WHEN the coronavirus pandemic struck, a Blackburn henna artist found her business and income severely impacted.

But Raisham Qazi came up with an alternative way her customers could still get their hands on her eye-catching designs — without needing to come into contact. 

Showcasing her talent on Instagram, the 21-year-old started designing her own sticker tattoos in both traditional mehndi patterns and in modern black henna tattoos.

Miss Qazi usually spends her summers adorning the hands and feet of brides and giving holiday-goers beautiful black henna patterns.

Her designs are often complimented for being unique, putting a twist on the usual styles with her black feathered designs with red roses being popular.

She said: “At first it was hard because I had so many plans for Eid and I get a lot of bookings in the summer.

“Obviously, nobody could come to me and that was my main source of income.

“I thought I would really struggle but then I thought about selling my own henna tattoo stickers.

“They look exactly like the ones I do by free-hand.”

After designing the henna tattoos, Miss Qazi prints them as stickers before posting them out to customers.

The application of the stickers is easy according to Miss Qazi. Like other temporary tattoo transfers, it uses water to stick on the skin. 

It then lasts five days, depending on how well the customer looks after it.

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive for the henna artist, who is busy creating new designs.

She said: “It’s going really well, after the first time I got loads or orders and I did not expect it. 

"I get a lot of enquiries about my free-hand designs before I started selling the stickers. So, I thought I could sell the designs people like so much.”

Besides this, another reason Miss Qazi has started creating stickers is due to the limited use of jagua ink, with which she usually draws the patterns.

She said: “The jagua ink is perishable and if it does not be placed in the freezer as soon as possible, the quality will diminish.

“I have even stopped selling the ink separately because the post can take a while lately and by then it won’t last as long.”

Miss Qazi is looking forward to the next Eid around the end of July and early August.

To see her designs follow her Instagram page @Raysrtistry