Let me start this factoid by plugging The Henna Page. All the instructions you will need to get into doing this yourself can be found there. I will be glad to answer any questions directed at my newbie experience, just “contact me.” I found all the info that I needed here, for this recently discovered hobby, and hopefully this summer’s paying gig. I found all the materials around town. I went to an Indian grocery for the henna, and found it to be not quite as dark as the henna I purchased in a kit at the craft store. Henna does have a shelf life. I have some Rajasthani Monsoon Henna coming by mail any day from one of the certified suppliers from this Website. I’ll let you know how it went. Until then, I made the batches that produced the designs shown in the pics below from the stuff I bought at the grocery.
I don’t want to reinvent the wheel with this factoid. I just want to use it to showcase some of what I’ve accomplished so far, and give some tips from discoveries that I made on my own while working from the excellent instructions given on The Henna Page, e.g.; my honey bottle wet henna filter, and my ingenuities like the applicator I’ll show you how to put together from a mechanical pencil and a Crystal Light package.
Here are some pictures of some designs that I did. Thanks to my dear wife and youngest son playing guinea pig, I’m getting lots of practice! I haven’t even recruited the other members of my family yet! By the time I get my first paying gig, I should have a halfway decent portfolio. I will organize all my henna work and experiences here on this factoid. I will update it as I get new ones done. Feel free to comment here to let us know how you liked the design, how long it lasted, and offer any other suggestions or critiques.
This picture was taken after the 2.5 hour process was complete, and before the henna flaked off. The foot design below is also just after the henna dried.
This one didn’t take quite as long. This was a brand new batch of henna I made earlier in the day. It stuck on really well, and didn’t flake off overnight. In the morning, after it was washed off, this dye showed itself to be very “orange” I’m going to try it next on my son who has much darker skin, to see if it gives a different hue. I want to experiment with different color henna used in the same designs, once my collection of home made stuff increases.
I use a kids Tattoo marker to sketch out the design before I go over it with the henna dye.
After the ink dried. It didn’t flake off at all, even through the night, but as you can see below, the stain came out a bit orange. I guess that’s appropriate for a goldfish design! I’m going to collect different colored henna dyes, and try one with three or four hues in the same design.
He got lot’s of wow-awesomes at school today!
I learned a good trick. I use plastic caps to make a shape impressed into the skin. Just press and hold a cap on the skink, not too hard, and it will make a perfect circle that you can trace out with the dye after. this is how I did the bubbles. I also experimented with shading the bubbles. It worked out well. Stay tuned for my “how to” for making the perfect henna applicator…
