Some samples of my art

I finally got to digging around in the various external HDD's that I have, to locate the photos of the art I have done. Although I couldn't find the ones I really wanted, at least this should give some idea of my paintings.

What's new?

So, things were kind of slow with my posts this summer while I was busy enjoying my internship :). To think of it, its been more than 3 months since I made a post. I had almost forgotten my account details which were required for me to log in and make this new post. Maybe I should keep my username and passwords the same across the tons of different accounts. But my training and education as a computer scientist and engineer don't allow me to do that :)


Anyways, this is not a blog about me as an engineer or even my life as an MBA candidate, but about the art of henna and of me as a henna artist, so let's get along with that. So, what's new with my henna art?


Until now, I always offered my henna art as a service at arts and craft events, street shows, individual events and at groups events. However, there were several who loved the designs but didn't want henna on their skin as a tattoo. I thus had to find a way to convert my service to a product. And nothing seemed better than greeting cards. That's right -- Blank Greeting cards featuring my henna designs (in original work and as prints).


Over the summer I came up with several new designs, some of which I incorporated in this new product offering. For the original work, I used real henna and/ or acrylic paints to put my henna designs on the greeting cards.


And this month, on popular demand, my paintings and greeting cards are back on display at the Bean Counter in Worcester, MA. I'll post some of the photographs from the Bean in a week, so check back then. Until then, ciao.

What I love about henna designing

Its fun, liberating and a definite stress buster for me :). And the best part about this kind of designing is that I don't have to know before hand what I want to sketch. It just kind of flows on its own. I am sure that the other painters and sketch artists would probably feel the same way when they create their designs.

Tattoos can especially be completely free-sketch. No set boundaries and no limitations on the size and complexity of the design. For example when I started out the heart tattoo that you see in my last post, I didn't know where it would lead me. I started of with one mango seed, added another one after that, and the next I knew I had the heart pattern sketched out and I was filling it with different patterns.

Even when I am sketching for the hand or feet (as you'll see in the designs under the link sections or some of my other designs that I'll be putting up in my future posts, many a times I'll draw the outline and then fill it with different patterns depending on the mood.

Another tattoo design

So here's another tattoo design that I worked on. This was one of my earlier designs this year but I didn't get a chance to scan it until now.

I have used a lot of different basic designs to form this intricate composition. You can see the use of mango seeds, a lot of leaves and flowers, diamonds, spirals, swirls, fences and zardosi patterns among others.

So what is henna really?

Henna (Lawsonia inermis) is a plant that grows in hot climates and can be found in most African and Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt and India. The henna plant can grow 8 to 10 feet high and its leaves are dried, crushed and ground into a powder. The natural dyeing properties found in Henna are tannins, this is what allows the henna (when mixed with other ingredients) to temporarily stain the skin. While henna is the plant, mehendi is the traditional art of decorating the hands, feet, & shins with a henna paste.

Giving different colors to your hair with henna

Here are a few pointers to help you color gray hair the right way:

• First of all always use Mehendi of a good quality.


• To give your hair a reddish tinge, boil and add grated beet.


• If you want a bronze effect, add coffee powder to mehendi. You can also add oil to the mehendi paste.


• For jet black hair, soak Amla (if you don't know what Amla is, please leave a comment and I'll answer your query) overnight and then add this to the mehendi paste and keep this overnight. Apply it the next day.


• If you do not want to color your hair and only want to use it as a conditioner, then oil your hair before applying it and leave it on only for an hour or so.

Again, remember to wrap a cloth around your shoulders and use gloves to apply mehendi in order to avoid soiling your clothes. Take care that mehendi does not touch your ears or face, or else the color won’t go for some days.

Henna for the hair

I got quite a few questions about henna for the hair. So here's a post on that.

For times galore, henna has been used as a natural conditioner, color enhancer for hair. Just like on the hands or body, if applied correctly to the hair it leaves a beautiful shine and just the right tinge of color on your hair.

How to make the henna paste for hair application:
For the hair, take 100 gms of henna (it doesn't need to be sifted) and mix warm water into it slowly to form a smooth paste. If you would like to get stronger color, let the paste stay in the bowl for half an hour to an hour, otherwise you can apply it directly on your hair. During the application, make sure to wear gloves, else the henna can leave color on your hands. Leave the henna in your hair for anywhere between half an hour to three hours after which you can wash your hair using any regular shampoo.

Some important notes

• The quantity of henna to be used will of course depend on the length and thickness of your hair


• Instead of regular henna, you can also use herbal henna. The color in this case will not be as strong, but the conditioning is better


• The strength of the color or your hair depends on how quickly do your hair take on the color. You may want to test the henna on a small section on your hair before the main application to test the color. Generally, black hair will reflect a shine, brown will show some highlights if the henna is kept for about half an hour whereas blond and gray hair will catch the henna color very quickly, and so I would advise those with blond and gray hair to not keep on henna for more than half an hour, else your hair will appear red


• Be very careful during the application because henna stains clothes (And most stain removers are ineffective).

Have fun!

Tattoo of the month

This design, perfect as a back or front henna tattoo, shouldn't take more than an hour to do on someone. It can be done quicker by replacing the intricate patterns with bolder ones.

