Red Crystal Necklaces

Here are two pieces I made from Red Crystals. For that you need:

Red Crystals

Gold plated discs

Gold plated nuts( small thin discs)

Clasps (I have used chain and hook type)

Pendant

String or wire

These crystals are sold string wise either 60 or 100 per string and cost depends on this. This is smallest size and known as cut crystals as the surface has many facets. The light falling on these facets is reflected and gives it a shine. The difference between these crystals and ordinary (uncut ones) is that these look more like made of some precious stones due to their shiny surfaces. There also bigger ones and also transparent and opaque. These are available in rainbow colours. So choose according to your taste and colour preference.

The first one is very simple and does not have any pendant.

I have first stringed a gold disc then red crystal again gold disc so on till I finished with the crystals. Then I have finished off by adding the clasp.

You can add the discs one for every two or three or five beads or more than one gold disc between the beads depending on your taste and choice. it is better to string in a few crystals and gold discs in different combinations to see which one you like and then finally go for the design. You can also use gold beads, stone studded discs or beads according to your choice. 

The second one I have added a simple pendant. Also I have used gold plated nuts between the beads. Near the pendant and in between I used five discs to give it a bit of rich look. Then I finished it off with adding the clasp.

Both these designs I have kept simple so that it can be worn daily or even to work. So try it out...

Pin It

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Reusable Rangoli-8

Here is one more design with kundans. As usual I have glued it to thick light blue coloured plastic sheet. 

These designs have been inspired by Nela Muggulu or the designs which we specifically draw during the Dhanurmaasam-that the month before our festival Sankranti. During this period, we pray to Sun God, Lord Vishnu and also it is like a thanks giving to Sun God and Dhanya Lakshmi (Goddess of Grains or agriculture) as farmers get their crop. That is why the Rangoli designs have the symbols of paddy ears, vegetables etc. Sankranti Rangolis I am dealing with in other posts.

The one below was done by my niece.

Hope you like them.

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Reusable Rangoli-7

This time I have used a thick plastic sheet of light blue colour which is used for spiral binding. My sis teaches, writes and publishes a lot of articles. She gets them spiral bounded. So I have some left over plastic sheets used as covers. 

These sheets are thick, available in many colours-both light and dark shades and are quite cheap. I used Kundans for this Rangoli.

I have created an Ashtadala Padma-eight petalled lotus which is drawn for pleasing Goddess Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth) at least on Fridays. The flower in the center is 8 petalled. then I added other petals to make it more decorative. I have used Red and Green colours as they stand for prosperity, wealth, auspicious, health and happiness.

Here it is. 

I have stuck the kundans with glue. since the plastic sheet is thick it is easy to handle and can be placed where ever you like-prayer room, table tops etc. This would look good on  white coloured sheet but I don't have one. Hope you like it...

Keep watching my blog for more.....

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Sree Rama Navami Special

Here is the Rangoli I created for this special occasion. I am sorry I could not post this yesterday. I am not feeling well and in severe pain. Due to the influence of medicines I am taking, I am feeling very groggy. But at the same time when there is relief from pain after the drugs start working, I feel so restless. So in order to divert my mind, I am just doodling something or the other. That is why I could not post it yesterday

Well here are the Rangolis. I am posting only two now. You can see my hand was not steady. There are more but I need to pen them properly. Here have a look:

This is how you have to place the dots-11X11 square first and then 3 and 1.

This is how you should join the dots. Lord Rama was known for his archery. He was famous for "One word and one arrow". This means once He gave a word, He stood by it no matter what and always redeemed his promise. He was also known for his  archery. He needed only one arrow to kill demons and evil people. Such was his valour that demons and evil forces feared just by hearing his name. Even today it is believed that when one recites His name, evil forces or bad spirits don't come near. That is why I have chosen a bow and arrow. There is also OM the auspicious symbol. The flowers are my offering to the Lord.

Here I have shown just arrows. Like I said above, Rama Banam-Rama's arrows were very powerful in destroying the bad and evil forces. This is 7X7 block.

