Meet Leah McCloskey of Heavenly Henna By Leah

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah McCloskey.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was introduced to henna by my mom in 2013, she bought me a henna kit for Christmas that year and said “I think you’d be good at this”, little did we know what this would start. The original kit didn’t do much, but it taught me about mixing natural henna and inspired me to research the medium further.

From there I found many natural henna groups, I learned, I practice, and I’ve traveled to many conferences across the united states to learn the history, culture and many different styles of henna. I even came in second place in an international henna contest in 2015. It was through my henna family that I was inspired to try my hand at pyrography ( wood burning).

Many of my henna friends were doing pyrography or etching of henna designs on leather shoes, purses and other leather items. I thought that would be a fun thing to try, although my family misunderstood the fact that I wanted to work on leather and they kept giving me wood, lol.

So I started burning on wood. It started with henna-style designs, but I soon found myself branching out into other types of work, mostly animals, flowers or pretty much anything that inspires me at the moment. I have done a painting with henna, etching on glass using henna and henna-style designs, painting henna-style designs on cars and henna-style designs in bleach on shoes and clothing as well.

Has it been a smooth road?
I started this journey as mostly a stress release, and a way to pass time. I never really planned on it taking off like it has. I use my massage room as my personal gallery and word of mouth and social media as my way of showing and selling my pieces. My biggest struggle is finding time to do everything I want to do. I do commisions but only if the idea inspires me and makes my heart sing, that way it never really feels like work.

It’s hard to balance work, commisions and the designs that I want to do personally. It’s also hard to hold on to my pieces to have a stock to do shows (I’m not complaining) but if I post a work in progress it usually sells before it is finished or shortly thereafter. Another challenge is that my neighbors are not really fond of my sanding marathons while I prep the wood to be worked on.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am a natural henna artist and a pyrographer. With henna I can’t really say I specialize in any particular style, I love them all for different reasons and I am known for my fusion pieces and illustrative designs. With pyrography, I am known for my animals and adding color to my pieces.

I am most proud of how far I’ve come in such a short time and the fact that it is all home grown and from humble beginnings. I don’t even have a working website yet, everything has been through social media and word of mouth.

I think what sets me apart from other artists in my chosen media is the fact that I am fearless in what ill try. When I talk to new artists coming into the field I always tell them to be fearless. Henna is temporary so if you don’t like what you do its fine, it will fade away. With wood burning it’s a little harder because the minute you touch the tool to the wood it is marked, there is no erasing something you don’t like, yet I will still challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone.

I think of wood burning like a roller coaster ride, equal parts of fear, in the beginning, excitement as it comes together and exhilaration as I finish.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
My city and the surrounding cities are really working hard to develop an artist community and it seems to be going well, although I haven’t really taken as much advantage of it as I could or should. As for henna, it seems to be starting to be more widely accepted in my community but not as much as I would like to see.

It is looked at as more of a cultural thing and not many people seem to be aware of it. What I could do to improve that is to continue educating people about it. I would love to teach more library classes on it, but I have not found the time as of yet. I did teach a woman’s group about natural henna and the history and cultural uses.

That was a blast, the youngest woman was late 40s and the oldest was 93, several of them even let me draw a small design on them. I think education is the key. Even with pyrography, most people do not view it as a fine art, they think of signs and cute little sayings to hang on the wall, not the type of work I do.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1041 Kane Street
• Phone: 224 623 9680
• Email: leah_mccloskey@sbcglobal.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hennapause
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hennapause

Image Credit:
Amore Mio in roselle Illinois – @amoremiophotography

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