Henna and Hmong

Hello

It's been a week since I last blogged.  I think as a "blogger" its supposed to be more frequent an event but life just gets busy and before you know it, its Tuesday again.

I seem to have my finger in every crafting pie at the moment.  I'm working on some Henna Artwork for my little Etsy store - here's a sneaky peek of one of the preliminary Peacock drawings...

I'm making new bags after a bumper find of nice doilies at the thrift shop yesterday....

Talking of thrift shops, I managed to drag Mr Tara out to one of Melbourne's finest thrift shops at the weekend (do you like how I refer to it as "Melbourne's finest" as if its in the league of a classy restaurant or swanky bar).  I was loitering around the bed linen section waiting for another lady to make her pickings.  Not wanting to rush her, I waited at the next rack which held old curtains.  Lo and behold, off its hanger, and just lying on top of the rack, was a beautiful Hmong single bed cover sized piece of patchwork.  This type of embroidery comes from the hilltribes of  northern Thailand on the border with Laos and China (from the Hmong tribe) and is one of my favourite types of tribal embroidery.  Not normally does one find tribal offerings at a thrift store. 

I swear, I went weak at the knees.  Holding it up in glee to Mr Tara (who has seen me do similar joyful dances in markets in northern Thailand) he immediately recognised that it was a Thai Hilltribe piece.  I don't think embroidery pieces make him jump with glee the same way they make me do, but there was no denying this treasure was coming home with us.

A little note of extra niceness comes with this one - the price tag was $15 which I was more than happy to pay.  On taking my new best friend (whoops sorry Kim - this is purely a figure of speech - you have not been replaced) to the counter, the lady informed me it was half price off Manchester day, so my tribal find cost the princely sum of $7.50.  I took it home, put it in the washing machine, waited anxiously for it to dry in the sun, and now it resides very happily on our bed.   Bit like a tribal fairy tale really....

 Today I have also been busy mixing some henna paste, for my little cousin Erika is coming over tomorrow to let me draw on her arms and legs with henna.  Erika let me do this when I was learning the art of henna drawing.  Back in those days I could only manage the odd wonky flower or leaf design but she never cared, delighting in whatever I came up with, and wearing it on her limbs for the couple of weeks that henna tattoos last.  Now that I'm "up to standard" as it were, she's still my biggest fan and every so often turns up for her henna fix.

 
I've been using pre-mixed henna of late, but with time on my hands, I've decided to go old-school, and mix my own again.  Here it is, all mixed and waiting for Erika's visit...

 I will be sure to photograph the results of tomorrow's henna afternoon and post them here (hopefully before another Tuesday rolls around).

Ok, enough for now, what was going to be a quick note rambled on a bit, are you still there?

If so, Happy Tuesday everyone :)

Tara