---
title: "Is It Safe To Put Ashes In Tattoo Ink"
id: "1919"
type: "page"
slug: "is-it-safe-to-put-ashes-in-tattoo-ink"
published_at: "2021-01-15T22:32:47+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-06-10T19:27:21+00:00"
url: "https://cremationink.com/tattoos-with-ashes/safe-cremation-ash-tattoo/is-it-safe-to-put-ashes-in-tattoo-ink/"
markdown_url: "https://cremationink.com/tattoos-with-ashes/safe-cremation-ash-tattoo/is-it-safe-to-put-ashes-in-tattoo-ink.md"
excerpt: "Is It Safe To Put Ashes In Tattoo Ink The honest yes/no answer, and why Cremation Ink ®..."
---

# Is It Safe To Put Ashes In Tattoo Ink

### The honest yes/no answer, and why Cremation Ink ® is the safe route compared to your tattoo studio doing it themselves.

## *Is It Safe To Put Ashes In Tattoo Ink? Here’s The Honest Answer.*

If you’ve ended up here, you’re asking the right question before getting an ashes tattoo. The short answer is yes, it’s safe when Cremation Ink ® has prepared the ink, and no, it isn’t safe if a tattoo studio just tips raw ashes into their ink pot. This page covers exactly why.  
By Cremation Ink ®

![is it really safe to put ashes in tattoo ink](http://cremationink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/how-to-be-safe-putting-ashes-in-tattoo-ink.jpg)

### Are Ashes Tattoos Safe?

If you’re wondering whether it’s safe to put cremation ashes into tattoo ink, the answer is yes, when it’s done by a professional service like Cremation Ink ®. Is it safe for your local artist to just drop some ashes into a pot of ink and crack on? No, and we’ll explain why below.

Done by Cremation Ink ®, it’s a different story. We’re the UK based specialist that prepares the ashes the proper way, cleaning them, refining them down and taking them through a thorough sterilising and preparation process before they’re carefully infused into our own high quality professional tattoo ink. By the time the bottle reaches your tattooist, the hard part is already done, and they’re working with an ink that behaves like any other quality professional ink on their shelf.

Done by your local tattoo artist tipping ashes from an urn straight into their ink pot? No, that’s not safe at all. We’ll explain exactly why below, so when you’ve finished reading you’ll know precisely what to look out for and what to avoid.

### Are Cremation Ashes Sterile?

Cremation ashes are not sterile. People often assume they must be, given the extreme temperatures of the cremation process, but the whole point of cremation is reduction of the body, not sterilisation for any specific use afterwards.

The same applies even with newer alternatives such as aquamation, where alkaline solutions and vacuums speed up the natural decomposition process. What can take a hundred years or more in the ground is done in a matter of hours, but the focus is still reduction, not preparing the remains for use elsewhere.

After cremation, the larger bones (the leg bones especially) still hold structural shape. These are scraped out of the chamber, ensuring nothing is left behind for the next cremation. From there, the remains are reduced to a uniform consistency in the next step.

![how to find out if it is safe to put ashes in tattoo ink](http://cremationink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/how-to-find-out-if-it-is-safe-to-put-ashes-in-tattoo-ink.jpg)

### What Happens After Cremation?

The remains are placed into a crematorium ball mill (a cremulator) to bring the ashes down to a set particle size. They’re then poured into either an urn or a sealed plastic bag, which goes into a labelled box ready to be passed to the funeral director, the family, or whoever is collecting them.

What’s important to understand is that ashes in this raw state simply aren’t prepared for going into a tattoo. They’re perfectly fine to keep in an urn or handle with your hands, but they’re coarse, unprepared, and not something that should go straight under the skin via a tattoo needle. Getting them ready for that is a job in itself, and it’s not one a tattoo studio is set up to do.

That’s the core of the safety question. It isn’t only about sterility, it’s that raw ashes need proper, specialist preparation first, and a tattoo studio can’t provide that.

![is it really safe to put ashes in tattoo ink](http://cremationink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/is-it-really-safe-to-put-ashes-in-tattoo-ink.jpg)

### Your Local Tattoo Artist

Cremation Ink ® gives your local tattoo artist the ability to do [cremation ashes tattoos](https://cremationink.com/tattoos-with-ashes/)
 safely, knowing they have a premium, professionally prepared product to work with and that the memorial tattoo they do will last the test of time. There’s also a dedicated [tattoo with cremation ashes](https://cremationink.com/tattoos-with-ashes/safe-cremation-ash-tattoo/tattoo-with-cremation-ashes/)
 page on the application side.

What we hand to your artist is a bottle of ink that behaves like any other quality professional ink in their machine. They line, shade and pack colour with it the same way they would with any of their normal inks. No special technique required, no extra steps, no licence concern.

### Why Studio Mixing Isn’t Safe

Adding ashes to tattoo ink isn’t safe if it’s left to your local tattoo studio to just tip some in. Here’s why.

Raw cremation ashes need proper, specialist preparation before they’re anywhere near ready to go into a tattoo, and that’s simply not something a tattoo studio is equipped for. A studio is set up for tattooing, not for preparing cremation remains. It’s a completely different kind of work, done in a different kind of place, with different equipment.

When ashes tattoos are done without that proper preparation, you’re taking a real risk with something that’s meant to be the most meaningful tattoo you’ll ever have. It’s just not worth gambling the very piece that was done to honour someone, when there’s a proper way to do it.

This is why we strongly recommend you never let a tattoo studio mix the ashes themselves. The proper path is to use Cremation Ink ®, then take the prepared bottle to your local studio. If you’d like more on this, see our [safe cremation ash tattoo](https://cremationink.com/tattoos-with-ashes/safe-cremation-ash-tattoo/)
 parent page, or the sister silo’s [ashes into tattoo ink safe](https://cremationink.com/tattoo-ink-with-ashes/ashes-into-tattoo-ink-safe/)
 page for the lab science angle.

