At their most basic level, jagua and henna are inks. For some reason, the subject keeps coming up in conversations with unlikely people, so these exchanges have served to remind me of a section in my book, Jagua: A Journey into Body Art from the Amazon, which speaks to ink having stemmed from a desire …
People just love having painted hands. There’s something so exotic and tribal and just plain gorgeous about adorning your hands with a beautiful temporary tattoo; not to mention watching the surprised and delighted looks on people’s faces as they catch a glimpse of your unexpectedly decorated hands, as you talk animatedly about something, or make …
Pascal helps with jagua extract preparation. When we left off last week, Pascal was running around trying to find a few more items to bring as offerings to members of the Matsés. The next morning, departure for the Matsés village was set for 5:00 a.m. That’s when he realized that the “boat” was nothing more than …
Last week I posted about how we got started in the jagua tattoo business, and about our introduction to the Matsés people, who live in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon jungle and harvest the jagua fruit we use in our Earth Jagua kits. I gave the condensed version, and promised more details for those who …
People so often ask how we came to be involved with jagua and the Amazon that I thought I’d write it down and point people to our blog! To my husband Pascal and me, we were just doing what we always do—walk through a promising door when it opens. But people keep telling us how …
Back in March of this year, a German botanist, Michael Schwertdtfeger, ordered a bottle of Earth Jagua gel from us. He also told us that in July he would be taking his botany and biodiversity students on a field excursion to Costa Rica, where he planned to introduce them to Genipa americana, the botanical name …
When I first heard about the jagua fruit, as used by the indigenous people of the Amazon jungle, I immediately assumed it would be associated with magical and mystical beliefs. After all, smearing the juice on the body turns it black! I went looking for information and figured out very quickly that I was not …
As someone commented on one of my earlier posts, reactions to jagua do come up now and again. We just want to remind people that jagua is a fruit. Anyone with known allergies to fruits may also get a reaction to the jagua fruit. Additionally, according to the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) …
Welcome to the official Earth Henna blog, Temp Tat Times, where we will be posting hot-off-the-press news, commentary, stories, pictures, videos, fun facts, stats (curious and serious), and more on what’s happening in the henna and jagua temporary tattoo community, as well as in our own inner camp here at Earth Henna. To start things …