decorating skin heads

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Banjo Head Decoration

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A group formed to collect images of decorated banjo heads and technical insight for anyone interested.

162 Members, Created 4/27/2012 -

Administrators: OldTimeGal (owner)

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From beringei banjos on 4/2/2013 4:11:09 PM

I have had some great results using henna dye on skin heads. Henna essentially stains dead skin cells, and what is a calf/goat skin but a bunch of dead skin cells? The reason it fades from human skin is the dead skin cells slough off as new skin grows in, this is not a problem with skin heads so you get a permanent image. This process is traditionally done on drums, and if you google it (henna, drum head etc) there are several good blogs about how to do it. I will try to post an image of the banjo that I built with a tree of life motif covering essentially the whole head. It turned out great, and amazon sells pre-mixed henna for about 4 bucks, which you can freeze and get a lot of use out of. I gave myself a banjo tat on my arm while I was at it so..... two birds with one stone right? I should have put it on my knee. Next time.

2 Comments
	Hairymare says: 4/2/2013 6:03:42 PM Please post if you can. I would love to see it. I have never done henna except in my shampoo but I was gifted a box for Christmas and am entertaining the idea to try it.
	OldTimeGal says: 4/14/2013 3:45:24 AM Oh, interesting, I use brown walnut ink, but have never worked with henna before. Does the henna sink in or feather on a natural head? Show us your tat also:-) Tattoo designs are a great source of inspiration also.
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