Airbrush Tattoos, or, further complicating my life!

Okay, just avoiding the vacuuming by sitting here perusing the Forum. And then this pops into my mind, so I figure I'll just blurt it out and pop it right back out of my mind:
How much (ball park figure, basic set-up for general kids backyard party work, and maybe, for larger functions with up to about 75 of them needed) would it be to purchase a basic airbrush tattoo set up?

I know I am just tossing this out, completely clueless and researchless and etc. But, it is for my own entertainment and possibly more than misguided curiosity. Your answers will give me something to pop in and look at as I further avoid vacuuming.

And, actually, I get asked, enough, about whether or not I do airbrush tattoos, to maybe sort of kind of wishy washy consider it!

So what would be the minimum start-up outlay for this?

I have a starter set up that cost about $500 this is not a top of the line set up, but it has managed to pay for itself and is now turning a profit...

Dear JJJJJ:
I allowed myself a budget of $1,000 to start.
I have since found out I underestimated:
$230 2 Iwata gravity top feed guns
$312 Compressor
$ 32 Quick-Connects
$ 48 2 Manifold gun station
$ 22 Cleaning station
$ 39 Rolling scrapbook container (switched to a Züca)
$381 Pro-Aiire hybrid paint to start
$ 18 Master Cleaning Kit
$ 7 99% Isopropyl Alcohol
$18 Chamois cloths for lint- free clean up
$180 Stencils (Textures, Flags, more BAM's)
$ 26 Ball bearings for shaking & stirring paint
$ 71. Sistema bottles, carrying cases
To do airbrush glitter tattoos, I would have to invest in even more stencils.
I have cut and wedged some big yellow peanut-shaped sponges into Tupperware to cradle and carry my guns.
I have used Tupperware for my paints. I transferred all my paint colours into Sistema "sauce bottles" as the cap is attached, so I do not lose it, and they have a nozzle that is less messy for loading the paint into the cup. I had the Tupperware already, as I am also a Tupperware slut. I have severely cut down on my Tupperware addiction.

I should have budgeted more for stencils, and for the accoutrements like cleaning, storage, extension cord & power bar for traveling.

I think you would make your investment back faster with Glitter Tattoos.

Um, JJJJJ.....I just bought a Silhouette Cameo cutter ($363) to cut my own airbrush stencils, and custom logo glitter Tattoos. It will take about a million tattoos to break even. I highly recommend Faketoos. The learning curve is very steep on this machine.

I hope this does not scare you.
xoxo

Fessy, a big thank you for, as usual, your offering such a specific and helpful answer. I am scared and I am not scared. I am not scared because when I am ready to do something, I plunge and learn and love it all the way. I am scared because I am NOT ready to do it yet, and therefore your list scares me more than a werewolf hiding inside my Fatmax, ready to spring on me the minute I open it, or worse yet, grinning up at me with the remnants of all my new split cakes staining his beard.

Okay, not sure where THAT came from, but now, are YOU scared? I hear that werewolves turn to cookies after cake ...

Mmmmmm.....cookies.

But you have to go sit in the bottom of my Fatmax and share them with a werewolf ... what would your husband say?!?

Go with Zero G2, that's what he'd say...cleaned it yesterday for the lst time since March...envy that!

Anniel, I have been seriously considering the Zero G2! Can I ask how long you have had yours?

Dear JJJJJ:
My hubster would probably want a cookie, too. I don't think he would ever notice the werewolf. He has a biological imperative to be blind regarding hairy faces. I looked the the mirror, and, WHOA!!! When did I grow all that facial hair. Now, Tim looks at me every day. In almost 22 years of marriage, he has never, not once, looked at me and noticed facial hair. How could he possibly notice a werewolf?

xoxo

I looked at the Zero G2.
I adore the idea of almost never cleaning out the airbrush.
What do you use your Zero G2 for?
I felt that I could not control the ZG2 airbrush for details in my art work. I felt the ZG2 was a better choice for Glitter Tattoos, and tattoo stencils. I can do all that and more with my Iwata. I feel I have more control and I was able to pull off free hand portraits of crying babies on a body painting I did for the Canadian Haunted Attraction Conference Body Painting Competition.
Sweet Loretta has some wise advice for potential airbrush artists. I feel she could guide you wisely about airbrush choices.
I can only tell you that most cookies are good, and werewolves are hairy.
Oh. Wait.
Does this mean I am a werewolf?

Going back to my box.

xoxo

Fessy, I am drinking my coffee now! I can tell you one thing about werewolves with certainty - the only way to body paint them is with an airbrush.

Hence, this question I have posed about obtaining one.

An airbrush. I already have the ...

Well, I'll leave you to ponder that. Here's a vanilla wafer while you ponder ...

Stencil work is mostly what I am using it for thus far. I am now past the fear of the mechanics/investment in an airbrush system--but not to the point I want to change guns & clean everything each time. It has increased my marketability, & I do enjoy it, which I wasn't sure of.

I have used it at a couple of bodywork gigs, but have detailed with brush.

I am using Endura, which is alcohol based/waterproof.
Hope that helps in the decision making.

Dear anniel:
I was body painting with my airbrush for five hours straight. I had black, then a black/purple mixture in one gun the whole time, without cleaning it once. The second gun had every other colour run through it. I blended each colour through into the next colour in the cup, so I ended up running 99% alcohol through it once at the four hour mark. I ran the alcohol through to clear from a dark colour to a light colour.
I LOVE PRO-AIIRE!!!!
There WAS a clog toward the end...it was not paint...it was the tiny cotton fibres from cotton pads used to clean the outside of the gun. I now use synthetic chamois lint free cloths, cut into strips to clean up spills. I launder the cloths and reuse them. Never a clog since.
In art college, I became an airbrush cleaning technician. Massive, snot-like clogs, constantly. I was using acrylic paint. The Iwata airbrush seems easier to clean than my old Badger. The paint is a better quality for use in an airbrush.

An airbrush is just a brush. There is a learning curve associated with the gun. I really like this airbrush / compressor/ paint combination.

Use what works best for you.
Take an airbrush class and try different guns, feeds, compressors and paints.

xoxo