Qamar Franji Eastern Arts

Using Mylar Applicator Cones

I had a number of people write me and say that they loved the cones but couldn't figure out a way to seal them so that they didn't get henna all over the place. Here's a pictorial of how I seal mine. Please gather all your stuff together before you start as it's difficult in some places to put stuff on hold.

Procedure:


You'll need your henna ready to use in a plastic bag, a mylar cone for every 10 grams (about a tablespoon) of paste, a coffee cup or similar, tape, and scissors. In the picture, I used nail clippers because they were handy. For tape, I usually use the "clear" kind. Pictured is the "disappears on gift wrap" kind. It shows up very clearly on the mylar, which is icky for general use but good for showing you where the tape goes in this demo.	Keep the cones in the cup. Tear off three pieces of tape and stick them someplace where you can get at them easily later. Edges of cabinets work really well. You'll need one about square, one about an inch, and one about 2 1/2 inches.

Snip the tip off the bag of henna. You want a hole a bit less than 1/4 inch across. Note: You do not need a ruler. Your guess is good enough.	Put the tip of the bag into a cone and apply a LITTLE pressure. Start small and build, or you may end up wearing more henna than you intended. Aim at the bottom center of the cone. You will ideally get a thick stream of henna that mooshes into a mass rather than coming out in a spirally snake and piling up.

Your cone is a swirled spiral. Note the lowest inside edge of the swirl. Fill the cone to about a centimeter below that edge.	On small cones, put a small piece of tape where the two pieces of the split triangle meet the rest of the cone. On a large cone, put the tape where the low part of the cone is. Your goal here is to somewhat seal the cone's front to back. You will have one side with a one-piece sticky-up triangle and the other side will be a two-piece sticky-up triangle. Put the smaller piece of tape where the two pieces of the triangle meet the rest of the bag.

Fold in one corner of the empty top part of the bag. You are trying to seal the edge off, so make sure you get a good chunk of it. Don't have the bottom part of the fold be right on or too near the henna as it will cause it to spoo where spoo is unwelcome.	Fold the other corner in and put the second piece of tape horizontally across the open parts, sealing them. If you have spoo out one corner, add extra tape. Extra tape means never having to say "I MEANT to do that. Really."

Start rolling/folding down the top of the cone. I try to make it as much like a roll as possible for better adjustment later on.	It is worth mentioning at this point, if you didn't already realize this, that the other end of the cone is OPEN. Not only that, it wants very badly to drip on you while you roll the top of the cone down. You can stick a straight pin in the tip and that will help somewhat, but you're better off letting it drip and putting some paper down underneath.

Keep folding/rolling until you've got almost no room left. Stick the third piece of tape vertically at the back of the cone as shown.	Pull the last piece of tape down as far as it will go without actual pressure and smooth it on the front on the cone. Done!

You can draw little teeny fiddly stuff with these easily, or if you prefer bolder designs, snip a teeny bit off the tip of the cone.	If you should have a clog, it's really easy to fix with these cones. Just pinch really close to the tip...

...and the clog will spoot on out. It is important that you pinch very close to the tip- no more than 1/4 inch- as ALL the henna in the pinched area will come out quickly. If you pinch too little, you just have to do it again, but if you pinch too much... airbrush.