Many health departments require a studio to record which inks and needles were used on each client, with lot numbers, so that a bad batch can be traced back to everyone it touched. Until now the only place to put that in Tattoo Studio Pro was the notes box on the staff form, typed out by hand, every single time.
The Supply Log replaces that. You set up the items you use regularly, once, with the lot number currently on the bottle or box. After that, logging a client is ticking a few boxes. The lot numbers fill themselves in, print on the consent form, and stay on the client’s record.
Available on both the web app and the mobile app. You build one catalog and it is the same on either, because both apps read the same studio record — set a lot number on the iPad and the web app has it immediately. A few controls are shaped differently for touch; those differences are called out where they come up.
The Idea in One Line
Lot numbers change when you open a new bottle, not on every client. So you record the lot once, and every visit after that inherits it until you change it.
That is the whole reason this saves time. If staff had to retype a lot number on every client, this would just be a prettier notes box.
Setting Up Your Catalog
Go to Settings > Supply Log.
You will see two things: your requirements at the top (managers only) and a catalog underneath.
On the web app the catalog is a table with an actions column. On mobile it is a list of cards — tap a row to expand it and the Edit and Remove actions appear underneath. Same items, same permissions; a six-column table would mean scrolling sideways to reach a button on a phone.
The artist picker at the top decides whose catalog you are looking at. Choose an artist and you see that artist’s own kit. Choose Shop stock (all artists) and you see the items the shop supplies. Tick Include shop stock to see both at once, which is the merged list you get when logging a client, and how you reach a shop item’s lot number without opening a client’s form.
Adding an Item
Select Add supply and fill in:
- Type (Ink, Needle or Other)
- Brand (for example, Eternal). Optional, but useful for inks.
- Name (for example, Lining Black, or 7RL for a needle)
- Current lot number, the one on the bottle or box you are using right now
- Shop supplies this item, off by default
Leave the shop toggle off for your own stock. That is how inks and needles usually work: they belong to the artist, not the studio. Turn it on only for items the shop buys and everyone shares.
Standard Needle Configurations
If your needle list is empty, you will see an Add standard needles button. It drops in the usual set (7RL, 9M1, 11RM and friends) in one go, with the brand and lot left blank for you to fill in.
Needle codes are the same everywhere, so this list never needs maintaining. Inks are not seeded, because ink lines get discontinued and reformulated constantly, and a color that quietly went out of production is worse than no suggestion at all.
Press the button twice and nothing bad happens. It skips anything already in your list.
Artists Manage Their Own Supplies
The Supply Log is the one settings page your artists and staff can open. They do not get access to anything else in Settings.
That is deliberate. Your inks are your inks, and the person who knows a new bottle was opened is the person who opened it. Making everyone wait on a manager to type a lot number is how lot numbers stop getting typed.
Here is who can do what:
| Their own items | Shop stock | Another artist’s items | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Everything | Everything | Everything |
| Artist / staff | Add, edit, remove, re-lot | See it, and update its lot number. Cannot rename or remove it | Not shown at all |
So an artist who opens a new bottle of shop ink can record the new lot straight away, but cannot rename or delete an item their colleagues are logging against.
Every item says whose it is
Each row is labeled with either Shop or the artist’s name, in the picker and in your settings, and the add or edit window names the destination before you type anything.
This matters more than it looks. Two artists commonly carry the same brand and the same color with different lot numbers, so an unlabelled row is genuinely ambiguous at the moment you tick it, and picking the wrong one is silent: the form saves, and the wrong lot number goes on the client’s record.
Lot Numbers, and Keeping Them Honest
Each item in your catalog carries a current lot. When you tick that item while logging a client, the lot comes along automatically.
Two ways to change it, and the difference matters:
- Type over the lot in the picker. Changes it for this client only. Your catalog is untouched. Use this for a one-off, like borrowing a colleague’s bottle.
- Save it to the catalog. Updates the catalog, so every client from now on gets the new number. This is what you use when you crack open a new bottle. On the web app it is the tag icon beside the lot; on mobile it is a button labeled Save as catalog lot, because a touch screen has no hover to explain an icon.
The Age Indicator
Under each lot you will see how long ago it was set: “set today”, “set 12 days ago”, “set 4 months ago”. Anything older than three months turns amber.
This is not decoration. A lot number that is silently out of date is worse than a blank one. A blank field is an obvious gap that someone fixes. A confidently wrong lot number is a false record, and nobody finds out until an inspector traces a bad batch to the wrong box. The age indicator is there so an old lot looks suspicious instead of authoritative.
Favorites and Search
Star the handful of items you reach for constantly and they move to a Your favorites block at the top of the picker.
Favorites are yours alone. Starring an item changes nothing for anyone else in the studio, including on shop stock. A color artist and a blackwork artist share a shop but not a shortlist, so each person builds their own.
There is also a search box. It matches brand, name, type and lot number. That last one matters more than it sounds: if a manufacturer recalls a batch, searching the lot number is how you find every client it touched.
Logging a Client
On the staff form, under the artist and ID checker and above the Notes box, you will find the supply section.
If your requirements are off and the artist has nothing in their catalog yet, the section stays out of the way until there is something to log. It always appears once the artist has supplies, once a manager requires a log, or if the visit already carries a record from the other app.
- Select Log supplies (it reads Edit supplies once something is logged)
- Tick what you used. Shop stock and the selected artist’s own items are both there, your favorites first, each row labeled with whose stock it is.
