Surinder Marbha

about  Marbha's work I wanted to know the materials she uses and the process of mehndi and she says
"Well, my primary medium is mehendi or henna – which is a tropical plant, whose leaves are crushed and made into a powder. I mix this powder to create a paste, that has staining properties and hence used for body art. It is a safe and healthy way to decorate your body!

I've been practicing this art for probably 20 years now, and still love every minute of it! "

Dai ban

Dai Ban replied to my question about turning mehndi into wax and then into Jewellery.
" Dear Shelona

It was nice to find out my work inspired somebody. I use the wax-gun which is like a hot glue gun but, you squeeze out jewelry wax. I made my own custom nozzle on it. It requires lots of practice, patience, concentration, lots of mistakes, observation of natures.  Other things are trade secrets. You will find out.

Good luck to you

Dai Ban"

Charlotte Larsen Jewellery

Larsen calls her work floral.I see mehndi patterns in them.I like her rings she used cast buttons,im thinking off making my own range of mehndi buttons to make rings earrings etc.

Posh and Paisley website

Writer/ Authour Sunny or Sanaz, blogs about anything with paisleys. some of my favorites is the jewellery, home decor, and the dresses. This blog shows works by different artists all with differnt styles.

The jewellery includes work by Chad Allison , DornickDesigns and  Kon Zuc
The patterns on home deco materials and clothing fabrics are beautiful and colourful.

I like adding other materials to my work to complement them like this ceramic pai

I like the look of this bangle,looks like its been etches and filled with resin.I love incorporating etching in my work.

I like the open spaces created in this ring

Anna Clifton

Anna Clifton is a jewellery designer/maker that works with eastern cultural influences in her jewelley. These influences are in forms of mehndi patterns that are used to create her jewellery.Anna uses traditional gold and silversmithing techniques working in preciousmetals, gemstones.

she uses wires that are soldered onto plate,she uses different materials so theres contrast.her work mostly includes swirls on not actuall mehndi patterns but her use of differents metals and the way she uses the metal to create contrast is what im drawing attension from.

below is some of her work from her blog and website.
http://www.annacliftonjewellery.co.uk and https://annaclifton.wordpress.com/

Dai Ban

Dai Ban is a jeweller,a sculpture artist and he does comission jobs. he does say that he loved the motifs used,leaves, flowers, vines mixed with geometric shapes and patterns that really work together and create endless designs.

hes trying to incorporate these beautiful images into his jewellery after much experimentation and practice hes found ways to create flowy movements of his had,wax tools. he makes jewellery from casting wax without any moulds.

below is an email i sent to dai dan to find ways of solving problems im facing with finding ways of casting mehndi patterns.
"hi there,im currently doing my Btech in jewellery design and manufacture and my jewellery is based on mehndi patterns.Im using you and your work as one of my refernces and inspiration. please could you share with me your materials used,the working process,prblems and challenges faces whilst trying to fing the right tools to do what you exactly wanted"

here is some of his work from daibanstudio.com
 done by lost wax casting

all about henna blog

This blog consists of a 2 artists but im concerntrating on Surinder Marbha who does Home decor, body arts, events and gifts all which in some way includes Mehndi in substance and form.

She works with wax and mehndi,this is combination I need to work with to try make beautiful jewellery from turning wax into metal in forms of casting. But i need to find out how can i make these patterns out of wax. I admire her flowy patterns and that she uses Mehndi on differnt surfaces and seals it in such a way that is does not crack and fall off.

im trying to get in contact with Surinder Marba and find out if she uses certain materials and methods to create her wonderful art pieces which could help me solve my technical process problems.

Surinder does Mehndi as body art, she also uses mehndi on other materials such as glass, wood and wax.here are some examples taken from her blog allabouthenna.com

anglo plat prototypes

 I started off by linking these curvy forged elements and see what pattern it creates.This long chain could be a layered bracelet or a necklace or both.

the only problem was, they were  to flat,if i use them i have to forge them in a way that it looks 3 dimensional.I began using thin wire in various strands and tried twisting them around and linking them into each other and amazing things started happening.

I want to incorporate black sari fabric so that the platinum stands out.I want the fabric to be draped and pleated to represent a sari.The elements represent a paisley and the balls knotted with red string symbolizes the protection of Hindu goddess Lakshmi.

draped hair accessory

Ive decided to make the elements by hand, reason being, I made a mould which doesnt inject so well, its costing a lot of time. And after casting, cutting the elements off the tree and cleaning them will be such a mission,I  prefer making them by hand, I find it quite de-stressing.

As I use my pliers to bend these into shapes,it becomes like a recipe in my mind,I know exactly how much to bend them so that they ,sort off look the same

forging them changes their shape,they now look like mehndi squeesed out of a bottle amd using the tip of the bottle to press in down so that it touches the skin and creates the marks of the bottle.

the little balls that are solderd onto the jumprings that will then be soldered onto the forged 's' shaped wires.