Handpoke Immersion Weekend
January 16–18, 2026 | Song Dog Studios | Carmel Valley, CA
Only 8 students • Payment plans available
A 2–day professional initiation into intentional handpoke tattooing.
Clean lines. Real technique. Sacred craft.
Leave with your first tattoo, done with your own hands.
This isn’t “stick-and-poke.”
This is ethical, conscious, lineage-based tattooing for artists who want to learn with integrity, precision, slowness, and ceremony.
Over one powerful weekend, you will learn everything required to safely and confidently handpoke tattoo — and you will tattoo a small design on your own skin before you go home.
You’ll learn:
✔ Safe setup, hygiene, sterilization, cross-contamination
✔ Skin anatomy + depth
✔ Linework, stretching, hand pressure, flow
✔ Designing for handpoke (not machine)
✔ How to hold a grounded, regulated client container
✔ Creating sacred space, intention & breathwork
✔ Bandaging, healing, and aftercare
This is professional, trauma-aware, and ritual-led education.
When you leave this training, you don’t just “understand the theory.”
You leave with skill in your hands, and a tattoo you created.
THE EXPERIENCE
Handpoke is slow, quiet, intimate, and intentional.
The tattoo becomes a meditation — breath, presence, needle, ink, skin.
No buzzing machines.
Just the body, the symbol, and the ritual of marking your own flesh.
This method is:
Gentle on the skin
Powerful energetically
Accessible without machines
Reverent to its ancestral roots
Rooted in somatic awareness
WHY HANDPOKE
✔ Beginners with zero tattoo experience
✔ Artists wanting to add handpoke to their practice
✔ People drawn to tattoo as ritual, prayer, spell, altar, or embodiment
✔ Creatives who want a sacred gateway into tattooing
WHO THIS IS FOR
🔥 Your first handpoke tattoo, performed by you
🔥 Professional-level handpoke training
🔥 Certificate of completion
🔥 Confidence in setup, depth, hygiene, and technique
🔥 A small, supportive cohort (only 8 seats)
🔥 The ability to begin tattooing safely and ethically
WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH
DAY 1 — Foundations
Opening circle + grounding breathwork
Hygiene, safety, bloodborne pathogens basics
Tools + workstation setup
Designing for handpoke
Depth, stretch, pressure, body ergonomics
Linework and dotwork drills on practice skins
Somatic presence + keeping client nervous system safe
DAY 2 — First Tattoo
Opening ritual
Students finalize their designs
Placement, stencil, flow
Guided one-on-one supervision
Each student handpokes their tattoo
Closing circle + aftercare guidance
You will be tattooing on your own skin.
(Iris will supervise every step.)
THE WEEKEND SCHEDULE
The moon moves through Taurus — the sign of the body, ritual, art, touch, sensation, slowness, and embodiment.
This weekend is built for:
grounding into the body
sacred craft
making marks with intention
devotion instead of speed
ENERGY OF JANUARY 16–18, 2026
Tuition: $1,777
Only 8 seats
Payment plans available
Deposit option to hold your spot
Optional add-ons:
Supply kit to take home
1–1 mentorship session after the training
PRICE + PAYMENT PLANS
Song Dog Studios
Carmel Valley, CA
(Exact address shared upon enrollment)
Hotels, Airbnbs, and campgrounds nearby.
LOCATION
This is intimate, hands-on training.
Spots will go quickly.
ENROLLMENT
FAQs
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No. Beginners are welcome.
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Yes — you will tattoo yourself under supervision.
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You will learn professional hygiene, setup, and aftercare. This is not casual or DIY tattooing.
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With practice, you will be able to use the skills learned in this course to eventually offer tattoos safely and ethically. This is not a process to be rushed. You will need to take your time to practice before you begin to tattoo others.
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Yes — monthly payments available.