arabic gold bracelet

I explored this pattern in many ways trying to you bits and pieces and in the process got designs for possible spin offs.

I included forging to give the metal the texture of mehndi being squashed out the cone.used wire in different shapes and thicknesses to give it differnt dimesions of mehndi aplied with thick lines and thin lines.

arabic gold bracelet

looking at Arabic patterns from a mehndi pattern book called Nikhar :Arabic and traditional present-day mehandi designs.This book includes designs of tatoos and bindees.My idea is to use this pattern shown above to create a piece of jewellery,not sure on what it could be.I think it makes sence becoming some sort of hand or arm jewellery because the pattern is drawn on the wrist and looks it could represent a bangle or bracelet.I want it to be flat,not to have any hieght or different layers, all must be one layer just like the way mehndi is applied

My mum on her wedding day

 mums mehndi was so beautiful,had a branch sort of pattern running all the way down the front and back of the palm.Relating to the henna encyclopedia, mum uses the fishbone pattern,although now that pattern has transformed and used in many ways,before this was the standard way the pattern was used.To see other uses of this pattern,check The Henna page

 mums forehead was decorated with red liquid dots, now most brides use the stick on bindis that are easier to peel off and stick on to skin and they are highly decorated with rinestones and beads that make it look more attractive when the bride is on stage and the light reflects of the shiny bindis, below is a picture of the bindis I bought from the Sunday TimesEastern Bridal fair thet was held in August

Shanal Ramlall is a jewellery artist that worked with similar jewellery forms like the one my mum is wearing.
The word “Hathphul” translates directly to “Flower for the Hand” this specific ornament is worn by an Indian bride for the purpose of adornment. “the ornament literally bridges the gap between bracelet and finger rings with delicate gold chains” (Krishnan- 1999).

The henna page

http://www.hennapage.com/

http://www.hennapage.com/henna/encyclopedia/mastersessay/index.html

This Henna page website is owned by Catherine Cartwrite Jones,she has been a henna artist and researcher since 1990,most of the information on the website is her own work.She has also done her masters in liberal studies on developing guidelines on henna: a geological approach.Most of my primary research is gained from this website.

these are some of the designs and their meanings

the patterns resemble plants,fruits,ancient symbols that have been past on through the ages from one generation to another,geometric shapes,deity impressions(flower ans petal shapes)they are appropriate for given celebrations or happy occcasions such as diwali,weddings,births,etc.The most common patterns found are lotus flowers,paisley,vines and peacocks.

Surinder Marbha (All about Henna)

Mehndi by Surinder Marbha allabouthenna.blogspot.com/

Looking at mehndi designs by Surinder Marbha is Intriguing I can spend hours just gazing at her mehndi designs.This seahorse pattern really facinates me,the way its been stylised but you can still see the creature.I know I want to make that seahorse real but I dont know what piece of jewellery should I turn it into.Maybe I should make it and then see what I can do with it.

Below is my design and process of creating a mehndi sea horse.I used silver and 18ct yellow gold wire to create this sea horse.I think the fun part of making jewellery based on mehndi is that they all dont need to be perfect and accurate,it looks hand-applied and hand-made.I bent my wires and swirls with caution although I wanted it to look hand-made, I did not want it to look untidy.I really took pride in soldering,tried not to melt anything,but unfortuatley I did melt a few wires along the way.

By this stage I was tired working with the sea horse I forgot why I wanted to make it in the first place.I feel as though I wasted so much time and effort just to chuck the idea away,I want to start something new im not enjoying this anymore.I thought it will work out according to this idea I had in my mind and when i saw things were falling apart I knew this was not going to work. I still have my sea horse somewhere in my bench locker,maybe I will get inspired in the future to make something off it. For now I just think.....gosh I wasted all that 18ct gold wire,now I would probably need to send this for refining.

Surinder Marbha (All about Henna)

http://www.allabouthenna.com/

mehndi by Surinder Marbha from All about Henna

 Surinder Marbha is born and bought up in Mumbai, India, Surinder has been doing henna for as long as she remembers! She is also the founder of All About Henna and initially started as offering henna services from her home. She wanted to share her love of henna to more permanent and long term use for her customers and started making henna decorated candles for her friends and family. The encouragement she received was pretty much the birth of All About Henna. Now, she not just offers henna body art services, but also designed this website and pretty much most of the items available in our online store. Her other hobbies are painting, reading and loves music. She has a full time career in advertising and also serves as a Board member of ThinkIndia Foundation, where she designs & develops props for their broadway style productions.

below is my jewellery designs based on her mendhi patterns

Bridal Head piece