My first Henna........... whooo hoooo

Well i finally took the plunge and did my first henna designs yesterday and again today. I have been having it on my website as a coming soon for the longest. lololol I don't know what took me so long to do it, because i am totally hooked now. I made some cones at FABAIC and kept them on ice whilst there in the hotel mini fridge. i made them with the intent on bringing them home. Wasn't sure how well they'd do traveling. I put them in the freezer as soon as I got home and just pulled them out yesterday. Desdemona had just made the paste so it was very fresh when I got it. well.............

It came out really great as far as the stain. There was no change in the consistency when it thawed out after having been frozen for 3 months. I thought it might get watery. The design on my hand and my daughter's foot and my mom's wrist i love love love. The design on my foot well it's not bad but lets just say it's not easy to work with a cone on your own foot at an awkward angle. lolol I did them all freehand although I do have the ink transfers.

I purposely wore some killer shoes to church to showcase the foot design (with me it's all about the shoes) The women at church loved it. They didn't zero in where I made mistakes, I guess my eye is just more critical. They now want to host a henna party and pay me to come and do it. I have always said there is no better advertisment than wearing your own work. This will be great chance for me to work on speed and getting more comfortable with it.

So since I know I have no desire at least at this time to mix my own I plan on getting mine premade from ABA since that's the brand I used to make my cones. I will look to find somewhere local as well, but hey if it ain't broke don't fix it. I like the powder and the oil they used and the scent was not at all too strong or overpowering. I already know how to roll cones really well, but I may just try the bottle to see which I like best.

YAY! Welcome to the henna side!!!

Can't wait to see your shares!!

XXXOOO

Kim,

Hello dearest, i hope all is well and wonderful for you. I still can't figure out why the cross didn't take that day, but what from what I was able to see you could tell it would have been really beautiful.


I know you must get asked this alot, but is there a favorite place you like to get your henna and do they sell it premade? Also is there a place where I can get design ideas?

Thank you

Tamara

I still have NO idea why yours didn't take because everyone else's did so I'm still a bit baffeled. Only thing I can think of is that I somehow forgot to clean the area properly or maybe it was end of day and the cone was breathing it's last????? And it was a lovely design and I'm so glad I caught it before it demised with paste on....pretty sure this was it:


I have my henna come in either straight from Pakistan or I do pick some up here and there when I do conferences (I'm a bit of a henna hoarder!) I never do premades personally. Too risky as far as getting things through the post up in Canada, but there are a couple of places that sell some pretty decent paste that ship pretty well across the states:
www.mehandi.com
www.hennacaravan.com
www.hennabyheather.com
are my top three choices for service and quality products. I also know the owners personally so can vouch for em! :-)

As far as inspiration, I like to do every kind of style but you can check out artist pages that have posted thier work. You can see tons of my own:
https://www.facebook.com/HasinaMehndiandBodyArt
But I probably post more on my flicker page. On my site I have a free patterns page. You can also look to just about everything! I've taken pictures of strangers because of a pattern they are wearing...I've just about walked into people staring at carpets in hotels (or any where they have heavily decorated carpet but casinos and hotels are especially gifted at this!) Pillows, sheets, wallpaper, saree trims, tattoos, art books, pottery and mugs, nature photos, Aribic tile work.....the list is endless! Google 'henna patterns' and you can come up with quite a few...not all are winners, but it's a place to start! Online book resources are more plentiful now then ever before and cheaper than hardcopy. I sell four of my books with hennacaravan. You can find the artist books in thier sales area. Same with Hennabyheather. Mehandi.com has some free resources as well!

Have fun and hope to see you soon!!

XXXOOO