How do I make an appointment?

To schedule an appointment or inquire about - Ryan Thomas, Steve Pearson, Brad Dozier, Courtney O’Shea, Nathan, Fisher, Chris Holbert, Daniel Hughes, Evan Davis please fill out the form here..

Cole Armstrong - As of 1/6/24 Cole is not accepting new client requests. We’ll post updates here along with our socials once we know when his books will open later this year.

Chris Holbert - As of 1/30/24 Chris is not currently accepting new client requests due to working from an extensive waitlist. We’re currently estimating Summer 2024 for new client requests and we’ll provide an update here along with our socials once we have an exact date.

As always, any general inquiries are welcome through email via info@black13tattoo.com.

Do you have to have an appointment? Do you take walk-ins?

We’re now accepting walk-ins 5 days a week, Tuesday through Saturday, first come first served starting at 10am. Interested? Read more below.

Danelle Nelms accepts walk-ins Tuesday - Saturday first come first served starting at 10am. Danelle is our newest artist who completed her apprenticeship with us in 2023 and will be assisting us with walk-ins. Please note that as she gains more experience she’ll only be accepting ideas within her comfort zone and tattooing certain areas on the body. If you’d like to see if your idea is a good fit for Danelle you’re welcome to email us prior to coming in so we can discuss in detail. Danelle also has designs to choose from which can be viewed here along with examples of her tattoos.

If you have any questions regarding walk-ins or appointments, please reach out to us directly.

What are the shop hours?

Our hours are 10am to 6pm, Tuesday through Saturday. For upcoming closings check our Calendar of Events.

What forms of payment do you accept?

While cash is preferred, we do accept credit card payments for services. Deposits can be made via cash or card in person, or card over the phone. We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and AMEX.

Where are you located?

1313 Dickerson Pike Nashville, TN 37207.

Do you guys do piercing?

No, we only tattoo.

How old do you have to be to get tattooed?

The state of Tennessee requires that you are at least 18 years of age to get tattooed. Valid ID, license, military ID, or passport is required to get tattooed.

Can I bring my child to my appointment?

By law, children under 18 are not allowed in our work areas.

How do you price tattoos?

We price based on size and detail. We have a shop minimum of $100. Everything starts there and goes up depending on size and detail. We only charge hourly rates for larger, extensive work. Hourly rates vary between artists.

Can you explain the overall scheduling process?

Black 13 has eleven artists, and three additional staff who manage customer and artist relations. When a customer calls, emails, or stops in, we work with them individually to understand their needs and determine the artist best suited for them.

We feel that our artists are at their best when they are focusing on their artwork, due to the amount of time needed to prepare and fulfill each appointment. Our assistants work on behalf of the customer and the artist to discuss ideas, estimate cost and time involved, and schedule the customer. They are your main point of contact along the way.

The scheduling process does take time and often involves multiple emails or phone calls to follow up with a customer before everything is nailed down. Often times we will schedule a consultation for the artist and customer to meet after we have started working through ideas and prior to final scheduling.

While we strive to work in an efficient manner, we do not rush through things just for the sake of getting more customers in. Our goal has always been to provide quality work with a quality experience. While this takes more time, we believe it’s well worth it and delivers the best outcome.

On top of the daily workload, our artists travel from time to time, so we occasionally experience a slightly longer turnaround time while working through ideas. We always try to let you know ahead of time when an artist is unavailable and the turnaround time may be extended. We can typically follow up with most ideas within two to three business days. We are often able to work smaller ideas in as walk-ins the same day, depending on our schedule.

On average, our wait time for a tattoo can span anywhere within 3 to 5 days to, sometimes, 2 to 4 months, depending on the ideas and artist best suited for the work. If you’re looking to get in same-day or only have specific days in mind, we always suggest stopping in or giving us a call. While we may not be able to discuss all the details in full at the first point of contact, we can at least determine if we may be able to work with your timeline quicker than we can through email.

For any type of scheduling, please provide as much info as you can at the beginning of the process to help us get started faster. Don’t worry about being too detailed, we like it.

Why so much communication prior to scheduling? We want our customers and our artists to be as informed as possible. Once we put you in the schedule, we want to know that we have a solid understanding of what you want so the artist can prepare your sketch and have it ready for your appointment. Each artist is most comfortable working within certain styles, so thorough communication up front assures us that we have you with the artist best suited for your needs.

Due to our workload, its hard for us to sketch prior to scheduling a appointment. Because of this, we communicate as much as possible prior to scheduling and build time into the appointment to show you the sketch, make any needed changes, and finalize the details before we start the tattoo. Please note that if you change your idea at all prior to a scheduled appointment, you must contact us in advance to discuss the changes. Not doing so may result in us rescheduling the appointment and the customer possibly losing the deposit.

Please continue to read below for information on appointments, deposits, after-care, and other general questions.

