Tags: bridal henna, bridal mehndi, henna, mehndi, paste off photos
What a lovely woman! Natalie has allready sent me her own photos and has promised more from the wedding photographer. Here's what I have so far.
I think this one's my favorite:
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Yesterday I met Natalie. She knew that she wanted henna on her wedding day since her grandmother from Lebanon, rest her soul, taught her about henna when she was a child. She was in a panic, knowing she couldn't do her own right hand. She couldn't find anyone near her to help. Her fiance found me on the Internet!
Natalie wanted thin-lined, floral, graceful designs that reminded her of the Lebanese patterns that her grandmother had taught her.
The palms are one of my favorite patterns ever from "Love Mehndi."
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I thought I was going to get to do 2 bellies this weekend, but I only got to one. The other was my best friend, so I'll make sure to get her next time I visit. She's due August 20th, so I figure if I time it right I might be able to henna her belly 2 more times before the baby comes.
But anyway! here's the one I did get to. It was inspired by a piece done by Darcy of Henna Lounge.
The hearts should have been thicker, and there needs to be more flow in the leaves and vines. I'm not exactly comfortable doing bellies yet. I still struggle with positioning so that we can both be comfortable AND I have a good spot to anchor my arm. Tags: belly henna, henna, mehndi, pregnant henna, pregnancy henna, baby belly
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So, I finally joined flikr today. I was browsing for henna groups to join. I came across a tattoo group that said your photos should be "real tattoos, not henna." WTF is that? I'm so tired of all the tattoo artists in the world who seem to think their art is "real" while mine is apparently not. I certainly don't begrudge them their own, henna free site. That's fine. The phrase "real tattoo" when compared to henna is just insulting. My art is real. What's more most of work free-hand. How many tat artists can say that? I've even met tattoo artists who work solely by tracing a stencil off a flash sheet and filling it in. To me that AINT art. Don't get me wrong, I've met a lot of stunningly talented ink artists. My point is that ink doesn't mean real, and henna isn't fake!
ARG! End Rant.
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Oh my! This is the stuff! If you didn't like the way last years crop took to days to show good color, well... that's all behind us now.
2 hours after removing paste:
Do you see the curls at the wrist? They were only on for about two minutes. I didn't like them, and I thought I had time to wipe them off.
See the blotches near the fingers? The paste was on there about 30 seconds! It was just from sloppiness while filling cones.
This is 26 hours after removing the paste!
This is going to be my new festival henna of choice. After care be damned. Nobody can screw this up!
Tags: henna, mehndi, Jamila, jamila 2007, stain, festival henna
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DHL arrived in a record 45 hours with my package from Pakistan! I find that to be pretty impressive.
Customs on the other hand -not so impressive. This is what my package looked like inside. Don't mind the torn box, that's my own doing.
The problem is that they ALWAYS cut into one packet of henna in each box. I can kinda understand this and never bothered to get too worked up about it this before. This time the went too far. One packet had a small slice in the usual way, just to get a peak at the contents. Another packet was completely removed from the box, with the wrapper inside completely torn open and the contents emptied into the box. The result was a lot of extra work, the loss of 200 grams of henna, and a terribly messy carpet!
ARG!!!
BUT the rest of the henna is in perfect shape and ready for sale here: http://hennamuse.com/catalog1.html
I've never known a fresh crop of Jamila to be a let down, but I can't attest to this particular crop just yet. Here's my fist batch of 200 grams brewing in the sun.
It should be ready to use tomorrow afternoon and the color ready to show off by Sunday!!!
Now if only the Rajasthani I order 2 1/2 weeks ago would arrive!Tags: henna, mehndi, US customs, Jamila, Jamila 2007, new crop
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My first shipment of the Jamila 2007 crop is on its way! Its coming DHL, which is usually really fast. The last time I got a package from Pakistan via DHL it arrived in about 50 hours!!!
I'm taking pre-orders here. I should be able to ship them Monday July 9th at the very latest.
For anyone who doesn't know, Jamila is the most trusted henna among henna artist. Its creamy, smooth, needs no sifting or straining, and has impressive and consistent color.
The box looks like this:
The stain from last year's crop looks like this:
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Tags: pregnancy henna, belly henna, henna
This is my best friend's baby belly!!
I wish I had the chance to do this more often. I'm sure I'd be much better at bellies if I could get my hands on more of 'em! So many women are shy about their baby-bellies. What's that about? Be proud, stick it out, and let me paint it!!!
