When a guy says he wants to hand poke you on the beach, you might raise an eyebrow or swiftly move away… but I was intrigued by what this ink-covered tattoo artist with a cheeky, metallic grin was talking about.
Silver Jerry, as he’s known, hails from the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta and is making his mark – quite literally – doing traditional hand poke tattoos in the holiday island of Bali.
Hand poked tattoos have been around since Ancient Egypt, with mummified women found to bare tattoos around their tummies and thighs, thought to protect them during pregnancy and childbirth.
I might not be in the market for pregnancy just yet but I love tattoos. I’ve had several done in Australia, Europe and Bali. But all by the regular technique with that soothing buzz of a gun.
What is a hand poked tattoo?
Jerry boasted the benefits of hand poking, which involved meditation prior to the tattoo, claiming it to be less painful and faster to heal.
And because it’s done with a hand tool, you don’t need to power a gun so you can have your tattoo experience anywhere – even on the beach or in the jungle!
I was sold.
We decided to look for a scenic spot up from Munggu beach near Canggu, nestled under the coconut trees. I had a box seat to the waves crashing in front of me and cows grazing on the grass behind me. Ahhh the serenity!
I laid out my sarong and started to relax while Jerry set up his tools. He uses a hand carved wooden stick and tapes a fresh tattoo needle to it, masking it tight.
The process of a hand poked tattoo
The process begun with Jerry lighting some incense and doing his own solo meditation.
We then meditated together as he waved some incense around me.
Feeling nervous about getting tattooed on my shin, the first time on such a boney spot, I asked him to do a few pokes without the ink to make sure I could handle the pain.
I barely felt it so I didn’t believe he’d actually done it properly but allowed him to proceed with the ritual tattoo anyway because I was feeling so at ease and in the moment about the whole experience.
He dipped the needle into the small pot of black ink and began to poke dots, one-by-one, forming lines in the shape of the mandala inspired design he’d drawn for me the previous day.
Pain free tattoo
With a regular tattoo, I embrace the pain, sadistically enjoying the burn of the needle scraping through my skin. But I use meditation techniques to escape the feeling when it gets a bit too much.
But with the hand poke tattoo, it genuinely felt relaxing with barely the slightest bit of pain, even as it went over my shin bone, which I’d been nervous about.
Jerry says that’s because of the ritual we’d done; that the spiritual connection we’d experienced had prevented the pain.
It could also be to do with the fact that a hand poke tattoo is so precise, every dot is one swift in-and-out movement before moving along to the next dot. A machine drives the needle in and out so quickly during the drawing movement, that it’s likely to scrape and cause some pain.
Quick healing tattoo
There was no blood and less swelling, redness and peeling than a regular tattoo. Jerry said I could go swimming within a couple of days – a much shorter healing time that the two-week period of a regular one.
I was so happy with the end result. It healed quickly and cleanly and is now one of my favourite tattoos and has already received many compliments since I had it done.
I would highly recommend this experience to anyone thinking about having a ritual tattoo experience, anyone nervous about getting tattoos or anyone wanting to have the freedom to get tattooed at any place.
Find Jerry on Instagram @silverjerry______ and follow me too! @roxannetaylormedia
Subscribe to my YouTube channel @roxannetaylormedia
Watch the full video I made for Silver Jerry, as featured in the Canggu Surf Film Festival 2018.
