This week, I learnt how to hold a henna cone. Everyone I’ve seen to henna holds it differently. My sister holds it like a pen, and all the professionals that I’ve seen do henna place their fingers really close to the tip. I still don’t understand that, but it’s about what you’re comfortable with.

First, I opened my freezer and saw some cones that looked like this. My grandma brought these back from India when she came to visit. These have artificial colouring and are perfect to use for practice.

I asked my sister if she could show me how she held her cone. You can see how she holds it like a pen.

I experimented and figured out that this was the best way to hold a cone for me. I held it like a pen, but I folded the top half in to keep squeezing an even amount of henna out.

First, I drew some simple lines. Then, on my paper towel, I drew a bunch of random things to fill up the space.

This was the paper towel in the end. I also tried to write some words for fun, and they were pretty good.

In the end, I am happy that I figured out the most important step. However, I was having trouble controlling my pressure evenly, so in some lines, there were fat spots. Next time I will:

  1. Work slower so that the lines are more even
  2. Make some simple geometric shapes
  3. Use a pen to draw the designs and then trace them

Overall, this first week was great!