will i become a scratcher?

ok ok, if i quit my job in a shop and start zappin people at they'r house will that make me a scratcher? i was taught in a shop. 13 years professional experience(in shop) im sick and tired of tattooing in shop. im going to seriously build a studio in my garage. fuck paying overhead and the man, also i have 1000's of clients. will this make me a scratcher? HAHAHAHAHAHA i really wanna go off the grid. underground! i know im not the best tattooer but i can drop a clean tattoo that is worth money. i want honest opinions i currently work in a very well known shop, with well known artists.

Sure why not! If you can make money, keep the client happy, keep the shop clean etc. Whats there to hurt but local shop competition. But I dont think you are a full blown scratcher until you work without health insurance.

A pro is a pro, I believe, and practices industry standards. Period. And a scratcher or hack will suck no matter where they tattoo.

I have a hard time dealing with different "pro" attitudes. I saw a guy on the National Geographic channel give a tattoo with a needle and thread and actually sewed it with a stitch applying the ink via the thread as it was pulled through. This "artist" was built up as being this genius of this island form of tattooing. The fact is, the tattoo SUCKED! I looked like something a child with bad motor skills would do. My point is there are hundreds of reasons why people tattoo and get tattooed. Not all of them is for the sake of getting an art gallery piece on them. Tattooists do not belong to an elite club any more than any other profession. I love to tattoo and the most I ever got from a pro including the one that apprenticed me, was how NOT to do things! Don't know if the original post was serious, but underground is definitely the way to go! And for all the reasons that were given. FUCK the red tape, and FUCK the useless graft you have to pay (at least in the state I wanted to open in) to the "doctor" that overseas ;) the place.

Plenty of great tattooers have private studios in or off of their house, and that doesn't make them scratchers. However, if you're building out your garage I would just suggest doing it correctly so you are working in a safe and sterile environment. Joe Cap's shop Hope Gallery, that was newly renovated and relocated, was actually an old garage space that was converted into what is probably one of the most visually stunning, if not the best shop I've ever seen. It would be a different story though if you're tattooing in a half finished garage with a tool bench and lawn mower on the other side, so ya know, just go about it the right way! Good luck.