hennablog

First of all, I realized I had the traditional sealant wrong in my Basic Mehndi Mix post, so I changed it. You dissolve 2 or more parts sugar to 1 part lemon so it's nice and pasty. I just mixed up a jar myself... and then adulterated it with some unnecessary essential oils and ground clove. I don't know why. I was bored! I also nuked it a couple times (5 seconds each) to encourage the sugar to dissolve properly. Don't know if that helps or not, though.

I've uploaded some stuff I've been working on this weekend into my Henna Gallery. Most of it was me playing with designs from Darcy's recent ebook.

The paste I made this week was a little bit too pasty. It was thick enough that squeezing it out of the cone hurt my hand -- a complaint usually reserved for jaq bottles! It also dried up and cracked fairly quickly, and it didn't stick to the skin unless I took care to moosh it on real good. (You should be able to drape it over the skin, and it'll fall onto the skin and stick. Not this batch.) However, the lines sure were crisp! And since I used less EOs in this batch, the design I did on my palm turned a pretty red color, not the nutty brown of my last mix. Both colors are good, but I really like the red.

I discovered that the easiest way to seal this batch, since the henna wasn't sticking to my skin very well, was to unroll a cotton ball, reroll it around the tip of a pencil, dip that in the lemon-sugar mix, and gently roll it across the design a couple times. Dabbing it with a cotton ball or two Q-tips made the mix stick to the henna, which wasn't stuck to the skin, which lifted the henna right off. By rolling, it helped seal the henna to the skin, even if it wasn't too well placed. Although it helped, when the henna was partially dry, to pat it with a finger to make sure the moist underlayer did have contact with the skin.

Also, dabbing usually made me coat it too thickly, which resulted in gooey drips of lemon-sugar getting all over the carpet. We're hoping my ever-so-patient partner doesn't notice. This weekend he gave me a new henna-inspired nickname, though: Doodlebear. Like, those teddy bears they used to sell, where you can draw all over them, then wash them off and draw all over them again. I'm considering using that as my henna name if I ever do this as a business: Doodlebear Henna. Except that doesn't sound very bridal, now, does it? LOL.

So the first batch I mixed was too runny. This batch was too stiff. Hopefully with my next batch, I'll find a good medium.

And props to Rand for experimenting with part of my slimy batch that I gave him at work on Saturday! You are a brave man, my friend.