Lockdown hobby to a full-time stab 

Down busy Victoria Street, a set of green doors sit open. Walk up these stairs and peer inside you’ll see Poison Studios, a tattoo studio home to professionals, apprentices, and everyone’s favourite, Guitar Hero. Joey Mexted is one of the apprentices at Poison, working and training in the space since April 2022.  

Joey started her tattoo journey during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, doing at-home Stick and Poke pieces on herself to keep entertained over isolation. Putting it aside after lockdown as not wanting to risk infection or wrong technique. Joey didn’t think much of the skill until she visited the Poison Studios herself.

After talking with the current apprentice there, she was offered an apprenticeship spot. In April 2022 she started learning the skills to use a tattoo machine while offering her services as a Stick and Poke artist. 

While training as a machine artist, Joey started to develop her style.

Creating work that she wants to tattoo makes it easier for ideas to come to life, other sources of inspiration for Joey include looking on Pinterest, or seeing pieces of work her clients already have.  

Joey’s days don’t just revolve around drawing designs. She starts her day with a bus ride into the city centre from Te Awamutu, unlocking the studio if she’s the first one there and setting up the space for the day.

She then looks at her books and prepares her day for any clients she has coming in, redrawing designs as options for a client to approve when they arrive. 

If time allows she and the other artists in the studio will spend some time jamming out on Guitar Hero while they wait for clients to come in. Sometimes walk-ins appear to get a quick tattoo with the client being in and out in thirty minutes.

Most of the time, Joey is busy with pre-booked clients, who have made an appointment in advance – upwards of months – to see and get work done by her.  

Joey has a rotation of regulars who get her work, these clients put trust in Joey to make her mark on them, she is often given a vague concept and then given free rein on the design. “I just like art, and drawing. Being able to use that in my career is fulfilling”.  

With her work for the day done, machines have stopped buzzing and glad wrap has been taken down and discarded, Joey is finally done for her day. Locking the studio up and running to the bus to get back to Te Awamutu, Joey is excited for her day to repeat tomorrow.