Toothpicks : Extremely helpful for moving paste around on the tattoo; when paste is laid down in the wrong place or you need to remove excess, toothpicks cannot be beat. Also useful in applying fine detailed patterns.
Q-Tips : Also useful for moving paste around and cleaning up messes.
Paper Towels : Keep a paper towel in your lap at all times when applying henna, because you will need to wipe your hands, clean off your toothpick and perhaps even wipe an entire design.
Cotton Balls : Personnally, I do not like using these because they tend to leave fibers in the design.You will see references made on many websites to Lemon Juice Sugar Water and Cotton Balls. It leaves your client sticky and the design is prone to crack which leaves gaps in the stain. I developed a recipe using honey and fast acting “terp” essential oils for a superior result.
Applicator Bottle : Filled with water, it’s great for when you need to wipe a design or clean your hands.
Orange Stick : Method preferred by some, great for large designs.
Small Dish : Needed to hold henna if you use Orange Sticks and/or Toothpicks for applying paste. Glass is recommended over plastic as henna stains anything porus. Plastic is best in some environments ( i.e. won’t shatter ), it just won’t be suitable for any other use.
Plastic Gloves : Unless you’re very neat or don’t mind orange fingers when you first learn, some artist use plastic disposable gloves to protect from excess paste staining their hands.
Preparing The Skin
There is definitely a method to preparing the skin. Above all, the skin needs to be clean, without any skin oils on it. Preferably the skin needs to be moist (not dry and flaky) so if you want to henna your foot and it is dry and flaky, you need to heavily moisturize it for a couple of days before you apply the tattoo so that it will stay as long as possible. Dry, flaky skin tends to exfoliate the design very quickly.
Some artists “terp” the skin before the tattoo paste goes on. This means swabbing the skin with “henna oil” (which is simply eucalyptus oil). I have not found that the design takes any better doing this. Lemon juice will also acidify the skin and I prefer to use that. Let it dry before applying the design.
Different skin takes the dye differently, just like when you’re applying that “fake suntan” lotion. The thicker the skin, the more dye it will take. The best places to get dyed are the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and the knees and elbows. The thinner-skinned places such as upper arms and chest do not take the dye as well so you want to make sure when dying those places that you pay attention to the techniques that get the best dye, i.e., “terp” the mix and keep the area very warm while it is dying.
Basic Paste Recipe
Only mix what you will use, because it doesn’t dye as well when it has been sitting around a few days. I have learned that it will still leave a good stain if it is frozen for a up to two or three months. Allow to warm to room temperature before use.
1. Place 2 tablespoons of presifted henna powder into a glass cup ( I like the small Ball jars with the lids that seal ).
2. Add 2 tablespoons of boiling hot water and mix together ( don’t worry about the lumps ).
3. In a seperate dish, mix together 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice and 1 tablespoon “thick” honey ( this moisturizes the skin and holds the paste together while staying on the skin for the dying process ) and set aside.
4. Place 30 drops of tea tree oil into the paste. Don’t mix it yet. It is helpful to have another oil or two to improve the smell and the dying ability of the paste. Use oils that are high in terpenes, including cardamom, cajeput, and pink grapefruit. The citrus oils (orange, lime) are high in terpenes but can cause sunburn to skin if you expose skin to sun during the dying process.
5. Now mix until you get a thin, toothpaste-like consistency. If you use a cone, don’t let it get too thin, because the lines that you make will spread out and won’t have any substance. If it’s too thick it won’t come out of the cone at all.
6. Let the paste sit in a warm place for at least 4 hours, overnight if possible.
Filling The Cone
The cone is the preferred method of application for most henna artists. They are easily obtainable, or you can make one out of a freezer bag and below outlines how to make one in case you are in a pinch.
1. Take your mixed henna paste and put it into the toe of a knee-high stocking (keep this stocking for this purpose as the paste will stain it). This will help you filter the paste so that all of the sticks and leaves that were remaining will not clog your tip. It may not seem that you have impurities, but believe me, you do.
2. Using a metal tip: Cut the tip of the cone about 1/4” up if you are going to use a metal tip. Use the “00” tip from the cake decorator collection, or use a 5 mm mechanical pencil tip (my preference). Place your metal tip into the cone and use a cigarette lighter or match to slightly melt the plastic around the tip to avoid leakage.
3. Not using a metal tip: If you’re not using a metal tip, just nick the cone tip off, making sure to just slice it enough for a very fine line of henna to come out here. You can always enlarge it later. This works just fine.
4. Place the filled stocking into the cone as far down as you can get it. Pinch off the cone where the stocking is and pull the paste through the stocking until it is all in the cone. Now the paste is as smooth as it can be and probably won’t clog the tip.
