Do you re use your glitter tattoo stencils?

Hi everyone I was wondering if anybody reuses their glitter tattoo stencils a few times. If you do to what level do you need to sanatise? Do you sanatise your glitter brush between customers or wipe skin with alcohol first? Or is sanatising for body tattoos even needed? Love to hear your thoughts on this and what you do

I try to reuse if I can, but often it doesn't work too well... however, on the odd occasion I can reuse I've already sanitized the skin before applying the stencil/glitter/brush, so don't sterilize those items too

I used to try to reuse my stencils, but find it's not really worth the hassle. It takes too much time and effort to try to take it off nicely so it can be reused again, find a place to stick it flat where the glue isn't going to stick to something, then to have to come back and find it later is just a pain. Not to mention, it doesn't look as good to a parent if you're putting something on their child that's already been used before. That's just my two cents.

I don't reuse. You've gotta ask yourself - if you were the client / parent, what would you think about someone re-using a stencil on your child? Would that impress you in a positive or negative way? Although the risk is probably fairly minor... it just doesn't look very professional, IMO.

I don't reuse glitter tattoo stencils, I have stencils for painting and for airbrush that are meant to be reused, and I clean them with alcohol.

I think someone summed it up like this:
"You're saving pennies of product using dollars of time...."

Not worth it.

Yeah...not professional IMO, and also, such a minor savings if you are charging a good value for your service.

Fair enough, thanks for the feedback. I haven't started using them at gigs yet and hadnt really thought about it from the parent prospective only my costs. I didnt feel comfortable charging the going rate here as i thought it was to much. I agree that re using them would not look very professional or be time effective especially if you paid for them. But looking at it that way it justifys the price put on them. I have reused them for family and friends when I have been practicing though! Well it is for free

tescha, what is the going rate? And what are are you in? Realize when setting your prices that it isn't as simple as cost per tat or per hour. I may charge $XXX (insert your rate here) per hour for actual work, but no one pays me for the time I spend researching and ordering supplies, making marketing material, securing the gigs, driving too and from the jobs, my insurance, my tent, table chairs etc... and the time I spend learning and keeping up with the industry. If the boss at your day job expected you to do all the prep work and 9-5 stuff for free and only pay you for the 2 hours you are in front of the meeting presenting your project...your salary would be much higher than when you get paid for all the rest of your time.
Oh, and for what it;s worth, I do reuse some stencils on myself and my kids if I am messing around as you said, but never on a job.

NEVER.....Even though you sanitize the skin prior to applying the stencil...when you pull it off there are dead skin cells stuck to the stencil.
As a parent, I would think "I am paying $5 for this service, why is my child getting a reused item?"
Just not professional. The profit outweighs the expense by far.
I have had a ton of parents comment how sanitary my glitter tattoo kit is...and how sanitary the procedure is.

I give the old ones I have used (on my kids/me or family) to my kids to have a go with in the school holidays to do it themselves. they have such fun.

I did when I started, but like others have said, it's too time consuming to reuse them. I just charge enough that it's worth throwing them away. Now if I'm stenciling me, my daughters, etc w/ the same stencil, I might reuse it.

teshca wrote:Fair enough, thanks for the feedback. I haven't started using them at gigs yet and hadnt really thought about it from the parent prospective only my costs. I didnt feel comfortable charging the going rate here as i thought it was to much. I agree that re using them would not look very professional or be time effective especially if you paid for them. But looking at it that way it justifys the price put on them. I have reused them for family and friends when I have been practicing though! Well it is for free

Another thing you have to consider about the "going rate" is that it's the rate that others have decided they're willing to pay. Yes, I can understand the mentality when you look at it from the consumer perspective, but the consumer has to play a part in establishing that going rate to begin with. The only thing that is accomplished when we charge less than the known going rate (aside from lining our pockets) is hurting the businesses who worked to establish the rate. When the customer is no longer willing to pay that much, the going rate goes down. If you establish yourself at a lower rate while knowing what the going rate is, you're stepping into undercutting territory and I advise treading carefully once you get there. Just my 2 pennies.

I only reuse stencils when it is doing one for free on my daughter or her friends.

my daughter does the glitter tattoos at our booth. after it's been used but seems re-usable, she puts it in the 1/2 price folder. she lets the customer decide: full price for one not used and 1/2 price for one that has. That way, she still makes money off it, and the customer feels like they got a bargain!