Want to create a unique Indian henna design? Read on to discover the art of Indian henna designs…
Indian henna designs have become popular all over the world as temporary body art. The designs are often used to create temporary tattoos from the natural dye. The dye is available from the leaves of the Henna tree and can be created by crushing the fresh leaves to release the colored pigment or drying thereby creating a powder which can later be mixed with water to create a thick paste. This is applied through an icing cone-like tube for creating an intricate Indian henna design on the hands or other parts of the body.
Basic Indian Henna Design
There are different strokes which are utilized to build an Indian henna design on the palm and these include the sun, hearts, line strokes, flowers, leaves, creepers and rainbows.
Zig Zag lines or flowing strokes which look like the cursive letters F, L and S lines are used to fill out areas in the design. Another common pattern is the creation of a creeper by using a shape like the comma and combining it with inverted quotation marks.
A checkerboard symbol is also created by drawing out a rectangle from the icing cone in a fine border and creating checks across the center. Alternate checks are then filled in and when the dried out henna is washed off, the color of the skin in the small checkered squares contrasts with the orange and red hue of the painted square.
A delicate and intricate looking pattern can be created by using the letter S horizontally to create a vine and then fill it out on the side or top and bottom with sunrays, triangles, hearts or simply three dots on either end.
You can even incorporate tiny rosebuds which denote youthfulness, life and fertility. Another popular floral motif like the four leaf clover which has inverted hearts creates an interesting and youthful pattern. The leaf can be incorporated by simply creating the edge and internal strokes or by completely filling in the inside of the motifs.
Getting Started with Indian Henna Designs
The idea when creating a pattern is to utilize three or four strokes and using them repeatedly to create a unique and comprehensive Indian henna design. It is not necessary for the pattern to be symmetrical or perfect but it must follow consistently sized strokes in order for the pattern to develop into a uniform running design.
Make sure the liquid paste of the henna is smooth and not too runny. This will mean that it will flow gently from the icing cone and you will have more control on where the dye will flow on the body and be able to control your artwork. Begin practicing on a small area of the body and repeat one design till you get a consistency and grip on the stroke then start to build up. A good idea is to draw the pattern on a piece of paper to get the proportions right. You can also draw your palm outline on paper and fill it in with a design of your choice then finally paint it on the palm.
