My very first tattoo was one that I gave to myself, on the worn carpeting of the bedroom
that I grew up in. It was the result of an impulse purchase, a stick-and-poke kit that I found
online and bought on a whim. And on a hot summer’s day in between college semesters, with
nothing else to do, I quickly sketched out a design, put down some paper towels and dove in with unfounded confidence. Having done very little research into technique, my tattoo began to take form with a sloppiness that could only be achieved by an impulsive amateur.
The stick and poke tattoo (aka hand poke tattoo) world has changed.
In just a few short years, we've seen a total seachange in opinion. Before 2020, major news sources (SF Chronicle, NY Times, VICE, NEWSWEEK) wrote about Stick and Poke Tattoo Kit®as a fun but dangerous gimmick product. People mocked the idea that people could tattoo at home - and on themselves (even though it's literally one of the oldest practices in the world).
"It's not safe!" the public decried. "You'll get diseases!" and, "You can't do your own tattoo, it's HARD!" But hundreds of thousands of people tried it at home during the pandemic. The world saw that DIY hand poke tattooing can be a safe, easy and rewarding art form.
Fast forward to 2023.
We've now sold over 50,000 kits and there are many hand poke tattoo kits to choose from [...]
I'm going to be honest about this one. We've had a few bad reviews. It's always about shipping, and it's often out of our hands. The USPS is not a perfect machine! But they are unionized and our friends, so we support them.
The GOOD news is that the quality of our products gets 5 stars pretty much every time. Don't believe me, check out our User Generated Content to check!
Our community is amazing. They share their joy and artistry with us and the world! Thank you!
Thousands of customers have tagged us in their creations over the past 8 years. Facebook and Instagram host most of the body art created by our superior custom inks (vegan, small batch, made in the west coast USA). Thanks for adding to the community and giving people an idea of how they can also [...]
We’ve come up with 5 reasons why you should give DIY tattooing a try.
Stick and Pokes Won’t Break the Bank:
While we love machine tattoos and tattoo artists, a visit to the tattoo parlor can be expensive. On average machine tattooists in the US generally charge $150 an hour or more, and have minimum rates of $50-$100–no matter how small your design is. If you have a simple design in mind, a stick and poke may be the right option for you and your wallet. You can buy our basic kit for $46 and this will include all the materials you need to do several stick and poke tattoos on you and your friends.
At home hand poke tattooing is at once really easy AND really hard. It's both very safe AND can be dangerous! The Complexity! No wonder people want to know how to stick and poke tattoo.
Stick & Poke Tattoo Kit® provides the most detailed, up to date information on how to tattoo in a little 42 page booklet - that has been updated yearly since 2015! We also have a bunch of helpful videos. Our photo gallery and Instagram feed (below) showcase the wide variety of art that can be accomplished with needle and ink in 30-60 minutes.
Sometimes you just need to read the whole process in a few steps, so here are the basic instructions on how to give yourself a stick and poke tattoo at home.
The EU is known for strict consumer protection, and coming from the US, honestly, it's refreshing. They just laid the law down to protect 1/4 of their citizens - the portion of Europeans likely to get a tattoo. In the US, we seem to be going the other way, allowing corporations to pollute and poison and sell consumer products that kill us and our animal friends. Take Glyphosate, AKA RoundUp. Monstanto/Bayer makes billions on this chemical because it's just so easy to kill weeds. They spend Billions making sure we continue to spray it all over the place and give ourselves and our neighbors cancer in the process....Ah, unchecked capitalism at it's best. My point is that if a growing tattoo industry has anything to say about it (or "pay about it" to congress), cadmium red pigment is [...]
Recently, our stencil transfer paper supplier (vegan, made in the USA, premium brand) accidentally sent us green carbon paper stencil paper instead of our standard green freehand paper. This confused a lot of people, but it is also a great moment to learn about different stencil paper.
Sidenote: we use the "green" paper standard in all our kits because it transfers better on all skin tones, including those with deeper brown, red, and yellow undertones.
The good news with Carbon paper is that you get more of the inked part of transfer paper for your money - two sheets instead of one! (these are made for people who do tattoos regularly and just need more carbon colored paper.
The only catch is that another step is required involving using your own paper to transfer the image. Below, I show the additional steps required to get the most out of your stencil paper.
Thank you Los Angeles Times for choosing us as a great gift for gen z this year. <3 The practice kit is an excellent choice for people to practice with before doing a permanent design on themselves ;-)
You are either a real ass bitch or a fake ass bitch in these streets. Who cares if your freckles are fake. Cosmetic tattooing has been around for centuries. It’s a risky business that’s why it hasn’t been popularized in the mainstream. You should treat the process of giving yourself tattoo freckles as a scared embellishments.
With any at home tattooing you should make a clean and sterile space to work. The freckle placement should be mapped out in compliment to your face. Making sure each freckle is in their well intended spot. Deciding on color should be as intentional as possible. Don’t just tattoo black dots on your face, over time with sun exposure, you can’t be sure how they will look.
I would avoid pores on your face. The ink will come right out. And you don’t [...]
