Week 2: A Simplistic Henna Design
This week I have attemted a simplistic design on my mother’s hand with the goal of completing it in 40 minutes. Although I was over nearly 20 minutes over my time limit, the design came out neat and precise. I did not follow any videos or tutorials and only used a photo for reference. Subtle designs like these, are very common for holidays, weddings (as a guest), or other ceremonies. I chose to create the design on my mother’s hand since Eid al-Fitr is coming soon and I would still be able to find enough time to create a design on myself whereas she would be busy. For this genius hour project I’ve decided to create videos of the entire process using time lapse for stronger evidence since bringing henna to school can cause a mess or be easily displaced (last year two henna cones were taken from the Multicultural Day henna stand and one was lost). This was my first time using a tripod to record a video like this so I was still struggling with the angles to get the hand to fit within the frame. Here is the process of creating a simplistic design with henna on my mother’s hand:
While this design turned out perfect, the amount of time it takes me still needs to be drastically improved. For example, most proffesional henna artists spend about 30 minutes on a design like this whereas I’m taking nearly an hour. To improve my speed I will try to focus less on perfection. As for my neatness, I think that the design was flawless. For the next few weeks I will make a design slightly more complex than the last one an keep my time limit for 30-40 minutes. If the design surpasses my wrist, exceptions with the time limit can be made. I will keep creating simplistic henna designs until I reach my goal for time.
This is a before and after of the henna design. My mother kept the design on for around 3-4 hours before taking it off. The stain turned out a gorgeous deep red. The henna I use is the Special Zeenat Cone Mehndi from my local Shoppers Drug Mart.
zahraott22 • April 10, 2023