- I'm just being jabbed, constantly.
- Yeah.
(lively music)
- You didn't play with needles as a kid?
(laughs)
- Who am I with?!
There is a difference between hand-poking
and hand-tapping, I think.
Definitely, watched Rihanna get it,
and it was kind of freaky, she looks like she was in pain.
- I've never seen it done.
- So, this kind of freaks me out too.
I'm thinking like it's gonna be like
a gigantically long needle.
I'm freaking out.
- I mean, I imagine it's actually like a piercing, but like.
- [Both] Like multiple times
What are you looking forward to most?
- I'm excited to have something on my sternum.
(lively music)
- My name is Rachel Finelli, and I'm a tattooer.
I do both machine and hand-poke work,
and I work out of my house.
- W.T.F. Hand-poking?
- Hand-poking is exactly what it sounds like.
I strap a needle to a piece of wood,
and poke you manually, Over and over and over again.
- How deep do you?
- It's not deep, it's not as deep as a shot.
It's kind of like, paper cut level.
- I hate paper cuts.
- I hate getting tattooed,
(all laugh)
it's not as bad as you would expect it.
- [Interviewer On Left] Why do you think it's a trend now?
- Even with machine tattooing,
there is an element of sort of technology
coming into the body and the artwork.
And when you take that away,
you get something that's a little bit more.
I don't know, precious? A little bit more special.
I mean, you have to be focused to be able to do it.
It takes so long, and it's a little bit grueling.
So, it's kind of a labor of love.
I think, there's so much stuff about your body
that you don't get to choose.
Size, shape, color, texture,
and it feels really good to be in control of one thing.
This is my body, I'm going to make it look like
what I want it to look like.
- Well, lets send this directly to my mom.
I'm ready, are you ready?
You're going first, I'm not going first.
- I know.
(light rock music)
I can't believe I'm getting it on my chest.
(both laugh)
a little bit, I know it's going to be really painful.
- Okay, so what are you thinking orientation-wise
with the dots.
- Dots down.
- Dots down, like this.
- Yes.
- Okay.
(light rock music)
- Yes.
(loud thumping)
Ooh!
Yeah, it does.
(light rock music)
It's done?
She did such a great job!
It stings a little bit still.
It's like the sun coming up.
(techno music)
- I think it's perfect.
- Yeah.
- Good Job!
- [Fellow Interviewer]
(techno music)
- So we just got tatted.
- We survived!
- We survived.
So, I'll say, all in all, it really
wasn't that bad as I anticipated.
I definitely, maybe I might've psyched myself out
a little bit more than was necessary.
- Same.
I feel like afterwards, the pain diminishes a lot.
- Oh my god, the popping!
(loud thumping)
- Ooh!
- It's puncturing your skin, every time.
So you could physically hear like the...
- [Both] Poom, Poom, Poom!
So gross!
- I would fuck it up, if I were a tattoo artist,
but yes I would do it again.
- I loved the experience all and all,
and will definitely do it again.
- Yep, 10 out of 10.
- Go get hand-poked, go get stabbed by somebody.
- Do it yourself, don't do it yourself.
- [Both] (laugh)
(techno music)