Glass paintings

These are not actually “glass” paintings, since I’ve done them on OHP sheets. Yes, the one used to separate pages in record books. I got this idea from the Malayalam magazine Vanita and found it useful for a beginner like me. The only drawback that I found with using this sheet is that larger paintings cannot be done since these sheets come in one standard A4 size.Two designs were traced from the hobby ideas book, the bird from a crayons box, the diya was our rangoli design at school (we won the first prize that year :)) and the ladies was my own art. For the coloring I made use of solvent based glass paints. This being my beginning in glass painting, I didn’t want to spend too much on the framing and did them myself using cardboard.

Soft Toys

Rock Garden Waterfall

This was done as part of my newly found interest in gardening and landscaping. We’d bought a few plants for our balcony and I wanted something creative and colorful to go along with them. Since my first idea is always to create something myself before looking up to professional services, I started drafting the process of making this artificial water(less) body. As always, my base material for the entire project was newspaper. I made rocks out of unevenly folded newspaper chunks and the fence with newspaper rolls. The base for the entire set of rocks was a cereal box cut into a corner-fit shape. Painting was done with the main intention of making it as much life-like as possible, but the water part proved difficult since I wanted it to have a 3D effect as well. I made use of cling film and painted over it for the flowy effect, but that didn’t turn out as expected. Nevertheless, the entire product did finally add color and creativity to our balcony. But alas, actual water in the form of rain ruined my artificial waterfall! :(

For My Friends

Utility Stands

My elder sister has all of a sudden developed this craze for bangles! Luckily for me, she gave me an order to think of making a stand for her latest collection and this is what I came up with. Like always, my base for the entire stand was newspaper and metal wire. Unfortunately, this was not sturdy enough to hold her glass bangles and they would always topple off! :( hmmm…I should’ve made a stronger base structure.

My mother and sister have stainless steel and plastic stands adorning their kitchens.  I wanted one too and that is how I decided to make one of my own. It was actually not that difficult! I used old cardboard boxes of cereals, shoe boxes and the like as the different sections of the stand, joined them with fevicol, gave them a wooden textured paint effect and decorated them with dried water melon seeds. Now, that is truly eco-friendly!  Unfortunately though, this did not last long since the boxes could not withstand sufficient weight and gradually began to sag :(

My Own Letter Box at Home

I opened my own savings account at home, without having to walk into any bank branch and without filling up any form! A little help from Neil was all that I needed. :D
I had this project in mind when I visited my parents in Kerala. Luckily for me, I found an old, empty Pringles tin there along with my mother’s collection of “additional” utensils. Once I was back at home, I started working on it. There were not many steps to creating this letter box. It only required making a slot to push the money through and some corrugated sheet for the base. The top of the letter box is a newspaper ball carefully stuck to the lid of the tin. After taping everything securely into position, the next step was covering the tin and lid separately in 1-2 layers of paper mache (fevicol + tissue paper pieces). When completely dry, I painted the top portion and the corrugated sheet at the bottom black and red for the middle portion. There seemed to be some mistake in the coloring and I went and checked my nephew’s little metal letter box that he recently got. And then I found my mistake…the top portion was supposed to be red and not black like I’d done. I made the correction the very next day and gave it 2-3 coatings of red and black. A black band made of newspaper separated the top and middle portions later on. And there it is…my very own savings account at home, and I’ve already transferred my “Vishu” savings to this! :)

Check out the original version by Neil Buchanan here

http://www.hitentertainment.com/ARTATTACk/pocketmoneybox.html

My Creations at Home in Kerala

This time when I visited my parents, I took my camera along to click pictures of whatever was remaining of my earlier crafts. Here they are:

I’d learnt the soft-toys making from my neighbour Manonmani’s amma during my 10th std vacations. I’ve made only these 3 since they were time consuming and I didn’t know where to buy the materials from.

