This prayer flag was created as a physical prayer for the tragedies of autumn 2001.  Many people suffered terrible losses, and  grieve for lives and loves lost forever.  In most traditions, hands are not hennaed during a period of grief.  These hands, devoid of henna, sorrowing, reach out to each other! 

"Peace" is written in Arabic, English, Hebrew and Hindi on this flag.  The larger Arabic inscription is "O my Lord, Increase me in knowledge".   Ignorance causes misunderstanding, misunderstandings lead to hatred and violence.  Mutual understanding, respect for differences and cooperation bring peace.  With the coming of peace, perhaps there will be gradual healing.  These hands reach across the prayer flag ... and perhaps when people of different viewpoints can touch each other, communicate and understand each other, lasting peace may be achieved. 

Ramadan is a period of prayer and reflection.   Many Muslims put aside henna during Ramadan, as part of  withdrawal from worldly pleasures.  There is much to reflect on right now.  There are  prayers for a resolution to the conflict and comfort to the grieving.  I wish people a  blessed Ramadan, and a  blessed, peaceful, winter holiday season to people of all faiths.  I hope that hands barren of henna may soon embrace, understand, heal ... and once again celebrate life with henna!
 

Henna on Silk Technique

1) I stretched 36" x 45"  of 5 mm undyed habotai silk from Dharma Trading, http://www.dharmatrading.com/silk_fabrics.html ,  on a batik frame. 

2) I painted in the  hands and arms with hot paraffin to create a resist. 

3) I mixed henna powder with lemon juice to the thickness of yogurt and left it overnight to release dye. The next day, I thinned some of the henna paste with water to the thickness of  tomato soup. I spread that over the whole waxed cloth, allowing it to pool towards the center.  I let that dry, and brushed way the excess dried paste. 

4) I prepared a cone of henna paste, mixed to the thickness of yoghurt, and drew patterns and words into the hennaed cloth.  When the henna was dried, I removed the silk from the frame. 

5) I heat set the henna wash and patterns by ironing the silk.  I put three layers of bath towels on a linoleum floor to function as an ironing board. I set the iron on "cotton" setting, and ironed the silk from the un-hennaed side until the henna stains darkened.  Then I scraped off the henna paste, and ironed the hennaed side until the stains darkened more. 

6) I rinsed the remaining paraffin and henna out of the silk with hot water and detergent. 

7) I stretched the silk on the batik frame again, and painted hot paraffin on the hands and arms again, and added additional hands. 

8) I mixed henna paste and applied more extensive henna patterns, words and prayers. 

9) After allowing that henna application to dry, I removed the silk from the batik frame and ironed it from the un-hennaed side until the henna stains darkened.  I removed the henna paste from the front side and continued ironing, with the iron set on "cotton". I ironed longer on areas where I wanted the stains to be darker.   I ironed less in area where I wanted the color to remain lighter. 

10) I rinsed the silk again with hot water and detergent to remove the paraffin and remaining henna paste. 

11) When the silk was clean and dry,  I splashed ammonia onto the silk in areas where I wanted darkest stains, and heat set that by ironing. I ironed the whole piece again, and removed ragged and torn edges. 

This was photographed with both backlight and flash, and represents about 1/2 the entire area of the prayer flag.