I sent an email or submitted a form. Now what?

Please wait ever so patiently. We promise that we want to respond to your email or online booking submission. We like details and specifics, so our email responses require a good bit of time for each customer. When sending your first email you will get an automated response letting you know we got it. Our shop email address is managed by Nicole and Cathy, and they work with the artists directly to assist you and answer any questions.

A non-refundable deposit for an appointment? What's that about?

When making the appointment, we require a $50.00 or $100.00 non-refundable deposit to setup and hold the appointment. The deposit comes off the total cost of your tattoo. The price of the deposit depends on the size of the piece you are getting for the scheduled appointment.

A lot of work goes into setting up and preparing for an appointment. Taking a deposit gives us security to begin work and gives us more assurance that a client is serious. Deposits are non-refundable!

If you can’t make an appointment we require at least 48 hours notice by phone or in person, or you will lose the deposit. If you don’t show up, you lose the deposit.

If you cancel in advance, you don’t lose the deposit — we roll the deposit to your new appointment time. We value our time and yours, please give us as much notice as possible when canceling.

When a customer has multiple sessions to complete a piece, we will roll the deposit to each appointment and it comes off the last appointment’s cost.

For deposits, we accept cash or card in person or card over over the phone.

What happens if I miss my appointment?

While we prefer at least a week’s notice, we require at least 48 hours notice to cancel an appointment. If notice is not given, or a customer doesn’t show up, they will lose their deposit. If it’s for an all day appointment or a “no call no show”, the customer will lose the deposit, and must pre-pay for the session to be rescheduled.

I booked an appointment, but changed my idea. Now what?

Please let us know as far in advance as possible. We put a lot of time and effort into our schedule and like to be as prepared as possible.

If you change your idea but don’t tell us until your appointment, (1) We may not have you with the artist best suited for your new idea; (2) We may not have enough time scheduled for you to allow for drawing and tattooing the new idea.

There’s nothing more heartbreaking than to spend a lot of time drawing for an appointment just to have the client show up with an entirely new idea. Please keep us informed.

How do I care for my tattoo?

If you lost your copy of the after-care instructions, you can download another one here (file is in PDF format).

Do your artists do coverups?

If it’s possible, yes. The best place for us to start with coverups is to see your existing tattoo and discuss your ideas for the new piece. From there, we can better determine if it’s possible. The general rule for coverups is that the new idea will need to be 2 to 3 times larger than the existing tattoo, and in color. You’re welcome to email us photos, or stop in and have us take photos. Once we have photos and ideas, we will discuss with all of our artists and follow up with you.

Keep in mind that laser treatment is always a good option when you have a tattoo you are unhappy with. Laser treatment makes it possible to lighten the existing tattoo and give you more options on what will work to cover your tattoo.

Can you rework my old tattoo?

If it’s possible, yes. The majority of the time we are very limited on what we can do, if anything at all, with an existing tattoo in poor condition. As with coverups, we will need to see the existing tattoo to know if we are able to rework it. You can email a photo or stop by and let us take a photo. Once we have photos and ideas we will discuss with all of our artists and follow up with you. If we don’t feel like we can truly make a tattoo better, we will let you know that we are unable to rework it.

What about touch ups?

Depending on the approach, placement, or idea, a touch up may be needed once the tattoo heals. Please note that it is completely natural to see a tattoo lighten up over the first few weeks of healing and that no tattoo heals as bright as the day it was completed. Once the tattoo is fully healed (four to five weeks), you will be able to notice if anything needs touched up. We do offer free touch ups (see exceptions below) within the first three months of receiving the tattoo. After this, there are many factors that come into play that can impact the overall look of the tattoo and that is why we are unable to offer free touch ups after a considerable amount of time has passed.

Touch up exceptions:

Not every part of the body will hold ink well. While we don’t tattoo many of these areas (see next section below), we do tattoo feet, hands, and the tops of fingers. These areas are known to have heavy skin regeneration and lots of “wear and tear” causing the tattoo to have a harder heal. It’s typical that within days you will start to see ink fallout and the overall piece be in need of a touch up by the time the tattoo is fully healed.

Don’t fear! This is to be expected. We’re happy to touch up these areas but there will be a charge involved due to the known healing and longevity problems.

Within tattooing, is there anything you won't do?

We want to do tattoos that we know will hold up well over time and look the best possible for a client. For this reason, we have chosen not to tattoo the following areas - sides of fingers, palms, inside lips, or bottom of feet. We don’t do all white tattoos or black light tattoos. We don’t offer any type of temporary tattoos.

Tattoos have to be a certain size to work and hold up well over time. Depending on your ideas and design, we can show you the smallest we can go with an idea.

Is your ink vegan friendly?

We use a few of the best brands available to us and it’s organic and vegan. YAY!