A Hand-poked tattoo is made by pricking the skin with a tattoo needle dipped in ink. The ink is “inserted” under the skin with a series of pokes using only needle hand movement, no machine. This method is also referred to as stick and poke, and can sometimes have negative or unprofessional connotations. It as actually the foundation tattooing was built from. There is a deep rich history of hand poked tattoos and traditions. It varies in method and tools used across many cultures. Fragments of bone or wood shaped into needles were used before the invention of the tattoo needle and in some places still used today. This was the beginning of tattooing.

The Hand-poke style of tattoo can be defined as dot-work, a hand-poked tattoo is made by a significant accumulation of dots, close to each other, that creates designs, shapes and lines. Depth, details and shadows are achieved through the density and size of the dots.

This method of tattooing takes more time per design. The pain is roughly the same as a machine, the difference in feeling comes from enduring a repetitive poke over a span of time. 

At Pink Ink hand poked tattoos are done exclusively with regular tattoo needles and ink. Offered in a variety of sizes and colours by our artist Sierra. We recognize the sacred significance and history in this method. In no way do we intend to appropriate/ associate/ represent this significance and history. This is just an alternative method from machine tattooing that is offered in the studio.