Merry Christmas! :)

A belated Merry Christmas to you all...hope you're enjoying the festivities and time spent with family and friends! :)

Kalavishkar is never short of ideas...so the things that we did for Christmas that sold out at the Annual Handmade Collective that happened early in December :

1) Cross-stitch greeting cards -- Christmas tree, Jingle bells and Reindeer motifs -- these patterns we found on the internet

2) Cross-stitch snowflake keyholder -- again, found this pattern on the internet

3) Tatting doily - snowflake keyholder

Do try doing these yourself...handmade gifts always have more value in the eyes of the receiver! :)

Member - A Hundred Hands
Mum and I are proud to be associated with 'A Hundred Hands', a non-profit organization which brings together artists and artisans who work with their hands.
We join them as Cross-stitch and Tatting artists! :)

Cross stitch
Cross-stitch is one of the oldest forms of embroidery and can be found all over the world. This cross-cultural, counted-thread embroidery technique starts with a simple X shaped stitch that is commonly embroidered with floss on an evenweave fabric.  The cross stitch is repeated numerous times to create a design.
Traditionally, cross-stitch was used to embellish items like dishcloths, household linens, and doilies in which only a small portion, such as a border, would actually be embroidered. In today's times cross-stitch is often combined with other popular forms of embroidery, embellishments and speciality threads of various kinds.

Tatting
Tatting is a vintage craft used to make laces and other decorative ornamentation. This technique is composed of knots or stitches, and picots, which form rings and semicircles, that is done with a tatting shuttle. Projects include doilies, earrings, necklaces, ornaments, bookmarks, baby caps and booties, wedding veils, as well as edgings on handkerchiefs, purses, garments, placemats, note cards, and much, much more.

http://www.ahundredhands.com/

Cardboard tubes -- recycled art...

I admit am just like the author of this blog..i cannot throw away a toilet/kitchen paper roll. So here are some ideas to convert the cardboard tube into something interesting:

http://happyhooligans.ca/22-things-make-cardboard-tubes/

Ganeshotsav 2014 at Maharashtra Mandal Bangalore

Last 2 weeks have been exciting for Kalavishkar.
We were given an opportunity to decorate the space for this year's Ganesha at the Maharashtra Mandal Bangalore - a social organization of Maharashtrians in Bangalore (www.mmbangalore.org.in). 10 days of the Ganpati festival at Maharashtra Mandal is a time for gathering of a majority of Maharashtrians in Bangalore. There are a number of events lined up on all the 10 days. Realizing the importance of doing a good job, we thought of doing something unique and artistic, yet something simple. 
And so, after measurement of the space and procurement of major raw materials from Raja Market - Avenue Road, we set upon this big activity.

We were given the Ashtavinayak theme. Ashtavinayaka are eight(ashta) nature-made idols of Ganesha(vinayak) discovered in 8 different locations in Maharashtra state of India. Each of the 8 ancient holy temples of Ganesha has its own individual legend and history, and each idol of Ganesha and His trunk are distinct from one another. 
I have a booklet about the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage tour and the picture on it became the base for our design. 

Having done the Ashtavinayak tour before, i had a few photographs for reference. We thought of making an arc on the outside of the ganpati niche which could be seen from all parts of the community hall. The ashtavinayak would sit on this arc like they do at most of the 8 temples...and the niche was to look soft and rich. 
The Arc:
The arc would have to be anything but plain photos/painting -- a 3d stony look -- resembling the actual ashtavinayak. We made 8 ashtavinayak on 12"x16" canvas boards with mseal to get the stony look. The names of all the Ganeshas and their place of worship were all printed in Devnagari font and printed and paper cut to look seamless with the canvas.

The sun we cut at home and bought the intricately done Shree from Raja market.
Inside:
The niche was to look soft and rich -- a halo with kundan would do the trick and would dazzle in yellow light.
A delicate halo was made of paper cutting handmade paper. Lots of kundan all done on a velvet red paper brought out the royal look.

 So here is the final outcome...with the main deity sitting at its center...the whole set up looks even better than the photo...

A few days later aai and i were given a memento each in appreciation of our work. This trophy is a really interesting one: the writing on the trophy is the oldest inscription of Marathi language on the left foot of Gomateshwar statue at Shravanbelagola, Karnataka.

