FAQs

To schedule an appointment or inquire about our artists, fill out our online form. 

Please note, Cole Armstrong and Chris Holbert have limited availability. More information is on the appointments page.

As always, any general inquiries are welcome through email via info@black13tattoo.com, or call 615-750-3741.

We accept walk-ins 5 days a week!

Danelle Nelms accepts walk-ins Tuesday through Saturday, first-come first-served, starting at 10am. Walk-ins are best for ideas that can be drawn and tattooed within a 2-hour window. Appointments are best for larger ideas or ideas to be placed on the neck, hands, or face.

If you’d like to see if your idea is a good fit for a walk-in, you’re welcome to email us prior to coming in so we can discuss in detail.

Walk-in availability is subject to change, be sure to check our News page for up-to-date information.

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.

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. We will often schedule a consultation for the artist and customer to meet after we have started working through ideas, prior to final 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.

We want our customers and our artists to be as informed as possible. Once we add you in the schedule, we want to 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 good communication up front means you’ll be paired with the artist who’s best for you.

Due to our workload, it’s hard for us to sketch prior to scheduling an 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.

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 the full details initially, we can at least determine if we can work with your timeline quicker than we can through email.

We do NOT rush through things just for the sake of getting more customers in, although we try to be as efficient as possible. 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.

Our artists travel from time to time, so occasionally it may take longer to work 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.

When making the appointment, we require a $50.00 or $100.00 non-refundable deposit to set up 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 credit card over the phone.

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.

Let us know about the change as soon as possible. We put a lot of time and effort into our schedule and like to be fully prepared. 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!

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.