Willowhawk's Hot Mix
This is the formula that I previously loved to use when making my henna paste.
Everyone has different recipes, and while some elements of my recipe might
not be necessary it has become my ritual when making paste. Experiment
and find the right formula for yourself. It can be as easy or complex as you like.
What you will need:
* slice and dry (bake overnight in 200* oven) 3-4 limes
* good henna powder
* black tea bags
* 1/8 c. cloves
* 1 tbsp. sugar (Sucanet, jaggery, brown, raw)
* 1 oz. eucaluptus essential oil (you won't use it all)
* lemon juice (juice 1 lemon...you won't use it all)
* very fine mesh strainer
* nylon stocking
* water
In a saucepan place 2 cups of water and bring to a slow boil. Add the dried limes, tea bags, cloves, and sugar. Stir then cover the saucepan and let cook for 30 minutes.
While the juice is cooking, place your henna powder in a bowl. Remember a little powder goes a long way. Add the eucalyptus oil, about a tsp. at time, and stir. It will be chunky, but work the oil into the powder. I like to just work in 1 or 2 tsp. of the oil to 'wet' the powder. Then take the lemon juice and add it a little to the chunky paste. Stir this again. Repeat this until the paste is a little looser, but still thicker than spackle. It should be somewhat difficult to get all of the powder coated with the lemon and eucalyptus. Let this sit until the juice on the stove is ready.
When the juice has cooked, let cool and then using the fine mesh strainer, slowly start straining the liquid into a separate mug. This will take some time, you will have to rinse the strainer several times, while doing this. Slowly add the juice to the henna now, just add a little liquid at a time and keep stirring the lumps out. When you have achieved toothpaste consistency, you are done...as long as the lumps are gone. Now, let this paste sit for a bit until a dark skin has formed over the top. When this happens, the henna has magically released the dyes and is ready to use. I realize it's not magical, but more scientific, but hey...what can I say, I prefer to think of it as magic.
Now, put a baggie in a cup so that it is open and in the cup like a liner. Then take the nylon stocking (pantyhose) and stretch it over a cup and this will be inside the baggie now. When it's taut, scoop the paste onto the center of the stocking and then just pull the stocking off of the cup, and you will have a big ball of paste dangling in the stretched panythose. Place this in a sandwich baggie, or a carrot bag. With one hand hold the baggie closed, while you begin to pull on the stocking. This will force the paste through the fine mesh of the nylon and strain out any bits that are still in there. When I have squeezed all the henna paste out of the nylon stocking, I slowly squeeze the air out of the baggie and tie it into a knot at the top. This way I can use it like a pastry bag by snipping the corner off and squeezing the paste through. Now, before I began using jacquard bottles, I only used baggies. I would snip a teeny bit of the corner off and use the baggie to apply the paste from. Now I prefer the bottles, so I snip a slightly bigger corner off and fill my bottles or cones this way.
