The word ‘tattoo’ comes from the Polynesian ‘tatau’. The highly visible and confronting, tattoos of Polynesians inspired early European sailors of the 18 th century to undergo the procedure and thus ...

The Aranui 5 is a passenger-freighter vessel that makes 14-day voyages between Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. James D. Morgan/Getty Images Born on the 40-square-mile island of Ua Pou in the ...

Tattooing goes back millennia and spans cultures, as evidenced by mummified remains ,yet many details of the body modification's origins have been shrouded in mystery. Now an ancient bone tattoo kit ...

Lio Faamasino didn't start with a formal apprenticeship in tattooing. He didn't learn in a shop, and he originally bought a machine to ink himself out of his own home. All three of those details would ...

GARDEN GROVE – Not widely practiced, the tattooing art of tatau has been a right of passage for men and women in Samoa for centuries, and a small shop in Garden Grove is one of a few places stateside ...

MONTEREY >> Marlo Kaleookalani Lualemana is an artist. Her canvas is human skin. Here tools are a bright orange Sharpie pen, a red Bic pen, ink and a vibrating needle. The Salinas resident is among a ...

Each year, Butter adds new ornament designs to her exquisitely made ‘Nei Hua’ ornaments. “As every year, Butter told this reporter, we’ve added seven new Hawaiian ornament designs just in time for ...

A set of four tiny combs from the Polynesian kingdom Tonga might be among the world's oldest tattoo kits. The tools had been sitting in storage in an Australian university for decades. A team of ...

It goes without saying that these days, tattoos are everywhere. And while societal acceptance of ink has ebbed and flowed, many people who spend hours in tattoo parlors adding to their growing ...