Lots and Lots of Henna

I was hired to do henna tonight at a birthday party for a 14-year-old girl.  The kids were great, though I was really disconcerted to hear "Oh, this is from Glee" when songs from my junior high and high school years were playing.  Wow, am I that old?  Really?  When did that happen?!

At any rate, the party was outside, where the humidity was wreaking a bit of havoc with the henna's consistency, but I got some decent results and the kids loved it.  Mom had set up a great little table from me, with printed paisley designs to "set the scene."  That was great!

Some of my pieces...

(The girl pulled this one up on her smartphone; it apparently means "love.")

(In case you can't tell, peace signs are "in" this year!)

And my very last request of the night, from the birthday girl's younger brother, a penguin.  I drew it first in surgical marker to be sure I'd get it right, and you can still see it behind the henna.  The marker is easily washed off, while the henna stain will remain.  It was quite dark at this point, and I was working by a dim porch light, so I wasn't quite as "on" the marker as I thought I was.

And yes, the penguin is holding a little fish.  I just had to.

LA Fete 2010

I have had the most amazing time this past week, at the Louisiana Living Arts Festival in New Orleans, otherwise known as LA Fete.

LA Fete started in 2006, when I was offered a pot of gumbo. No, seriously. I'm a member of some international face and body art discussion groups, and I mentioned in one that my favorite food was Cajun. Susie Pierce, otherwise known as Susie the Crazy Cajun, told me that if I came down to her hometown of Baton Rouge, she'd make me a pot of gumbo.  My response was, "You name the weekend, I'm there," and all of a sudden there were about 30 other artists chiming in with "me too!"  We found ourselves picking St. Patrick's Day weekend of 2007, and LA Fete was born.

Once a party was planned with so many artists, it was only natural that we intend to practice our art, and that morphed into scheduled classes and workshops.

So once a year, for 4 days in March, I go down to New Orleans for LA Fete.  I take classes, jam with my friends, face and body paint, and practice my henna. 

We attend the New Orleans St. Paddy's Day parade, take an afternoon to face paint at the Audubon Zoo and donate the proceeds to charity, and body paint models for a show at a French Quarter club.

On Thursday night, we had a zombie crawl, and I got to become a tourist attraction in my own right.  I'm waiting to see photos of myself show up on Facebook or Google.  My friend Z painted me, and I painted other friends Dot Com the clown and Liz Alaniz.

This year, for the first time, my husband Eric came with me.  After the Fete was over, we stayed an extra day and went to the aquarium.

We're finally home and exhausted, but it was worth it!  Nowhere else do I get an experience like that, working alongside the masters and feeding off of each others' creativity.  My clients will benefit from it, too.  Every time I come back from LA Fete, my skills are vastly improved.  I can't wait to try them out this weekend!

Afternoon of Henna

I was hired to do henna today at my client's daughter's 50th birthday party. Yes, 50th. I was a surprise, part of the birthday gift, because the birthday girl is a huge henna fan. It showed when my client introduced me to her daughter, and she kept looking back and forth between me and her mother saying, "Really? Seriously? You have henna?" and then sort of squealed.

She wasn't the only one; I was a hit at the party in general, and people got henna even though it meant they couldn't get back in the pool on a nice, warm day. My takers were mostly girls and women, though some men went for it too.

I think the only person who might not have loved me to death was a teenage boy who wanted to use my henna himself to "graffiti" inappropriate words or pictures on another boy. With young kids at the party, I didn't think this was the proper venue for such things and refused.

I do lament the fact that I wasn't able to get good, clear photos of these last two. I really liked them, but it was headed toward evening and with the dim light, I had trouble getting the camera to focus properly. I figure they're worth posting anyway.

It's a Lot Less Easy on Myself

I'm going to the NY Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo tomorrow, as I've done every year since its inception 32 years ago. Before I got into this business, I'd go every summer and get a henna tattoo. Now, though, I keep henna in my freezer, so I pre-henna myself. Yesterday was the day.

The idea in my head was difficult, I must say, to execute on my own ankle and leg. Not being a contortionist, the angle was a tad trying, but I think I did a fairly good job, though I didn't get quite the composition for which I was aiming...

What is henna, you ask?

It's a paste made from a powdered plant and various essential oils. It is drawn onto the skin, where it remains for several hours, leaving a stain in the top few layers. Note, please, that the henna paste in the photo is brown. Henna, real, true henna, is only ever brown. If you see "black henna," run. Run like the wind. What is dubbed "black henna" is really PPD, a chemical used in hair dye, in a much higher concentration than you find in the box on your drugstore shelf. Even at CVS, the boxes warn that the dye should be kept away from the skin. Think, then, of the danger of increasing the potency and leaving it on the skin for an hour... on purpose. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous "henna artists," knowing that many people are looking for instant gratification, use the "black henna" PPD to give a quick black stain.

I myself had two "black henna" tattoos done before I knew what it was and how dangerous it could be. Thankfully, I was not insantly allergic to it. My friend was. She had a raised, painful, itchy red welt across her shoulders for months after her one and only "black henna" tattoo. Thing is, this is something to which you actually build an allergy. Had I continued letting people use black henna on my skin, I could end up eventually with a similar welt, or worse. I could have been scarred and burned. For more information on the effects of "black henna," look here. There are photos, though, so don't look before you eat... unless you're dieting.

Why, then, would anyone in his right mind use or want "black henna"? Because this is the stain achieved with natural brown henna...

... at least when the paste is first removed. It is a light or bright orange. It is over the next couple days that the stain darkens to a nice, deep brown, and then lasts from one to three weeks. The attraction of a quick black stain becomes obvious, especially when these "artists" don't warn their customers regarding the dangers.

And this is what the henna stain looks like the next day when the tattoo is done with natural brown henna, as it should be.