Sonia grew up in the US, but her family is from Delhi.  She visits Delhi and Bombay every year, and likes to get henna done by the street henna artists.  The most common patterns there are peacocks and paisleys.  Paisleys are of Persian origin, and entered Indian art in the 1700's through textile trade.  Sonia says that a street artist gets about 4 rupees for a little design on a hand. but better artists get 40 rupees  for spending half an hour on a hand.  For comparison, a middle class secretary's salary is about 2000 rupees a month.  In that comparison, US henna artists work at proportionally the same prices.  Sonia says girls love to spend their pocket money on henna for Diwali and family parties.  The street artists have books of their patterns, and customers choose what they want.

For bridal work, a talented, expert henna artist is hired to come to the family's home.  Wedding season is November and December, when the weather is pleasant, and the best henna artists are booked a year in advance!  A bride will spend about $500 on her wedding henna, and expects it to take about 6 hours.  Other henna artists will work the crowd at the wedding. 

Sonia said she liked this pattern. I adapted it from Persian henna patterns of the 1500's.  I told her I'd do something special with it when she came back for the photograph:

I did this, something she'd never heard of in India  .... Forough's Persian Gold!  For more information on doing Persian Gold Technique, see: http://www.hennapage.com/henna/how/colors/colorsturm.html