About My Style

I’ve had people ask me if what I do is Zentangle, which has become really popular in recent years. I feel that it is important to distinguish the difference here between Zentangle and the henna style that I have developed. First of all, henna has been around for thousands of years, and Zentangle only a few. Are they similar? Yes, in some respects. Does henna use repetitive patterns? Yes. Is it relaxing, meditative, even? I find it to be, yes. Is henna Zentangle? No. At least, I don’t think so. I feel like, if you take a class to learn Zentangle (yes there are such things) and if you take a class to learn henna, you are going to be learning two different things. For one thing, the realm of henna has a multitude of differing styles that are characteristic of different regions. A Moroccan style henna, for example, will have a different look than a style that originates out of Pakistan. Zentangle, on the other hand, may teach a few basic patterns, but the trademark of Zentangle is about being a fluid, abstract pattern that you create as a way of meditation. There is no style, really, it is all supposed to come from within. Which is cool, I mean, it sounds like something I would even like to do, but I just feel like there’s a difference between it and henna. You know what I mean?

If you’re interested in knowing more about Zentangle, you can check out their website here.

 

I’ve been drawing henna-like designs for a long time- I fell in love with henna as a shy, awkward, middle school-aged girl. Unfortunately, it wasn’t often that I could get my hands on actual henna paste, so I spent many hours throughout my school years drawing henna on my arms in Sharpie! Yes, Sharpie! There are still people to this day who remember me from high school strictly because of my arms being covered in Sharpie henna designs! So, that’s how I developed my style. I still don’t often use henna paste, and I never had the chance to get used to the henna cone, which is the traditional way of applying henna. But because I loved henna so much, my style is almost purely henna inspired. I have since moved on from painting myself to painting objects around me. Pretty much anything I can get my hands on! 

There was a good chunk of time when I was in college that my art was just on a back burner somewhere. I decided, at some point, that I wanted to bring my art back to the forefront of my life and after I started drawing more I got inspired by this bottle I found while browsing through Pinterest. which led me to the artist's shop on Etsy called Lucent Jane and I just loved everything about it. I said to myself, this is cool, I want to do this too! I had no idea at the time that it would turn into my passion, or that it would grow into what it is today. I absolutely love what I do and I wouldn’t be where I am today without that initial inspiration and without the support of my business partner, Andrea, whom I will talk about more in the future.

See you guys next week!

written by:

Alana

Twitter Giveaway Winner!

We are happy to announce  @_KaylaRoo_ as our Twitter giveaway winner. We will be doing a giveaway on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for every 100 likes/followers until we reach 1000 likes/followers. Stay tuned for future giveaways on our social media sites.
                                

Twitter Giveaway

Our Twitter milestone giveaway of 200 followers is happening right now, ending on Jan 12, 2015 at 6pm cst. Follow us on Twitter @akrusecreations and retweet our giveaway post to enter. We look forward to hearing from you. :-)

About Henna

Welcome back! This week I want to talk about henna since it has had such a huge influence on my style and it is pretty centric to what I do.

First of all, what is henna? Henna actually refers to a few different things. The henna plant, Lawsonia inermis, is a shrub-like plant that grows in hot climates such as India, Pakistan, North Africa and other areas of the Middle East. “Henna” can refer to the plant itself, it can refer to the paste that is made from the dried leaves of the henna plant, and it can also refer to the designs that are created on the skin with the henna paste. So, you have the henna plant, the henna paste, and the henna designs all using the word “henna” at the same time! Sound confusing? Don’t worry, it’s pretty easy to tell what someone is talking about based on context. You may also hear the term “mehndi” in association with henna, “mehndi” is the word for “henna” in Hindi and Urdu. The word “henna” itself comes from the Arabic ḥinnā. The word henna is used more commonly in the US, but “henna” and “mehndi” are used interchangeably and they mean the same thing. Henna is not Zentangle, but more on that later.

Henna is used for many different things, not just as an art form. It is used to dye hair, which also conditions and protects hair. Henna acts as a sun block, and it also strengthens the skin. Henna has cooling properties and feels very similar to the effects of menthol on the skin, and therefore has been known to be used in treating headaches, stomach pains, burns, sun burns, as a fever reducer, and just to simply cool off, among a few others. Henna has also been used to stain the skin of drums and other instruments, wood, and silk.

Henna has been practiced for over 5000 years, and there is some evidence saying that is has been practiced for even longer: closer to 9000 years. Whether “practiced” means the art of henna designs, or used to cool the skin, or used to dye the hair… I’m not sure. But people have been using henna in one way or another for thousands of years!  There have even been some mummies found with evidence of henna stains on their nails and in their hair! How cool is that?! Mummies!

If you are interested in knowing more about the history of henna, Wikipedia (whom I do not cite lightly, and feel like should always be taken with a grain of salt) actually has a very good article about henna with information that I have seen many times over on other sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henna#History. Silk and Stone also has a very nice page about henna, http://silknstone.com/About-Henna.html. 

Thanks for being here with us this week. If you have anything to add or if I've given any incorrect information, please share with us in the comments! Next week I'm going to be talking about henna again, but I'm going to be focusing more on my own art. Thanks for sticking around, see you next week!

written by:

Alana

Welcome!

Welcome to the launch of our blog! Alana Kruse Creations is a small business owned and operated by Alana Kruse and Andrea Robinson. Likewise, this blog will be operated by the both of us! You can check out each of our “About Me” pages by following the hyperlinks attached to our names, and you can check out the mission statement for our business by following this hyperlink! But what we want to talk about right now is our blog.

Basically, we set up this blog so that you can get to know us: the people behind the business. We will discuss a wide range of topics on matters that are important to us, from being green to economics, equality, and art. Of course, we’ll be talking about the business itself, as well, so you’ll be able to follow our progress, growth, and whatever projects we’re currently working on. For this first month we’re just going to start out talking about Alana's art, which is a pretty centric to our business, and about owning a small business in general, and we’ll start branching out from there.

We encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions with us as we share ours on a wide range of topics. We are available on several social media outlets and encourage you to share with us on those outlets as well. Feel free to send us topics you would like to see on our blog, whether it be about our art and what processes we use, a topic that's trending, or business related news.

We plan on getting out one post a week, on every Thursday. We will have special features for holidays, artists, and guest bloggers at intermittent intervals through out the year. But you can definitely plan on hearing from us at least once a week.

We want to thank anyone who is reading this now. Starting anything new, whether it be a business or a blog, can be a really slow process sometimes, and it may take us a while to start building an audience. So thank you for being here and for supporting us. We really hope you stick around and watch us grow and interact with us as a part of our little community. Signup by email to get notifications about our blog so that you never miss a post. :-)

As a way to thank those of you who are here,  We've created this code for you to use in our Etsy shop to get 40% off any item $10 or more from now until January 31: THANKYOU2015.

Thank you!