As promised

Jennifer has been sick, and wasn't able to email the pictures to me, but she did direct me to her MySpace page... where I promptly downloaded all the photos of my work. Here is the one that I've been raving about:



After she removed the paste and let it darken for a bit, she took this photo:



Hopefully now people can see what I've been so excited about.

The fun part of collecting these images was reading the comments that people had posted to Jennifer's page - there was one forearm design I did, where a commenter said that they would consider "getting that inked for real".

So apparently I'm the tattoo artist for people with commitment issues.

***

No photos for yesterday's gig at the same location, but I did some entertaining knotwork, a couple of touchups ("I like what you did last week, can you just do that again except for this part that's still dark?"), and the two best parts were, 1: the cute little design I did for a nervous young woman whose friends had had a bad experience (likely with so-called "black henna"), and 2: the mom who let me put a snowflake on her young daughter, showed me a picture of her high-school age daughter, and suggested booking me for a party. Rock star!

Probably I should get off my tuckus and finish the contract for the Farmer's Market, so I can get a second regular gig going for more than just tips. I won't leave the store table, though, because it gives me a chance to practice, experiment, and not charge money while I work the bugs out of my technique.

That reminds me: the same day I said I needed a job, I got one doing data entry for a friend of mine who runs his own business. He finds data entry to be mind-numbing, so he farms it out.

All in all, things are looking good in this part of my life.

Is "kick ass" a marketing term?

So, as I described last time, on Friday I was booked to set up outside the entrance to a local health food/herbal place and do henna; I think this counts as my first booking. This pleases me. *grin*

Anyway, I set up in the shade I mention this because I got a reflected sunburn anyway), put out my tip jar, and hung out. Pretty much everyone I worked on was either an employee or a friend/offspring of an employee, but since I did somewhere around ten designs (I lost track) and actually walked away with some cash in the tip jar, I didn't mind.

Even better was the part where the store staff said they loved having me, and wanted me to come back next Friday. They'd prefer Saturdays since they get more traffic then (yay!), but my weekends are not good this entire month. Maybe in June we can set something up, which would rock.

One of the employees (we'll call her "Jennifer") looks to become my first regular customer; she was so excited that I was coming that she dressed up for the occasion, took one look at my sketches and the work on my hands, and said, "free rein!" She did take photos, and she did promise to email them to me, which is good, because I was really happy with just about every design I did. And I was ecstatic with the one I did for her.

Lately, for no good reason I've been obsessed with Arabian/Persian-rug type patterns instead of the Indian stuff I've been learning. I'd had an idea that morning for a pattern that I wanted to incorporate somehow, and Jennifer seemed to be the person to try it with. It turned out approximately ten times better than I had anticipated. We both freaked out with joy; and then she worked the cash register for the next several hours, so lots of customers got to see it and also freak out with joy. Assuming I get those photos soon, I will definitely add that one to my blog for y'all.

***

I never intended for this blog to become strictly about henna; things just seem to be working beautifully in that aspect of my life, and I'm willing to run with it as far as I possibly can. I do intend to sit down this week and complete the unfinished mosaic that's been sitting on my table for way, way too long now. Of course, I'm doing that to free up space for my cutting mat, so I can make more henna cones... but let's not go there right now, let's just discuss the mosaic!

***

And now, my daughter would like to say something.
f/ bb.b.vh/.n h.n h/mmjl kl;l/'/h.hy 'vly pyg/ttrtkk6t

Forgot to mention

One of the local herb/health food shops has booked me to work henna magic outside their front door tomorrow (Friday),from noon to 4pm.

There are two major shops in town for this sort of thing - on the east, it's Nature's Pharm, and on the west it's Sunspot Market. They're both interested and receptive to the idea, but so far I've only been able to speak to the head manager at one place, hence not getting booked at both shops.

Also, I need to look for part-time work with consistent hours and pay (which henna, alas, does not provide). Any suggestions?

And for the time being, "fast food" is not a suggestion, it's an invitation to lunch.

Hmm, I guess maybe I am a farmer

The nice people at the "west side" Farmer's Market had never heard of henna art before, but were kind enough to chat with me, check out the pictures right here on this very blog, talk it over with the various "channels", and... they called me back and said, verbatim, "We think you would be a welcome addition" to the market! Whee!

My daughter loved my hand the last time I put a bird on it, so this is virtually identical to that first one (no picture for it), only a bit more elaborate - smaller leaves, little fill dots, all that good stuff. I didn't seal the henna to keep it from peeling off, so some of it was gone within four hours, while the leaves along the outside heel of the hand stayed intact till about 1:30 am, when I decided to remove the paste that was left. Hence the darker stain. Considering that this is supposed to be "cheap lousy" henna, I'm pretty impressed.

Actually, I worked on this design while I was at another of those re-enactment events this past weekend, and people who saw me were intrigued enough that I ended up working on four other hands, feet, and ankles. And I got real tips this time. I just spent them today (excuse me, "rolled the profits back into the business") on another couple bottles of essential oils. Not everyone likes tea tree, after all.

I do wish, however, that someone had warned me that all the best essential oils for use in henna are also the most expensive on the shelf.

I'm not actually a farmer, but...

Just got off the phone with representatives from the two farmers' markets in our area. Assuming that they decide henna isn't too weird for them, I might be able to get a booth at one or both markets, and work enough henna magic to earn my lunch money (or at least to cover the booth fees, I'm not picky).

Lafayette I'm not so sure about; they seem to have a slightly stricter policy on who can and can't sell there, and I don't know for certain that I fit. There's something of a more conservative, traditional "feel" there from the visits I've made. West side, though, feels a little more like a mini-carnival. They have t-shirt and jewelry sellers as well as the fruits and veggies (and homemade cookies!), and I feel pretty confident that I'd fit right in, if they'll have me.

Crossed fingers and knocking on wood - let's hope for a good outcome.