Free Mathematical Concepts In Tattoo Business Research Paper Example

Over the years, individuals have managed to commercialize tattoo printing and made a living as a consequence. Despite it being an art, mathematics has been focal in ensuring that running such businesses provides profitability. Those involved in the inking and those whose work revolves around removing body ink rely on some concepts of mathematics. The concepts used include calculation of area, use of formulas that establish cost rate, and financial mathematics surrounding the business. This paper examines the usefulness of mathematics to various aspects surrounding the art of tattooing.
Numbers are an integral part of mathematics. Without numbers, only a segment of math and society would make sense. Signs of mathematics are apparent when one looks at some of the art on people’s skins. Einstein’s energy equation, Greek letters with mathematical significance, Newton’s law of gravity, summation symbols, and equation for Taylor series are among the many mathematical concepts that have found a home on people’s skins. Numbers are also used to organize body art stencils in the tattoo shops. For instance, an artist may code his graphics where ones numbered 100 – 199 are charged $50, those with 200 – 299 charged $65, and the ones numbered 300 – 399 charged $80. Numbers, therefore, help ease the identification of tattoos in a shop or online site that provides samples.
After successfully drafting the business plan and sourcing funds, the next step is for the tattoo parlor to find a suitable location. Knowledge of finding area for different shapes comes in handy when different floor plans are presented. A 140 square foot room may be sufficient. However, if the room is 2ft x 70ft, it may not suffice but one measuring 7ft x 20ft is better. A tattoo artist surveying the place will continually use geometry to make sense of the surroundings. The volume of the room will also be factored in for calculating future cost of heating or cooling the room as the weather may dictate. Consider costs of heating and cooling two rooms with the same volume of 960ft3. Room A has L x W x H of 20ft x 6ft x 8ft. Room B has L x W x H of 20ft x 8ft x 6ft. Room A is clearly easy to stand in and thus incurs $70 for the air conditioner. Room B is not only uncomfortable for tall people, but also bears $100 more for cooling costs compared to room A.
Calculation of the lease period and amount to be paid for rent per month call on negotiation skills coupled with sound mathematical know-how that will make it easy for the one leasing to spot a great deal. Weak knowledge of such may lead to the owner paying more. After everything has been rented out and bought, the requisite licenses and utilities are factored. Pricing for tattoo licenses is about $1000. For individual tattooists, the costs vary depending on the state of operation. It is $25 in California, $250 in Washington and just $100 in New York. Some of these states require renewal to be after one or three years. These values and calculations need knowledge of basic arithmetic. Healthcare certification will also require payment of a $25 fee. All these costs will be added up to the final capital invested to ensure profits or loss can be calculated later. The mathematical concepts at play are addition, subtraction, area, and division.
A fully paid for and stocked tattoo shop needs staff. Staffing will be governed by the size and needs of the establishment. Therefore, the money to be paid off to the workers can be calculated by using a formula. The method can include a fixed cost such as capital $10,000. Variable costs, such as utilities $300, supplies $700, repairs $300, equipment maintenance $250, and rent $1200 are included to arrive at a final price. Payment based on the amount of work done may incentivize the artist to seek more clients. Establishing such a formula requires one to have working knowledge of basic algebra. A tattoo artist being paid 50% per tattoo hour at a shop charging $100 an hour will need to work eight continuous hours to make $400 a day. In the event, that the tattoo business is being run by the artist, a certain amount of money is set aside for paying themselves say 30% markup. Financial consultants can be used to reach this figure if the owner considers their skills in mathematical concepts wanting.
The tattoo business requires samples of the tattoo artist’s artwork that customers can choose. Such samples will have an accompanying price. In addition to these preset prices, there has to be a formula for charging clients who have their designs. In both instances, the tattoo artist will have a rough idea as to how long the whole process will take thereby charging appropriately. Heitkotter examined this issue of pricing from a veteran’s point of view. In his analysis, he considers cheap pricing, charging $50 an hour as a method of attracting customers who will run the business to the ground. He regarded his pricing policy, charging $125 - $150 an hour, as a function of the whole business, his skills and experience. Utilities $300, rent $2,000, supplies $600, advertising $500, state and federal taxes $700, needles $500 and insurance $200 where some of the overheads considered contribute to the final cost of a tattoo.