But creating this design took me almost the entire weekend, mostly because I wanted that blend between intricate traditional patterns and the bolder geometric patterns. The mistake on my part though was sketching on a ruled paper .... you can still see the ruled lines in the design. But I managed to remove the surrounding ruled lines so the design is clearer. Hurray for Photoshop!!! :)

Swastikas .... the loaded symbol

In one of my earlier posts I had mentioned about swastikas being a common design pattern in Indian mehandi. So, today when my friend Jen asked me if I knew what a loaded word "Swastikas" was here, I realized I had to write a post to explain the significance of swastikas in the Indian culture.



The Swastika is a holy symbol in the Hindu and Jain religions. Seen at most Indian temples as well as entrances of houses (yes its true, you'll find swastikas made of vermillion paste on the door frames), at weddings, festivals and celebrations, the swastika is used in religious and civil ceremonies in India. The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit word svastika meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on things to denote good luck.

I am aware that in the west, swastika has been associated with Nazism, which I believe led to Jen's question. This has led to confusions to the use of the symbol in the pre-Nazi era as well its religious and sacred significance in other cultures. I hope that this post will help you understand the alternative meanings associated with the symbol in other cultures. There has and will always be more good than bad associated with this word in most cultures :).

For more information on this, check out Swastikas on Wikipedia

** Note that the information and photographs used above were obtained from Wikipedia and variety of sources.

Mehandi Tattoos

So what is so different about Mehendi tattoos? Well, for starters, they are cool, painless, fun and above all temporary.

You don't need needles for these tattoos nor do you need to worry about having to undergo laser treatments in case you realize later in life that you really didn't want/ like the tattoo. If you can draw squiggly lines or write names you can draw a Mehendi tattoo. All you need is the mehendi paste and a cone to fill that paste in. You may want to use stencils for intricate patterns. And because the designs fade within a 1-4 weeks depending on where the designs are placed and how long you leave the henna paste on, there is no lifetime commitment or even a painful removal process. They just disappear :)

Do I really need to give you any more reasons to say good bye to traditional painful tattoos and hello to painless Mehendi tattoos? :)

Fun with Mehandi

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In the last few decades, Mehandi has evolved into a must-have product. Whether you use it to

• Condition, enrich and naturally color hair


• Decorate a bride's hands and feet with intricate patterns


• As an alternative to temporary tattoos


• Or a means to beautiful body art

it is fun to use and you can get as creative with it as you like.

Once done as block-prints using heavy wooden stencils, match sticks and tooth picks to being drawn using a cone, the art of mehandi designing has come a long way. This had also resulted in the once popular big and small dots and swastikas giving way to delicate patterns and attractive designs.

Today, there are different patterns that come under four main categories which can be mixed and matched. Arabic, Marwadi, Indian and outlines are the major and well-known categories. While Arabic designs comprises of huge flowers and leaves, Marwadi designs are thin patterns where the entire hand is filled without a single gap. The basic Indian designs comprise kalash (a vase, normally depicted as being covered with mango leaves), doli (a palanquin), peacocks, kanguras (mango seeds) etc.

Mehandi tattoos, color mehandi, glitter mehandi, zardosi mehandi, mehandi adorned with Swarovski crystals are other ways of using mehandi application to adorn your body. Faces, names, sun, scorpions, dragons, abstracts and floral designs are currently the "in" patterns for tattoos. Tattoos on neck, forearms, upper arms, waist, navel, sides of the shoulders and back are very common these days. (And for all my 'XY' gene pool friends who are reading this blog, do not despair, because even though its not completely cool for you to get intricate designs on your palm, getting and flaunting a henna tattoo is "Coolness Factor Unlimited" :) ).

Mehendi or Henna -- The burning question

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Shakespeare had once said "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."

The same holds true for henna :) Henna, as it is famously known in the Middle East and now in the western part of the world (due to its ease of pronunciation) is known as Mehandi (or Mehendi) in most parts of India. (Considering the number of different languages in India, I wouldn't be surprised if there is at least half a dozen other names for Mehandi :) ).

But, whether it is called henna or mehendi or by any other name, does it really matter? The purpose of application is the same irrespective of the culture. It is, among many other things, ultimately an expression for the celebration of life, the dance of exultation and the inclusion of change (and possibly the uncertainty) in life (shall talk about this in another entry).

Why another blog?

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When I thought about blogging for the first time, I wasn't sure if I wanted a single blog and make a nice cocktail of the various topics I wanted to talk about, or keep the flavors seperate and let them have their individualities. I finally settled for the latter because henna designing isn't really travelling (which is what my first blog is about) and neither is it about Indian fashion (which my next blog will be about) :). Although sometime in the future, I may have another one combining Indian fashion with global fashion and henna designing.


After a break of four years, somewhere around December 2005, I got back into henna designing. Alternating between geeking and practicing my MBA skills during the day and designing during the evenings feels really good :). I know there is a lot of information online about henna and if you were search Google, you would find hundreds if not thousands of sites on henna and henna designs. Through this blog I hope to have my take at demystifying henna, information that I have on henna, tips and techniques on henna designing (gained either through personal experience or read in articles over the years), initiate some discussions on these topics and in the process also get some feedback on my designs.