Mendhi Motif: Tradtional Vs Contemporary

 I choose to work traditionally with the lotus motif with contemporary use of making the lotus petals look more decorative rather than plain petals. The tradition for the lotus motif in Mendhi patterns is seen with the exact visuality of the curves for the structure and the edge pointy of the lotus petal whereas the contemporary view is more similar to the paisley pattern whereas the contemporary view is now more spiral looking at the edges and more decorative on the inner of the petal with the use of the spirals or even geometric looking lotus petals.  
Traditionally Mendhi motif is created with the use of crushed leaves made into paste that will stain the decorative pattern applied on the palm, hands, or legs whereas the contemporary side of the lotus motif is recreated using precious metals such as silver and platinum or even non-precious such as copper and brass together with enamel added to create tonal.  

 
The image above is the traditional way the mendhi motif of lotus or a flower in general is applied using the stencil that contains the mendhi paste made from crushed leaves.  

The traditional way Mendhi is applied on the hand with the motif being a lotus done in a traditional way a lotus petal looks.  

This in a way is the contemporary look of the lotus motif whereas petal are more curvy and the edges tend to look more spiral than pointy with a decorative pattern on the inside of each petal.

This is a paisley pattern I had created using sterling silver wire with silver wire spirals and silver balls to fill in the gaps that gives a decorative look to the paisley pattern and at the end forms a lotus motif design.