Diwali!

This year I had the privelege of hennaing many of the lovely ladies at Capital One's Diwali Celebration. Many thanks to Christine Wampler for inviting me, and for the pictures.

They had a record crowd and served lunch to 200 associates, and I believe I hennaed about 50 ladies! It was really well done, the musicians were amazing, and I loved seeing all the beautiful saris and salwar kameez outfits!

Enjoy the pictures!

This is me!

Rangoli!

Tabla player

South of the James

I've been wanting to do a post about a really amazing market that I've been blessed to be a part of. Although I can't vend there nearly as much as I would like to because of other parties and events, I am one of the core group of vendors that saw this market open back in 2008 under the ownership of Karen Atkinson's Market Umbrella, and grow to the wonderful success it is today. With nearly a hundred vendors of local produce, meats, cheeses, and eggs - along with artisans, prepared food vendors and local musicians, it really is something not to be missed. Cute dogs and dancing children abound. Fans of this market come for breakfast, grab up all the best produce in colorful market bags, socialize with neighbors and friends, and stay for lunch.

Most of the time I'm set up, I barely have time to get a bathroom/ handwashing break, but recently I snuck in a 5 minute photo-shoot of those closest to me.

Henna and Glitter and Moonbounces and Cake

So I'm at the end of a very long couple of weeks that included visits from our out of town BFFs AND my parents, traveling to an out of town bridal mehndi, a late night club event and both of my kids birthday parties!! It was a fun time, for sure... Lots of UV body painting and happy kids, and some amazing bridal designs for a Nepali Bride. I survived, but have the remains of a nasty cough and I'm ready to spend the next two days in bed. Whenever I'm feeling down I like to pamper myself with some henna, but this time I chose a jewel toned glitter tattoo.

My work was featured...

In a blogpost by the talented Emily Hudspeth! She did hair and makeup for a bridal client of mine, the lovely Jaya R. Take a look! The photos are really stunning!

http://emilyhudspeth.blogspot.com/2011/07/beautiful-wedding-jaya-and-jeff.html

They've been threatening for a while...

But no one has taken the plunge until now! So happy for Amanda Anderson of www.amandaandersonphotography.com to be the first of my clients to get one of my designs permanently inked! Scott Calcaterra of True Tattoo www.truetattoova.com (who is GREAT) did this for Amanda recently. Here you can see the progression from rough iPad sketch, to scanned image of the design done in henna, to final version. How cool, huh?

Henna Bellies!

I love the joy that comes from sharing in a celebration of new life growing. These are some of the bellies I've been blessed to decorate over the last few years.

One-woman setup

Usually my partner, Jacob, and I set up together at events, where he does the glitter tattoos and I do the henna, and we both do the face painting. But sometimes he's at another event, or there is limited space, so I needed a smaller setup that I could manage by myself. I got the same rug in a different color and smaller size, and matched the details to that color palette. As you can see from the photo, everything fits neatly on the folding hand-truck, and I use just one small table, and the bin acts as storage as well as additional workspace with the round tray on top. My signs hang from the umbrella. Of course I was so busy at my last event I forgot to take a picture of the finished setup, but I will soon!

Another bridal mehndi

This is a bride and her three sisters in Chester. I've got some audio of some of the older women singing that is really great. If I can figure out how to upload it here, I will.

The finished booth! All ready for the season

I'm so pleased with how everything is looking so far... it really is inviting isn't it?

Bridal Sangeet in Virginia Beach

This past weekend I attended Martina and Anil's bridal party in Virginia Beach. Weddings by Michelle did such an amazing job with the whole event, especially the decor. These pictures are of two young family member's hands. I did SO much mendhi it was impossible to get pictures of all of the best ones, or all the beautiful saris. The music and dancing were great too, and everyone was so nice. All in all, a great time!

Professional Shoot

Recently I had the privilege of working with model Natacia Bhatia and photographer Stephen Gibson. The experience was very fun, and I really enjoyed the professionalism and dedication that both of them had. Stephen was interested in a Mardi Gras theme, so I wanted to use green, purple and gold inks and paints. I used Temptu ink for the mehndi style design in 'Sailor Tattoo', with gold and purple glitter gel accents. The body paint for the larger design is Wolfe FX in 'Purple Metallix' and 'Green Metallix' with Mehron gold mica painted over top.

I couldn't be more pleased with the results! I'm sure you'll agree how stunning these photos are. Natacia and Stephen really inspired me to be creative and come up with something truly unique - beyond what I even pictured in my head beforehand. I'm so thrilled to be able to add these beautiful photos to my portfolio!

I would definitely recommend working with either of these wonderful people if you are in the Richmond area!

How sweet is this??

This was posted to my Facebook page by some sweet young ladies who attended a Sweet Sixteen Party recently. I love my job!!

Spring is here!

