Beautiful Hand-Poked Tattoos

Known for its unique look, stick and poke tattoos are an ancient form of body art. Find inspiration with these simple and complex ideas. Like homemade sourdough and DIY haircuts, stick poke tattoos — also called stick and poke, hand poke, and machine-free tattoos — are having a moment.

Of course, just like sourdough and home haircuts, stick poke tattoos have had many moments around the world, over the years.

Tattoos inked by hand significantly predate machine tattoos. And traditional tattooing practices, like Japanese tebori, have a long cultural history.