Meeting Chris.
The prospect of a complete stranger jabbing a needle into your flesh with the express intent to mark you for life may be daunting for some. But the experience of my first stick & poke tattoo was far from unpleasant.
Chris Lafferty, 33, the man behind Game of Pricks has been tattooing for just over two years, specialising in stick & poke. The process involves ink being hand pushed into the skin using only a needle. This method can be slower than using a machine and is assumed to be more painful.
I met Chris at his private space located in the local barbers, Rodney’s Chop Shop. I wanted to find out more about the process, discuss his own relationship with tattooing and his thoughts on the industry.
“I had no confidence artistically and had no interest in being a tattooer” Chris confides, “I did manage a tattoo shop, so I worked in the area, but really only started doing that because I thought it would be an easy way to get some management experience”.
“I started getting tattooed more regularly, I was being tattooed by another artist –Wolfgang– she wanted to try something without a machine. And I was fascinated, I’d had a lot of tattoos made with machines at this point, but I’d never found that process fascinating, never left an appointment thinking I want to do that”. Despite his perhaps unorthodox route into the industry Chris’s unique style has amassed a following of over 6,000 on Instagram.
Meeting Chris for the first time is a relaxed affair, he encourages you to mull over the tattoo print placement without the pressure to get it right straightaway. Figuring out what works for you seems to be at the top of his priority list, “This is the part we can still come back from” he jokes.
After 15 minutes or so of what I assumed to be tedious deliberation on my part, accompanied by phrases like “Can we move it just half a cm down”, and “can we just rotate it 3mm to the left?”, the print is finally in place. But this is all part of the process and the interaction with his clients is just as important to him as the tattooing itself.
The question of apprenticeships.
Chris, himself did not take the traditional apprentice route, instead learning on the job in his management role, he attributes his learning to spending time in the environment and asking questions.
“I helped coordinate the apprenticeships, so I had an idea of what they entailed. But – there was no studio at that point – I think in the whole country – where you could do an apprenticeship that would focus on just stick & poke.” He says, explaining his reasons for not doing an apprenticeship himself.
“Contemporary stick & poke is quite new. It’s not wildly new, but it has taken awhile to filter through some cities. So I started learning stick and poke for that sake of learning something I had an interest in” says Chris “and it just snowballed”.
As the purple lines of the printed stencil began to be replaced by the series of black dots that would make up my tattoo, we delve deeper into the topic of apprenticeships. According to Chris there is some division within the tattoo community as to whether or not it’s necessary to do one.
“People who get into tattooing through non formal sorts of traditional apprenticeship often get referred to as ‘scratchers’, there’s a degree of elitism but generally, the criticism is that the reason you need to do an apprenticeship is because you need to learn proper hygiene standards” Chris says.
“I think any good tattooer, if you ask them what the most important thing to learn is – will say hygiene”.
Apprenticeships take time and for good reason. Learning good technique and proper hygiene standards is crucial for people hoping to practise safely, but not everyone can afford to commit to several years of often low or no pay to complete an apprenticeship. Safety and good hygiene should be the priority but the question is how does the tattoo community approach this if people intend to tattoo without doing an apprenticeship? This is a topic of debate among Chris and other tattoo arists.
“I just don’t think there’s any emphasis on making information readily available.” says Chris “Like I say, if the main argument is that tattooers who have come into it through any other avenue are not practicing proper hygiene then you say, okay, well we make hygiene standards general knowledge, and you can you just Google it, then what’s the problem?”.
You can listen to our full conversation about the topic below.
The end result.
The entire process takes just over an hour, however the back and forth conversation and the eased environment makes the time fly. The pain of the hand pushed needle is no more intense than when it is powered by a machine, perhaps due to the lack of the constant drilling of a tattoo gun, perhaps due to the atmosphere.
Chris is a professional. Despite his non traditional route, at no point in the process did it feel like I was being tattooed by someone who who wasn’t up to the task. He takes his time, putting you at ease, answering any and all questions and ensuring you’re aware of the correct aftercare process. It seems the joy for him is not merely the process of pushing ink into skin but building a relationship with whomever he is tattooing. It is an art form – and it’s an experience, as opposed to just a means to an end.
Stick & poke is one of the oldest forms of tattooing, and throughout the centuries has been practised around the globe by an array of different cultures. From Thai bamboo techniques and the Polynesian method of using a collection of implements (called ‘au ta), to the more modern use of needle and ink. The process has stood the test of time and its recent resurge in popularity is a testament to this intricate art form.
Game of Pricks is located inside Rodney’s Chop Shop at 7 Eldon Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7JG.
The Young Creatives of Newcastle 