![is it safe to put ashes in tattoo ink](http://cremationink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/is-it-safe-to-put-ashes-in-tattoo-ink.jpg)

### What Makes A Safe Ashes Tattoo

Getting cremation ashes properly ready for tattooing takes a fair bit more than people tend to think. At Cremation Ink ® it’s a multi-stage process we’ve built up and refined over more than twenty years, using specialist equipment, and it’s really the heart of what we do. The ashes are cleaned, refined down to a fine and even texture, sterilised, and taken through several more stages of preparation before they’re ready.

Once the ashes are fully prepared, there’s one more challenge. If we used standard tattoo ink, adding the ashes would thicken it to a mud-like consistency that wouldn’t tattoo properly. That’s why we make our own pigment-rich, low-viscosity ink. When the prepared ashes go into that ink, the result comes to the same viscosity as traditional tattoo ink, so your artist can use it for any technique they’d normally use.

You can read more about how the whole process works on our [process](https://cremationink.com/the-process-of-ashes-into-tattoo-ink/)
 page, and our [making tattoos with cremation ashes](https://cremationink.com/tattoos-with-ashes/making-tattoos-with-cremation-ashes/)
 page covers the same work from a slightly different angle.

### Why Tattooists Like Working With Cremation Ink ®

Tattooists around the world like working with our ink. Because we make our own pigment-rich, low-viscosity base and match the prepared ashes to it in particle size, it flows into the skin and handles like any other quality professional ink in the machine, without the gritty problems that come with raw ashes mixed at a studio counter.

For the artist, it’s reassuringly familiar ink in their machine. For you, it’s the most personal tattoo you’ll ever have, done safely.

When you feel ready, you can [order your inks here](https://cremationink.com/shop/)
. We’ll send out a kit, walk you through it, and look after the rest. Or [contact us](https://cremationink.com/contact-us/)
 first if you’d like to talk it through.

![Is It Safe To Put Ashes In Tattoo Ink? FAQs](http://cremationink.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ashes-tattoo-facts.jpg)Is It Safe To Put Ashes In Tattoo Ink? FAQs

#### Is it safe to put ashes in tattoo ink?

Yes, when Cremation Ink ® prepares the ink. Our UK lab takes the cremation ashes through a thorough cleaning, sterilising and preparation process before they’re infused into a high quality professional tattoo pigment. By the time the bottle reaches your tattooist, the ashes have been properly prepared and the ink handles like any other quality professional ink. The tattoo is then cared for the same as any other quality tattoo.

#### Can my local tattoo artist just mix the ashes themselves?

We wouldn’t recommend it, and most reputable studios will say no if asked. Raw cremation ashes need specialist preparation before they’re suitable for tattooing, and a tattoo studio isn’t set up for that kind of work. It’s why a specialist service like Cremation Ink ® exists. The proper path is to have the ink prepared by us, then take it to your studio.

#### Are cremation ashes sterile?

No. The cremation process is built around reducing the body, not producing something ready to go under the skin. Raw ashes are coarse and unprepared, so they still need proper, specialist preparation by Cremation Ink ® before they can be infused into tattoo ink. That preparation is exactly what we do in our UK lab.

#### How does Cremation Ink ® prepare the ashes?

The ashes are cleaned, refined to a fine and even texture, sterilised and taken through several further stages of preparation in our UK lab, before being infused into our own professional tattoo ink. It’s a process we’ve refined over many years, and the detail of how we do it stays with us.

#### Will the tattoo heal differently because there are ashes in it?

No. Because the prepared ashes are fully infused into a professional tattoo ink, the tattoo is cared for and heals the same as any other quality tattoo. Follow the standard aftercare your tattoo artist gives you.

#### What goes wrong when ashes are tipped into ink at a studio?

Raw ashes haven’t been prepared for tattooing and are too coarse to behave like pigment, so the ink turns gritty and doesn’t work as it should. That’s exactly the situation a specialist service is there to avoid, which is why we’d always say leave the preparation to us.

#### How does Cremation Ink ® keep the ink useable for the tattooist?

Our pigment-rich, low-viscosity ink is specifically developed so that, once the prepared ashes are introduced, the final viscosity matches traditional tattoo ink. Your artist can use it for lining, shading and colour packing without any restrictions. It behaves like any quality professional ink in their machine.

#### How much of my loved one’s ashes do you need?

About a tablespoon per bottle. The rest stays with you, and any ashes Cremation Ink ® doesn’t use during the process are returned to you alongside the finished bottle.

#### What if my tattoo studio offers to mix the ashes for me?

We’d suggest declining and using a service set up for it. Studios offering this often don’t realise the preparation involved. The proper path is to use Cremation Ink ® to prepare the ink in our UK lab, then take the prepared bottle to your studio for the tattoo.

#### Is there any country where this isn’t legal?

Tattooing itself is legal in most countries. Ashes in tattoo ink follows the same legality as the tattoo industry in your area. With Cremation Ink ® handling the preparation off-site in our UK lab, your local studio is using a professional product, the same as they would with any other ink on their shelf.

![all cremation tattoo ink - cremation ink](http://cremationink.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/all-cremation-tattoo-ink.jpg)[Cremation Ink – Shop](https://cremationink.com/shop)

![Tattoos With Ashes](http://cremationink.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Tattoos-With-Ashes.jpg)[Tattoos with ashes](https://cremationink.com/tattoos-with-ashes)

![safe cremation ash tattoo](http://cremationink.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/safe-cremation-ash-tattoo.jpeg)[safe cremation ash tattoo](https://cremationink.com/tattoos-with-ashes/safe-cremation-ash-tattoo)