Combine Techniques For More Complex Henna Designs.
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 | Double
Dog Dare yourself! Try to do something that you think may be out of
reach. If you try challenging things, you'll improve your
skills. If it doesn't work, you'll learn from your mistakes.
It's all good. This image is a detail of two intertwined dogs from the Lindisfarne Gospels. It may be a bit of a stretch to do in henna. |
 | Assemble your materials: henna cones, an aquarellable pencil, glitter to sketch in the knotwork, and gilding cones made with hair gel, glitter and gilding powder, and some more glitter. |
 | Any
time a pattern is really too difficult to freehand straight from the
cone, such as battling knotted hounds, sketch it first with an
aquarellable pencil. Aquarellable pencils are water soluble and will draw on a wet surface. If you dampen the skin, you can sketch on it. If the skin dries, dip the tip of your pencil in water, or you can rub a drop of water onto the skin. Click HERE to read an old Henna Page® article with a video of how to sketch out knotwork on skin. |
 | Sketch the pattern roughly, adjusting it so that it will lay gracefully on the skin. Even the scribes of the Lindisfarne Gospel sketched on the paper before they got out the ink and paints. Sketching out a complex pattern makes it possible for you do do art that would otherwise be impossible. Click HERE for an old Henna Page® article on knotwork. |
 | When the pattern is roughly in place, begin hennaing in the lines with a fine cone. Click HERE for some FREE knotwork patterns from the Henna Page®. |
 | If you find that you've put henna where it should not be, push the henna away with a toothpick. Make corrections quickly; henna begins to stain the skin in seconds. Be patient with yourself; it's just henna. No harm can come of trying. |
 | Shade in areas by applying a tiny bit of henna and rubbing it over the skin. |
 | Use a tooth pick to smoothe out the shading and to tighten up lines that didn't go perfectly. |
 | When the henna work is done, seal it with spray before the henna starts to flake off. |
 | When the henna work is done, add gilding paste made with hair gel and mica powder. Gilding paste made with hair gel will wash away, but it looks nice while the paste is on. |
 | Add color to the bodies of the hounds with gilding paste. Tiny dots reflect the light more than large painted areas. |
 | Finish up the gilding. Do you like Celtic patterns? Would you like a free book of them? Click HERE to get a free book of Celtic patterns adapted for body art: "Ancient Blue Pagan Patterns from Ancient Europe," by Alex Morgan. |
 | Add glitter. If you've gone this far, may as well make it sparkly. Click HERE for more information about adding glitter. Add gems for the eyes of the beasts. Click HERE for information about adding gems. |
 | All done, but for filling in the fingertips. |
 | Two days later, the hair-gel base gilding powder is gone, but the stain remains. Time to put gilding paste on again! |
 | Here is the double dog knotwork pattern with new gilding. Here are some older pages on complex work. How do you create detailed, delicate work? Use a transfer Bridal Work |
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