Hand poke goes local
Mag Haener is in their living room apartment getting ready for their first client.
Haener pulls out a basket holding a bundle of needles, ink and soap — ready for action.
Mars Cantrell, UI student, was Haener’s client that morning. He wanted a tattoo the size of a playing card. All black — an outline of a room.
Haener, a third-year BFA student at the University of Idaho, does hand poked tattooing in Moscow.
Haener has been operating out of their living space since 2017 but started tattooing on themselves and friends around November 2016.
“I think I got into tattoo because I was 18 and my parents weren’t going to let me get a tattoo … I just figured I might as well do it myself,” Haener said.
Haener’s first tattoo on their ankle was a crown. Even though they didn’t know what they were doing at the time — hand poking tattoo became a hobby.
“I like to say hand poked tattoos, cause stick ‘n’ poke connotates the idea that it’s really dirty and you only do it with India ink,” Haener said. “I take it seriously.”
Haener said there are many types of needles to buy online for home tattooing purposes.
“There’s a bunch of different types for sizing and different types of needles like shading versus lining,” Haener said.
Cantrell goes to Haener for his tattooing needs because there is something about getting a hand poked tattoo—especially knowing the artist. He said he doesn’t have a relationship with any artists in town and doesn’t have the money to go regularly.
“There’s something about them that’s intimate, and it’s about having this moment together,” Cantrell said.
Haener said that hand poked tattooing is a rewarding experience.
“It definitely plays into understanding a practice, understanding a discipline, and focusing on craft and understanding audiences’ intentions when they want a tattoo,” Haener said.
Instagram’s influence
“There are so many stick ‘n’ poke artists on Instagram,” Haener said.
Because Moscow is a smaller community, word of her hand poke tattooing got around through social media. On Instagram, people show off their new tattoos and promote their work.
“I’ll get DM’d randomly and I’m trying to get people to email me because I usually just use Instagram,” Haener said. “But it’s like a business model.”
They use it to advertise, share their digital portfolio and the platform gives instant connections to other artists around the world Haener said.
“It’s like a way without a license to share work … you can have underground moments that subvert mainstream art culture,” Haener said.
Zoe Kolln, a licensed tattoo artist in Olympia, Washington, recently opened her own shop and uses Instagram for promotional purposes.
“Many of my customers find me through Instagram, I really think that platform has changed the tattooing industry a lot. Instagram has made finding and choosing an artist that’s right for you way more accessible,” Kolln said.
Before social media, Kolln said customers had to go to shops in person and look through printed portfolios—which you still can do — but Instagram makes it easier to look for what they want.
Flash sheet of options for a plant tattoo. Photo Courtesy of Zoe Kolln.
A machine free shop
Kolln runs her own shop — Sans Machines.
“Originally when I was young, I just wanted to learn to tattoo so I could tattoo myself for free and get tattoos before I turned 18,” Kolln said. “But later tattooing became something I loved after doing my first few on myself.”
Kolln got into tattooing when she was in high school and learned from people who didn’t know what they were doing.
“It was during a time when information on hand poking was very scarce on the internet and when my family didn’t own a computer. During that time, many people in my area still didn’t have internet in their homes or if they did it was very slow dial-up,” Kolln said.
When Kolln was young, she said she didn’t think someone could do hand poked tattoos professionally. Instead — she focused on learning machines.
“I began to research more about machine tattooing since I knew tattooing as a general matter was something I was interested in doing in the future,” Kolln said. “I got myself some machines and bought a few books on machine tattooing.”
She learned how to take the machines apart and how to tune them. She then started practicing this art form on skin and fruit.
“Still, when I worked with machines, I never felt the same connection to that medium as I did with hand poke tattooing,” Kolln said.
This missed connection could have gotten better with time, Kolln said. She called the machines “loud” but her love for machine-free work won out.
The idea that tattoos can be hand poked well, hit Kolln when she found Boff Konkerz’s website. Konkerz is an English machine-free tattoo artist who has done entire sleeves and back pieces in the hand poked style.
Kolln met Konkerz when he came to Seattle, Washington to do a guest spot at a local parlor.
Kolln and a friend who was also learning hand poking at the time, booked appointments.
“When we met them, they politely showed us how they make their tools and allowed us to observe the tattooing process and ask any questions we had,” Kolln said. “They encouraged us to pursue our art and our tattooing. After that, I began tattooing again with a very different and refreshed perspective,” Kolln said.
But this renewed interest in hand poked tattoos for Kolln took years of practice to get to where she is today.
Kolln received her Bachelor of Arts from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
“Right after I graduated with my B.A. I began taking classes with a local organization doing a small business planning program. Straight after that program I began my studio, and I’ve been working from there since,” Kolln said.
She opened her shop in late 2018 and has plans for it to grow.
“I do plan to remain a space that fosters and hosts plenty of machine-free artists too, and a studio which specifically emphasizes/specializes in creating a space welcoming for artists using traditional machine-free tattooing methods,” Kolln said.
Photo Courtesy of Zoe Kolln.
Misconceptions and culture
Haener said not many people have accepted hand poke artists because it has a punk reputation.
“It’s nice, I’d say it’s a pretty good tattoo, and it’s convenient because I kind of take away the scariness of a shop,” Haener said. “Because it’s my house and I’m just a person.”
Kolln said there are a few misconceptions around machine free tattoos. Such as, how long hand poked tattoos take, how they may not last and their quality.
Tattoos can take time — hand or machine — Kolln said.
“Hand poke tattoos might take forever if your artist doesn’t know their craft very well, usually when I hear of hand poke’s taking forever it’s because it was a home-made tattoo which was done poorly by someone who didn’t know how to achieve their design well on the skin,” Kolln said.
But Kolln said she believes people would rather have a skilled artist take their time to make the piece of art. Hand poked tattoos are like machine tattoos when they can last. Kolln said, if the artist did it correctly — got the ink into the dermis layer of the skin — then the tattoo is permeant. Kolln said this also depends on if the artist used real tattoo ink or tattoo grade India ink.
Tattoos do not have to look bad, Kolln said. It depends on the artists, just like with machines.
“Well, if you go to someone who isn’t an artist, then yes you’ll have a poor tattoo. Just like if you price shop at studios and go to your local ultra-discount tattoo shop, you’re probably going to leave with a poor-quality tattoo,” Kolln said.
Checking out the artists’ portfolio to see if you like the artist’s style is important, Kolln said —just like with machine artists.
Buying supplies to do hand poked tattoos might have gained them the reputation of being unprofessional Kolln said.
“But now-a-days you can also easily buy machines online without a license too, so bad tattoos out of homes are made with both machines and without. Unprofessional tattooing isn’t or shouldn’t be associated with any one particular method of tattooing,” Kolln said.
Story by Kali Nelson
Illustration by Riley Helal
Editor’s Note: The original version of this story did not include that Zoe Kolln is a licensed tattoo artist in Washington.