- Adjust any lot that differs from the catalog
- Confirm — Log items on web (the button shows the count), Done on mobile
The items appear as a summary on the staff form so you can see what is recorded without reopening the picker.
Need something that is not in the list? Use Add supply inside the picker. You do not have to leave the form and go to Settings in the middle of a session.
On the web app the picker also offers a Manage catalog link, which opens Settings in a new browser tab so the form you are part-way through stays open behind it. The mobile app deliberately leaves that link out. There is no second tab on a phone, so the only way to get to Settings is to navigate away from a half-filled form — and losing a part-built consent form is exactly the problem this feature exists to avoid. Adding an item on the fly and editing a lot inline cover everything you need mid-session; catalog housekeeping is a settings job.
If You Change the Artist
If you change the artist after logging supplies, you get a warning, not a wipe. The items you ticked came from the previous artist’s list, so they may not be right any more, and Tattoo Studio Pro will not silently clear a compliance record you built.
You cannot finalize the form while it carries another artist’s personal items. That is deliberate: a record naming the wrong artist’s ink is worse than one missing the entry, because it sends an inspector tracing a bad batch to the wrong person.
To fix it, reopen Log supplies. Anything that does not belong to the artist you selected is listed at the top with a remove button beside each item. Remove them and the form finalizes normally, without having to switch the artist back.
The same list catches one other case: an item that was removed from the catalog after you logged it. It stays on the visit until you remove it, so nothing disappears from a record behind your back.
Making It Required
Managers can turn on requirements at the top of Settings > Supply Log. Both are off by default, and most studios outside regulated jurisdictions will never turn them on.
Require a supply log
Staff must log at least one supply before a form can be finalized. With this off, the supply section is still there and still usable, just optional.
Require a lot number for…
Pick the categories your health department actually tracks: Inks, Needles, Other, or any combination.
This is per category on purpose. Plenty of jurisdictions require pigment lot tracking, because a bad batch of ink is traceable and recallable, while treating single-use sterile needles differently. Ticking only Inks means your artists are not chasing a lot number off a needle box that nobody asked them to record.
You can also require lot numbers without requiring a supply log. That is a real policy, not a mistake: you do not have to log it, but if you do, do it properly.
Turning It On With Forms Already Open
If you have unfinished forms that a client has already signed, they will need supply information before they can be finalized. Tattoo Studio Pro tells you how many, right under the switch, so you are not finding out through your staff halfway through a session.
Those clients do not need to sign anything again, and staff can add the items without leaving the form. It is a speed bump rather than a wall, but it is still worth flipping the switch at a quiet moment.
Where the Record Shows Up
On the consent PDF
The supply record prints under Studio Information, grouped by category, with the lot number beside each item. That PDF is the document you hand an inspector.
On the client’s profile
Open a client and go to the Forms tab. On the web app each visit shows how many supplies were logged; select it to see exactly what was used on that date and by which artist. On mobile, tap the form to expand it and the list is right there under Supplies Used.
This is the fastest answer to “what did we use on her last time?”, and if a batch is ever recalled it is how you find every client it touched.
“Not recorded” means exactly that. Visits from before you started using the Supply Log will show “Not recorded”. So will visits where nobody logged anything. That is not the same as “nothing was used”, and Tattoo Studio Pro will not pretend it is.
You will notice the consent PDF handles the same situation differently: when nothing was logged it prints no supply section at all, rather than an empty one. That is on purpose. The PDF is the document you hand an inspector, and a heading reading “Supplies Used” with nothing under it would read as a claim that nothing was used. On the client’s profile the heading is already on screen, so there the honest answer is to say “Not recorded” out loud.
What This Is Not
It is not inventory. There are no stock counts, no reorder alerts, and nothing is deducted when you log a client.
Those are different questions. Inventory asks how much do I have left. The Supply Log asks what went into this person, on this date. The second one is what a health inspector asks, and it is the one that has to be right years after the fact.
Notes and the Supply Log
The notes box on the staff form is still there and still works exactly as before. It just no longer asks you to type lot numbers into it, because they now have somewhere better to live.
Old notes are untouched. Nothing you have already typed goes anywhere.
Frequently Asked
Do I have to use this? No. It is off by default, and if your catalog is empty nothing is required of you.
Will renaming an item change my old records? No. Every visit stores its own copy of what was logged, frozen at the time. Rename or delete an item today and a consent form from two years ago still shows what it showed then.
What happens when I remove an item? It stops appearing when you log new clients. Visits that already logged it keep their record.
Can two artists use the same shop item at once? Yes. Each item is stored separately, so two artists updating different items at the same time will not overwrite each other.
Are my favorites visible to the rest of the studio? No. Favorites are per person, including on shop items. Starring something changes nothing for anyone else.
Why can I see a shop item but not rename it? Shop stock is shared, so renaming or deleting one would change it for every artist logging against it. Lot numbers are different: whoever opens the new bottle is the only person who knows the number, so anyone can update that.
Do I need to set this up twice, once on each app? No. There is one catalog per studio and both apps read it. Add an ink on the iPad and it is in the web app straight away, and a lot number updated in either place is the one every future client inherits.
Does the client see this? There is nothing for the client to fill in or sign. It is a studio record. It does appear on the consent PDF, which you may choose to share with a client, so keep the entries tidy.