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:
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/