Let me introduce the artisit behind this delicate piece of work and owner of Handcraft Henna, the lovely Yaserah Shafiq. Yaserah has been working with Happy Tokens on a fabulous project for HappyPost which includes a competition and has kindly agreed to share some background knowledge about her art.

Henna also known as Mehndi in Hindi, is a dye that comes from the flowering plant Lawsonia inermis also known as Hina the henna tree.

Henna is a paste that is used to as a temporary tattoo on the skin, hair and nails. People apply henna for religious occasions like for Eid or for Diwali and also for weddings; People apply henna paste on the hair to give it colour and to also colour any white hairs.

Historically, henna was used in the Arabian Peninsula, Indian Subcontinent, Near and Middle East, Carthage, other parts of North Africa and the Horn of Africa.
I have always had a passion for henna and enjoyed applying henna to family and friends for family occasions and events creating detailed and intricate design from my head or copying a design always found that it was very soothing and relaxing.

I started Handcrafted Henna almost 3 years and when I innocently started doing henna patterns on a diary which I took into work, and one of the work colleague asked me where I bought my diary from as never seen anything like it. I told her I hand decorated myself she placed an order there and then!

Once I saw the interest and demand in my talent I create my business page Handcrafted henna and advertise on Facebook on a range of different groups and community pages to see what kind of response I would get and was overwhelmed of how it grew over the years.

I enjoy doing the hand decorated henna gifts as the design and creations is relaxing and rewarding when I get all the feedback and repeat orders and able to help someone find something special as a gift. I am continuing to expanding my work and bring more products that are bespoke and which are unable to be found in a shop as each piece is bespoke and made to order.

For more info be sure to look Yaserah up on Instagram and or Facebook