Traditional Tattoo

Henna Fish - Tattoo for Festival Days This little fish is a "chef's choice" pattern for the back of the hand. It took just a few minutes to create a henna pattern based on the koi.. or fancy goldfish concept. Once the outline was drawn for the eyes & head, the rest of the fish just flowed along. You will notice the pattern is filled in with traditional henna components, the line, spot, curved and straight lines. I hope you enjoy it. If you would like one, just stop by the Midnight Sun in Five Points, Riverside, Jacksonville, Florida. Namaste!

Henna Tattoo - A simple pattern shines with gilding. Here is a photo of a freehand henna tattoo with just a bit of gilding added to make Saturday a bit more glamorous. If you click the photo, you will be able to see a larger image of the turquoise & green glitter gel added to highlight the henna tattoo . Gilding paste is made with cosmetic glitters, or cosmetic powders and a stiff hair gel as the carrier for the color. Sometimes fine glitter is hard to come by, but if you have a mortar & pestle, it only takes a few moments to grind economy glitter into a shimmering powder. I apply the gilding using a clear henna cone. (Cellophane cones hold up very well & enable clients to see just what color they will get.) I have learned to wait until the henna has dried and at least one glaze of lemon sugar has been applied. For more photos of gilded henna tattoo, visit the Henna Jewels gallery on my site. There are other photos of gilded henna tattoo in this blog.. check the

Need Inspiration? Henna Patterns from India! Pyari Pyari Henna Tattoo Booklet Here is another of the wonderful little booklets that helped me start to think like a henna artist . Full of 25 different patterns for hands & feet as well as little doodles for fingers and toes, this small booklet is a great addition to your henna library. This henna pattern booklet measures 4.5" x 6.75" and has a colorful cover, sure to catch the eye of the henna newcomer. The patterns are printed on a soft grey paper that seems recycled, but I can't tell. This book as well as several others are now for sale at $4.50 each ( free shipping in the USA ). Just click the title of the book to see more choices, or to add ths lovely gem of a pattern book to your collection. Just want to browse? Stop by Midnight Sun on Saturday and you are welcome to look through these kinds of pattern books. Who knows, you may choose to get an intricate bit of body art for yourself. See you there?

I feel very happy with this tattoo design. I used the "sketching" technique I learned from the fabulous video previously posted to draw out the main components for this pattern. I remembered to outline the primary design as soon as I drew it so that I would not be dazzled by the detail & forget to create the white space in process. You will see that the gilded nicely fills those "white space" areas in this photo. If you want a closer look, just click the photo for more details. My client was very happy with her pattern , and enjoyed the process of watching the sketched outline be filled in with various traditional henna components. I started the pattern fartest from the finger tips & worked my way down the hand. If you look, you can see that the paisley, floral component & peacock head stand out in this pattern as they are surrounded by space. Now.. for all or you experienced artists, I am sure these tips are not news at all. I am however, spati

Here is a photo of the results of Jamila Henna 36 hours after the paste was removed. I feel good this wonderful dark reddish brown stain. Please bear in mind that this is a photo of finished henna on 52 year old skin... and henna on the hand of a skinny woman at that! I am sure lovely, young skin will give a much better finished color than this. For those who are new to henna tattoo , here are a few tips you might want to know if you want to get good rich color for your finished tattoo. First, the warmer you are, the more your pores open and the deeper the henna can penetrate the skin, so summer weather is good for henna. Second, henna works best when the paste reamains wet. To keep your paste from drying too quickly, you can either continue to apply lemon sugar to your tattoo to keep the paste active as long as possible.. or you can have the pattern "wrapped" to go. Third, the longer the paste stays on the skin, the darker the finished color. Finally, if you moistu

Thanks to all the generous artists who post videos of their work in process! I have learned so much about how to layout the designs as a result of watching their work. I now use a a much thinner paste than I was using before, and a finer tip on the rolled cone. I never did like mylar cones, but I found some floral plastic wrap that is comfortable to touch and responds well to pressure. It has a smooth feeling & I am not worried that I will "pop" it. You may notice that I have a better grasp of the use of white space in this henna tattoo. In part, this is because I remembered to outline components when they were finished. Of course one of the best blessings to henna tattoo practice is a willing & very still model. The success of this pattern is due in large part to my very patient model. Thanks Toni!

Arabic Style Henna for the Arm - Chef Choice Henna I am always grateful to my trusting henna clients who order "Chef's Choice". I mentioned to Rachel that I was really inspired by the excellent work of the artist who is featured in the henna video below, and that I wanted to practice that more intricate style of henna. Lucky for me she agreed and here you see the result. This photo shows the henna paste on the skin.. and not black henna. We used the '08 crop of Jamila Henna so I have no doubt the finished color will be excellent! The henna powder created a nice gummy paste when I mixed it. The paste flowed easily and I could "drop lines" of paste on the skin when creating the tattoo, so I really enjoyed that. I feel so fortunate that highly skilled henna artists are willing to post their work in action. I am a visual learner, and it is so wonderful to watch other artists think. So.. I went browsing around and found a great live action henna video

Amazing and How To Bridal Henna Video This is one of the most useful live demonstrations of How To apply henna . I have learned so much watching this great artist fill hands with mehandi. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Jamila Henna Powder • Rich Dark Color Here is a bold pattern for the palm of the hand. This dark color is achieved with the last of the '07 Jamila Henna. I used lemon juice, henna tea & jamila henna to start the paste. After about 4 hours I added cajeput, neroli, lavendar and a bit of pomegranate juice to the mixture. I made a fairly liquid paste and used a medium tip mylar cone to achieve this design. I did wrap the henna in tissue and wear a thin plastic glove overnight to get the darkest color possible. Of course, the color will be even darker tomorrow.. but I had a moment to put this photo up for you today. I will have new photos online next week showing the finished color achieved with the 2008 harvest of Jamila henna which is just now for sale at Spirit Vision Henna. The new henna pattern booklets from India are also for sale & make a great gift for the aspiring mehandi artist.

Henna Tattoo Video • Arabic Style How to Henna Here is the work of a very talented traditional artist. I love her use of bold lines & white space while creating a very full look for the palm of the hand. I just wnat to do more of this kind of art. Don't you want to have some traditional henna ??? I love this pattern. What you you think?