Body Art

I couldn't not play with it, could I?

I had purchased a couple cones of henna from a Mehndi artist last week for the Mother Blessing I threw for my friend, Kim. But we were having such a great talk, gathered in a circle around the living room, that we never quite got around to painting each other. So into my freezer it went.

I was told it would begin to go bad after a week so this past weekend, after getting the kids to bed, and after quite a bit of research into method and design, I went ahead and gave myself a henna tattoo.

Or twelve!

Well, I did both feet from big toe to ankle and then one hand. Couldn't do both because it was hard enough right handed. Left handed would have been a disaster!

It wasn't easy and I made some mistakes on my own skin, but I figure for a first attempt it wasn't so bad.

I made a lotus flower on my hand based on a design I found online, and then decided to stretch out some tendrils up and down my hand. Probably overkill. I then covered it all in medical papertape, wrapped it in toilet paper to soak up the sweat, and then in saran wrap to make it sweat, and Michael's socks (three of them) to cover the whole shebang.

I was disappointed in the morning to find that some of the spots got too sweaty and made the henna float and spread. My finger knuckle looks really messed up and my toe knuckles aren't much better. I guess I have sweaty knuckles.

I scraped off the henna that was still attached and over a couple days the stain changed from a pale orange to a medium brown.

It should last two or three weeks.

The henna I used didn't have any signs of beginning to go bad. It came out very vivid and dark. If I like it, I may hold onto the other cone and give it a go in another month or so.

I might practice drawing a bit between now and then.