Molly Francis - Tattoo Artist
I was late to hand-poke tattooing. I had my first machined tattoo - the only one I've ever chosen from studio flash - in 1994 at the age of 20. Fast forward 22 years, considerable hours of chair time and numerous inkings later and I encountered the world of hand-poke.
I was lucky enough to discover Lucy Brown Tattoos (check out her Facebook and Instagram - she is amazing), secure a personalised design and then visit Lucy in her home studio and sit for a beautiful hand-poked lotus flower tattoo on the front of my shoulder. Chatting with Lucy throughout her work that day inspired me to find out more about the technique and have a go.
I was lucky enough to discover Lucy Brown Tattoos (check out her Facebook and Instagram - she is amazing), secure a personalised design and then visit Lucy in her home studio and sit for a beautiful hand-poked lotus flower tattoo on the front of my shoulder. Chatting with Lucy throughout her work that day inspired me to find out more about the technique and have a go.
My designs and tattoos are all unique. Whether a commission piece with a detailed specification,
a vague idea of a design and placement or a selection from my flash, I will only do each tattoo once.
This way each customer knows they will never see their tattoo on someone else's skin.
I love the effects that machine artists create these days. The world of design inspiration in modern western society has blossomed in recent years making personalised and unique inkwork more accessible and therefore more mainstream.
With body modification having an element of the unique and sometimes extreme, those keen to explore the realm of possibilities continue to look beyond the mainstream and the commonplace.
Hand-poked tattoos, in my opinion, inhabit a space on the periphery of the body mod community. The effects are different and the experience is quite unique. I have had the honour of designing and carrying out some very significant work for people and have heard the words ‘I’m never having a machine tattoo again!’ on more than one occasion.
How is hand poke style different to machine work?
It's pretty self-explanatory - we use the same needles and ink as you would use in a tattoo machine. The only different is the ink is 'poked' into the skin with the needle rather than machined in.
How long does a hand-poke tattoo take to do?
As you might imagine, hand-poke style takes longer than machine work; exactly how much longer depends on the design being tattooed. Larger areas of black or colour are difficult to achieve and will take longer to do. Line work is also slower and shading is built up more gradually than with using a machine.
what are the benefits of having a tattoo hand-poked rather than machined?
Although it takes longer to hand-poke a tattoo than to do it with a machine, the benefits are considerable. Some consider it to be less painful but as anyone who has had any kind of tattoo before will agree, pain thresholds differ greatly between areas of the body and for different people. Healing time is a fraction of that of a machined tattoo - a matter of days, with far less bleeding, scabbing and itching. The effects when healed are more subtle than a machine tattoo.
The notion of a tattoo being ‘poked’ by hand is far from new.
The oldest inkwork known to man would have been put in the skin using a similar method - be it the runes and symbols used by the Vikings, the tribal markings of ancient civilisations or the crude numbers enforced on prisoners and slaves during numerous worldwide conflicts throughout history, the method of adding permanent marks into a person’s skin has been around for some time.
Traditional tattoo styles such as Maori and Polynesian patternwork and Japanese Irezumi date back about 2000 years. Markings used to denote power, status, family and tribal significance have been carved, scarred and stained onto human skin using a wide variety of methods throughout civilisation.
The oldest recorded tattoos, however, were found on the remains of a European iceman. The inkwork is thought to have been therapeutic rather than cosmetic and has been dated to around 3250 B.C. These would have been done using simple techniques involving sharpened sticks or bones and crude ‘ink’ made from powdered natural materials.
Modern day tattoos find their roots in numerous histories.
The enormous range of styles and designs available to the contemporary tattoo artist takes its inspiration
from all of the aforementioned origins and also combines personal taste with art, symbology and individual expression.
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