May Lord's blessings be with all of us.

Hope you liked it. Just keep a watch as I am going to post more special very rare and traditional designs.

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Chariot or Ratham Muggu-2

Here is one more Ratham Rangoli. This is much simpler one.

                   Ratham Muggu

This has gone a little askew. I was in such a hurry to draw it and post it, so that you can use it for Ratha Sapthami on 10th. Count the dots for each part, as they are different. Then join the dots as shown. This Ratham Muggu or Rangoli can be drawn foe sankranti or Ratha Sapthami.


Ok here it is I have the picture of the dots. I searched and re did the post. This will be easy for you now.

              Ratham Muggu-Dots

Hope you like this. More to come so keep an eye on my blog.....

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Chariot Rangoli

Chariots or Carts or Cars-known as Ratham in Telugu or Rath in Hindi-the word brings to our mind, Gods, Kings and Queens...Yes Chariots were once the mode of transport used by the kings, queens and the royalty. 

In India it is believed that Gods and Goddesses travel by Chariots. Kings and queens, royalty used this mode of transport. The chariots were made of wood, gold, silver or other metals. There are so many stories and legends associated with chariots.  In Hindu Mythological stories and other literature there are lots of references to the chariots, varieties, their décor, the horses that are attached to it, their wheels and their speed.

Gods and Goddesses are paraded in the villages or near their temples in Chariots during special temple festivals or other occasions. The famous Rath Yatra or Chariot pulling ceremony of Lord Jagannath of Puri is world famous and is attended by millions every year.

When Gods and Goddesses are driven in their chariots, it is believed that pulling the chariots by the people is very auspicious and many vie for it to at least touch the rope dragging it.

Sun God who is called Prathyaksha Narayana means the God who is visible to us, is believed to travel in a chariot with one wheel and pulled by seven horses. He is worshipped daily by us Hindus but specially so on Ratha Sapthami day. Ratha means chariot and Sapthami means the seventh day of the calendar. I will do a post on all this, that is about Sun God, His Chariot and how we worship him on my other blog on spiritual/religious theme shortly.

We are going to celebrate Ratha Sapthami on 10th February 2011. This day we draw the Chariot Rangoli. This Chariot Rangoli is very famous and drawn on the last two days(3rd and 4th days) of Sankranthi festival. There are so many Rangolis on Chariots. But I have created  one specially for this occasion. Here it is:

        Ratham Muggu for Ratha Sapthami

This is 21 to 1 dots-straight dots-that is first row 21 dots next row 19 leaving one on each side and so on till 1 dot. Then join as shown above

 This is the center part. You can see it clearly.

This is one end.

The flags and borders are not included in the above specified dots. That is I have added them separately. 

As you can see, there are four chariots one on each side. I have drawn chariots with one wheel, Sun God, lamps and silver cups for serving the rice and milk pudding to the Sun God. It is a tradition to offer rice and milk pudding to Sun God on Ratha Sapthami day. 

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Rangoli Borders

Past few days as I was out travelling, I just used to doodle in my free time. Actually the places where I visited were small and big villages and towns of the coastal Andhra. So I used to carefully look at the doorsteps or front yards of the houses. I came across some rare designs of traditional Rangolis of Andhra Pradesh. These designs I am doing in separate posts called Sankranti Muggulu or Sankranti Rangolis.

But I kept on creating more and more Rangoli borders. I was too tired to create some big designs and moreover I kept on getting new ideas for these borders. So I had created a lot of these borders. Here are some:

   Rangoli Borders-Kolam Borders-Muggu Borders

   Rangoli Borders-Kolam Borders-Muggu Borders

   Rangoli Borders-Kolam Borders-Muggu Borders

Hope you like these border designs. Watch for more in coming posts.....

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Rangoli for Republic Day

Here is one more. This is also very easy.

This is 11X11 block. Join as above.

Try it and let me know.

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Republic Day Rangoli

Here is one Rangoli for our  Republic Day  celebrated on 26th January. This one is very simple.

