Asylum Studios

Have tv's so you don't get bored or sit around awkwardly. Never been to a shop like this. Very welcoming and make sure you don't feel forgotten. Chris went above and beyond with my tattoo. Jess was right next to us and he was very nice. He talked to me and asked about what I was getting. I've already made my next appointment! They will be my go to and recommend them to everyone who asks where to go! Def worth the hr drive.

Fantastic tattoo and piercing salon in Roanoke VA. Clean, neat as a pin, extremely friendly and professional staff, from the artists to the concierge. They take COVID and cleanliness very, very seriously and go to the max to ensure safety, right down to sanitising pens and clipboards. I felt very safe there. Fun environment, comfy waiting area, and the whole place is tastefully decorated with a spooky/horror theme. Like Halloween every day. Full piercing spectrum. Talented artists. Good aftercare instructions verbal and written (I got a simple ear piercing) no matter how complex or routine. Handicap access available. They take cards and cash. Whole experience was excellent and comfortable.

Two small downsides: parking is very limited, and they do piercings on a walk in only basis so there's a list and sometimes a considerable (2 hr+) wait. Get there early. Not their fault on that one precisely, they're one of only a couple shops in Roanoke doing piercings and they're the only full service one I know of. They were SLAMMED.

Can't recommend them highly enough. You will not be dissatisfied with your experience.

I’ve had multiple piercings here from Jess and Shane, I cannot stress enough how fantastic they are for every single interaction I’ve had with them! They are amazing at what they do and I couldn’t be happier with all the piercings they’ve done for me over the years!!

Got a tattoo done and a piercing and love it. Store was super cool and and their piercing options are endless. Staff was super friendly and nice and answered all mu question.

This review will be an overview of both my artist (Daniel Jones) and Asylum over all. Both had their pro's and Con's.

Asylum overall:
Over the 9 or 10 months that I dealt with the studio went well enough. Everything started in Dec 2019 when I went to schedule an appointment with Daniel. I was informed that I would need a consult a head of time before I could schedule the actual tattoo appointment. The wait time was a week for the consult. I made the appointment and returned a week later with reference drawings and a print out of what I was looking for. The consult lasted 5 mins, so i'm not sure why I had to wait a week when that could have been done over email or over lunch, but it is what it is. I could now make the appointment. The appointment was made 9 months out and was for all day. Fast forward 9 months to the day of. I was greeted by the receptionist who directed me through the paperwork I needed to fill out and once that was done I waited. After the tattoo was done around 5:30 I got tons of complements from the other artists and I felt really good about the piece and felt a bit more at ease. Overall the studio aspects of the trip were standard and not too many surprises, though the paperwork was a bit more aggressive in tone then I'd like.

The artist (Daniel Jones):
So as I mentioned above the consult lasted 5 mins. During that time Daniel didn't ask many questions, didn't want to see the ref artwork I had brought, didn't want to know anything about the piece and didn't want to know anything about me. Basically the consult was, here's the drawing, here's where I want it, ok schedule a day and he was gone. I didn't have a chance to ask any follow up questions and the whole thing was over before I knew it. I felt cheated. I was very upset that I got basically no time or feedback other than the piece will need to be mirrored so the character is facing forwards. Fast forward 9 months to the day of. I arrived with a ton of ref artwork, a strategy guild with original artwork (which I had kept sealed in it's packaging until this) and ideas. I thought we would work together on the piece or that there would be questions, but I was wrong on both counts. He took the drawing I had, we worked on sizing and position and then he was ready. Daniel is not a talker. I tried to tell him about the piece, what it meant to me, where it came from and how excited I was about it. He didn't really engage in conversation almost to the point of me thinking he didn't care, which is not a great feeling. His work area is odd, to put it mildly. There was a single old chair for me to sit on which was ok~ish to lay on. There were two TVs on opposing walls which was nice to watch Netflix, Amazon, Hulu or anything else, too bad I only got to sort of pick 1 of the 3 things we watched. The decorations on walls of his work area are all oddities, which are not my cup of tea, if anything they made me uncomfortable. We took regular breaks every hour or so, which was nice. I could get up and walk around and stretch my legs which were cramping from the chair. Towards the end my pain tolerance just fell through the floor, and Daniel noticed. He said he was going to numb me and asked if that was ok. I told him it was and the numbing spray worked great. Once the piece was done Daniel went over aftercare and gave me written instructions that were basically the same thing that he said, but it was nice to have afterwards to refer back to.

If I was to rate Daniel on just my experience and ignore the tattoo, it's a solid 2 or 3 star. Now I love my tattoo and he did a fatalistic job though it would have been nice to have him put his touch in it and bring it to the next level. I can deal with being uncomfortable for 5 1/2 hours for the awesome piece I got at the end of the day. That is why this review is 4 stars even though I didn't have a good time and had no connection to Daniel. His tattoo skills are worth it, but I don't know if I'll get another from him.

This was my first tattoo so I was very nervous and had no idea what to expect and everyone I met was really nice and I felt comfortable. The place was clean too.

Katie did my tattoo and she was awesome and thorough. She nailed the design I had in mind!

Excellent choice! I can’t remember the guy’s name that did my piercing but he did amazing and we will be returning back for service soon. I’m really satisfied 😊

They canceled on me twice. The first time it was supposed to be two friends and me, had scheduled several weeks out and given a down payment. We got a call the day of saying that our artist (an apprentice) had taken a personal day. I had to reschedule separately for Monday at 4:00. I drove an hour to get there and at 4:30 the artist finally came out and said she needed to cancel due to a child emergency. Super valid reason, but at this point they had jerked me around twice. They did say they could try to work me in several hours later. Instead I went to Queen Anne’s Revenge studio down the road and they took me almost immediately. Did a great job at the same price (a senior artist).

ive only gotten two piercings here and both times i’ve had to take them out because the bar that was put in didn’t give me any room for swelling and healing and they became infected.

the second chance i gave them, i’d called to see if they could give me a longer bar. i was given a time the piercer would be there and when i showed up during my lunch break, i was told the piercer had already left so i was stuck with what i had. im extremely dissatisfied so wouldn’t recommend coming here for a piercing

Got my libre done! They were super great, very calm atmosphere! They were very considerate of my anxiety.