Rai came over and allowed me to attempt some henna designs on her hands.

This is the first time I've ever done henna, so it was a bit of an experiment. I used Jamila brand henna powder, sifted it, and mixed in very unexact amounts of distilled water, sugar, and lemon juice. Meanwhile Rai helped me roll some mylar cones (best thing ever... I was able to be really precise with my lines). Once I saw dye release, I strained the henna and put it into the cones, which I cut the tips of to several different widths. After I was done laying on the paste, I put her hands under a blow dryer for a little bit before applying two coats of "New Skin" (liquid band-aid stuff), letting it dry between each coat. Once all of this was done, I put her hands in old socks. The next morning we used liberal amounts of nail polish to remove the paste and the stain darkened in the next couple hours to a beautiful rust/copper color. All in all, I'd say it was a success, but I would make her keep the New Skin longer to darken the stain a little more next time. Or maybe add a little more sugar.

From start to finish, it took almost 6 hours.
I created the entire design on both hands based on traditional Indian/Arabic methods.

(I'm including this image in my photography account too because I did both the design and the photograph.)


You can expect to see some other henna projects from me in the future. I really enjoyed doing this.