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Floral Torans


Here is one more Toran. I don't think I can exactly call it a Toran, since it is not hanging from the door jamb or the upper part of it. But just have a look at this: 

This is made of Gerberas, pink yellow and orange and was placed just on top of the main door. One can either use a single colour or two or multi coloured flowers. This concept of single or multi coloured flowers can even be continued inside the house. That is, flower arrangements at corners or side tables, dining table or in vases etc.   

I like this idea of decorating the doorway-something different and modern. 

You can also see the marigold flowers. Actually they were hanging on either side of the door frame too. I could not capture that. 

Next time you can try it too for parties or pooja. It would look so different.

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Torans-2

MAMIDI TORANALU-Mango Leaves

Torans or Toranaalu as known in Telugu are valences hung across the door ways. My previous post on the topic is here:

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/search/label/Torans

Torans made of green Mango Leaves are considered very good. No auspicious occasion be it marriages, festivals or any other happy occasion is complete with out the torans hung at all the doors- leading to out side of the house or even inner doors. But if one cannot hang torans on all doors at least decorating the main door and the back door is a must. 

Torans made from natural and traditional products, like fruits, flowers etc are quite cheap, healthy, environmental friendly and add beauty, colour and fragrance to the surroundings. These also take very little time to make and are use and throw type.  In olden days, when a toran was hung on the main door of any house, it indicated that something good or happy occasion was being celebrated in the house. Even today, we practise this.

Though these days people are using other artificial materials, for us South indians, especially Andhra people, using of Mango leaves for torans on the main door is a must. At least a bunch of mango leaves are hung at both sides of the entrance if one doesn't or can't make a toran.

Green symbolises auspiciousness, fertility, prosperity, health and wealth. 

Here is a very simple or basic toran made from from fresh mango leaves:

        Mamidi Toranam-Mango Leaves Toran

This is the basic version. I have used simple cotton thread which is used for making flower garlands. To this I have attached Mango leaves. I could not get more leaves so I just put a few. But if more leaves are used to fit the entire doorway, it looks very good. One can grade the leaves according to the size and use to make different torans. 

• Big ones in the center and then smallers ones on either side, 
• use same sized leaves for entire toran
• Small ones in the center and bigger ones (gradual increase in size) on either side 
• Use flowers-orange, yellow or red Marigold in between
• The combinations as above are many according to our creativity
• I have used two strands of cotton thread-which is like candle wick yarn. Some use other treads or yarn made of jute or wool

Here are some illustrations I made. Sorry I could not get real pictures. Hope you can follow them:

All the leaves are of equal size 

The leaves in the center are larger and decreasing in size towards the ends.

The leaves in the center are small gradually increasing in size towards the ends.
  

Here alternate leaves are big and small.

Here marigold flowers have been used in between the leaves.

Here too marigold flowers have been used but strung sideways-you can see the green stalks

Hope this is informative. One of my friends wanted it. 

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Beads Toran


Torans (in Hindi) and Toranalau (in Telugu) are valences that are hung across the door ways. We Indians decorate our door ways with Torans. Torans are valences. They are usually made of Mango leaves and marigold flowers for festivals and auspicious occasions. The colour green denotes prosperity and the orange or yellow of the marigolds stand for happiness.

Apart from the above traditional ones, people use torans made of other  real and fresh flowers and artificial things. It could be torans made of plastic flowers, papers, wool or silk threads, fabrics like silk, velvet, cotton, embroidered with zari, mirrors, stones, pictures of Gods, goddesses, animals like the elephants, horses, birds, like peacocks etc. They could also be made of various beads, cowrie shells, coins etc. there are also crocheted ones. I am going to introduce to you various torans made from a variety of materials as the time permits.

So here I share one from my collections.....

 

Here you can see the one made by my aunt very long ago. Its made of plastic and glass beads. You can see the peacocks and parrots. I was privy to the making of this one. The design was first drawn by my aunt on a paper. Then this was drawn on graph papers, marking each bead, colour by colour to get the desired shape. Then this was actually executed. It was a long and tiring process. Any small mistake, it had to be corrected before proceeding further. But the end result is very beautiful. as you can see it decorates one of our door ways.

So, What do you think of it? Please leave your comments....