Edie Vane
Traditional · flash
Draws every sheet on the wall and tattoos them the way they were meant to go on: bold lines, whip shading, colour that stays put.
Books open
Tattoo studio · 21 Fossgate, York · est. 2015
Gallows Hill Tattoo
Traditional tattooing, done properly. Bold lines, clean healing, no fuss, two floors up a crooked staircase in the middle of York.
Tue–Sat 11–7 · Minimum £60 · Walk-ins Fri & Sat · Deposits £50
Sheet no. 1 · pick a piece
This week’s flash
Six designs off the wall, priced as marked and tattooed as drawn. Choose one and watch it go on, line by line, then bring us your arm.
Gallows Hill · flash sheet no. 1
Flash is repeatable · custom is custom
Residents
Three chairs
Each resident keeps their own book and their own style. Pick the right hand for the job, or tell us the idea and we’ll pick for you.
Marek Sowa
Blackwork · ornamental
Heavy black, clean geometry, big cats. Does the panther. Prefers a full limb to work with but will settle for half of one.
Books open September
Fen Adler
Fine line · botanical
Single-needle botanicals and quiet lettering. The lightest hand in the building; the longest waitlist too, and those are related.
Waitlist only
21 Fossgate
The shop
Two floors up a crooked staircase, five minutes from the Minster. Flash on every wall, a kettle that never cools down, and three chairs that have held ten thousand appointments between them.
Licensed by City of York Council. Single-use needles, hospital-grade sterilisation, vegan inks as standard; the boring things done properly are what let the interesting things happen.
- Minimum charge£60
- Hourly rate£90
- Day rate£480
- Flashas marked
How it heals
Aftercare
The tattoo is ours for an afternoon and yours for fifty years. This is the card we hand you at the door; follow it and the lines stay crisp.
Gallows Hill · aftercare card · keep hold of this
1 The first three hours
Leave the film on. If we’ve used second skin it stays on for three to five days, and it will look like a mess under there. That’s plasma doing its job, not a problem.
2 Days one to three
Wash twice a day with warm water and unscented soap, pat dry with clean kitchen roll, then work in a thin layer of aftercare balm. Thin means thin: a tattoo drowning in balm heals worse than a dry one.
3 Days four to fourteen
It will flake and it will itch. Don’t scratch, don’t pick, don’t soak: showers are fine, baths, pools and the sea are not. No sunbeds, no gym on the fresh area for the first week.
4 Week two and on
Once it’s settled, moisturise daily and use SPF 30+ in the sun, forever, not just this summer. If anything looks wrong, come in and show us before you ask the internet.
Your first touch-up is free within three months. After that it’s the minimum charge, and we’ll tell you honestly which one you need.
Deposits, walk-ins, cover-ups
Book in
1 Write to us
Email the idea, the placement, a rough size in centimetres, and which resident you’re after (if any). Reference pictures help; essays don’t.
2 We come back with dates
You’ll hear from us within the week with a quote and the next open dates. Flash goes faster than custom; a sheet piece can usually go on within a fortnight.
3 A deposit holds the chair
£50, off the final price. It moves with 48 hours’ notice and is lost without it. That’s the whole policy, and it’s never once been waived by a good story.
Gallows Hill Tattoo
21 Fossgate (upstairs)
York YO1 9TA
Tuesday to Saturday, 11–7
Walk-ins Friday & Saturday from 11
[email protected]
@gallowshilltattoo
Over-18s only, photo ID on the day. Cover-ups and reworks welcome; send a clear photo of what’s there now.