5. Cut the cone down at the top so that the entire cone is about 7” tall. Roll the top of the cone down so it can be clipped or taped closed without any leakage. You will put significant pressure on the paste and you don’t want it coming out the top.
Now you’re ready to draw with your henna cone.
Alternatives to Cones
There are some artists who do not like the feel of the cone and do not get good results with them. There are several alternatives, such as the Jacquard Bottle, Orange Stick, Toothpicks, Quills or you can make a cone from a freezer bag made of thick plastic.
The Jacquard bottle is a flexible plastic bottle that resembles a small craft paint tube with a metal or plastic tip on it. They are available on the internet or you can purchase small craft paint tubes and empty them out for the purpose. The drawback of the jacquard is that it is hard to keep the pressure on the bottle for the entire design (the bottle does not collapse like the cones do), and may cramp your hand. Also, when doing many tattoos, there is wasted paste in the bottle because you cannot squeeze it all the way out.
The Orange Stick is a manicure tool that has two tips on it. Some artists prefer to draw their designs on with a stick (or toothpick), having an open cup to dip into for the supply of henna paste. The drawback is that it is time-consuming to keep dipping into the paste, and your paste tends to dry out if it is thick.
Freezer Bag Cones are easily made and have a great tip on them. Cut a sandwich-size freezer bag so it is about 5” square. Roll it so that it creates a triangular shaped cone and tape that off with clear packing tape. Place the tape all the way down to the tip so it won’t leak out the sides. Place the paste in and close the top the way you would a carrot bag. Cut a small hole in the tip and you’re ready to go. Some artists prefer this to a carrot bag. One drawback is that they can rupture if too much pressure is used.
Of course paste application is an individual thing; an artist needs tools that fit their own style and method.
Applying The Design
Choose a design that would be appropriate for the area of the body to be tattooed (i.e. a vine wrapped around an ankle). There are hundreds, thousands of designs available for free on the internet and you can amass yourself an impressive notebook of designs by spending the time printing them. There are many different styles such as traditional Indian, Moroccan, Arabic/Muslim, Celtic, Tribal, etc.
When applying a complicated design, you can “cheat” by using a fine tip ballpoint pen or watercolor pencil to apply the design first, or the outlines for it. These pencils are available at art supply stores, called Watercolor Pencils (or Aquarelle). Purchase a brown one to match the henna. Sharpen it to a fine point and wet it in a cup of water. It will draw on the skin and come right off when the paste comes off. Or, you can use a stencil (which is frowned upon by most serious mehndi artists but are used extensively by street vendors and festival artists). Stencils are widely available for crafters, or you can make them yourself using mylar and a stencil burner (which looks like a soldering iron with a very fine tip).
Take your time applying the design and get it clear in your mind how you want it to look. The best way to do this is to get it on paper first. Henna stains very quickly and it’s very difficult to “erase” mistakes. Use a toothpick to adjust the paste if you “draw outside the lines”.
Don’t let the client bend or flex the area during the dying process or you’ll get something very unpredictable. Be sure to warn the client that they will have to leave the area alone for at least 2 hours, if not longer. In other words, if they’re having the design placed on their palms, they cannot drive home ! If you decide to use the Lemon Juice Sugar Water method, be sure not to let the liquid “run”. If henna is carried in the running liquid, you will see those streaks later. This is another reason why I suggest putting the lemon juice in the formula and using honey as a binding agent for the paste.
Keep the design warm. If it is summertime you have nothing to worry about. If it is winter and it’s cool, have the client place something warm on the skin like a heating pad, a warm cup of tea in the hands or vaporizer steam.
Aftercare
You must pay attention to the design after it is applied in order to get it to stain as deeply as possible. After a couple of hours of keeping it moist and warm, the paste can be removed. Although I suggest that if you can, keep it on all night. With the honey it will be pliable and easy to remove and may rub off in your bed, so do not use your finest sheets. If you are worried, place a few pieces of toilet tissue over the design and put masking tape around the body part to keep the tissue in place.
When removing the paste, you must “chip” it off. It may be difficult to remove and if that’s the case, you can use running water. That won’t spoil the design if it has had time to stain. The resulting stain will be a bright dark orange. After a few tattoos you will recognize the color, and what it will turn into later. It takes approximately 18-24 hours for the stain to get as dark as it is going to get. To make the stain darken immediately, you can swab on some Clove Bud essential oil to acidify and oxidize the design, or use lemon juice consistently for a few hours.
The stain should last 2-4 weeks depending on where it is (stains on the palms wear off much more quickly because of the work people do with their hands and need to be restained periodically). To preserve your design, use a moisturizer frequently. Ask about our
Hand and Nail Butter
made with whipped honey and unbleached beeswax that locks in and retains your skin’s moisture.
When the stain is light and wearing off, you can reapply the same design using the previous as an outline, or make it fade faster by using a salt scrub to exfoliate the skin.
