“My partner and I booked back-to-back afternoon sessions from Jun and Cass's flash books on our anniversary. We loved knowing each flash drawing is retired once someone claims it, rather than stamped on fifty other people. Friendly, calm studio, snacks at the counter, and crisp linework on both of us.”
Custom tattooing & original flash · Portland
Custom tattoos drawn for the body and built to hold for decades
Ironline Tattoo Studio tattoos custom work, one-off flash and cover-ups on Anvil Street in Portland, Maine, with licensed artists, single-use sterile needles, vegan inks and rates printed before a deposit is taken.
- Opening hours
- Tue–Fri, 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Saturday, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
- Sunday and Monday, closed
- Single-use sterile needles
- One chair at a time
How the studio works
Clean stations, straight advice and no shop ego
Ironline Tattoo Studio is a custom tattoo studio on Anvil Street in Portland, Maine. Walking in should never feel intimidating, so the studio books one chair at a time, keeps every station bright and barrier-wrapped, and leaves room in each appointment for honest placement advice, so the piece moves with the body rather than against it.
Small single-session pieces are quoted as a flat price up front; large work is billed for needle time only, never for stencil setup or breaks. A first two-inch piece, a sheet of flash, a sleeve mapped over several sessions and a cover over older work all start in the same place: a message describing the idea, answered during opening hours by the artist best suited to draw it.
On the board
Styles, sessions and rates
From a first two-inch piece to a sleeve mapped over several sessions, every project goes to the artist who works that style every day. Small pieces are flat-quoted; large work is billed for needle time only.
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One-off flash & consultations
$150 minimum
Consultations free · 20 minutes
Original designs from the artists' own flash books, flat-priced and retired once they have been tattooed. Or a free 20-minute consultation to talk through reference, test the size in the mirror and leave with an exact estimate.
Best for a first piece, or for an idea that has never been drawn at the size it has to be worn.
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Fine-line, botanical & woodcut
from $220
Flat quote · 60–150 minutes
Tight-needle work for delicate florals, etched botanical specimens, line art and script, spaced with enough breathing room between strokes that the lines heal soft and legible instead of blurring together.
Best for small, detailed pieces on the wrist, ribs, collarbone or forearm.
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Traditional & neo-traditional
from $250
Flat quote · 90–180 minutes
Confident, timeless line weights with whip-shaded black contrast and rich, lightfast vegan colour, in colour or black and grey, built to keep their punch through decades of real life.
Best for a bold single piece that should still read clearly from across a room.
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Custom large-scale sessions
$180 / hour
Full day $1,100 · 6–7 hours
Cohesive compositions planned across two to six sessions, starting with an in-person mapping consultation that traces the curve of the arm, leg or back. Lines go in first; shading and colour follow three to four weeks apart.
Best for a sleeve, a back, a thigh or a chest piece.
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Cover-ups & reworks
$190 / hour
Consultation required first
Old work is looked at in person and its ink density judged honestly before anything is quoted. A good cover usually runs two to three times the size of the original, and if a dark piece needs a laser session or two first, the studio says so before starting.
Best for faded or blurred older work, or a sentimental piece that needs reviving.
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Blackwork, ornamental & dotwork
$180 / hour
Sessions of 2 to 5 hours
Crisp thermal stencils combined with freehand marker drafting directly on the skin, so mandalas, stippling and heavy black contrast stay symmetrical around elbows, knees, collarbones and spines.
Best for geometric and ornamental pieces that have to frame a joint.
The question every appointment opens with
Tell me where it sits on the body and how it should read in ten years, not which picture you saved.
The story
A studio that draws before it tattoos
Every session here starts with a drawing rather than a machine. Skin is a living organ and softens every line a fraction of a millimetre as the years pass, so an artist asks where the piece has to sit when the body is at rest and says honestly when a design needs a little more size or breathing room to look as good in 2040 as it does on the night.
The studio books one chair at a time so that a session gets the length the work needs. Every artist holds a health department licence and annual Bloodborne Pathogens certification; needles are pre-sterilised single-use cartridges opened in front of the client, and every cable, lamp and bed is wrapped in fresh barrier film for each session.
A first visit can expect a free consultation, a flat price or hourly range written down before any deposit, and a stencil placed and approved on the skin before the first line goes in. Privacy screens and clean drapes are standard for ribs, sternum, hips and thighs, with no awkward request needed.
