I’d been thinking of making something that symbolizes Kerala. And then came Onam. I remembered our pookalam competitions that we had back in school. Every year there would be at least one team that came up with a design of kathakali, vallamkali and coconut trees. Thus started my 5-day project on Onam. I began the design on thermocol, then made a dough with ceramic powder and chalk powder. The later steps went faster than I’d imagined. Fixing the dough on the drawing, allowing it to dry for a day and finally painting it with acrylic colors. It was at the end that I thought of fixing a border and as usual my raw material was ordinary newspaper. Roll a sheet, glue the edges and attach them on the thermocol, there the border is ready for painting! Finally all I had to do was apply a coat of varnish for the additional shine. That is when I learnt something - never apply varnish on thermocol because some Chemistry makes the thermocol to be eaten up! I was worried that my 5-day long project would become a disaster at the end. To save that I had to stop with the varnish and apply black paint again to cover up the disappeared portions. I guess black enamel paint instead of fabric paint in the very first place would’ve been better. Anyways, there’s always a next time.. :)More pictures
