back, talk through the story you want to wear and take measurements and photos. You leave with a rough plan, a session estimate and a date for the outline.
Week 3
Outline
Session 01 · 6 hrs
The design is drawn on freehand with markers so it follows how your back moves, then lined in one long sitting. Everything that comes after is built on these lines.
Months 2–6
Background
Sessions 02–05 · 4 × 6 hrs
Wind bars, water and clouds in black and grey. Sittings are spaced three to four weeks apart so each area has healed before we work next to it.
Months 7–11
Colour
Sessions 06–10 · 5 × 6 hrs
The main figure gets its colour, darkest tones first. Slow, saturated passes — the stretch most clients say they look forward to the most.
Month 13
Final pass & healed check
Session 11 · 4 hrs
Last highlights, small touch-ups and a healed photo shoot in daylight. We go over the whole piece together and sign it off.
No. 04 — Day Rates
Priced by the day.
Large work is booked in sittings, not by the piece. You pay for time in the chair; consultations, drawing and the final healed check are on us.
Half day
Mornings only
$650
Up to 3½ hrs
Mornings from 11:00. For outlines on smaller areas, sensitive spots like ribs, knees and feet, and anyone new to long sittings.
Hours
11:00–14:30
Breaks
One, 15 min
Best for
Ribs · first sittings
Full day
Most booked
$1,150
Up to 6 hrs
The standard unit for sleeves, back pieces and bodysuits. Most of our long projects run entirely on full days, with a proper lunch in the middle.
Hours
11:00–18:00
Breaks
Lunch + two short
Best for
Sleeves · backs · suits
Consultation
Free
45 minutes with your artist, in the studio or on video. No deposit, no obligation.
Deposit
$300
Holds your first sitting and comes off your final session. One deposit per project, not per day.
Notice
72 hrs
Move any sitting with three days of notice and keep your deposit. Life happens over a long project.
Rate lock
Fixed
Your day rate is fixed once the outline is in, for the whole project — no rises mid-piece.
Prices in USD, sales tax included. Pay per sitting by card or cash — never the whole project upfront. Drawing time, revisions and the healed check-in are not billed.
Years tattooing
18
Sleeves finished
140+
Back pieces
26
Bodysuits in progress
4
No. 05 — Lead Artist
Diego Salas
Japanese & traditional large-scale · Station 03
Diego has spent eighteen years learning to make big pictures sit quietly on moving bodies.
He grew up in Queens drawing from his grandfather’s collection of woodblock prints, apprenticed in a street shop on Jamaica Avenue and spent two winters as a guest artist in Yokohama, sweeping floors and watching the old men work. He came back convinced that the background matters as much as the dragon.
At Ink St. he leads every project over a full sleeve. He draws each piece on the body with markers before a stencil is ever printed, keeps a paper file of every suit he has started, and still answers consultation emails himself. His books open twice a year and he keeps four days a month for clients flying in.
“A back piece is a year of Thursdays. I want you to enjoy every one of them, not just the last.”
— Diego Salas
Also taking large-scale: Jonah Kress, blackwork backs →
No. 06 — Word of Skin
Nineteen sittings later.
“
I walked in wanting a half sleeve and walked out of the consult with a plan for my whole chest and both arms. Diego drew it on me with markers, stepped back, and said we would know in three years whether he was right.
Nineteen sittings later, he was. What I did not expect was how much I would miss the Thursdays — the same playlist, the same lunch from the dumpling place downstairs, the photos he took at the end of every session so I could see the piece grow. Nothing was rushed. When my skin needed a break he moved me back a month without blinking.
It healed clean, it reads from across a room, and the background still surprises me in the mirror. If you are on the fence about going big: go slow instead, and go here.
★★★★★
Client
Theo R.
Piece
Chest panel & both sleeves
Sittings
19 with Diego Salas
Healed
Spring 2026
№ 07 — Aftercare
Heal it right.
Half of a great tattoo is what you do after you leave. Here’s the short version — you’ll get the full printed card on the day.
Day 0–3
Keep the second-skin film on for up to three days if it holds. Then wash with lukewarm water and fragrance-free soap and pat dry with paper towel.
Day 4–14
A thin layer of unscented balm twice a day. It will flake and itch — don’t pick, don’t scratch, don’t over-moisturise.
Week 2–4
No pools, sea, saunas or sunbeds until the skin has fully settled. Loose clothes over the area.
For life
SPF 50 on healed ink, always — the sun is a tattoo’s worst enemy. Light patch once it’s healed? Touch-ups on our work are free for 12 months.
Hygiene Standard
The clean room.
Tattooing is skin work. We run the studio like a clinic and decorate it like a record shop.
+
Single-use, pre-sterilised needles and cartridges — opened in front of you
+
Hospital-grade disinfection of every surface between clients
+
Barrier film on machines, cords, bottles and the chair
+
Vegan, REACH-compliant inks from licensed suppliers
+
Licensed studio; every artist certified in bloodborne-pathogen safety
+
18+ only — valid photo ID at every session
No. 08 — Begin
Free consultation · 45 min
Start with a conversation.
Every large piece begins with a sit-down — in the studio on Wednesdays and Thursdays, or on video if you are travelling in for the work. No deposit, no pressure: you leave with a plan, a session estimate and a first date if you want one.
largescale@example.com
Studio
88 Ink Street, 2F, NY 10003
Consult days
Wed & Thu · 11–18
Before we meet
What to send or bring
01
Photos of the area — front, side and back — in daylight, without filters.
02
Your height and any tattoos nearby we need to work around or cover.
03
Three to five references for mood and subject, not to copy.
04
How often you can sit and a realistic budget per month.
05
Skin conditions, medication or travel coming up in the next year.
Travelling in for your piece? We block two full days back to back for out-of-town clients, four times a year.