Coconut Crafts once again...

I want to introduce to you various Arts and Crafts through this blog of mine. So here is one with coconuts and other parts of the coconut palm.Coconut is one of the most popular palms in India more so in South India. The entire tree has many uses. You can read about it here:

http://spiceomylife.blogspot.in/2012/10/coconuts.

But in this post I am talking about the crafts made from various parts of coconut palm. In one of my previous posts I have posted some crafted items:

http://summersofindia.blogspot.in/2010/02/coconut-crafts.html

I remember my childhood days spent in my maternal gran's place. There were some coconut palms. My gran used to weave the leaves to make mats and many other things. She also used to weave small baskets or balls fill it with snacks like roasted peanuts, puffed rice or such things for us. She also used to make dolls from the leaves-a groom and a bride. We used to dress them up and play with them. I learnt to make the dolls from her but now I don't remember. If I lay my hands on some coconut leaves, I will ask my mom to make some so that I can post them here. Oh and also a whistle - my mom also used to make us one with the leaf fronds.

Here are the links where you can see how the leaves are woven not only in India but other South East Asian countries where these are found in abundance:

Here is one link where you can read about various ways the leaf fronds can be weaved:

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BucMani-t1-body-d1-d4-d3-d2.html

Coconut leaves are also woven into different types of mats or structures for decorating the pandals(the place where marriage is performed) in South India. Since they are green in colour which indicates prosperity, auspicious and also  new life, they are used for decorating or erecting structures under which all suspicious occasions are celebrated especially marriages. They are also natural, environmental friendly, cool and available at no cost.

Here are links where you can see how coconut leaves are used for decoration.
http://malayalamscrap.com/scrapcard/coconut-leaf-decorations-1
http://malayalamscrap.com/scrapcard/coconut-leaf-decorations-3
http://make-handmade.com/2011/12/02/palm-leaves-art-wedding-gates-weaving-%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8Bof-coconut-leaves/

http://www.dinodia.com/ImageBigView.asp?ImageID=120729

Watch out for more of Arts and Crafts in my next posts....