Inn of the Wandering Dragon

As my obsession with henna related arts has continued to evolve I have set up a separate little blog for it. Actually I have been mucking about with it for a while now and I have finally decided to let the rest of the world know about it. :)

I recently ordered some henna supplies in anticipation for the summer events coming up. One of the new things I'm doing this year is - if the customer is so inclined - adding some sparkle to the finished designs. Kids LOVE this! Adults, well that depends on the event and the mood I guess but you should see the kids eyes light up when I ask them if they like glitter. The plus side to this is that they are often more careful with their design so there is less chance of smearing before the paste is dry.

What can I say? This was some late night doodling to use up the remains of the paste. I'm quite pleased with the stain thus far and I might work some colour into it this weekend if I set some time aside.

Yes, the cat is bouncing off the walls, the sun is out, the snow is gone (temporarily) and I have been attacking the pile of spring cleaning. Thanks to this my allergies have also gone through the roof! Oh joy, oh bliss...

Sign up has already begun for the next dance session. It looks like our student recital will be around the end of May or begining of June if they can settle on a date. So we have two months left to master our choreography and I could not be more happy about that. At this point, I need the two months!

It would appear that this time of new beginings has other offerings in store as well. I have had one interview and was notified today that I will be moving to round two of the interview process which has me feeling a bit better about things job related. I will admit that I am not resoundingly passionate about the product I will be looking after but I know I can do the job well and at this point a steady income is more than welcome. We shall see how things turns out.

I have also decided to get out and sell some henna. I will be setting up a table at a floating weekend market and with luck this will provide me with some good opportunities. At worst I get some practice selling, at best I do well and have a little extra cash. (maybe enough to pay for the next henna conference?) This is win-win in my books. I am also trying to co-ordinate a monthly henna practice / meet up for henna enthusiasts. So far I have a few people interested and I think if it does become regular then we might snag a few more participants. Meeting new people with common interests is always a good thing!

And now, I think I will get back to my henna play...

A week has passed since I returned from the Spring Fling and it already feels like another world away.

I enjoyed myself thoroughly and amassed a small pile of notes, handouts and photos that I am now starting to go through, well not the photos just yet. I left my camera behind by mistake so I am patiently waiting for it to arrive in the mail. You see, sleep at this kind of event is minimal at best so some things had to wait until the brain is less fuzzy in order to really sink in! But with rest I can now go through and start to apply these tips and ideas to my own practice.

Practice is exactly what I need! I have been both humbled and inspired by the artists at this event. So I will work in my sketchbook, and on whatever bare skin I can. I have ideas for cards, gift boxes, candles and other paraphernalia. I can copy what I see well enough but I now have hopes of developing a style of body art I can confidently call my own. I know that I can do better with this medium and that is what I aim to do.

I am starting to get excited about this, in two days I will be flying to California to meet amazing henna artists and have the chance to learn a thing or two from them. I have as much 'blank canvas' as I can offer since I have refrained from decorating myself. I have figured out what to pack - in my head anyway, I still need to complete the physical packing. Of course I will be taking my camera and extra batteries along with my sketchbook. Everything else (henna wise)will be provided. :)
This will be the first time in a long time that I have taken a trip by myself and I really hope that it will be as refreshing and invigorating as I have imagined... After the craziness of the past year I truly feel I need it!

I have registered for my first henna conference!

Yes, there is such a thing, in fact there are more than a few of them every year hosted by henna artists across North America with most of them in the US. Spring Fling is a regular event in California and will run for three days. Some of my favorite artists will be in attendance presenting on different topics. I do not know at this point what all the topics will be but they can range from demonstrations of different cultural styles to business practices to learning techniques. Yes, the attendees will all be practicing on each other and I have already warned my boss that I will be returning from this trip highly decorated!

So now I am torn, do I indulge and decorate myself, or do I leave as much blank canvas as possible? Decisions, decisions...

This picture was taken about 72 hours after the paste was removed. The orange is completely shifted to the beautiful redish browns and I love it! Of course, this being the palm of my hand it is always flexing and moving. You can start to see the wear along the major lines of my palm where the skin is exfoliating a little bit faster than other areas.

From here the stain will slowly fade away. I haven't decided if I will take a picture of that or not

This picture was taken approximately 24 hours after the paste was removed. I have to say I'm happy with the colour I'm getting!

The flash has washed it out a bit but yes, the stain on my arm is much lighter than the stain on my hand. Why? Because where the skin is thicker (ie. callouses etc) it absorbs more dye from the henna.

This design was created by a very talented lady in the states who goes by the online name of Mountain Mehndi. She first posted it back in the spring with a joke about the sun seeming to have stage fright. I have always loved it and I finally decided to try it for myself. I figured it is appropriate considering the sun seems to be getting ready for a long winter's nap!

I would like to try variations of this with different seasonal elements at some point. I just have to work out how those elements will flow with the whole design.

And to clarify - these pictures taken last night show the henna design wth the paste still on the skin.

This is the one picture I have of a design I did at the faire. One of the other vendors is an avid dragon boat racer and wanted something 'dragonish' on her leg. This is actually the practice version I did on my friend and is based on a design from the pattern book "Lezards First". I have never tried this pattern before or anything like it so I am pleased with how it turned out.

Yes, this was our third year attending the BC Renfest. It was a weekend of pirates, fairies and good natured revelry. 'Tis sad to say but since I was battling a nasty cold all weekend, I simply was not as into things as I normally am. Still I enjoyed myself and shared some laughs and songs with the regulars of the faire.
This year was also a little different in that I set up a small table in my friend's booth to sell henna. This was something of a last minute decision and scramble to get ready but I feel that things went well and I was pleasantly surprised by the patrons. I was expecting most requests to be of the smaller variety but I had a healthy number of people choose the larger patterns as well. The end result was that I made enough to cover my shopping so I came home with close to the same amount of money as when I left. I do not have any pictures of my table set up, nor do I have many pictures of the designs that I did. However my friend and I are quite well decorated - for demonstration purposes of course! ;)
Would I do this again? Yes, as long as it remains fun and enjoyable for us all.

And here is the design a week later with some body paint added in...

I had a few people compliment me on my "tattoo". I still enjoy the henna designs without added colour, but I thought this would provide some fun experimentation.

I recently co-ordinated a small henna gathering. A couple of us who have been chatting on facebook agreed to meet up for some much needed practice. Hennaing someone else is a completely different experience from just applying the henna to yourself. For one thing, most of us are neither yoga masters, nor are we the "gumby" types who can bend every which way. We can only reach certain areas (the left hand is really popular). So having henna applied to an area we have difficulty reaching and drawing on (well) is a wonderful novelty!

One lady enjoys a combination of painting on the henna with a brush as well using the cone for darker lines to reach a nice two-tone effect. This cherry blossom branch was painted on me and the stain came out rather well I thought. I did not get pictures of the pieces I did on them, but perhaps next time I might remember.

I decided to explore a few different styles of henna in the sketchbook recently, here are a couple of the pages I have been working on. I need to build up my visual 'language' so to speak and I need to improve my design planning. So I'm starting by copying designs of other artists (whether I like them or not) as a means of learning how they put their designs together and how they achieve their flow. From there I can retain elements I like and use them towards building my own designs.