Re: henna on fabric
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on April 03, 2000 at 21:53:56:
In Reply to: henna on fabric posted by susanna on April 03, 2000 at 21:26:32:
Henna stains natural fiber fabrics wonderfully ... the only thing you
have to do is henna silk, cotton, wool or linen precisely the same way
you would henna your hand ..... let it dry slowly .... brush away the
paste and then IRON the hennaed patterns and with every pass of the
iron ...MAGIC! The color darkens dramatically, and is absolutely
colorfast!
Herodotus noted people in northern Iraq (??) in 500 BCE who were
decorating cloth in a way that, by his description, seems to have been
directly painting animal forms onto the cloth. I suspect they may
have been Scythians .... who did have patterned clothing, and were
very fond of decorating with animal patterns .... and who were nomadic
enough to have been in territories where henna grew naturally.
I've had my best luck with silks ..... the henna and heat combine to
deep coffee color ... and when you iron henna, the room fills with the
most incredible sexy smell imaginable!
You'll need to do some testing ... different fabrics wick the colors
in different ways. Dryer paste, a faster hand, forcing the paste into
the cloth rather than letting it lie on top will all be considerations
in the technique you develop for yourself.
