Body Painting: Henna Tattoo

Henna tattoos are an ancient custom in India: girls and women are body painted before ceremonies, like marriage. They painted complicated patterns on their hands and feet to symbolize their fertility.

Henna (or 'Mehndi', the Indian name) is made from the henna plant (Lawsonia Inermis). The leaves of the plant are dried and ground. The powder gets mixed with water and you get a sort of green-brownish mud. If you put that mud on your skin, let it harden, and then peel it off, you will notice it has left an orange color.

You can get your henna at an eastern shop or a 'souk' in many different colors. There's orange, mahogany, brown and black. The orange one is the traditional henna. The black henna is synthetic. It contains PDD (P-phenylenediamene) and can cause allergic reactions. Even if it doesn't cause irritations, it's still unhealthy. Moreover, in the past, black henna at your wedding was considered a disgrace.

Henna Recipe

With one pack of henna, you'll have enough to body paint the entire football team. Put the henna in a bowl and gently pour some lemon juice and boiling water in the bowl. Don't use too much water, the mud has to resemble the thickness of sate sauce. The purpose of the lemon juice is to help the color hold better on your skin.

Your skin should be clean, dry and not fat. If you want to color your nails too, they shouldn't have nail polish on them. Make sure you really want this, because your nails will be orange for about 2 months. It doesn't come off! When the henna is cold, you can get to painting.

If you want to paint your foot soles, which is a traditional custom in Marokko, make sure you have a pillow of some kind to keep your feet off the floor, before you know it, the henna mud is everywhere! You can apply the henna with all sorts of instruments, what works best is a syringe (without the needle of course).

Symmetric and geometric shapes work best. Don't make the lines too thin, the color won't come on to your skin very well. The bigger the surface, the brighter the color will be.
Now: the annoying part: Waiting...

Let the henna dry in the sun, the warmth of the sun will get your color deeper into your skin. You can also use a hairdryer.

If you make a mistake in the picture your painting: ACT QUICKLY! If you wipe it off too late, the henna will leave a red spot.

After a while, the henna will start to burst. Don't peel it off yet! The henna has to stay on for at least two hours. Then you can start removing the crusts of mud.

DON'T remove the henna with water! Just scrape the crusts of your skin, you can do this with a bold knife. Don't let your body painting get in touch with water for the first couple of hours. Right after you scraped off all the crusts, rub your skin in with olive oil. It will make the color brighter and help keep the color on as long as possible. Your henna painting will survive for about a month or so.

Also nice to know: Swimming, body peeling, scrubbing your back, and bodyscrub products will make the henna tattoo deteriorate faster.

Tattoo Body Art Design Ideas

You are dealing with something that will stay with you for the rest of your life it would only make sense to give this a lot of care and attention. You should do a lot of research on what you want and why you want it because tattoo body art designs should mean something and you should be proud of your tattoos/body art.

Interests When choosing a tattoo body art design you need to think about getting one that shows your interests. This will make the tattoo more personalized and show everyone what you are interested in. Make sure it is something you have been in for a while not a interest you just got into remember this body art is for a lifetime not a month or two.

Symbolism When you pick a symbol be sure you know what it means because the same symbol will not have the same meaning to everyone so do a little research and make sure you know what it means if you are happy with it.

Location The placement of a tattoo image affects its meaning not to mention its aesthetic quality. The placement of your tattoo will add to its meaning and have an effect on the design. Some tattoo body art designs are meant to be secret for many reasons so you would put the tattoo in a non easily visible place to only be shared with whom you chose.

Looks The main reason people get tattoos is so they can show them off to all of their friends. So do a little research and find the best designs you can so you can either use the one you found or combine one or two designs to get the tattoo body art design you want. There are a look of good places to go on the web to find quality designs

Chest Tattoo Designs Ideas

On average, the second most attractive feature on a man is the chest. Why not? It represents one of the broadest parts of the body. This is why the chest serves as the perfect place to get a tattoo.

Out of all the places on the front of you, the chest is the flattest and most open space. Therefore, it lends itself to large and medium tattoos. Like any open space, the possibilities are endless. However, there are a lot of other advantages to getting a tattoo on your chest. First, you are able to cover the tattoo so you will not have to worry about work relating tattoos. Second, because it is close to a heart a tattoo design can take on a lot of meaning and symbolism. Lastly, a chest tattoo is one of the least painful tattoos.

The great thing about the chest is that almost any tattoo is suitable. For example, a tattoo such as a Celtic cross, a heart or any other design you can think of would work. There is no specific chest tattoo design. However, there are a lot of designs that should be customized. You really have the liberty with any tattoo to size it, design it and place it on your chest.

A chest tattoo design is often referred to as a chest piece. Historically, mostly warriors and soldiers wore chest pieces. Tribal tattoo design were often placed on the chest of the warrior before battle for good luck. They were also placed there after a battle to signify victory or casualties taken. In more modern times, sailors would get chest tattoos of either anchors or a nautical star. This tied them to the sea for the rest of their lives.

As stated before, chest pieces are more common among men. Since the chest area is private for women, they get them a lot less. However, it is not that uncommon for a woman to get a chest piece either. Obviously the tattoo is much more intimate and is meant for selective eyes. A lot of times women will place the tattoo closer to the breast bone so that people can see it. These tattoos are often small and simple in design.

The chest tattoo design is a perfect example of how placement affects the meaning of a tattoo. Because of its location, meaningful designs and sayings are often placed there. Whether you are a soldier, a man or a woman, a chest tattoo can take your message more meaningful. It can be intimate or open for the whole world to see. It can be large or small.