Saturday, October 15, 2011

Torans-4

Plastic Torans

There are so many  ready made torans  available in market made of plastic, cloth-cotton, silk, vlevet, satin, beads, crocheted and so on.

Here is a simple toran made of plastic. Though I don't mush advice these types, they are affordable, simple easy to maintain and are readily available.
This is one model. you can see the Namam(the Tilakam painted on the forehead of Lord Vishnu or Lord Balaji in Tirupati) Sankham (conch shell of Lord Vishnu) and Chakram (discus of Lord Vishnu). You can also see Goddess Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth), Lord Vinayaka (Elephant God), Lord Balaji of Tirupathi etc.
Here you can see the Kalasham- vessel used for auspicious occassions. It is made of gold/silver/bronze etc and filled with either water or grains and also, sandal wood powder, vermilion, turmeric, fragrant herbs or powders, camphor etc. Five types of leaves or mango leaves or placed on the top along with a coconut smeared with turmeric and vermilion and decorated with flowers. 

There are so many other varieties available. Price depends on the variety and quality. These are easy to use as they come with string with rings on either end. They can wiped with a wet cloth or washed in mild soap water.

These are available in any novelty stores or stores which sell puja materials. Usually when we visit pilgrimage centers or temples, we buy some materials such as vermilion, turmeric, bangles, lamps, bells and along with them torans as it is considered auspicious and also you get a wide variety available in such places. We also buy as a remembrance or keep sake of our pilgrimage.  How ever they tend to be  costlier and one has to bargain a lot. Quality wise one has to be careful. 

So just have a look at these next time.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Friday-Free Patterns

Kalamkari Butterfly

I could not post free patterns for quite some time now. But from this Friday I am going to post them regularly. So watch out. All my patterns are unique and created from the inspirations I get from the textile art, temple art or other such Indian art.


This time it is a butterfly.This is Kalamkari art. You know that Kalamkari is the art of drawing on fabric with pen. I have been receiving so many requests for Kalamkari designs. I have collected some designs. I will be posting them when i can.

This butterfly can be used for painting or embroidery. Chain, running stitch, satin will look very good.  Well what do you say? Which stitches can be used for this motif?

Try it out and let me know what you think of this motif


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Rangoli-134


Diwali Rangolis

Diwali is fast approaching. So its time I posted some Rangolis specially for Diwali. The month starting from the next day of Diwali is known as Kartika Maasam-the month of "Kartika" when people keep fast and both in the morning and  evening light lamps just like on Diwali.  At least two lamps are lighted before dawn and after dawn. So these Rangolis can be drawn for the whole month. The full moon during the month is very auspicious and celebrated with great devotion. 

These Diyas(lamps) can be drawn free hand. But for an easy method one can use dots. Blow are the traditional chain or melika Rangolis of lamps. 
Here is a lamp with three wicks. We usually use brass lamps.
This is a lamp with five wicks. This is known as pancha(five) harathi and is used in temples or even our homes to give harathi to Gods.

These designs are very old and have been handed over generations.