Mathematical concepts come into full play when pricing is considered. Information available on www.tat2duck.com website reveals that there are two forms of paying for a tattoo. The first relies on setting a fixed fee, say $75 for a 3cm by 3cm tattoo (9cm2). The artwork that often attracts such fees is that on display at the shop display often charged a flat rate ranging from $50 to $250. To arrive at such costs, the tattoo artist bases their quotation on experience, complexity, and size. To find the rate for a tattoo, the client would need to know its width and height so as to find its area and its corresponding price. Other tattooists charge more when the work is to be done on the client’s premises. A resident living 5 miles away will attract a 20% extra cost to the tattooist’s hourly charge of say $200 plus deposit. Additional miles add 20% more for each additional 5 miles. Therefore a person 30 miles away will pay 140% on top of the tattooists $200 per hour rate and the appointment fee.
An hourly fee involves custom artwork. Despite Heitkotter’s preference of charging between $125 to $150, other tattoo artists from similar states and counties charge as little as $50 per hour. The disparity in pricing hints at different formulas being used to arrive at the hourly rate fee. A tattoo that would take 2 hours for an artist to finish may be charged a 4-hour rate. Experience may make up for 30% of the cost, speed 20% and the other 20% represented by the actual time taken hence the tattoo price remains unchanged despite taking a shorter time. The remaining percentage, 30%, is covered by the cost of operation, ambiance, and location of the premises and tattoo treating cost. Cost of operation 55%, ambiance of the premises 18%, location of the tattoo shop 25%, and cost of treating the tattooed surface 2% of the 30%.
Other pricing options available are by using a tattoo calculator like Mindset.com’s. The formula relies on the size of the art. The prospective client finds a picture or art that they would want to have inked on their skin and print it out in the exact size. If the tattoo is irregularly shaped like a skull head then to find the area one has to use covering rectangle method. On a printout of the desired artwork, the client will draw rectangles that completely cover the skull head. Using the calculator provided, the customer enters the measured width and length in centimeters and clicks calculate. Take 6 rectangles with dimensions of 3cm by 4cm, 2.5cm by 5cm, 4cm by 8cm, 2cm by 11cm, 4cm by 7cm, and 3cm by 4.5cm. The web-based calculator outputs the area as 120 cm2. A minimum charge of $3 per cm2 yields a total cost of $360 excluding setup costs. The mathematical concept used here relies on knowledge of numerical analysis where one finds the area of an irregular shape by breaking it up into small regular rectangular shapes.
Occasionally, a tattoo that was supposed to look good may become disfigured over time. People may also wish to get rid of tattoos they had written in foreign languages only to discover later the meaning intended is not what they have inked on their bodies. In such cases, tattoo removal services are required. Such services are often priced based on several factors. Location on the body, skin type, and colors used, density, size, presence of scars or tissue change and the degree of cover-ups are factors looked at . To arrive at the cost and number of times laser removal was required the following Kirbi-Desai scale was used: skin type = 1 to 6 based on the Fitzpatrick skin type; location = 1 to 5; color = 1 to 4; amount of ink = 1 to 4; scarring = 0 to 5; layering = 0 to 2 (Kirby, William et al.). Use of numbers and the existence of a formula point to use of mathematical concepts.
Like any business discounts and tips are part of the body art business. Granting customers a discount on their first or subsequent visit is not uncommon. Tips are also commonplace where rewards are given for an excellent job. To arrive at a tip, clients often base their monetary appreciation by giving a percentage of what they paid, often between 5% - 20%. Bearing in mind the fluctuating nature of the pricing policy in most tattoo shops, occasionally a customer gives a tip lower than what they intended. The significance of this tip as a mathematically based transaction is apparent when calculations done to arrive at it are considered. Giving a $20 tip for a tattoo charged $200 implies a 10% rate. Similarly, discounts rely on the knowledge of percentages, multiplication, subtraction and rounding off for the tattoo artist to be able to charge their clients correctly. Giving a 5% discount for tattoos valued at $250 means customers will pay $237.50.
The importance of mathematics is often downplayed by many people citing its lack of application after graduating high school or college. However, such simple things like numbering various stencils for clarity relies on numbers. Further, setting up shop requires some basic knowledge of financial mathematics to prepare a sound business plan. The premises one leases has to be sufficient for their needs thus requiring the knowledge of concepts such as calculating surface area and volume. Paying employees also requires knowledge in rates and profit calculations. Choosing a custom tattoo and getting a price quote requires use of numerical analysis concepts in arriving at a chargeable area. Formulas like the one based on the Kirby-Desai Scale for calculating cost for tattoo removal employs mathematical concepts.

References

Deeb, Carol. The Importance of Basic Math in Business. n.d. Document. 10 March 2015.
Dermbids. "Tattoo Removal Cost | 8 Factors That Affect Pricing." 29 May 2013. Dermbids. Document. 9 March 2015.
Heitkotter, Uncle T. "Tattoo Shop Pricing." 23 April 2012. Tattoo Road Trip. Document. 9 March 2015.
Kirby, William et al. “The Kirby-Desai Scale: A Proposed Scale to Assess Tattoo-Removal Treatments.” The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology 2.3 (2009): 32–37. Print.
Sinmaz, Emine. "Tattoo formula uses mathematics to forecast ageing of body art." 28 April 2011. The Guardian. Document. 9 March 2015.