In center I have used a 5X5 block and then extended on all sides as shown in the photo. Place the dots, join them and fill with colours. I have written JaiHind in three languages around the flags.

How do you like it? It is very simple and easy to draw as well as takes less time even for colouring.

Rangoli with GIMP

Y-Knot on her blog Y-Knot Blog has experimented with Rangoli designs using GIMP. They are so beautiful. She started with those Rangolis which are drwan using lines. Now she has started with those using dots. 

They are so beautiful. Alas I don't know how to work with GIMP. I am tempted to learn it because I feel one can create so many new designs out of one design by using this method. For now I don't have that much time to learn. But after looking at her creations, I am tempted to learn it.

She has done a great job. I am just amazed at her creativity. the designs look very different too. But I feel some of them are very difficult to actually draw with hand. 

Any way just follow the link and see the beauty of her creations, how she has played with them. I was very much tempted to post some of her photos but I could not wait till I took her permission...I was dying to write about her creations...So here is the link.

http://y-knotblog.blogspot.com/search/label/rangoli

Thanks a lot Y-Knot. They are just very beautiful creations. You are one talented person. I will try to keep on posting some different designs so that you can experiment with them. I loved going through your designs.

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I have not completed my Sankranti Muggulu series. Those are the designs specially meant for the festival of Samkranti. That I am going to post later.


But for now a simple one.

17 to 1 straight dots. This is easy to draw and for filling colours too.

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Sankranti Rangoli-3

Here are some more designs.

This is one of the square designs. I have kept it very simple. I will post more elaborate ones later. See how the four horizontal and vertical lines have been used. 

Here are two more simple but small designs;

These two small designs are known ad "Gade"  in Telugu. Gade means granary-the place where they store the grain after harvest till its use. Why these designs  are so called I have no clue. A granary in South India is made of bamboo and coated with mud with a slanting top above. The top may be covered with dry grass. 

Since India is a country of villages and most of our lives are very closely associated with agriculture, it is no wonder that the things like the tolls used for farming, cattle etc-related to agriculture form part of our Rangoli designs.  This is one example.

How intricate these designs look. Again I have kept them very simple. They can still be developed upon to get a bigger Rangoli. I will post bigger versions of these some time

So Keep watching my blog for more interesting designs...

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Sankranti Rangolis-2

This is second in the series of Sankranthi Muggulu. But before posting next series, I want to answer a question raised by Sri Sandhyagaru. 

• The Designs drawn using lines (straight, horizontal or criss cross lines) are known as Dravida Muggulu or the Rangolis of Dravidians. This sort of designs are also drawn by the people of Tamilnadu during this auspicious month which they call it as Margazhi. 
• However some special designs which are drawn during this month and also during the four days of festival are peculiar to Andhra region. 
• These designs were once drawn during the entire month before Sankranti festival, including Sankranthi. Also on Ratha Sapthami day, which comes after Sankranthi, when the Sun is worshipped.

Thanks a lot Sandhyagaru and other friends who are appreciating my work. I want to keep this art form alive for next generation.

Now for the next series of designs.

These are small designs but a bit bigger than those posted in my previous ones.

This can actually be further improved upon depending on the space and our creativity.

This is one of the designs I drew. I have just put some turmeric and flowers

This is a square design. Here too I have put some turmeric, red coloured vermilion, flowers and red berries. These Rangolis are not coloured.

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Sankranti Rangolis-1

India as you know is a country of villages with agriculture as the main occupation. Many of our rural folk are dependent on agriculture and its allied branches like cattle, poultry etc. No matter what all our lives are still related to those roots-our villages and our lands either directly or indirectly.

Sankranti is a very important festival for all South Indians. Specially so for the people of Andhra Pradesh known as Andhrulu who speak the language of Telugu. This is basically a festival related to agriculture. We can call it as harvest festival. Crops like rice, sugar cane, pulses, turmeric, castor, groundnut, sesame etc which are grown in my state are harvested and the granaries are full of grains. Rural folk are now free for some time from all those chores related to farming and agriculture till next cycle of farming activities. So it is a good time for celebrations.

