The Henna Paste - For henna designing

Henna paste is obviously the primary and the most important part of henna designing. Prepping for this is as important as being s good henna artist. I have been through a lot of procedures and steps while trying to create a smooth paste to apply designs. That's where I went wrong! Its not only about getting a smooth consistence of the henna paste. Its about making sure the powder is really fine. Like really really fine.
Well I nearly forgot to mention about the quality of henna powder. I got mine from an Ayurvedic store from Bangalore, India. It was a 1kg pack without any label in it. I just trusted the store I guess. But other than that, I also got an organic henna powder from Amazon (Silk & Stone 100% Pure & Natural Henna Powder). It is very good as well.

So moving ahead with preparing henna paste.

Part 1: Sifting the henna to get a fine powder.
Yes, that is correct. Having a really fine powder is very crucial. I found out the hard way!! Unfortunately, henna has some twigs, sticks and some other stuff which I am not sure about. This just clogs the henna cone and hence you will just end up cutting a big hole that will make your design look shabby and thick. Been there, done that and don't want to repeat that!!

To sift the henna, all you need is:

1. A plastic box .
2. A pantyhose/ stalking to sift the henna: this is to make a fine powder.

Method:

• Cut the pantyhose to fit the plastic box. Cut it a little bigger the the mouth of the plastic box and line it around the mouth of the plastic box.
• Add desired amount of henna powder. I used a small ziploc plastic box. Added about 3 tbsp of henna powder to it.

• Now, secure the lid, making sure the pantyhose is falling a little over the edge of the rim of the plastic box. Now, shake the box till the powder is sifted through. Keep checking to make sure you have all the henna is sifted.

• After the sifting, all you will have left is fine powder of henna separated from the tiny twigs and other stuff. In the picture below I show the powder left behind (with twigs) after sifting.

Part 2: Making the paste.

There are a lot of recipes for paste out there. I use lime concentrate and almond essential oil. This is more than enough to get a good henna paste. So henna releases the die slowly. You want to achieve this by adding an acidic base to your henna paste. And lime juice/ lime concentrate is a way to do it. A lot of them use coffee, cloves and other stuff for a good die release. I've not tried these. Will update how it works once I do. But so far, lime juice works well. Or when i want to practice, just water would suffice.

• Take lime/water and add in small quantities to the sifted henna powder and stir. Adding in small quantities is important. Else, it will form lumps which will never dissolve. 
• Later, use the foot part of the pantyhose, cut it at 10 inches in length. 
• Put the henna paste in there and the squeeze the henna through the pantyhose. This will ensure all the lumps are filtered out. 

After squeezing out the henna, you are now left with a very fine paste, free of lumps!! 

Happy henna design-ing ! ;)