'au (tattooing implement)

The tool kit of the tufuga ta tatau (Samoan tattooist) is made up of several small hand-held tools and a selection of accessories. They are finely crafted and made to be precise. The form and function of these tools have changed little over time but conservation and hygiene concerns have led to changes in the materials from which they are made. The basic tool kit comprises a set of tattoo combs, a short wooden rod or mallet, a mortar and pestle and a palette for mixing the pigment.

Materials and construction

The `au, or tattooing combs, are made of three components: a small bone comb (or chisel), a shell plate, and a wooden handle to which they are attached. The comb, which perforates the skin and delivers the pigment to it, is made from small sections of boar’s tusk. These sections have a row of very fine sharp teeth cut into them. In the nineteenth century, observers recorded that human bone could be used to make these combs[i]and they were fixed with strands of coconut fibre to a turtle shell plate, which in turn was fastened to a thin stick which formed a handle. Today, this turtle shell is sometimes replaced with a piece of perspex or metal and the coconut fibre with nylon fishing line. Restrictions on turtle fishing in the islands have made it difficult (but not impossible) to acquire shell, and the use of nylon fishing line allows the tools to be boiled and sterilised between uses.

The `au come in different widths, each designed to render a different quality of line. Some are used for filling in large dark areas while others are used to make very fine lines and dots. The sausau is a wooden rod which is used to strike the `au so that pigment is deposited from the bone toothed comb into the skin. The pigment is mixed in a half coconut shell and spread on a palette made from a freshly picked taro leaf stretched across the top of an empty tin can or half coconut shell. The tufuga draws the pigment from this palette before it is applied to the skin. The pigment used to be made from the soot of the candlenut (Aleurites sp.). Nowadays, commercial inks are more commonly used and, not so long ago, a mixture of kerosene soot and water was employed.

When not in use, the `au are stored in a tube-like container called a tunuma. Made from the hollowed out trunk of the pandanus tree, it is left open at both ends, with one end slightly wider than the other. Inside, a piece of barkcloth or rag holds the `au in place, pointing inwards so the teeth of the combs are not damaged.

Acquisition History

This example of an ‘au is possibly one of those referred to in correspondence (1924-25) between the museum and AL Braisby, Sub Inspector of the Police Department in Apia, Western Samoa about a small collection of Chinese Opium utensils and Samoan tattoo implements on offer to the museum.

[i]Turner, George., Samoa A Hundred years ago and long before. London, 1884.