RadheShyam

This idea occurred to me when I was deciding on what to gift my sister and jeeju on their wedding anniversary. I wanted it to be something special and something that conveys the message of togetherness. Being a Krishna devotee, this was the first picture that came to my mind. I started by making a sketch of Krishna and Radha. With my limited skills in drawing, I made a rough copy and then copied it to black chart paper. I didn’t need to give much attention to facial features and other details since this was not going to be a painting. Once the picture was copied, I applied fevicol (the free-flow one that comes with a nozzle bottle) on the lines, working in sections. Then sprinkled glitter on the fevicol, allowed it to sink in for some time and tapped the picture on some paper to remove glitter from areas outside the fevicol lines. I wanted the highlight to be on Krishna’s peacock feathers and hence used green and blue glitter there. Once all fevicol lines were covered with glitter, I blew away all excess glitter. Finally, I’ve created a simple frame using newspaper rolls and painted it golden to match the picture. With a cardboard back-support and a triangular cardboard piece to make the picture rest on, my RadheShyam was complete. My sister and jeeju really did like their anniversary gift and now wants me to make a bigger one! Hmmmm….now that is something I’ll have to think about… :)

What a Mess!

I learnt to "create" this mess from Neil Buchanan of Art Attack. It was extremely easy and quick, creating it hardly took 15mins! I started by firmly taping a plastic sheet on a cereal box. Then I mixed fevicol with coffee powder for the brown one and fevicol + rasna orange flavor powder for the yellow :). Half a cup of colored fevicol is all that this “mess” needs. Then spread the mix on the plastic sheet in shapes that would naturally be created when some liquid is dropped. Place the cup on one end and add spoons or straws for an added messy effect. That is it! Allow it to dry completely (this might take a few days). Once dry, peel it off carefully from the plastic sheet.
When dry, the fevicol turns transparent, giving the mess the color of the powder used. What I intended with the brown one was actually coffee, but it turned out to look like black coffee when dry. Hmmm…I should have mixed a bit of white paint along with the fevicol and coffee powder. The yellow one did come out really well; it looked more original and even had a bubble in it! I couldn’t make this for April 1st though; else it would’ve been a good chance to fool somebody! :)

Check out the original version by Neil Buchanan here

http://www.hitentertainment.com/artattack/makeyourownmess.html

Chart Paper Embroidery

This design was inspired by an advertisement I saw on TV, and then I found a similar wall hanging during our shopping at Spar. I began by drawing the rough sketch on paper and colored it with pencil colors.
My plan was then to recreate the same design on a larger scale on black chart paper and do sand painting on it. But unfortunately I couldn’t find enough sand anywhere near our apartment and was forced to drop that idea. Later on I remembered the chart paper embroidery I’d done back in school days. I’d done it with the same “Framed Peacock” design then. Things moved faster then. Once the design was drawn on the black chart paper, the next step was to create small, neat and approximately equally spaced holes throughout the edges of every section. This was tiresome and my fingers started aching with all the pressure I had to apply using a small needle. Placing stacks of old clothes underneath makes it easier to pierce the needle through. Anyways, once the task of making holes was complete, the only thing remaining was to do embroidery on them. Embroidery wouldn’t be the right term for this kind of stitching, since I’ve used only straight stitches (like the ones used in Anchor Quick Stitch Kits) for the entire design. My materials basket had these colors of Anchor crochet thread remaining and I’d been waiting to somehow make use of them. I had actually bought these to make crochet mats, but found it easier to work with wool than these thin plastic-like threads. The stitching part also took a looooooong time. It took me almost a month to complete this from beginning to end, devoting at least 4-5 hrs everyday on this. I wanted the frame to look really simple and used cardboard cut into the frame shape, wrapped it in newspaper, stuck it to the edges and painted it a woody brown. To hang it up, I’ve first given it a back support with cardboard and then used balls of Fevicol GlueTack to stick it on the wall. Phew, this was one big project!

More pictures...

Colorful Spring!

