hennablog

I don't think I ever posted my ankle experiment. I did my ankle in an easy floral design from my old Earth Henna kit, taking an extra effort to use fine, crisp lines.

To ensure that it dried properly, I utilized my handy-dandy blowdrier. I sealed it with watered-down glue, applied with one of those little Crayola paintbrushes from their standard kids' watercolor sets (I have two, so I had a brush to spare). I then blowdried this, and applied another layer or two of the glue. This seemed to be pretty thoroughly sealed, so I went searching in the sock drawer for something I could claim for overnight henna use. Lo and behold, my boyfriend had some loose, unfortunately-colored socks left over from a horrible job uniform that I could use and ruin with abandon! So I skipped the saran wrap in the hopes of stalling any possible henna bleed and socked myself instead.

This was by far the easiest henna removal yet. All I had to do was scrape at the edges of the glue in the morning, and the entire thing peeled off like a bad price tag, leaving a pretty orange stain behind.

I am so sealing my next design the same way!

In other news, I got my right hand professionally henna'd at the Reno Rib Cookoff by Renu of hennadesigns.com:

That cool neclace I got at the cookoff as well. :)

She was so fast! She applied with a jaq bottle. I was particularly interested in the way she sealed it. Her mix was lemon juice, sugar, and honey, but she applied it with a little dowel wrapped with cotton at one end. The dowel was probably five or six inches long and maybe a quarter-inch or less in diameter. She would just whip it out of the jar of sealer and roll it over the design. It was quick and painless, and I bet it would work with watered-down glue. The lemon-sugar-honey mix sealed it fabulously, but it was hell to get off. I picked at it and picked at it and it just kept sticking. I rubbed at it with vegetable oil and it just kept sticking. So I gave up and washed it off with water. That hasn't seemed to affect the stain too much, though.

It's by far my favorite design that's currently on my skin. The lines are fine, the geometry is gorgeous, and I just love the cuff style! It peeks out from the longish sleeves I like to wear. The color of her henna is nice, too.

I'm trying to scrub off the coverup henna on my left hand. If it goes away any time soon, I might try to emulate my right hand design on my left hand. Those Moroccan designs -- they're just coolio! :)