Cross Tattoo Designs


Pretty Foot Tattoos


Foot tattoos are not only adorned by women but men too follow this fashion trend. If your work environment frowns upon tattoos, the foot is a great place to get one. Tattoos on the feet are inconspicuous and if you don't wish to share your tattoo with everyone, this is one region that is usually covered. But they can be quite painful as it is a bony region with very little fat content. They can be unisex as well, so if you wish to ink something meaningful or symbolic for your other half, both of you can get one each on the foot. This way, not everyone gets to see it and it remains a sexy secret between the two of you.
But before you decide to get inked on your foot, remember that foot tattoos are particularly painful. Also, foot tattoos require extra precautions when compared to other part of your body. The healing period for a foot tattoo is considerable. You can't cover the part of the foot which has the tattoo or anything that will rub against in constantly like socks or shoes. If you have to go out, the foot should be covered and a sunscreen lotion should be applied on it, with very less exposure to the sun. Utmost care has to be taken to keep your foot clean with regular warm water foot baths. You can't scrub your foot; it has to be patted dry. Also, they tend to fade more easily than tattoos inked on other parts of the body. So you have to keep in mind that re-inking might be required regularly to keep you tattoo constantly looking attractive and a lot of care has to be taken of the tattoo as well as your foot.

The Origins of Maori Tattoos


The Maoris are an ethnic tribe in New Zealand. Tattoos take up a very important place in their tradition with deep meanings associated with it. Maori tattoos are a part and parcel of the Maori tribe in New Zealand and their tattoos aren't to be taken lightly. Maori tattoos have intricate spirals and curved shapes making up the whole tattoo, it is striking and every tattoo symbolizes something an apart from the design, the placement of the same represents an important fact. There is a long history connected to Maori tattoos that has been sincerely believed and passed on from generation to generation.
It is believed that there was once a fierce warrior known as Mataora who fell in love with a princess known as Niwareka. He ill treated her and she left him to return to her father's kingdom. Mataora realized his mistake and vowed to bring her back and win her heart once again. In his journey to reach the kingdom, he faced many hardships, when he finally reached his destination; he was in a messy and bedraggled state and was humiliated by Niwareka's family. But he did not lose home and begged for forgiveness to Niwareka and she happily agreed after seeing such a drastic change in him. Her father then taught him the art tattoo of Maori tattoos to take back with him to his land. This is believed to be Maori tattoos origins.
Usually, Maori tattoos were not inked into the skin by needles, the instrument used to tattoo were small chisels that left the skin in grooves. The tattoo artists were revered and tattooing as considered a spiritual and sacred ceremony. Tattoos represented the status of a person and there were different designs and placements for men as well as women. It was believed that when people died, they would recognize each other with these tattoos in their afterlife and hence it was an important ritual to undertake. Men received their tattoos on their face, thighs and buttocks, whereas women received them on their lips and chin. When the Europeans came to New Zealand, chisels were replaced by needles, but lately here has been a comeback of chisels in New Zealand by the Maori tribe in recognition of their roots and heritage.
In the past there were eight common correlations of the Maori tattoos significance and their placement of the body, they were as follows:
A person with no tattoos was considered as a person with no social standing and was looked down upon.

Polynesian Tribal Tattoos - Comparison of Maori and Samoan Tattoos


Polynesian tribal tattoos are made up of extremely intricate and detailed designs following an ancient art. Some of the most common Polynesian art tattoo design are the Hawaiian, Samoan, Maori and Aztecs. They each have their own tribal styles that are identifiable to them. In this article, we will be discussing the two most prominent ones - the Maori and Samoan.
Maori tattoos have been around for over thousand years and were originally practiced by the native Maoris of New Zealand. They are very distinctive and have their own unique identity compared to its Polynesian counterparts. They are characterized by individual lines and repetition of certain motifs and designs. They can be described as essentially curve linear and mostly based on spirals. The original practice was called moko which is extremely painful as it is done by carving the skin with chisels instead of being punctured. It symbolizes status and rank in the society and are usually done of the face, thighs and buttocks. Nowadays, this of course is not the usual practice anymore as modern tattoo artists used this early patterns as inspirations. If one wants an authentic Maori tat theme, he has to find an artist who specializes in it.
Samoan tattoos are called tatatau with ta which means to strike with tatau referring to the line and motifs that are inked onto the body. They are characterized by the dense shading and fine parallel-lines combined with several motifs and geometric patterns like squares, dots and rectangles. This is very significant to the Samoans as they are symbols to identify their status in the society. They usually covered the large part of the body like the back, legs and arms. They are definitely an ethnic marker, a true symbol that one is of Samoan heritage and identity to those who are true to this statement.