Bangalore has so many flowering trees and so many different colored flowers..violets, yellows, pinks and reds…oh my! I was truly inspired when we went out to our friend’s house the other day. Hmmm…another spring round the corner and this time flowers have bloomed inside my home too! Yes, my very own artificial flowers. :D
These flowers were made out of organti material. Luckily for me I had these different colors in my materials basket and was able to create a really colorful bunch. I referred to a blog for the basic idea for this kind of flower and modified a little to make it easier since I had to make so many of them. For the vase I’ve used an old ice-cream box and covered it with newspaper rolls. Since the flowers were so colorful I thought it would be best to highlight them with a plain and simple base. And here it is, spring season at home!

Modern Art!

I learnt this art through Neil Buchanan’s Art Attack. He showed this simple, easy and effective way of creating a modern art. First draw around some objects like a mobile phone, a greeting card, a bangle, etc. with some of them overlapping each other. I’ve made use of my mobile, a TV remote, my wax-crayon box outline and a few freehand geometrical and non-geometrical shapes. The next step is painting. The point to remember here is, in Neil’s words,”Do not use the same color on two sections that are next to each other”. And that’s it! It really did look like some complicated modern art! I’ve gone one step further and tried to frame it myself using cardboard and cling film. Since this being my first attempt, handling the cling film was real tough and it showed up wrinkles in the corners. Nevertheless, I think it is a good piece of modern art!

Satin Ribbon Cushion Cover

The face of this cushion cover was made entirely of satin ribbon. I’d bought these ribbons for making satin roses, but later realized that their width was not enough to turn them into roses. They’d been lying in my materials basket since long. That is when I saw this method of cross-weaving with satin ribbons on the net. Though the process was actually simple, it needed quite some amount of patience to handle these silky soft ribbons. Finally when the cross-weaving was done, I attached the edges to red satin ribbon and then fabric for the inside and back of the cover. Since my sewing machine is still under repair, I had to use fabric glue to hold the pieces together. Working with fabric glue is much easier and lesser time consuming than stitching, but I still doubt on the strength of the glue. Anyways, hoping this lasts long.

Crochet Bag

Me and my husband have always tried reducing the usage of plastics. We take our big-shopper with us while out shopping and try reusing the plastic bags that we already have rather than getting a new one each time. This idea of making a cloth bag originated from this same thought.
Initially I’d thought of making one with fabric but later on had to move to crochet since my sewing machine was under repair. I’ve used the same stitch like the one for the mat, but this one went layer by layer vertically. Once I’d finished with the black crochet, I moved on to maroon for the pocket in the front and back. For the pattern on the pocket, I’ve made use of shiny anchor embroidery threads. When I’d completed the pocket I realized that my bag was a see-through bag! I had to then give a fabric lining to ensure that things don’t spill out of my bag through the gaps between the threads. Once the lining was completed, the only thing remaining was the handles. Since I’d run out of maroon wool, I had to use similar color fabric for the handles. 3 strips of stuffed fabric were plaited to form one handle. When the handles were securely fixed into place, I included 2 press-buttons next to the handles. And there, my eco-friendly handmade bag is done!

Traveler

Anchor quick stitch kits have always tempted me to do one completely for myself. I and my sister had done one each during my school days, but then that was not completed and hence not framed. This one too was completed some months back, but framed only recently! This design is from the Anchor Flash Frame Series and is called "Traveller". Since stitching is always to be done with darker colors first and then the lighter shades, this initially did not look very appealing with black and brown scattered here and there. The stitching part was a little complicated too, especially inside the cart and the bulls, but the final product is so good that I have no words to explain! :D The best compliment I received for this was by my little nephew. He asked,”Chitte (aunty)….did you make it or buy it??!!” Oh…I was so happy!! Though only 5 yrs old, he already has good observation skills and an interest towards arts. Hmmm...following his aunt’s steps, is he??!! :D

Work in progress...

Recycled crafts

These crafts originated from various discarded materials. The 3 African face-masks was originally a glass tumbler that was broken and hence could not serve its purpose. The flower bouquet was made using colored activity papers and tissue papers. I've included (what used to be, but now dried)evergreen leaves and a basket from a bouquet we'd received on our anniversary.