Tribal Belly Dancers

Tribal Belly Dancers

Belly Dance Dress

Belly Dance Dress

Sexiest Belly Dancer

Tribal Tattoo

Tattoos

Ethnic Tribal Jewellery

Ethnic Tribal Earrings

Ethnic Tribal Jewellery

Tribal Jewellery Neclace

Ethnic Tribal Jewellery Bangle

Ethnic Tribal Jewellery

Stone And Silver Jewellery

Ethnic Tribal Jewellery

Amazing Ring With Stones

Anthony's Tribal Tattoo, Inspired by Fiji

Last month I ran into Anthony in Penn Station with this interesting, yet unfinished, tattoo on his left arm:

A visitor from England, Anthony let me take the photo, but he was in a bit of a rush, so I didn't get too much information from him, other than this was a Polynesian-themed design, inspired by a trip he took to Fiji.

He credited Toni at Lycan Ink in Liverpool, England, with the work.

Thanks to Anthony for sharing with us here on Tattoosday.

Anthony's Dragon (and more!)

I spotted Anthony on the N train in Brooklyn and was happy to see him also switching for the local R train at 59th Street.

As luck would have it, both of us were headed home to Bay Ridge.

Anthony has a bunch of tattoos, and I snapped this photo of the dragon on his upper right arm:

It was inked by Joe at Brooklyn Ink.

He estimated that the work so far has been completed in about three two-hour sessions.

Work from Joe and other artists at Brooklyn Ink has previously appeared quite frequently on Tattoosday (all posts tagged as such here).

Anthony later emailed me photos of these shots as well:

The praying hands holding the rosary, I recall him telling me, were tattooed at Distinction Ink in Brooklyn. The tattoo reads "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned".

He did not tell me where he had this tribal sun done, but it's definitely an attention-grabbing piece and certainly worth a mention.

Thanks to Anthony for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tattoosday Goes To Hawai'i - All in the Family, Part 3 (Ikaika, In Progress)

Continuing with the mini-reunion, of sorts, with my family in Hawai'i, back in April, let's visit with my nephew Ikaika. If seeing my nephew Keali'i for the first time in 18 years was a trip, then talking to Ikaika was an all-out exercise in time travel, it seemed.

Ikaika, to my memory, was a toddler, barely a kid. Or, at least that's how I last remembered him. Now, he is an adult, and he remembered who I was, much to my amazement.

He shared his work in progress, a traditional-style Hawaiian pattern tribal sleeve, here:

This sleeve represents about twelve hours of work, all done by George "Keoki" Davis at HippoGrafix.

Ikaika also shared this hannya mask on the back of his calf, courtesy of "Tattoo Mike" Higuchi at Dark Side Tattoo in Honolulu:

Thanks to my nephew Ikaika for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Previously in the Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - All in the Family series:

Part 1, A Preface
Part 2, Keali'i's Sleeves

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Reston's Expansive Ink

I've alluded, in previous posts, to a trip to Ala Moana Center, during which I was astounded by the amount of tattoos I saw, much more than I recall seeing on my previous trip, five years ago.

I was in the expansive food court section of the complex when I met Reston and his uncle. I was first intrigued by the work on his left arm:

but then, in one of those rare Tattoosday moments in which I see much more than I anticipated, his uncle convinced Reston to show me his back, which revealed this wonderful work:

For Reston, his tattoos are tributes to his heritage. The large Buddha on his back acknowledges the Buddhist faith that can be found on his father's side of the family. The tiki and tribal patterns are in honor of his mother's Pacific Islander lineage. This is apparent from the merging of the two styles (and the names "mom" and "dad" at the top of his back:

In addition, Reston shared this cool lizard on his left shoulder:

Actually, in Hawaiian tattoo styles, this is referred to more specifically as a mo'o, which can be defined (source here) as a "spirit guardian (lizard) that protects a resource, such as a fishpond, from overuse and other abuse". Mo'o are also referred to as geckos.

