Traditional Mehndi Designs [Paperback]

Dorine Van Den Beukel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2000

     The ancient art of henna body painting, still practiced in India, Africa, and the Middle East, is now popular in the West. This book contains over five hundred traditional Indian henna designs. A short introduction presents a brief history of henna body art as well as information on how to apply the designs.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Be a walking work of art without damaging your delicate skin! Dorine vVan dDen Beukel's unusual how-to book, Traditional Mehndi Designs, details everything you need to know to create temporary henna tatoos, focusing on traditional designs from India, Africa, and the Middle East. Its three chapters (all tightly written light in verbiage and resplendent with full- color photography) --outline the history of Mehndhi, offer instructional techniques, and graphically document hundreds of designs that are carefully illustrated in black and white for you to copy onto yourself. One look at this gorgeous art book and you'll wonder why Mehndi didn't catch on during the 1960s. Head- to- toe paisley that washes off in the rain--now there's an concept that should tickle the fancy of the terminally hip. --P. Randall Cohan

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; First Edition edition (March 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570625581
• ISBN-13: 978-1570625589
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,383,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative Inspiration, December 6, 2001

By 

"chunkygie" (Gainesville, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traditional Mehndi Designs (Paperback)

Do you have a friend that manages to have the juiciest stories but needs an hour long introduction before getting to the important details? Well, unlike other Mehndi books, Traditional Mehndi Designs allows for a brief, yet sufficient, introduction of history, recipes, and application of henna and dives directly into 177 pages (out of 208) of various black and white print beautiful Indian Mehndi designs.

Though mostly filled with intricate designs for the hands and feet, the elaborateness of the illustrations is hardly intimidating. The pictures are clear and beautiful and all that a person needs to create what he or she sees on the page is not masterful artistry but time and patience.

However, maybe the pictures aren't as important to other people. Maybe the long and thorough introduction is favorable for some, but for me, Beukel's book was rife with what I wanted to know: hundreds of designs to make it easy for one to copy and, more importantly, to inspire the artist.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, August 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Traditional Mehndi Designs (Paperback)

I was expecting this to be a book about the designs, and some instruction. What is turned out to be, much to my pleasure, is a great book with loads of designs and they are shown in a way that I think makes it so easy to replicate. This is a wonderful book!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best pattern book I've seen for the money!, July 19, 2000

By 

Kendra (Silver City, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traditional Mehndi Designs (Paperback)

I'm a mehndi artist. I've been hunting around for design books that I don't have to pay out-of-country shipping prices on. This book is it. Like Shawn said it is a black and white patter book, but he doesn't mention that it is a great collection of Arabic, tradtional Indian, and Indian wedding designs. It includes finger, hands, feet, and arm designs. It may be a copy of original Indian book designs (many of the designs were familiar to me), but for the money it is worth it. If you are starting and looking for ideas and patterns I would say this is your best bet for the money.