Very content! :)

This is by far one of the best tutorials i have come across...the gerberas look very real and that's what i loved about this picture...
http://liagriffith.com/diy-paper-gerbera-daisies/

Painted pebble ladybugs

An easy and fun craft project, these pebble lady bugs can be used for garden decoration.

Draw the sketch of ladybug with a pencil and paint the eyes, mouth, wings. Varnish at the end.

Source : one of the DIY websites on the internet.

On Decoupage

Deriving from the French verb découper, meaning to "cut out", the craft of decoupage involves cutting and pasting black-and-white or coloured cut-outs on to a surface to create a picture or a pattern.

Influenced by Siberian felt appliqué work and ancient Chinese and Polish folk-art paper cutting, it surfaced in 17th century France as a form of furniture decoration. A century later, decoupage was well established throughout Europe as a popular pastime. Indeed, it was so fashionable that specially printed pictures were produced for cutting and applying to household and personal articles such as hairbrushes, fans and screens.

Recently, the craft has seen a resurgence of interest as a way of bringing household objects to life. Anything from trays, boxes and lampshades to frames, coat racks and even clock faces can all be treated to turn a dull surface into a work of art. Even some types of furniture such as tables, cupboards and screens can be transformed. Interesting effects can also be created. Painting a crackle glaze over a surface, once the images are stuck down, will give them a cracked, antique look. Painting on a stained varnish will blend the colours and age the appearance.

Whilst it can be used to create some extremely stunning effects, the art of decoupage is really quite simple to master. It relies mainly on an ability to select interesting shapes and colours from material that is readily available all around us. Once you know how to cut out the shapes and stick them down on the chosen object, it is your personal creativity that comes into play. Designs can be as simple or as complicated as you like, but will always look good and you can use the technique to customize virtually any article in the home.

Many of today's decoupage designs derive from the heavy floral style of the Victorian era, but there is no reason why this fashion need dictate hoe modern decoupage should look. The wide range of styles and applications will inspire one to look at unwanted magazines, decorative paper scraps, wall paper, postcards, old catalogues, colourful tissue paper, even photocopies in a new light. All these materials can be plundered and used to turn everyday objects into items of beauty. The completed work should always be finished with several coats of varnish to protect the surface.

Simple steps to decoupage are shown here:

http://www.wikihow.com/Decoupage

(Factual information collected from the book "Papercrafts and Paper fun")

Tiffany-style original-stained-glass art : what is it?

Stained glass products look pretty much like those made of painted glass/acrylic sheet. So what's the big deal about it?
Well, to plainly set forth how things are done for the benefit of those who don't know, here is the basic difference between stained glass art and glass painting.
Stained glass art means pieces of stained glass --glass coloured during its manufacture -- put together with strips of lead into the form of a window or lamp or suncatcher.
Glass painting means a picture painted on glass with coloured paints.

Stained glass, as an art and craft, requires the artistic skill to conceive an appropriate and workable design, and the engineering skill to assemble the pieces.
A piece of stained glass artwork begins as a pattern on paper/surface on which the lamp is going to be made as a reference.

Pieces of glass for suncatcher have been cut.

The pieces of the pattern are then constructed by scoring and breaking sheet glass. Once the pattern is cut out of various colors and textures of glass, the glass piece edges are ground to create a rough surface. Copper foil with adhesive backing is then wrapped around each piece of glass.

Panel lamp in a jig, copper foil is put..now waiting to be soldered.

Dome shaped lamp making in progress. Soldering tacks while making each piece.

The pieces are then fluxed and soldered together using a soldering iron and solder. 

Dome shaped lamp has been soldered from the outside. Now to solder from the inside

Finishing touches include adding patinas, wires for hanging, lamp bases, or picture frame backings.

The following link gives the basic steps on how to make a stained-glass suncatcher:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Stained-Glass

Many aspects of the processing and composition of materials used in the art of stained glass need to be taken into consideration in order to create a beautiful piece of artwork. 

The following link gives a nice overview on how a beautiful lampshade is made from stained glass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrEIHEp1g5E

Blogging on Kalavishkar

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time" ~Thomas Merton

Art is a source of self-expression for me. I feel absolute joy when i create something unique and new. 
Through these blogs, i would love to share my experiences with artwork.  I hope to explain the how-to-do-it of the different kinds of art and craft that Kalavishkar does. Hope that these articles inspire you and make you feel like doing something creative. 
Happy reading! :)