Henna How To's - 2

The Dreaded Paisleys/Mangoes - Every Beginner's Worst Nightmare

Apologies...

First of all we'd like to sincerely apologize for abandoning the blog for a while. As university students, work, school and stuff just got in the way. Hope y'all understand.

Now thats done and dusted, let's begin the next stage shall we? If you've just found this page and don't know what's going on, feel free to check out Henna How-to's - Part 1 and to know more about us check out our intro.

Paisleys, Mangoes, Drops; whatever you choose to call them, are one of the most essential shapes when it comes to putting together henna designs. Not to mention, they are also notorious for being the hardest shapes to master. Every one has their own way of doing it and no two paisleys usually look the same. But like we said before 'Slow and Steady wins the race'. Take your time and get it right instead of rushing and only getting it halfway.

Prerequisites 

As usual if this is your first time, start by drawing with something your hands are very familiar with; i.e Pencil/Pen and paper. We do this to train our hands to effortlessly draw the designs from all directions because when you eventually work on real breathing specimens you're not gonna be able to twist their bone structure to get them in the right position for you to draw your designs. Therefore you need to develop a steady hand that can draw from any position before you venture into deeper waters.

Step 1

Make the basic Paisley by drawing an 'S' shape, starting from the top, then connecting the bottom back up. Here's a Howcast video tutorial showing you exactly how.

Step 2

Add outside layers using shapes you already know. For example bumps,  as shown below are mainly used 

Step 3

Fill in the the shape with patterns of choice

Finally you are good to go. Once you have the basics down, get creative and let your imagination flow through your hands. Its important to develop your own unique style so that you stand out from the crowd. Here are some designs to get you inspired.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for part 3.

Credits

Pictorial Illustrations: Sara Decker
Written and edited by:Henna Royals