Friday, December 5, 2008
Henna Muse Fall Rajasthani 2008! -Color Results!
Check out the photos of color for our new favorite henna! Click on the photos to go to flicker and read all the details.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Henna Muse Fall Rajasthani 2008!
It's here! It's finally here! The new crop of our signature henna is finally in stock. The first test batch is mixed, but not quite ready to apply. It's been standing about 15 hours now and its still not quite ready. I'm really hoping it will have a nice long dye release time like last year so that its easy to mix with Jamila. So far the texture is exactly what we've come to expect from Henna Muse Raj. Its so creamy and stringy! Perfect baby-powder sift, and tested negative for added dyes. (that means no fake green color to make it look fresher than it is as well as ugly chemicals like ppd.)
Stay tuned for photos of our test batch as it developes.
If you can't wait and have to try it right now go get it here! It's on sale!
Stay tuned for photos of our test batch as it developes.
If you can't wait and have to try it right now go get it here! It's on sale!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Learning Hindi
Why am I interested in learning Hindi?
I thought it might come in handy at work.
I will travel in India someday, when my kids are bigger.
I thought it would be something fun to do with the kids.
Hindi script is pretty.
How am I going to learn Hindi?
OK, I'm probably not going to learn it well. I took 4 years of high school french, and I can only read it at about a 4th grade level. Spoken French? I'll be lucky if I can understand directions to the bathroom. That said, I'm really only looking for basics. The alphabet and pronunciation. Very basic vocabulary. Numbers, days of the week, etc.
Here's a helpful blog.
Here's a good website for teaching children with worksheets and everything!
And I'm going to try this software. I can't quite afford Rosetta Stone. This software may not be as good, but you can have the basic version free, and the deluxe version is only $50 so it's worth a try right?!
This one is great too!
This is a few lessons on Devanagari, the alphabet used to write in Hindi. Its a good place to start despite being on the bottom of my list.
I'll post fun stuff I learn here!
I thought it might come in handy at work.
I will travel in India someday, when my kids are bigger.
I thought it would be something fun to do with the kids.
Hindi script is pretty.
How am I going to learn Hindi?
OK, I'm probably not going to learn it well. I took 4 years of high school french, and I can only read it at about a 4th grade level. Spoken French? I'll be lucky if I can understand directions to the bathroom. That said, I'm really only looking for basics. The alphabet and pronunciation. Very basic vocabulary. Numbers, days of the week, etc.
Here's a helpful blog.
Here's a good website for teaching children with worksheets and everything!
And I'm going to try this software. I can't quite afford Rosetta Stone. This software may not be as good, but you can have the basic version free, and the deluxe version is only $50 so it's worth a try right?!
This one is great too!
This is a few lessons on Devanagari, the alphabet used to write in Hindi. Its a good place to start despite being on the bottom of my list.
I'll post fun stuff I learn here!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Mica in a New Size!
If you ever wanted to try mica in body art, we now have the perfect way to do that! Teeny-tiny 5 gram jars are only $3. They're way more than enough to experiment with and have a smaller price tag. That way you can try it out before you make an investment.
Get 'em here:
http://www.hennamuse.com/catalog4.html#mica
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Henna on Wood Experiments
Warning! Science content! If you can't cope with a chemistry lesson today skip the following paragraph and move right on to the pictures.
I've been learning a lot about the chemistry of henna in the last few years. One of the most confusing and notable things about henna is the apparently contradictory information on pH. Henna powder needs a mildly acidic solution (pH of about 2-4) in order for the dye to be "released" from the plant material. What that means is that the dye molecule (lawsone) is attached to a sugar molecule in the leaf. A process called hydrolysis breaks the sugar and lawsone apart so that its free to do its job. The next thing that happens is that the lawsone attaches its self to cellulose (in the case of paper and cotton) or keratin (in the case of skin, hair, and silk.) This happens by a reaction called Michael Addition which prefers alkylin (above a pH of 7) environments. So, lawsone requires a low pH to be made available for use, but a higher pH in oder to be used! What can we do? Here's what I did:
I soaked one craft stick in ammonia (A) and the other was left alone as a control (C.) The pictures below show the result immediately after removing paste, several days later, and after exposure to heat several days after removing the paste.
We can see clearly that the ammonia soaked stick is darker, especially at first. We can also see that with the addition of heat and time, the stick that was not soaked in ammonia nearly "caught up" with the other. This brings me to the conclusion that the dye will attach to the wood even in a neutral envirnonment it just takes more time. You may also notice that the color is warmer in the stick that was not soaked. In the end, you may prefer not to use ammonia on wood if you like the warmer color. If your in a big hurry, on the other hand, you may want to give it a try!
I've been learning a lot about the chemistry of henna in the last few years. One of the most confusing and notable things about henna is the apparently contradictory information on pH. Henna powder needs a mildly acidic solution (pH of about 2-4) in order for the dye to be "released" from the plant material. What that means is that the dye molecule (lawsone) is attached to a sugar molecule in the leaf. A process called hydrolysis breaks the sugar and lawsone apart so that its free to do its job. The next thing that happens is that the lawsone attaches its self to cellulose (in the case of paper and cotton) or keratin (in the case of skin, hair, and silk.) This happens by a reaction called Michael Addition which prefers alkylin (above a pH of 7) environments. So, lawsone requires a low pH to be made available for use, but a higher pH in oder to be used! What can we do? Here's what I did:
I soaked one craft stick in ammonia (A) and the other was left alone as a control (C.) The pictures below show the result immediately after removing paste, several days later, and after exposure to heat several days after removing the paste.
We can see clearly that the ammonia soaked stick is darker, especially at first. We can also see that with the addition of heat and time, the stick that was not soaked in ammonia nearly "caught up" with the other. This brings me to the conclusion that the dye will attach to the wood even in a neutral envirnonment it just takes more time. You may also notice that the color is warmer in the stick that was not soaked. In the end, you may prefer not to use ammonia on wood if you like the warmer color. If your in a big hurry, on the other hand, you may want to give it a try!
New Stuff!
We've got some new stuff at Henna Muse! We've just added some one of a kind, hand-made gifts. Right now we have some earrings and pendants and some hand-painted boxes. This page changes often as we make great new stuff. (Yes WE make it, right here!!!)
Saturday, October 11, 2008
I feel so bad!
I have totally abandoned this blog! Well, here's the thing. I'm in the process of completely rebuilding my web site and store. It will be done by somewhere between Thanksgiving and February. I know that's a wide window, but it depends a lot on whether I can scrape together enough flow to hire someone or if I have to do it myself.
ANYWAY, point being when that's all up and running this blog will become an important part of the new site and be much more active.
ANYWAY, point being when that's all up and running this blog will become an important part of the new site and be much more active.
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