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Mehndi aka the Art of Henna Painting
A traditional art decorating the hands
with
beautiful & auspicious patterns. It originated around 7000 BC in
the Eastern Mediterranean regions. In the course of time, it use spread
around the world finding popularity in North Africa, Middle East and
Asia.
The Mehndi process is as follows:
The henna leaves are harvested,
dried, grind to a powder. The henna artist mix this powder with natural
ingredients (lemon juice, sugar, tamarind, ladyfingers, tea, coffee,
essential oils...etc) to release the dye of the henna and to create a
paste that is used to apply on the skin.
The paste is applied to the skin in
designs. When dried and
scraped off, the skin is stained with a orange pattern. In 24 to 48
hours (which I called the developing time), the design darkened to it's
peak (some get brown, some get red, some get dark orange, some get
burgundy, some get a shade of brown that is nearly black) and fade off
in 4 to 14 days (depending on the strength of the henna and the skin
which the tattoo is done).
Mehndi is completely safe as the
dye only stains the outer layers
of the epidermis. Which means it penetrates only the dead skin cells,
staining the keratin. The dye does not enter the bloodstream as it does
not penetrated the living tissue, the dermis. The fading off of the
design is actually the dead skin cells exfoliating.
Profile
Lezard has been
actively practising this ancient
art form professionally since August 2001. This course of passion has
brought him to New York City in March 2002 to attend an international
henna conference. Participants was given lectures of university level
by historian/ henna artist Catherine Cartwright Jones on henna history
and traditions. The participants also shared their knowledge and skills
of Mehndi. When Lezard returned his talent was discovered by a
production house (The Moving Visuals Co. Pte Ltd) and was subsequently
invited to do a feature on the art of Henna painting on a program
called "Yi TV" (Arts TV) which was aired in June 2002 over TCS 8. With
numerous gigs under his belt, Lezard is equally at ease doing intricate
full bridal henna and speed slinging henna for events.
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