Inkas Tattoo Shop in Elizabeth, NJ: Custom Tattoos With a Real Quote First
Published · Beauty & Grooming
Inkas Tattoo Shop is a private studio at 219 Broad St in Elizabeth, New Jersey, run by tattoo artist Jhon Inkas. The shop's tagline is "Tattoos with significance," and the way it works backs that up. Every piece is custom, every piece starts with a consultation, and you get a real price before anything beyond the deposit is charged.
At a glance
- Who they are: Jhon Inkas, the artist behind a Peruvian-rooted private tattoo studio in Elizabeth.
- What they sell: Custom tattoos in fine line and ornamental, black and grey, full color, and script and lettering, plus cover-ups, sleeves and other large multi-session pieces, and touch-ups on healed Inkas work.
- Where: 219 Broad St, Elizabeth, NJ. Appointments are booked in one-hour windows, Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 9pm.
- Who it's for: Anyone planning a custom piece, from a small first tattoo to a full sleeve, people with an old tattoo they want covered, and Spanish speakers who would rather book in Spanish.
- Website: Inkas Tattoo Shop's website
The styles Jhon works in
Each style on the site has a short description in the shop's own words, and a "from" price that is a floor, not a final number.
- Fine line and ornamental (from $150): the studio's signature style. Mandalas, lotus flowers, crowns and dotwork, drawn to follow the shape of the body.
- Black and grey (from $180): religious pieces, portraits and realism, built from smooth grey shading.
- Full color (from $200): saturated color meant to stay bright after it heals.
- Script and lettering (from $120): names, dates and words drawn by hand to fit the space, not typed out in a stock font.
- Large pieces and sleeves (from $150 per session): sleeves and back pieces, planned as a whole and done over several sessions.
- Touch-ups (from $80): only for healed work that was done at Inkas.
You can see every style and book a consultation on the Inkas services page.
How the price gets set
Inkas doesn't quote from a menu. You book an hour, send reference photos and the exact placement, and Jhon looks at what you actually want before he names a number. Nothing past the deposit is charged until you have that quote.
The shop's guides list the things that push a price above the starting figure: size, level of detail and placement. A small, simple piece can land near the floor. A large, heavily shaded one takes more time in the chair and costs more. Sleeves and back pieces are billed per session, because neither is finished in one sitting. For those, the first session is the consult and the start, and the total number of sessions is quoted once the full piece is scoped.
The guides also say what makes a quote come back faster:
- A specific reference image, even a rough sketch, instead of a general idea
- The exact spot on the body and a rough size in inches
- Whether you want color or black and grey
- For lettering, the exact spelling and the style of script you want
Cover-ups start with an assessment
Cover-ups (from $200) are handled differently from new work. The booked hour is a real assessment of the tattoo you already have, and the quote comes after it. A cover-up has to be designed around ink that is already in the skin, so Jhon needs to see it first.
The shop's cover-up guide asks for a photo taken in natural light, straight on rather than at an angle, with something in the frame for scale. It is also clear about what the studio does not do. Inkas does the cover-up tattoo itself, not laser removal. And a touch-up is not a cheaper way to cover someone else's work: touch-ups are only for healed pieces Jhon did. The full walkthrough is in the Inkas cover-up guide.
Booking in English or Spanish
The studio has Peruvian roots, and it publishes its booking guide in Spanish as well as English. The Spanish guide covers the same steps: reserve the hour, send your photos and placement, get the real price, and pay nothing beyond the deposit until then. It also invites people to write through the contact page in Spanish if their idea doesn't fit one placement neatly.
Hours are noon to 9pm, Tuesday through Saturday, which leaves evening slots for people who work during the day. The shop's blog also has a guide to fine-line placements for a small first tattoo, which notes that thin lines on hands and fingers take a lot of daily wear and may need a touch-up later.
CloserAccess built and hosts the Inkas Tattoo Shop site, including its booking and quote flow. You can find the studio among our clients at Inkas Tattoo Shop on CloserAccess.