BLACK PINES GALLERY
Welcome!
If you made it to this page, it means you have an upcoming appointment with Quin, and we are so excited to welcome you to Texarkana and to Black Pines Gallery. We are also excited for you in your journey to collect a piece of black and grey art from Quin!
In this page you will find helpful tips and advice as you prepare for your trip and tattoo session.
Preparing for your session
The following tips and advice are to help you prepare for your session. Following them will help you get through it better and for Quin to be able to do his best work on you.
Skin
Please drink plenty of water starting 24-48 hours before your appointment. Moisturizing the area to be tattooed for a few days before your appointment will also aid in your skin being healthy and hydrated and make the tattoo to be applied easier.
Please avoid sun exposure/sunburns prior to your tattoo. Quin will not tattoo an area that has a sunburn.
Ladies, if you have a spray tan please be aware that Quin will rub and clean the area as much as possible at the moment of preparing the skin for stencil placement. He will try and get as much of it off without irritating the skin. Knowing the true skin tone with which he is working is important for him to know what the correct contrast of his work should be. If possible, please wait to apply or until it is nearly gone to come to your session, when getting a spray tan please wait until your tattoo is fully healed before applying.
You do not have to shave the area being tattooed, Quin can do this during prep. Guys, if you have a lot of hair in the area to be tattooed, please trim a day or two before the appointment that way Quin can shave the stubble.
Diet
Diet plays a very important role in both before and during your tattoo. Getting tattooed on an empty stomach will not only make the discomfort and pain higher, but it could also lead to lightheadedness and fainting. Sugary snacks and drinks are great to snack on throughout the session. You are welcome to have them while you get tattooed just be mindful of anything that is very messy. Have a good breakfast the morning of your tattoo, and if you’re not a breakfast person then the 1-2 hours where Quin is preparing the stencil is a great time to have lunch. Avoid very heavy foods such as pastas, avoid a high amount of processed foods and sugar (the snacks and drinks during is ok, it’s mostly the larger, heavy meals that can cause inflammation or discomfort during your session.) This affects the skin as well and it can cause the tattoo to hurt more and make the application more difficult. Quin takes various short breaks throughout the tattoo, but he takes one break anywhere from 4-6pm to eat a meal at which point you can also eat. You are more than welcome to bring food to the studio and store it in our fridge. There is a place called Heat It Up that sells pre-made meals and are easy to store and are all very good. Or we recommend downloading DoorDash or Uber Eats and have food delivered to the studio. Or, you can also go pick something up if you would prefer.
Please avoid consuming alcohol a couple days prior to your session. This will also alter the way your body and skin reacts and withstands the tattoo, as well as causing abnormal bleeding which will in turn push ink out during the application.
During your session
Your comfort is important during your tattoo. We recommend dressing comfortably. Please avoid wearing bright colors (this is for photograph purposes after your tattoo). Go for colors such as black, white, grey, or any dark/muted colors (this goes for t-shirts and bottoms. Please try to avoid red and neon colors. Or if you would like to just bring extra clothes to change into for the photographs and wear whatever you would like during your session that would be totally ok too. Bring a hoodie or sweatshirt you can wear in case you are cold (zip up hoodie in case you are getting an arm tattooed that way you can have one arm out). Quin does not like to wear headphones during his session and he like to have conversations when possible but you by no means have to talk. You are more than welcome to take headphones or a book if you need to zone out. Quin has a tv in his room and he occasionally puts on movies or tv shows. Your tattoo session can be whatever you want it to be and it is your time to enjoy it how you would like.