Sankramana means the Sun entering a Zodiac sign. Sun enters one Zodiac Sign and remains there for a month. He finishes his tour of all signs in a year. The month Sun stays in the Zodiac sign Sagittarius is considered very auspicious. This falls in middle of December and continues till mid January. This month as I have already written in one of my posts is known as Dhanur Maasam. 

During this whole month, though it is winter time and quite cold, women of the house get up very early  in the morning. They clean the front yards and sprinkle cow dung mixed in water. When it dries, elaborate and beautiful designs  are drawn using rice flour or lime stone powder. All this has to be completed before Sun rise.

These designs are known as Muggu in Telugu. These are drawn for Lord Vishnu (one of the Trinities) who is said to visit Earth (during this auspicious month) early in the morning   before Sun rise. It is believed that the beautiful designs, beautiful surroundings attract Lord into our houses. So while drawing these designs, one of the Lords 1000 names, or any Mantra is chanted silently. Some people also sing songs praising the Lord. 

There are some designs specially drawn during this month. These are known as Sankranthi Muggulu or Nela Muggulu. Nela means month and Muggulu means the designs. These designs have some symbolic meaning depicting the spiritual and religious meaning of this festival on one hand and reflect the various aspects of the life of the rural folk on the other hand.

I feel very sad that most of these designs have been lost. Over the past two decades or so, women are drawing those huge fancy designs using dots as these can be filled with colours. Traditional designs are almost now not known to younger generations.

However the traditional designs drawn on this occasion are drawn using lines. No dots are used. Long thin tube like structures made from tin, iron or bamboos have a set of holes (8 to 9 rows) in them. These are known as Muggu gottaalu (tubes). These are filled with the white powder(rice or lime stone) and rolled on the floor. Dotted lines are formed on the floor. These are joined to get the desired shape and design. Experts of these designs draw directly with out the help of these tubes.

These designs are intricate and geometrical in nature. Two four or more parallel lines are drawn to get square, rectangular,  triangles and circles. Then they are further modified or improved upon to form very beautiful and intricate designs. Thin lines and drawn as near to each other as possible spells out the expertise of the artist.  Straight lines and curved lines are used.

Designs contain geometrical patterns, twigs containing leaves, grain ears, creepers or vines, vegetables like pumpkin, onion, gourds etc, sun, moon, stars  animals or birds which are vehicles to Gods and Goddesses like, peacock, tortoise, snake, tiger, lion,  mats, chairs or thrones, chariots  are drawn to welcome and seat the Gods and Goddesses. These represent the daily life of the rural folk. 

The most important design is Chariot. I will write about each design as I post them starting from today. Here are some:

These are the horizontal or vertical parallel lines and a mesh of these two lines used as base for drawing designs.

Here four horizontal and four vertical lines have been used to draw a small design.

One more design using the horizontal and vertical lines.

Here I have drawn using the powder on floor. Drawing on paper is quite easier than on floor.

These are very basic designs. I have drawn very simple and small designs. You will be amazed to see how big and intricate designs are drawn using simple parallel lines. 

These designs are then decorated using red or yellow earth as well as flowers, turmeric and vermilion.

Practise these small ones. I am going to post more bigger and intricate designs in my next posts.

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Floral Rangoli

I seem to end up with Rangolis using 13X7 dots. While I am drawing one design, ideas flash through my mind. So immediately I try to put them on paper lest I forget. So I end up posting designs with same set of dots :). But I think I should post designs of different themes, sizes and shapes. I will keep this in mind in future.

First place 13X7 dots.

Join the dots as shown 

Another way of drawing it.

Decorate it with borders on two, four or all six sides to enhance its beauty.

More to come so keep a watch on my blog....

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One more Rangoli on Six Pointed Stars. This is a bit geometrical. Again 13 X 7 dots placed in between as follows:

Then join as follows

I have added the blue arches out side the dots. That is they have been drawn with out dots. Hope you like this design. This is easy to draw and great one for filling colours...

More to come so keep a watch on my blog....