Booking with me is four steps. You send the idea, I send back a price and a session count, you leave a deposit to hold the date, and you come in with your ID. Nothing gets booked before you know what it costs.
Most of the questions I get are about the deposit, so here is that one up front. It is not a booking fee. It pays for the drawing I do before you sit down, and it comes off your final price.
How to reach me
Three ways, and all three come straight to me. Call or text the shop at (708) 770-2754, send a DM to @tat2nestuhh on Instagram, or message the shop on Facebook.
Text is fastest. I tattoo Monday through Saturday, noon to 7pm, so if the phone rings while I have a machine in my hand I am not answering it. A text waits for me.
What to put in the first message
Six things. Send all six and you get a price back in one reply instead of a week of back and forth.
- The idea. A sentence or two plus a reference image or two. Not forty saved posts. Two.
- Placement. Which part of the body, and which side. "Right outer forearm" is an answer. "Arm" is not.
- Rough size in inches. Put a tape measure on the spot and give me the number. "Medium" is not a size, and size moves a quote more than anything else.
- Black and grey, or color. If you are not sure, say so and I will tell you which one the design actually wants.
- Whether it is a cover-up. If it is, send a clear daylight photo of the existing tattoo, shot flat on, no flash, no filter.
- Your real availability. Weekdays or Saturdays, and any weeks you are out. The honest version, not the one where you are free whenever.
Here is the difference that makes.
| What I usually get | What gets you a number back |
|---|---|
| "How much for a sleeve?" | "Full sleeve, left arm, black and grey, Aztec theme, Saturdays free starting in November." |
| "Small one on my wrist, how much?" | "One word in script, inner wrist, about 3 inches across, black and grey." |
| "Can you cover this up?" with no photo | "Cover-up over an old name, right forearm, roughly 4 by 2 inches, daylight photo attached, open on the design." |
If you are sending me a face, the reference photo is the whole job. A screenshot of a screenshot will not carry into skin, so I will ask you for the original file. More on that in how to pick the reference photo for a portrait.
What happens next: a straight quote and a session count
You get a real number and the number of sittings it takes, before anything is booked. Not a range, and not "we will see when you get here."
Large and ongoing work runs at the shop rate of $150 an hour. Small pieces get quoted flat, because a two inch tattoo takes far more setup than it takes needle time. If your piece needs three sittings, you hear "three sittings" now, not on the day of the second one. What moves the number is broken down on the pricing and deposits page, and at more length in what tattoos cost around here.
You will also hear the other answer. If the design will not hold at the size you want, or the placement will close that detail up over the years, I say so in the same message. Sometimes that means a bigger piece, sometimes a different design, and sometimes it means I am not the right artist for it.
Quality takes time. Excellence takes experience. And neither comes cheap. I am not the artist for bargain hunters.
Why there is a deposit
The deposit exists because the work starts before you do. Every piece here is drawn for one person, at one size, for one spot on one body, and that drawing happens on my time in the days before your appointment.
It comes off the final price. It is never added on top. On a multi-session piece it comes off the last sitting.
The other half of it is the date. When I hold an afternoon for you, that afternoon is gone for everybody else. If you cancel the morning of, the drawing is already done and it fits nobody but you, so the deposit stays with the work. Give me real notice and your deposit moves to the new date without an argument.
The amount scales with the piece. A two hour session and a six sitting back piece are not the same commitment, so ask when you get your quote and you will get a straight number.
Bring a government-issued photo ID, every visit
Bring a driver's license, a state ID or a passport: something issued by a government, carrying both your photograph and your date of birth. That is exactly how Illinois requires age to be verified (77 Ill. Adm. Code 797.400(k)).
I check it every visit. That includes people I have tattooed ten times. The rule attaches to the procedure, not to whether I recognize your face, so nobody gets waved through and nobody should take it personally.
A picture of your ID on your phone does not count. Neither does a school ID.
18 and over, no exceptions
You have to be 18 or older to get tattooed here. There are no exceptions, and Illinois law does not allow a parent to consent on your behalf.
That is not shop attitude, it is 720 ILCS 5/12C-35. The statute makes it a Class A misdemeanor to tattoo, or even to offer to tattoo, anyone under 18, and it contains no clause for a parent to sign around it. There is nothing here for me to bend.
The same statute covers the room itself. Anyone under 18 has to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian to be on the premises while tattooing is going on. So if you are the one in the chair and your kid would otherwise be on their own, arrange childcare first.
If you are not 18 yet, hold on to the idea and the reference. They will keep until you are.
Picking a date and showing up
The shop is open Monday through Saturday, noon to 7pm, closed Sunday. Small work books sooner than large work and Saturdays go first, so tell me up front if Saturday is your only day.
Eat a real meal before you come, not a coffee. Wear something that gives clean access to the placement, and plan for the session to run the full length you were quoted rather than the length you hoped for.
What comes after the session is handled in person. Illinois requires the instructions for that to be given to you out loud and in writing, specific to the work you just got, so I go over them with you at the counter before you leave. A web page cannot do that job and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
That is the whole process. Look through the gallery and decide whether my hand is right for your idea, particularly if you are after black and grey Chicano realism, a portrait or a memorial. Then send me the six things and let us get a number on it. Start here.
Quick answers
Is the tattoo deposit on top of the price?
No. The deposit comes off the final price and is never added to it. It pays for the drawing that happens before you sit down, and on a multi-session piece it comes off the last sitting.
What should I put in my first message to book?
Six things: the idea with one or two reference images, the placement and which side, a rough size in inches, whether you want black and grey or color, whether it is a cover-up (with a daylight photo of the existing tattoo), and your real availability. Send all six and you get a price back in one reply.
Do I get a price before anything is booked?
Yes. You get a real number and the number of sittings it takes before any date is held. Large and ongoing work runs at $150 an hour and small pieces are quoted flat.
Do I need to bring ID if Nestor has tattooed me before?
Yes, every visit. Illinois requires age to be verified with government-issued identification carrying both a photograph and a date of birth, so a driver's license, state ID or passport gets checked each time, including for repeat clients.
Can a parent consent to a tattoo for someone under 18 in Illinois?
No. Illinois law has no parental consent exception, and 720 ILCS 5/12C-35 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to tattoo or even offer to tattoo anyone under 18. The same statute also requires anyone under 18 to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian just to be on the premises while tattooing is going on.