Signed at the chairMara Quinn, owner and lead artist
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01
Original custom artwork
No client's custom tattoo is ever copied off the internet. Every custom commission is drawn for one body and nobody else's.
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02
Rates written down first
A flat price or an hourly range is given before any deposit is paid, and the hourly timer stops whenever the session takes a break.
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03
A free healed touch-up
Follow the aftercare guide, and if a small spot heals light within six months, the artist who made the piece touches it up free of charge.
Behind the machines
The resident artists
Four licensed artists run Ironline Tattoo Studio between them, each with their own style and all with the same strict standard for hygiene and gentle skin handling.
Mara Quinn
Owner · traditional and large-scale artist
Mara Quinn opened Ironline Tattoo Studio after fifteen years of tattooing, and specialises in bold traditional and neo-traditional sleeves, Japanese-inspired flow and cover-ups that make old regrets disappear. They will place a stencil three times if three is what it takes, so the line that goes in is the line that was agreed.
Eli Novak
Blackwork and ornamental specialist
Eli Novak has spent ten years working purely in black ink, combining precise geometric stencils with freehand drafting on the skin for mandalas, dotwork sleeves and heavy black contrast. They treat the body as a three-dimensional form rather than a flat page, so an ornamental piece flatters an elbow or a shoulder instead of distorting around it.
Jun Park
Lead fine-line and botanical artist
Jun Park trained in scientific illustration and has spent eight years on tight-needle tattooing: airy botanical specimens, woodcut engravings and micro-florals drawn to wrap around wrists, ribs and collarbones. They take most of the free consultations, and first-time clients especially appreciate their calm pacing and light hand.
Cass Moreno
Studio coordinator and colour artist
Cass Moreno keeps the diary and reviews every proposal with the artists, so each session has the right amount of time behind it. They have seven years of tattooing behind them, known for expressive wildlife, folklore motifs and pet portraits in muted colour or black and grey, and for trauma-informed chair care: privacy screens, clear check-ins and patient stencil changes.
Flash, tools & craft
The traditions behind the work
Hand-painted flash, old tools and a needle laying a clean black line: the craft behind the fine-line, blackwork and traditional pieces made at Ironline Tattoo Studio.
Said afterwards
From collectors and first-timers
“Cass tattooed a folkloric fox and autumn oak leaves on my outer calf. Watching them unseal every cartridge needle from its sterile pack and wrap every cord gave me total confidence, and the vegan red and ochre healed bright on my medium-olive skin in twelve days.”
“A sternum and under-bust ornamental piece can feel vulnerable to book. Eli set up a private bay with soft drapes without my asking, drew the centre transitions freehand to match my rib symmetry, and checked on my breathing every twenty minutes. Worth every dollar.”
Asked often
Deposits, pain, prep and aftercare
The questions Ironline Tattoo Studio is asked most often before a first session.
When is the custom drawing shown?
In person, at the start of the appointment, rather than emailed days ahead. That protects the original artwork and lets the proportions be checked against the body itself. Every custom session has review time built in, so details can be refined and more than one stencil size tried on the skin.
How do deposits and rescheduling work?
The Book action opens the contact page, and no date is held until the studio replies. Once a date is agreed, a non-refundable $80 to $150 deposit reserves it and comes off the final price in full. Give at least 48 hours' notice and the deposit moves to a new date at no penalty.
How should the night before be spent?
Sleep well, drink plenty of water for 24 hours and eat a proper meal 60 to 90 minutes before arriving. Avoid alcohol, aspirin and energy drinks for 24 hours beforehand, keep sunburn and self-tanner off the area, and wear loose, dark clothing that leaves the placement easy to reach.
Can numbing cream be used beforehand?
Not without speaking to the artist first. Many unregulated creams leave the skin rubbery and pale, so the stencil wipes off, fine lines distort and the pain can rebound mid-session. For a sensitive placement, write ahead and the artist will talk through safe options and pacing.
Visit or write
Anvil Street, Portland, Maine
Ironline Tattoo Studio works one chair at a time, so an agreed time is the only way to be sure of an artist. Proposals are read with the artists during opening hours and answered within two business days, and a date is held once it is agreed and the drawing deposit is paid.
Opening hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Wednesday
- 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Thursday
- 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Friday
- 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Saturday
- 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Sunday
- Closed
The column
A short note when the studio changes something
Holiday hours, new flash, an artist joining or leaving, a rate that moves. Two or three notes a year and nothing else.