It's importatnt with pregnent women to make sure they get a doc's permission. There's nothing dangerous about it all. But when under a doctor's care you should discuss with them anything you plan to do with your body! Lavender essential oil is the best choice in a paste mix for pregnent women and children. This is because it is the mildest oil that will have any impact on stain quality.
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Tags: banner design, gimp, marketing henna, image editing
Here's the new banners!
This is my supplier banner:
This is my artist's banner:
Much better huh? I do my designing with GIMP which is a *FREE* open source image editor for mac, PC and linux. It does everything photoshop can do for *FREE* What are you waiting for? Go get it!
If you're not a teck geek, you should make sure you download a version with an automatic installer. There is a slight learning curve because it's not set up quite like photoshop, but it does have a help guide, and you can find books out there to teach you even more. I mean it! GO GET GIMP!
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Tags: henna business, salon deals, salon commission, salon booth rent, expectations salon
This is my salon: http://www.expectationssalonandspa.com/index.html
A friend of mine who was designing that very web page, hooked me up with the owner. We met, and she was very excited about what I do. I felt really good about the deal. She seemed very understanding of the fact that since I wouldn't be using any of the salon's supplies I would get a better commission split than the stylists. We discussed my paying 30%-40%. She added my services to her yellow page listing and suggested that I buy my own add, for her shop, in the Tattoo section of the yellow pages. I declined with much resistance, but other than that, everything seemed like it would work. I really believed that I was going to be in a supportive and lucrative environment. She didn't contract me, and acted like it was a favor to ME. Turns out she just wanted to opt for the 40%. Bet she knew I wouldn't sign that contract. Imagine my surprise at my first check.
My last attempt at a similar deal was a tattoo shop. Nice guys, great artists, poor business men. Long story short, they ended up going out of business. At least they treated me like an asset...
I didn't get any sort of training or explanation of how to handle money in the salon. I looked unprofessional trying to manage at the reception desk untill one of the receptionists offered to show me the ropes. I had to point out that I'd been doing small amounts of work for a month and hadn't seen a paycheck yet. Turns out I had to fill out a tax form. Were they waiting for me to ask? I did a few pieces early on, but didn't really worry about the lack of steady clients because it was winter -not exactly the best time for henna. The stylists loved my work and made it worth my while to show up from time to time. Keep in mind that at this point I was going in three nights a week for several hours and RARELY doing any work while I was there. Summer will be better...
I bought business cards. I designed and printed brochures. I bought a salon T-shirt and registration for a networking event to a tune of $65. I pounded the payment. I worked hard and all told invested about $220 promoting this salon. AND 3 evenings a week for 4 months. I don't even have a chair. When I work I set up in the lobby. This is what is provided for 40% of my earnings.
I was reasonably excepting of all this for a while. I suggested that I could set up my festival tent in the parking lot and promote myself and the salon that way. The owner was interested and suggested we offer snacks and such as well. After a while we picked a day. Another week goes by and she tells me that I should call the local night-life free paper and see if I could get them to cover the event. It was also clear that I would need to plan and promote the whole gig. (by the way the free paper covers large events and businesses who buy add space, not hot dogs and henna in the salon parking lot.) Did she think that I was going to buy an add? Now I started to wonder if she was going to look to me to supply the snacks?!?
So what am I getting for 40%? I spend my time money and effort promoting this salon AND pay them! Once again, I don't even have a chair. That was the last time I went in hoping for walk-ins. Now I just show up when I have an appointment. The receptionists, all of whom are great, take my appointments and call me to tell me when I need to come in. I'd rather just give them the salon's cut directly. They're the only one's who do anything for me. I don't give out salon cards any more. I went back to using cards with my home number on them. I don't really encourage clients to meet me at the salon. I suggest I come to their home first. If they hesitate, then I offer the salon. I'm just not going to pay the salon for the privilege of promoting them on my dime any more. We'll see what happens next...
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I've been a professional henna artist for 6 years now! It doesn't seem like it, but the calendar doesn't lie. All of that time I was working under the name "Body Art by Jen." Lately it sounds kind of rinky-dink and unprofessional to me so I decided to make a change. Now I'm Henna Muse!
Here's my old banner:
I'm working on the new one tonight. Hopefully I'll have something to show for it soon.
Tags: Henna, mehndi, Body Art by Jen, business name
Tomorrow I have an appointment at the salon. That's kind of a joke, but more on that later...
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