I couldn't be more excited about the start of this season! I have been busy getting out contracts and vendor applications and fees and the phone has started ringing. I'm most excited about the booth... The new rug came yesterday, and I should have the tablecloths soon. The rug is from Mad Mats, and is made from recycled soda bottles in a Turkish pattern. I feel so happy to have found something that is both Eco-friendly and so beautifully matches the tan tent, the brown tablecloths and the pale yellow of the upcycled sari fabric curtains and table toppers. I even have matching chairs finally. It's taken five years to get together, but finally we'll be working in style, and not looking like some rag-tag gypsies. : )

Indian Folk Dancing and Bridal Sangeet

I had a very busy weekend of henna. First, I attended University of Richmond's first annual 'Experience India Event', where they had performances of various Indian dances, music, food, and of course mehndi. It was really nice and a big success. Thanks so much to Shirisha for inviting me! Here are some short clips of some of the dancers:


One of the best parts was being able to bring home three HUGE trays of food from India K'raja. Today my kids and I had brunch of Chana Masala, Aloo Mutter Paneer and Navratan Korma! YUM
And then this afternoon, I did menhdi for a bride's family and friends... sort of a bridal shower/sangeet. I will apply her and her sister's mehndi on Wednesday night.

Omani, Sudani and Emirati style

I've been obsessed with mehndi designs for the last 13 years, and my latest fascination is Gulf style - from Oman, Sudan, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. These designs are so different than the Indian and UK-style designs I'm used to. They are bold and flowing, and quite stunning. These designs are not my work, but I am about to thin my henna paste and get to work recreating some of these amazing designs. I am doing a belly and a teen's birthday party tonight, and am hoping to get to try some of them out.

After spending hours searching the internet for photos, I realized many of the photos are of dangerous black henna. Traditionally, Sudanese women use gall ink, also called khidab, but today it's common to use PPD, the chemical in black hair dye to get pure black. It can cause blistering or scarring of the skin, as well as liver toxicity. They also, unfortunately add benzene, turpentine and acetone to the paste! I have begun experimenting with two-tone designs using Temptu Pro black ink, and Mehron Henna-Style Tattoo cosmetic "Ink", which don't last as long, but are safe alternatives, and look beautiful.

UPDATE: Here are some photos of some of my recent work in this style:

The Drum Project

I have been teaching Music Together at Montessori Center for the Child since 2005, and more recently, Elementary Music and I truly love this school. My son attended for two years, and my daughter is in her fourth year there.

Recently, Amy, the Primary teacher, found a set of frame drums at the dump. They were in perfect condition, so she grabbed them for the classroom. I wanted to do something really special for Sarah, the Director (and also a dear friend) - to give a gift to the school that would remain long after we are gone. I decided to henna the drums, and they will soon hang in the Primary classroom. Eventually the paste will get flaked off (in a few months) and the henna will then darken on the skins. I'm really pleased with how they turned out!

The car is ready for Spring!

~Colleen
TheHennaLady.com
804.314.1738

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well the season really is gearing up. This past week I attended a Consignment Sale Opening for Ring Around the Rosy, First Fridays Artwalk, a bar night for the Darden School of Business in Charlottesville, a mehndi trial for a bride here in Richmond, and a Mardi Gras Face-painting party.

I also received contracts for two Henrico County Library Summer Programs, two brides, and a henna belly! And worked my full-time teaching job. Needless to say, I am tired. But the big news is that this week I declined my teaching contract for the next school year and will be devoting myself full-time to TheHennaLady.com!! I even got my new business license so it's official... the name has changed from 'Henna Body Art by Colleen Heller'. I couldn't be more excited about the warm weather getting here!!

Gearing up for Spring!

First look at new signage and pennant banners. Tablecloths are in the works... Sari fabric is on the way from India.

This was our first outdoor event... First Fridays Artwalk outside Quirk Gallery with the Market Umbrella vendors. Yes, we were freezing!

Here's a closeup of the banner:

I Heart Photographers

http://www.jjleatherman.photoreflect.com/

www.nicolesimonphotography.com

Naomi Sutton (suttonnr@gmail.com)

Kristy Bearfield

www.greenshutterphoto.com

http://www.patiencesalgado.com/

http://www.luciabellephotography.com/

Over the last few years, I have had the privelege of working with some amazing women who have photographed my work. As I've told Patience Salgado (http://www.patiencesalgado.com/), it's often times very intimidating to have my work captured by a professional photographer. There seems to be more pressure to create something as amazing as their work. And then when I look back over the high res photos, every wobble, every uneven line or mistake is there for me to see. It's a silly thing to fret over the small 'mistakes' when the overall pictures are so amazing, but as a perfectionist, it's hard not to worry. I also can't control what goes out to the cyber world... like is it a picture of me scowling, or with a double chin, or my butt crack showing! Silly, I know.

But the end results always stun me. Sometimes I know the designs are beautiful when I'm done... and then I 'see' them again, and the 'other thing' that seems to be present when I'm working is revealed. It never ceases to leave me feeling anything but blessed.

Hello!

Welcome to my blog! This is something I've been thinking about for a long time... and as I'm gearing up for my busiest season yet, posts may be sporadic at first, but I really hope to be able to chronicle my adventures, as I grow this into a fulltime business.

I've realized over the past 5 years, that because of my henna business, I've been to some amazing events and met some really interesting people. These are things I normally wouldn't have the opportunity to experience. In one month I might attend a belly dance hafla, a motorocycle club event, a bar mitzvah, a Blessingway for a pregnant woman, and a school event. Some of the most touching and emotional henna I've done has been for people who are healing... either from physical scars of surgery, or emotional scars of loss.

My hope is to capture these special and amazing moments... and just add a little backstory to the photos you may see on my website or facebook page.

Thanks for reading!
Colleen
The Henna Lady