Pain Management
You may take over the counter medication if you choose. Please do not use any numbing products aimed for tattooing. These products are not well received in the realism community and each client, project, and their skin is different from one person to the next and the way these products are made are not with your best interest in mind. Numbing agents can make a person’s skin swell, turn red, and become very difficult for the needles to properly puncture the skin and apply the ink to the correct layer of the skin. Quin will not tattoo an area where numbing cream has been applied. With that being said, Quin will use Bactine towards the end of the session if necessary and once most of the details and important segments of the tattoo have been completed. This product contains a small amount of lidocaine which is enough to take some of the discomfort away and get you through the last moments of the tattoo, but not enough to alter the state of the skin or affect the application. If you follow all the tips and advice above, that in itself will be very effective in managing the discomfort and pain for a long tattoo session.
Travel
Driving
Black Pines Gallery is located at 803 College Dr, Texarkana TX, 75503
If you are driving from a distance further than 4-5 hours, we do recommend considering making the trip to Texarkana the night before your appointment, as well as staying the night after your session to return home the next morning. There are a lot of factors that affect the way your body responds to such a long session getting tattooed. One of the main factors of your body being able to handle the pain and discomfort throughout the day is you being well rested vs. tired from a long trip. The trip after is even more important and we ask that you be mindful of your body and how you feel after your session. When you are done with your session your body, although tired, will still be dealing with the endorphins and adrenaline of getting tattooed. This effect is followed by a crash when your body realizes it is no longer in pain and it may hit you once you are on the road, and this can be very dangerous as your body will be completely depleted and exhausted late at night and falling asleep at the wheel is something to be very aware of.
Flying
There are multiple ways to get to Texarkana if you are flying, here are the closest and more common routes:
Texarkana Regional Airport - 15 minutes from Studio, our Ubers seem to be reliable at anytime, or you can rent a car at the airport. It is a small airport so tickets may be a little higher, and times may be limited. Only American flies in and out of TXK
Shreveport Regional Airport - Shreveport is about 1.5 hour drive from Texarkana. Small as well and easy to navigate.
Little Rock Regional - Little Rock is approx. 2 hours away, it isn’t commonly used by our clients so we don’t have much knowledge of this airport.
Dallas/Fort Worth - Dallas has two airports but DFW is the most commonly used by our clients. Tickets can be cheaper but the drive is 3 hours to Texarkana. If it is cheap enough to where even with renting a car it is more affordable than Flying to Texarkana go for it! But we do recommend flying into TXK if possible.
PLEASE BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE OR TICKETS THAT YOU CAN MODIFY
Life happens and it can happen to both you and me. If we need to reschedule it usually involves a good reason and I would assume your reasoning to reschedule or cancel would be just as important. We do not want you to be put in the situation where you lose the value of your plane tickets. With insurance or by not purchasing economy tickets, you should be able to easily modify plane tickets to new dates or even different locations.
Lodging
Texarkana isn’t huge by any means, so please don’t make your decision based on distance to studio. You can get to studio from anywhere in town within 10-15 minutes.
Hotels - Please do not stay at any hotels along the State Line. They are the closest hotels to the studio but the areas they are in are not the best and the hotels tend to be in pretty bad shape. We recommend any of the four hotels located off of Cowhorn Creek and close to the Central Mall and Olive Garden. There are a couple off of Richmond Rd which is where most restaurants and stores are located as that is our main road.
Airbnbs - There are a lot of great airbnbs close to the studio and most neighborhoods are nice and quiet. If you find any and want to send the link through your email thread please feel free to do so and we can check it out for you. Again, it doesn’t matter where you stay in Texarkana, the drive will not be long to the studio.
Payment
Your payment will always be taken at the end of each day session for the amount agreed upon through the emails. If you are getting tattooed two days in a row the payment will be due at the end of each day. If you are carrying cash and would feel more comfortable not having it on you as you stay the night at your hotel you can store it in the studio. If you are paying with credit/debit card, we do advice notifying your bank or checking your daily limits as sometimes banks will block transactions because of the amount and the time of night the transactions are being made. We also accept Venmo or payments via Zelle.
Thank you for your time, support, and trust in making the trip to Texarkana to be tattooed by Quin. If we missed anything or you have additional questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Simply email back in the same thread where you booked your appointment and we will reply as soon as we can.