So for this blog post I decided on changing things up a bit. Instead of doing a design on the back of my hand as I usually do, I decided to do one on the palm of my hand. This was a new challenge for me because I have not done a palm design before so it compelled me to get out of my comfort zone and do something that I wasn't used to.
I was nervous on where to start because of my lack of experience in henna on this part of my hand. I took my cone and started at the bottom of the design which was at my wrist. While starting the design at the bottom of my hand, it was very easy for me because I could easily rest my hand on my palm while working on my wrist. My lines on my wrist were straight and looked exactly the way I wanted them to. However, as I made my way to my hand, the design started to get harder to finish. There was no place to rest my hand which made my hands tired and my right hand started shaking due to that. This led to the lines in the flowers getting a little squiggly and not as straight as the lines on my wrist. The design started looking less as I wanted it to but still turned out nice.
The hardest part about completing the henna was that I couldn't move my hand. If I tried to rest my hand even a little bit, the design smudged which threatened to ruin the flower. Therefore, you had to keep your hand in a awkward position for about an hour and a half. My hand kept getting the temptation to close which made the task even harder and the design took longer to complete. Doing henna on my palm was definitely a challenge for me but I overcame that challenge by being patient and finishing the design to the best of my ability.
In the book, Teach Yourself Henna Tattoo, on page 34 it says, "Using henna to create tattoos on human skin is a unique way to express your individuality in a not-so-permanent fashion" (Abdoyan 2012). Doing henna is now a hobby that I enjoy very much. It helps me become more intact with my culture and do something fun on my free time. Henna helped me recognize my strengths and weaknesses. I plan to improve my strengths and overcome my weaknesses the best I can.
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| This is my palm minutes after finishing the design. |
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| This is the design after removing the henna. |
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| This is the design the morning after removal. |
What are some techniques that could help keep my hand straight and open so there would be no smudges made to the design?
Abdoyan, Brenda. Teach Yourself Henna Tattoo: Making Mehndi Art with Easy-to-follow Instructions, Patterns, and Projects. East Petersburg, PA: Design Originals, 2012. Print.
Hey Simran,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading up on your blog because it's actually something that I've tried since it's common in my culture also. I usually put designs on my mom and sister during celebrations and holidays but always put on smudges and I'm still trying to work on that, so I really don't have advice. Sorry, but I still enjoyed your blog.
Thank you for commenting Abdi! Smudges are always common because the henna stains very quickly so it's something you have to work on. Since my first blog, I have greatly improved with the smudges and I hope you get more practice to improve your designs also. Again, thank you for reading my blog!
DeleteHi Simran, since we are from the same culture, I of course apply henna on my hands during special occasions. Instead of just going straight to your hand, you should try practicing the design on a piece of paper first, so you already know what you are supposed to do and will feel more confident in what you are doing and wouldn't smudge your henna. Though if you still have problems with your hand shaking and making smudges, you should try keeping the opposite side of your hand that you are not doing on a table or have someone hold it!
ReplyDeleteHey Jaspreet!
DeleteThank you so much for the suggestion. That would be a great idea to get my hand used to holding the cone. It would also make it easy to plan the design out at first and not just go straight to applying it.
Thank you so much for commenting!