I got a tattoo and the artist had their machine held together by rubber bands! What was that all about?

Almost all tattoo artists will put one or two rubber bands on their machine. The rubber bands sit around the body of the machine and then go over the needle in the front. This is something that you should appreciate, not be concerned about. A tattoo needle goes up and down at a very rapid pace. When the needle goes up and down, it will tend to wiggle around while it does so. If the tattoo artist has placed rubber bands over the needle, it will go up and down without any wobble, therefore making a much straighter line. Rubber bands sort of act like shock absorbers for the tattoo needle.