There's a lot going on with Reston's personal canvas, but you can see the geographic shapes of the mo'o design jumping off the skin.

  All the work was done in California. The Buddha back piece was inked by Jon Highland, owner of 12 Monkeys Tattoo in Tracy, California. The majority of the tribal/Polynesian work was tattooed by Orly at Humble Beginnings Tattoo Studio in San Jose.

A hearty mahalo to Reston for being bold enough to remove his shirt in the Ala Moana food court so we could all get to better appreciate his ink. We here at Tattoosday thank you for your contributions to the site!

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Tricia Allen's The Polynesian Tattoo Today

This is the first of many posts to follow from my recent trip to the beautiful state of Hawai'i....

On Saturday, April 24, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a tattoo artist and writer who I have admired for quite some time.

I previously spoke about Tricia Allen when I looked at her book, Tattoo Traditions of Hawaii.


Now, with her new book freshly published, I not only got to have my copy signed, but I was fortunate enough to be there for the tattoo contest that followed.


The competition was divided up into four categories (Traditional Polynesian, Tribal, Non- Polynesian and Color). The whole event was pretty laid back, as far as tattoo contests go. In fact, there was a lot of work that was not entered among the audience that could have been in the money, so to speak.

With a heavy focus on the Polynesian style, the two entrants in the color category meant my tiger could have won third prize, at least, had I been astute (and courageous) enough to enter.


In the Traditional Polynesian category, I was particularly fond of Tino Hoffman's thigh piece (pictured, left) with a honu (sea turtle) at the center. Although one could also not help buy be impressed by Robert Medeiros (right), whose canvas merited him top honors in the Tribal category.

A whole slew of photos from the event can be seen here in one of the Facebook albums on the 808Ink fanpage. The magazine premieres next month as a quarterly publication dedicated to tattoos in and around Hawai'i.

It was clear to me that one of the many talents present was the namesake of Tattoos by Bong. I even had a chance to meet Bong, who was responsible for the incredible art on Mr. Medieros.

Having just flown in earlier that day from New York, I most likely would have been a little more hyper-involved with the post-contest mix of book signing (even the subjects featured in Ms. Allen's book were signing the pages on which they appeared) and tattoo admiration among the dozens of contestants and throngs of tattoo fans. But, as 10:00 PM approached, my internal clock was still screaming at me from the Eastern Time Zone yelling "4AM! 4AM!". So i had to bow out a little earlier than I would have liked to.

I spent just under five days on Oahu, and was amazed by the amount of tattooed folk I spotted, much more than I remember seeing just a few years earlier. The skyrocketing popularity of tattooing on the mainland is certainly mirrored in the fiftieth state and amplified, it is safe to say, by the deep roots of tattooing in Polynesian culture and history.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the beautiful, glossy pages of Tricia Allen's new book, which receives a ringing endorsement from us here at Tattoosday.


The book is no tiny effort. At 285 pages, it features hundreds of full-page color photos of various styles of Polynesian tattoos, not just from Hawai'i, but from all around the South Pacific. In addition, many of the artists who created the work are profiled in the back section of the book.

I cannot help but enthusiastically recommend the book to all. It certainly made my flight back to the East Coast a lot more enjoyable. My biggest regret was not being in Hawai'i long enough to be able to have Ms. Allen tattoo me, an activity at the top of my to-do list in the future.

One more ringing endorsement comes from Ed Hardy: “This collection of amazing photos attests to the high level of artistic achievement and technical ability of the Polynesian people today, as well as non-islanders who have been heavily influenced by the art of the Pacific.”

Buy your copy from Tricia's website directly here and while visiting the site, explore the galleries, sign up for her newsletter, and check out her schedule to see when and where she will be tattooing and/or signing copies of her book in the future.

Dragon Tribal Tattoo Design

Dragon Tribal Tattoo Design

Collection of Tribal Tattoo 2010

Collection of Tribal Tattoo 2010 - Tattoo4art