Re: 1st try problem!
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on March 19, 1998 at 03:17:31:
In Reply to: 1st try problem! posted by Lori on March 19, 1998 at 02:42:46:
It's clogging on henna bits, thats for sure....a more effective
unclogger on yorker spouts is a flat toothpick. It reams it out
better, and you can enlarge the hole just a bit if you need to.
Perhaps your henna was a bit too stiff, or was naturally grainy. I've
had some Egyptian brands that were just terminally gritty. My
current fav henna, once sifted, goes through my yorker spouts just
fine. The advantage to plastic yorker spout bottles is that they're
reusable, and will not leak or suddenly splut open in your hand as the
little plastic cones do. The advantage plastic cones have over the
bottles is that it there's a clog, you can sort of nibble it out with
your teeth...it's usually a teeny grain of sand.....mind, it doesn't
taste great....Then, there's always application with toothpicks.
About half my students prefer toothpicks, half the cones and bottles.
Henna paste making is as much "by feel" as making bread. I've never
seen two kitchens make identical bread, I don't expect to see two
identical batches of henna. (that's why I've been leaning on a
chemist friend for ph information and properties of chemical
reactions, and dermatology texts for how and where it reacts with
skin, which I've tried to leak into posts here.)
Keep trying....just like bread baking and sex....once you master the
scientific principles, you can only get better with practice. We'll
keep putting bits up, too at www.mehandi.com , which you are welcome
to help yourself to...(no bread or sex there, though....)
You might try a different source of henna...in case you got something
comparable to 5 Egyptian boxes I got (red, with a lady with big
blonde hair on one side, bedouin hands on the back, and a lot of
Arabic in between)...I never could use that with anything but
toothpicks. Great color; texture from hell.