Painting with Henna

Summer is the time when lovely ladies, fun-loving teenagers, and happy pre-teens pay attention to their nails: toe and finger. 

Look down at the feet passing by and you will see green, lavender, orange, shell pink, black, white or shiny red nail polish.

Petite additions of paintings, jewels, press on designs

are not uncommon. 

Nails have achieved icon-ic status!

Grammy Candy and her cutie-pie Granddaughter, Ella were wandering about a very eclectic mall in Singapore. 

An elegantly decorated booth in brilliant colors and Indian motifs

attracted their eye and in the end their HANDS.

Free Henna Tatto!

Grammy and Ella sat down next to a young woman dressed in a golden silk sari, her implements and colors carefully laid out.

Charmingly she offered to do their hands in a traditional floral design.

Hands of a Crone

hands of a Child

each adorned.

"Don't bump or rub these designs for half an hour," the woman in the  golden Sari firmly stated.

They didn't.

Mehndi is a ceremonial art form which originated in ancient India.

Intricate patterns are most typically applied to brides before wedding ceremonies. 

Today they are used in ceremonies and for simple adornment.

The astonishing, intricate, detailed henna designs blend beautifully with the silky SARIS decorated with golden embroidery and jewels.

Henna paste is usually applied on the skin using a plastic cone or a paint brush, but sometimes like Grammy and Ella discovered, a small metal-tipped jacquard bottle used for silk painting is used.

Slowly squeezing the bottle (no shaky hands allowed) the paste is applied like cake frosting.

One line builds upon another, scrolls, leaves, floral shapes, blend into one another

creating a masterpiece for the skin.

Grammy Candy and Ella were pleased as punch with their newly

decorated hands.

The designs lasted for several weeks. But as time passed the designs slowly faded to a blush of pale brown.