Henna Stamps

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Posted by Devaprem on April 03, 2000 at 23:09:31:

Greetings all you Hennaists [ites?]: didn't realize henna designing and hands/feet painting were so popular until i read some messages in this forum.

i recently returned from 3 months in India, staying only in one area, Pune, at a commune. when i would go into town sometimes, i would see some women, always on the sidewalk, selling henna designs - via wooden stamps. they were gorgeous and everywhere different. i forgot about them until the last week, when i thought wouldn't it be great to bring some back and as part of a street fair in NYC sometime, to use these stamps on people's hands, for fun. so the last week i was there, i set out in search of them and suddenly, it was as if these women disappeared. i was taken here and there, but they all of a sudden, had disappeared. finally, my last 3 days, i managed to find a woman who had only 8 designs that she personally was using and i bought them all, grabbed some henna from a local shop and tried it out for the first time tonight.

definitely complicated. the stamps are all wood, block-like with quite lovely designs cut out - one is a beauty in form of krishna playing a flute. I found one that fits just the length of a finger [only have one, so i'd have to do each finger at a time, if someone wanted that].

but now, after reading this great web site all about henna and how to prepare it, apply it, etc., and after failing in the "stamping," i no longer feel this would be an easy thing. it would be fine to prepare, but then there is this new skin thing. and then what customer would want to walk around with that stuff on their hands for a whole day. plus the fact that lots of these people would be tourists. i know i can just forget about the stamps and being an artsy craftsy type can make beautiful designs for the hands and apply the henna using the recipe given on the main web site.

so what's my question? well, uh, anybody have any nice ideas to apply henna via a wooden stamp - that would last, let's say at least almost one week [as a temp tatoo, kind of] where the person would not have to do the whole new skin or latex stuff? I kind of doubt it, but who knows?

i of course would refuse to use any kind of dye, but use strictly good henna. and after reading here about the different kinds of henna, i will list here what it says on the package that i brought back from india, which by the way, they say is good for hair AND mendhi - with instructions for making the enclosed henna darker, how to make it burgundy, red, dark brown or how to condition the hair., etc.:

There are 16 ingredients, including: mehandi, amla, majistha, shikakai, aritha, lasa, lal chanoti, kapoor kachli, wada, bela, maiphal,satodi, kolingjan, palasbji, marda sign, nagar motha.

some suggestions they give are boiling water to make a paste, kept in a fessel overnight. coffee. for conditioning, a cup of curd and water, a easpoon of mehti powder and an egg.

also: Herbal Red Henna: Contains a special blend of top quality henna and rare herbal ingredients. A herbal hair darknener, conditioner controls dandruff and arrests hair loss. can also be used for hand and feet decoration.
[this is the only place where they mention hand and feet decoration.]

the shopkeeper told me it was a new product to india and it was not cheap, by Indian standards. sorry this post is so long. has anyone worked with these kinds of wooden stamps from India?

probably if i really went through your entire web site and posts, i might find the answer.

thank you all for being so excited about a wonderful art. by the way, i had absolutely no time to ask the woman how to do this [nor did she speak much English]. i suppose i could have paid her to teach me! too bad about that.

thank you all!
devaprem

Follow Ups:

Re: Henna Stamps atul_mulay@hotmail.com(from India -PUNE -) 03:05:17 4/07/00 (0)
Re: Henna Stamps...and NYC connectins Kenzi 18:32:39 4/05/00 (0)
Re: Henna Stamps Catherine Cartwright Jones 13:01:57 4/04/00 (0)

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: Greetings all you Hennaists [ites?]: didn't realize henna designing and hands/feet painting were so popular until i read some messages in this forum. : i recently returned from 3 months in India, staying only in one area, Pune, at a commune. when i would go into town sometimes, i would see some women, always on the sidewalk, selling henna designs - via wooden stamps. they were gorgeous and everywhere different. i forgot about them until the last week, when i thought wouldn't it be great to bring some back and as part of a street fair in NYC sometime, to use these stamps on people's hands, for fun. so the last week i was there, i set out in search of them and suddenly, it was as if these women disappeared. i was taken here and there, but they all of a sudden, had disappeared. finally, my last 3 days, i managed to find a woman who had only 8 designs that she personally was using and i bought them all, grabbed some henna from a local shop and tried it out for the first time tonight. : definitely complicated. the stamps are all wood, block-like with quite lovely designs cut out - one is a beauty in form of krishna playing a flute. I found one that fits just the length of a finger [only have one, so i'd have to do each finger at a time, if someone wanted that]. : but now, after reading this great web site all about henna and how to prepare it, apply it, etc., and after failing in the "stamping," i no longer feel this would be an easy thing. it would be fine to prepare, but then there is this new skin thing. and then what customer would want to walk around with that stuff on their hands for a whole day. plus the fact that lots of these people would be tourists. i know i can just forget about the stamps and being an artsy craftsy type can make beautiful designs for the hands and apply the henna using the recipe given on the main web site. : so what's my question? well, uh, anybody have any nice ideas to apply henna via a wooden stamp - that would last, let's say at least almost one week [as a temp tatoo, kind of] where the person would not have to do the whole new skin or latex stuff? I kind of doubt it, but who knows? : i of course would refuse to use any kind of dye, but use strictly good henna. and after reading here about the different kinds of henna, i will list here what it says on the package that i brought back from india, which by the way, they say is good for hair AND mendhi - with instructions for making the enclosed henna darker, how to make it burgundy, red, dark brown or how to condition the hair., etc.: : There are 16 ingredients, including: mehandi, amla, majistha, shikakai, aritha, lasa, lal chanoti, kapoor kachli, wada, bela, maiphal,satodi, kolingjan, palasbji, marda sign, nagar motha. : some suggestions they give are boiling water to make a paste, kept in a fessel overnight. coffee. for conditioning, a cup of curd and water, a easpoon of mehti powder and an egg. : also: Herbal Red Henna: Contains a special blend of top quality henna and rare herbal ingredients. A herbal hair darknener, conditioner controls dandruff and arrests hair loss. can also be used for hand and feet decoration. : [this is the only place where they mention hand and feet decoration.] : the shopkeeper told me it was a new product to india and it was not cheap, by Indian standards. sorry this post is so long. has anyone worked with these kinds of wooden stamps from India? : probably if i really went through your entire web site and posts, i might find the answer. : thank you all for being so excited about a wonderful art. by the way, i had absolutely no time to ask the woman how to do this [nor did she speak much English]. i suppose i could have paid her to teach me! too bad about that. : thank you all! : devaprem

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