Tattoo shop in Westerly, RI

Irish Rose sits at 9 East Ave, Unit A, on the stretch that runs between downtown Westerly and Route 1. If you know the Westerly Library and Wilcox Park, you are a couple of minutes away. If you are coming up from the beach, Misquamicut State Beach is about 8 minutes south and Watch Hill about 10. There is a lot right out front, so nobody has to circle Granite Street looking for a space.

We are open Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 8, and closed Sunday and Monday. The late close matters to a lot of Westerly people: you can finish a shift, eat, and still sit for a small piece or a piercing before the door locks. Booking requests get a reply within two business days, and the reply includes a flat price, not an hourly estimate.

The shop is licensed by the Rhode Island Department of Health and inspected every year. Every artist holds bloodborne-pathogen certification, and the paperwork is framed by the counter if you want to read it. Needles are single-use, opened in front of you, and the stations are broken down and wiped between every client.

Most of our regulars live within ten minutes of East Ave. That is the point of a hometown shop: you can stop in for a touch-up check on the way home from work, bring your sister in for her first lobe piercing on a Saturday, or come back next year to add to the same piece with the same artist.

Why people choose our tattoo shop in Westerly

Three artists, three very different specialties, and none of them trying to do everything.

Tony Asian has been tattooing for 11 years, six of them here. He does fine-line tattoos, single needle, script, micro-realism and botanicals: a stem of lily of the valley along the ribs, a parent’s handwriting on a wrist, a tiny lighthouse for someone who grew up near Watch Hill. Tony books four to six weeks out, so Westerly clients who want him for a birthday or an anniversary send the request early.

Zak Sadloski has 14 years behind him and works in American traditional, black and grey, large-scale pieces and cover-ups. Bold lines, solid color, roses, swallows, ships, panthers. He also handles the pieces people would rather not discuss, the faded tribal band or the name from a summer that did not last. Send him clear photos and he will tell you honestly what can go over it and how big it needs to be.

Rayna Lundvall is our piercer, eight years in and APP-trained. She uses needles only, never guns, and fits implant-grade titanium or 14k solid gold, threadless. Piercings are walk-in, so a Westerly teenager with a parent, or an adult on a lunch break, can come straight in. Her own page covers piercing in Westerly in more detail.

What a tattoo costs on East Ave

Every tattoo has an $80 shop minimum and is quoted flat per piece, never by the hour. A fine-line piece under 2 inches is usually $80. Palm-sized work runs $150 to $350. A forearm botanical is typically $400 to $750, and half sleeves start around $900. If your quote is over $500, we take a $50 minimum deposit that comes off the final price and moves with you if you reschedule at least 48 hours ahead. Under $500, no deposit. Card, tap and cash all work.

Touch-ups are free within 90 days, except on hands, feet and fingers, where ink fades no matter how well you heal it. After 90 days they start at $80. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.

How Westerly locals book

Small tattoos and anything you can describe in a sentence go through the three-step booking form: pick the artist, describe the idea and placement, leave your number. Bigger work starts with a free consultation, about 20 minutes, where you can bring references and talk sizing in person. Living nearby makes that easy, and it usually means a better first drawing.

Summer changes the calendar. From June through August, visitors from Misquamicut rentals and Watch Hill hotels fill Saturdays, so locals tend to take Tuesday through Thursday afternoons. Remember that a fresh tattoo needs four weeks out of the ocean, pools and hot tubs. Plenty of Westerly clients schedule their bigger sessions for September, after the beach season, and heal through the fall. When you leave, you get the printed tattoo aftercare sheet, and the same guide is online.

If you come in by train, the Amtrak station is a short ride from East Ave. If you are coming from across the river, the Pawcatuck page has directions from the Connecticut side.