India ink for stick and poke how to#
India ink for stick and poke professional#

“I’m so glad that mine faded,” said a member from the class of 2019, who got a stick and poke tattoo of an anchor on her hip when she was in the eighth grade. “It’s really hard to have a bad day when my toe is smiling at me,” he said.įor others, though, stick and pokes aren’t necessarily pieces of art they want to stay on their bodies forever, and the impulsive sentiment associated with them is something that’s less than appealing. Kyle Blume ’21 expressed a sentimental attachment to his. “I regretted mine in the morning,” said Abby Dodd ’21. Or maybe they are more representative of a time of self-discovery and exploration. Even if the tattoo isn’t visually perfect, it holds meaning in its background and the time when it was done.

India ink for stick and poke professional#

It’s less planned out than tattoos given by professional artists, more a result of living in the moment than ruminating on a decision for an extended amount of time.įor some, getting a tattoo is merely a way to capture a moment, maybe a meaningful one spent with friends. Perhaps this is why the trend is so popular with college students, who may turn to the form as a way to express the carefree, youthful lifestyle that so many of us lead-or, in some cases, want to lead. “My friend from home does stick-and-pokes and she’s always wanted to give me one and I’ve always wanted one, but I didn’t want my parents to find out, so I told her to put it on my butt,” one student reported.įor most stick and poke recipients, the pieces had been fairly impulsive experiences. What’s more, it would appear that no two stick and pokes have the same origin story. Anchors, smiley faces, initials, and cacti all cropped up, even in a somewhat limited sampling. Perhaps what’s most striking about stick and pokes is the wide variety of designs that can be utilized, even within the limitations of what a 20-year-old college student can do with a needle and thread.

The trend has evidently spilled over into the very public domain of WesAdmits, where students looking to give or get stick and pokes can find others who are in on the scene.

India ink for stick and poke how to#

A surprisingly large amount of students on campus actually know how to give stick and poke tattoos, and have done so for friends, acquaintances, and other people who have sought them out with a specific design in mind. They’re often done among friends, in, well, less than professional contexts, and tend to be more spur-of-the-moment decisions than tattoos given by professionals in official parlors or studios. Another asked if the poster would want to learn how to do it together and then give each other tattoos.įor those less than familiar with the term, a stick and poke is essentially a DIY tattoo, applied with a needle and some sort of ink, often India Ink or pencil lead-although tattoo ink is also sometimes used. One girl plugged her Instagram account, which featured a visual portfolio of her work. The comments flooded in, with students volunteering themselves, tagging artfully skilled friends and classmates, and vouching for each other’s tattooing talents.