Today, I looked back at some of my henna photos from 2011, and created a set on Flickr of a select few photos as a benchmark to represent the quality of my henna work in 2011. I have a feeling that five years later (or even just a couple!), this will be a nice way to see how much I have progressed in my henna journey.
As I looked through the photos in the set, I noticed that the designs that I find particularly attractive are those that are really intricate. Drawing tiny, repetitive patterns allows me to sharpen my focus, and is a sort of meditative experience. Although doing such intricate work is a lot of fun, in the past, I have often been very disappointed in the overall look and feel of these intensely detailed designs. Every detail’s perfect, but I have felt that the design needs something more to make it truly striking. That’s when I realized that I hadn’t been utilizing negative space properly! Negative space in this context refers to the blank areas surrounding the major elements in a design. In contrast to other forms of art, natural henna artists don’t have a palette of colours to work with. In henna, striking designs are created by clever use of interesting layouts, negative space and variation of line thickness.
Now, I am going to share some of my favourite henna designs from 2011 with you – favourites because they have one or more of the three attributes that make designs striking: layout, negative space and variation of line thickness
As the henna “busy season” in the Summer draws to an end, I am happy to share that I am heading back to school this Fall for my final year at the University of Waterloo.
Henna will always be an integral part of my life, and I will continue to offer appointments in Toronto, ON and GTA during weekends. However, I will not be open for any appointments during the week (Monday – Thursday). Since my schedule is vastly dependent on exam dates and coursework deadlines, I am currently unable to take any bookings beyond December 2011.
The best way to get in touch is to email me at joyofhenna@gmail.com. I’m always happy to address any questions about Henna/Mehndi, so don’t hesitate to drop me a line!
Joy of Henna was featured on Entertainment Tonight Canada‘s segment on the IIFA Awards being held in Toronto! ET Canada’s fashion producer Angie Smith got some Henna done to get ready for IIFA’s green carpet!
Of course, I got a picture with Angie showing off her Henna
Sowmya of Joy of Henna with Angie Smith
Here’s the video of the segment as aired on Global TV
Happy new year! 2010 was a great year, and I have a feeling 2011 will be even better!
I have not blogged for a while, but I’ve been busy! I started this new year by doing henna at a lovely Moroccan themed party on Jan 1st, and bridal consultations and private appointments have kept me busy since. I managed to capture some videos of me at work while I was drawing up my design sheets, so here you go!
I’m still a novice at video editing, so these videos are nothing fancy! But I hope that you will find them helpful!
Email me or leave a comment here if you have any questions/comments! I’ll be happy to address them
Make your own henna paste, and you can guarantee that your paste has no artificial chemicals or preservatives, is 100% Natural and pure henna, and produces fantastic stains! It is totally worth making the switch from using store-bought henna cones to making your own! The best recipe for your henna paste does not need to be the most complicated one! I use a very simple recipe – and get fabulous results every time!
NOTE: Always use 100% Natural Henna, with no chemicals added. NEVER use “black henna” and if you are looking for information on black henna, read the black henna warning on my FAQ page.
1 – 1.5 teaspoons of essential oils (see note below)
Lemon juice
How to Mix:
Mix: Mix the Henna powder and sugar well in a small bowl, and add slightly warmed lemon juice until you reach the consistency of play dough
Set Aside: Cover the mixture with plastic wrap, and let it sit for 12 hours.
Essential Oils: After 12 hours, add the essential oils to your mixture. Stir well. Cover again and let it sit for another 12 hours.
Consistency: Adjust the consistency of the paste using lemon juice (not warmed) until it is like thick, stirred yogurt. Add small quantities (e.g. half a teaspoon) of lemon juice and stir well. Check the consistency before adding more lemon juice.
Fill applicators: Using a spoon, fill a ziploc bag or a “carrot bag” with your henna paste. Snip the tip of the bag, and use this to fill your cone/bottle applicators!
Notes:
Make sure that your henna is fresh and very finely sifted. For added smoothness, you can strain your henna paste through an old stocking before filling your applicators.
The “sitting” time is different for different henna powders. I use Jamila Henna Powder mixed with Rajasthani Henna. The 24 (12+12) hours in the recipe is advisable for Jamila Henna. If you are not sure about the time, ask your henna supplier, or send me an email!
This recipe assumes a room temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I live in Toronto, and since my house is almost never that warm, I usually leave my covered paste in our oven, with just the light turned on.
You can substitute lemon juice in the recipe with water or tea.
Essential Oils are only optional, although these are an integral part of my henna recipe. You can mix henna without these, and you will get stains from your paste. But, the darkest and deepest stains come from using essential oils in the paste. Use only 100% Essential Oil (i.e. no carrier oils). The oils that are useful for henna are high in monoterpene alcohols. Examples are Tea Tree Oil, Cajeput Oil and Lavender Oil. If you are going to mix small quantities of henna, you won’t need a lot of essential oil. I use around 30 ml for 100 grams of henna powder. Most henna suppliers online sell essential oils. If you are looking to buy wholesale amounts of essential oil (i.e. if you are a professional henna artist looking for a cost effective way to get large quantities), send me an email and I will share the contact of my essential oil supplier! I love the company and am glad to share with anyone who is interested!
Take the leap and stop using old and dry henna paste with questionable ingredients!
Try this recipe, and let me know how it worked for you!
Bride and groom images in henna are really popular for bridal henna designs! The designs may look complicated, but once you get a hang of the basic design structure, it opens up lots of possibilities for different styles of brides and grooms!
Here’s a step by step guide for drawing a depiction of a bride’s face with henna:
I always start with the outline of the side profile of the face – start at the bridge of the nose and move down.
Then draw her eye – do this very carefully, as this is where we bring out her facial expression:
Then move on to draw her dupatta (veil)
Now that we have the basic structure, we are done with the difficult parts.
Add some jewelery, embellish her veil and let your creativity guide you!
Hi everyone! I’m pretty excited to have this blog up and running! This is just a quick test to see how “mobile blogging” works for me. And while I’m here, I want to share with you the after picture I got from the very first pregnancy henna I did!
Thank you for visiting my blog! This is Sowmya and I’ll be sharing the latest updates and news from Joy of Henna through this blog. Watch out for recipes, designs, techniques, tricks and everything in between! Happy henna’ing!
Enjoy the photos!
