The original process involved making small cuts with bird bone, turtle shell, or bamboo. The inks were then injected into those areas of the skin. If often took a long time to heal and was considered a sign of courage, among many other things.
Today, most of us go to the tattoo parlor, and there is little doubt that the process is much easier! While the sessions of original Polynesian tattooing took a great deal of time and were very painful, today's tattoos bear little resemblance to the sheer endurance it took to bear a Polynesian tattoo. However, the designs are still enormously popular and requested for numerous reasons.
The meanings behind the Polynesian tattoos still ring true today. They were signs of courage and a rite of passage. They were also said to increase the attractiveness of the person who wore them. They were considered protection, much like a talisman worn on the skin. The tattoos also explained in clear detail that person's place in society and what was expected of them. Thus it makes sense that a tattoo left incomplete was considered a sign of shame.
The original Polynesian tattoos have evolved into other designs as the Polynesian people spread throughout the world. Hawaiian tattoos, for instance, are Polynesian tattoos that have evolved to celebrate the beauty around the Hawaiian Islands. Many of these tattoos are elaborate flowers. There are also tattoos specific to those on Easter Island, as well as New Zealand or Samoa. As the groups on those islands became very close-knit and formed their own ways of life, their ways of tattooing began to change, too.
Finally, one of the most common Polynesian tattoos in the Western world is the Tiki. All tiki art refers to a mythical ancestor and first human, known as Tiki. The art began as statues and carvings, but in recent years it has evolved into body art as well.
Tattooing as an art has generated from various centuries old sources and tribes, and every tattoo symbolized a specific meaning and spoke of the respective culture. Tattooing is an art that has no limits and boundaries and today it is popular as a hobby and an art. There are uncountable tat designs to choose from, Polynesian tattoo designs being one of them. Polynesian tat designs are inspired and taken from the culture of the Polynesian islands and are extremely popular today among the tattoo enthusiasts. Though, these tattoos initially involved a traditional and a painful inscribing process, today, Polynesian tat designs are well incorporated into the modern ways of the tattooing art.
Polynesian tattoos are composed of complex strokes and curves and perhaps the most popular of the Polynesian designs is the Maori tattoo design that involves complex spirals as its undertone. Polynesian tattoos are abstract in nature and have absolutely no limit to the designs you can make of them. You could add your own symbols and ideas to make a Polynesian tattoo that speaks of you. This flexibility and adaptive nature of the Polynesian art is what adds to its artistic appeal and makes it one of the most sought after source of inspiration in the tattooing world. Polynesian tat designs basically involve straight line geometric strokes and patterns, but can be inculcated with the curved designs like Maori designs.
Other popular and interesting Polynesian tattoo ideas include Hawaiian tattoos, Tiki tattoos and include many more, each distinct and unique to each different Polynesian island. But, it is an age old misconception that Polynesian art only involves tribal designs. They also derive inspiration from Polynesia and modern art.
Polynesian tat designs are complex and beautiful and make for the most interesting tattoos among all other types of tattoo designs.
You must understand that there are two distinct styles when is comes to 
