What do you do when all the tattoo ink in your collection don’t provide the right shade? Blend your own tattoo ink to form new colors! Tattoo ink can be diluted, blended, made lighter and darker. You can turn a few colors into many colors. Using proper methods is important to prevent ruining ink. In this post we’ll discuss how to mix tattoo ink properly. Always make sure that the stirring tool you are using is sterile, otherwise you run the risk of cross contaminating your colors which would suck!  If you are serious about mixing properly, consider investing in a tattoo ink mixer.

Making Tattoo Ink Darker

Is that red not quite dark enough for the dark blood you are going for? Add some black in there to get it to the right shade! To make any color darker, start adding black. Add only one drop to blend at a time, don’t overdo it. Be sure to thoroughly mix in the black to test the color before adding more. Mix only with a sterilized tool, sometimes I just use a pre-sterilized needle, might be a waste of a needle but at least you know its going to be sterile.

Making Tattoo Ink Lighter

The method to make colors lighter operates on the same principal as making it darker except this time you are using white. Some inks will be able to use distilled water as well, this generally works with colors with a high pigment load. Again, it is important to do this process slowly by adding one drop at a time because you can always add more but if you make it too light you may ruin the ink altogether and have to start over. It is possible to add black again to get it darker but at this point it starts to get messy.

Blend Different Color to Make New Tattoo Ink Colors

Tattoo ink can be mixed by putting two colors together to make a different blend color. The basic principles of mixing paint colors come into play here. For example, red and yellow make an orange color. The more red added will give it a more reddish tint, more yellow will give more yellow tint. Red and blue will make purple. Blending blue and yellow will make green. Yellow with red will make orange. Red and green ink will make brown. Green and yellow blended together will make a light green or lime. Blue and green blend together will make blue green. Black and white will make gray. This one is cumulative because the more black you add, the darker the grey and the white you add, the lighter the gray. Red and white will make pink tattoo ink. Adding roughly 1 to 3 portions of red, yellow and white will make peach.

Tattoo Ink Color Chart

Below you will find a tattoo ink color chart that will be useful when you are choosing colors to be blended. Feel free to print it out, frame it, use it as a coaster. For other great resources regarding this topic, google paint mixing and you will find a wealth of info regarding mixing colors. Don’t worry about the fact that what you are looking at pertains to paint, its generally the same rules with ink.