Sable is a small studio that does one thing well: black work, no colour, no shading tricks. Pick an artist, pick a piece off the wall or bring an idea, pay a deposit, sit down.
We opened on Stokes Croft in 2019 with two chairs and a wall of flash. We have four chairs now. The wall is still the point.
Every artist here works in black ink. That is not a limitation we tolerate, it is the reason the studio exists: black heals cleaner, ages slower and reads from across a room. The flash sheet is drawn in-house, redrawn every season, and priced on the wall so nobody has to ask.
Custom work happens too, by consultation, with the artist whose hand suits the idea. If you are not sure who that is, tell us the idea and we will tell you the name.
Fine line, botanical blackwork, small script
Single-needle work with a light hand. Wren draws most of the botanical flash and takes custom pieces up to a forearm. Best for first tattoos and anything that needs to stay delicate.
Bold traditional, heavy outlines, flash first
Thick lines, solid black fills, the kind of tattoo that still looks like a tattoo in forty years. Teo runs the walk-in chair and draws the daggers, anchors and moons on the wall.
Ornamental, geometric, dotwork, large scale
Sleeves, back pieces and chest panels built from pattern and dotwork. Ines works in multi-session projects only and draws each design to the body in consultation. Expect a wait; it is worth it.
Ignorant style, hand poke, small flash
Loose, deliberate, slightly wrong on purpose. Cal does machine and hand-poked pieces up to palm size and is the cheapest chair in the room. Good for a tattoo that is meant to be funny.
Sable Tattoo
41 Stokes Croft, first floor
Bristol, England