Hawaiian Tattoos

Archive for the ‘Maori Tattoo Design’ Category

Maori tattoo designs a way to trace the natural geography of the person’s facial features

Truly the most distinctive of all tattoo designs in the world of tattoo art, the Maori tattoo designs have their own renowned place in the crop of Polynesian tattoos. A sacred art or so-called a ritual among the Maori people living in New Zealand, this traces back its existence or deciphering to the islands of east Polynesia.

Traditionally known as ta moko, this literally means to strike or to top. Being curvilinear in form they are based on the spirals and are truly one of its kind and incomparable from all the other popular tattoo patterns. Not only unique in its pattern this also is different on the tools, which are utilized for tattooing from the traditional tattooing art.

The Maori artist using a knife or chisel instead of a needle, which are smooth and serrated, the ink is applied by the use of incisions. The uhi or the tattoo is made from the bone of an albatross.

Tattooing a scared art and not just a symbol inked on the body, in Maori community this holds a very significant meaning itself and the process requiring time and inducing pain is considered as a procedure related to being sacred and being moreover a ritual.

The inks that are used for Maori tattoos designs also being truly unique; they used two kinds of inks to design a tattoo. The body color being made from an animal, which is half vegetable and caterpillar, the outline was made by using a darker black ink made from burned wood. Read the rest of this entry »