Woad does a nice blue, henna does either brownish red or black, though the black henna has an additive that is sometimes an allergen to people.
Sharpies work, though mrAru did an OR rotation when he was doing the medical training bit down at the navy hospital in Portsmouth VA and copped a few different colored viscot surgical skin markers - takes alcohol to remove the lines. IIRC it was blue, purple, red, green and black as the assortment=)
You can fake a suntan with judicous application of betadine scrub=)
They make Sharpies with twin-tips: one end is a big round point, and the other end is a small fine-tip…
I had a GF once and neither of us was really interested in real tattoos, but I got to wanting to create some temporaries for her on the computer and print them. We bombed out before we got around to it, bit I still think it’d be fun to do and take pics. Tatoos have the potential to be very attractive, but I think much of the problem I have with most tattoos is that they do not really follow and accent the lines of the body. The “script/flourish” styles girls get on their lower backs (buttoos) are something like what I’m imagining, but just getting a seemingly-random picture stuck somewhere appears rather tacky to me.
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“Several weeks” is overly optimistic, though. Henna’s saying power depends on the person’s physiology, the placement of the tattoo, even the time of the month for women (we shed skin cells more rapidly during menstruation, so the design wears off more quickly.) I’ve had good quality henna (done by Catherine Cartwright-Jones for my wedding) last for two weeks well, and still shades of it by the end of the third week. This was on my palms, which are one of the strongest places for henna. A shoulder or leg will last about a week.
My hair, on the other hand, I last hennaed in November, using body art quality henna, and it’s still a gorgeous red color, albeit with roots. I can’t believe how long it lasts in hair.
Tee-hee. I love a good name drop in the henna world. Yes, it was GORGEOUS! Took about four hours - little intricate lacy sqiggles and flowers. She and her daughter teach workshops at this festival I go to in New York every summer. Her daughter does amazing batik and silk painting.
Catherine’s this coarsened old hippie lady with a razor wit and a sharp tongue who goes by the somewhat disconcerting name of “Bunny” IRL. She’s mad as a hatter, but she sure knows her mehendi![/hijack]