Re: Recipe Shmesipe

Posted by Anon on September 02, 1999 at 03:58:20:

In Reply to: Recipe Shmesipe posted by Rupal on September 01, 1999 at 16:57:27:

: a refrigerator, a bathroom sink, and the inflatable coffee table.

Inflatable??

: table. I managed to boil my tea and add my cloves etc., but I have
: been considering just reducing my recipe to water, tamarind paste,
: eucalyptus oil, and lemon juice (+ henna of course!), provided that

As usual, others have the chemistry and side-by-side tests, but if you
like your paste to have the kind of texture that allows you to pull
thin threads, then I boiling the tea leaves with fenugreek seeds
worked rather well for me. (I love the smell, anyway. I know okra
is another way to achieve this, but it's too yucky for me.) The one
time I did it up thoroughly, I tossed in the lemon rinds and cloves,
and got a wonderful scent and texture. I had to cool it off and then
I dumped it into an old stocking to strain (squeeze), so I don't know
about the hot tea issue.

I think eucalyptus and cloves are both mordants (help bind the dye) -
someone please let me know if you know better! I suspect that most of
the brown/red ingredients (coffee, tea) are to make the initial stain
look more brown than orange, so that by the time they wear off, the
henna has oxidized to a darker color. In other words, sales pitches
or impatience. Anyone know for sure? I, too, like to know the
function of ingredients and an idea of whether a little works or you
need a lot for any effect.

Follow-ups:

• Mordants bite Catherine Cartwright Jones 04:12:49 9/02/99 (1)
  • Re: Mordants bite Anon 05:39:18 9/06/99 (0)
• So the coffee table makes a better head/foot-rest than a place to put a mug, but including it in my list was a nice touch wasn't it? :-) (nfm) Rupal 04:05:08 9/02/99 (0)