The art of coating the skin with various patterns and patterns, originated several millennia ago, still remains relevant. And earlier the body painting served not only for decoration, but carried a deep sacral meaning and could tell a lot about its owner (faith, origin, social status, etc.). To apply the picture on the body used a variety of techniques and types of paints.
Mehendi is a technology for painting the body with henna. It is a kind of safe and painless temporary tattoo, tk. It involves the use of vegetable dye and the application of the pattern only to the surface of the skin, and not to deeper layers. Holds mehendi for about two weeks. The most common mehendi in the Arab countries, Africa, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. In Europe, this technology has come quite recently, but is now rapidly gaining popularity.
Mehendi through the stencil
Painting henna with the help of art mehendi today is a modern and stylish decoration, which is used mainly to emphasize one's individuality, attract attention. The drawings themselves can be both primitive enough and represent the most complicated ornaments and compositions with many elements. Makers are artists who know special skills, who know the intricacies of working with henna, who are versed in the styles of painting.
However, you can make a drawing on the skin not only from the master in the salon, but also independently at home. To facilitate the process, it is possible to carry out the painting not by hand, but by means of special ready-made stencils, i.e. using a template technique. This process is very simple and accessible, so anyone can apply it.
Sketches and stencils for mehendi are reusable and can be used an unlimited number of times. They can be purchased at specialized stores. In this case, some stencils are ready-made compositions, while others can be used as elements for large-scale painting on the body. Also, it is quite easy to make stencils from a self-adhesive film.
How to make mehendi on a stencil?
To make a mehendi through a stencil, you should also purchase:
- paste based on henna in a cone or tuba (or make it by your own hand);
- eucalyptus oil for skin preparation (promotes better penetration of henna);
- Scotch;
- lemon juice.
And now let's take a step-by-step look at how to use the stencil for mehendi, for example, drawing a drawing on your hand:
- Pre-cleaned with a scrub or a washcloth with soap, the skin area and the paralyzed should be treated with a cotton swab with eucalyptus oil.
- Separate from the stencil a layer with a pattern from the base and a protective film.
- Densely paste the stencil (for reliability it is also recommended to use for fastening with adhesive tape).
- Start filling the free space of the henna stencil with a layer of medium thickness, lightly pressing on the cone (tube), in any sequence.
- Fully fill all the stencil voids to get the desired pattern and leave to dry completely (depending on the paste used, this takes, on average, 20-60 minutes).
- Carefully remove the stencil from the skin.
- Excess henna is removed with a paper napkin, blunt side of a knife or other.
- Treat the plot with a pattern first with lemon juice, and then with eucalyptus oil.
Within four hours after the procedure, it is not recommended to wet the skin area with the mehendi applied. At first the pattern will be light, but after some time it will acquire a more intense, darker shade.