Kuro Sumi is a popular tattoo ink that hails from Japan. The primary ingredients of Kuro Sumi tattoo ink are metal salts and oxides. Glycerin, which can be made from synthetic sources or animal and plant sources is also used in some of their inks. Kuro Sumi ink is made from all vegetable ingredients therefore acclaimed as vegan. One of their products is a Kuro Sumi Gray Wash Shading ink, used by many professional tattoo artists.
Gray wash inks are used to shade tattoos and is primarily used for portraits or for achieving a very detailed realistic look. The quality of the shade primarily rests in the tattoo artists hands. The more experienced with shading, the better the results. You can buy pre-made gray wash tattoo ink, such as the Kuro Sumi Gray Wash Shading Ink or you can make your own. Gray wash tattoos are said to hold up well over time.
Prison inmates had a hard time getting colored inks for their tattoos so it is generally believed that black and gray tattoos started in these United States prison institutions. Prison mates used cigarette ash and jury-rigged homemade tattoo machines to produce black and white styled tattoos. This underground technique hit mainstream in the 1970s and are now a mainstay of modern tattooing.
The Kuro Sumi Gray Wash ink can come in bottles or in boxes of 30 ink shots. Ink shots are sterile and disposable tattoo ink tubes that are single-use. Using ink shots reduces health code issues, relieves cross-contamination, promotes a cleaner appearance and reduces waste and splatter. They also eliminate nozzle clogs. An ink shot contains enough ink to fill roughly three #9 capfulls.
The Kuro Sumi product line consists of many tattoo inks and sets including black outling ink, gray wash ink, white and white rice mixing tattoo ink. Their colored ink also comes in sets of seven or 10 and in colors such as lavender, yellow, orange, green and sage.