Paper Quilling

I just loved quilling! The details, the shapes, the intricacies...altogether this was the best part of the TTP workshop for me. I’d seen pictures and was notified on a few quilling workshops, but did not find it interesting then. Since this was part of the training programme we had to do it. And I was extremely happy that I did it! :)

At the workshop they taught us different quilling shapes and a few tools used for quilling. As part of the homework, my internet research led me to this website

http://increations.blogspot.in/p/paper-quilling.html

This is an amazing site where she explains different kinds of flowers, and even an easy-to-do frame to display the final quilled product. I still have to try the frame, but the fringed flowers proved easy and inspiring. 

The first one was done on a hand-made paper bag, the second one was on an envelope and the third is on my all-time favourite medium, newspaper! ;-) I still need to get a hang on not letting the quilling strip go up and down while rolling it, without using a coach, but am definitely gonna keep practising this, and hopefully update them in this blog.

Fabric Art

These were done using fevicryl hobby ideas acrylic colors and 3-D glitter outliner (on the abstract design). Since I’d done a 2-month tailoring course at Kerala, I wanted to combine the two and came out with these – a peacock design (my peacock looks a little scared?! :( ) fabric painted on a self-sewn cushion cover, a Ganesha wall-hanging done using stencil technique with a border (taken from  amma’s blouse piece), an abstract wall-hanging on a blue shiny cloth(again, amma had actually given me for practising sewing a blouse! ;-)) and a self-made small handbag with vegetable printing. Vegetable printing was nothing new to many of us since we’d all done it back in school days. Here I have made use of carrots for the green rectangular border, beans for the red/orange circles and potato for the yellow triangles. Working with potatoes is not very easy and the pattern does not come very uniform, but the end result has an earthy feel to it. My husband always says there is some beauty in the asymmetry of hand-made products. True, isn’t it? :)

 

 

Terracotta Jewellery

I’d bought a pair of terracotta earrings while on a visit to the annual Dastkar exhibition. That was a very pretty orange and green jhumka. I loved the fact that these are completely hand-made and was looking forward to attend some such class. After almost a year, I came across this one-day workshop on terracotta jewellery and immediately registered myself. 

This is what I made at the workshop. These are not fully done since they have not been baked! They are still wearable, but not during rains! ;-)

I enjoyed making these, but was kind of bored by the time I started painting it, maybe because it was after 2.5yrs that I was holding the paint brush, or maybe because it was after a long time that I was spending so much time on one thing alone (thanks to my very active toddler! :D). 

But finally, I am a little hesitant to do any more of these. Why?

• For procuring this clay you have to go all the way to pottery town (not sure where exactly that is!)
• The clay has to be filtered, which is a cumbersome process, taking many days
•  For cost-effectiveness, it is better that you make a big batch of beads, pendants, earrings, etc.
•  For baking the moulded shapes, you have to again go to pottery town. And once again to collect them once baked.

I don’t think I have the patience to still pursue this form of jewellery making, but I sure did get some ideas which if successful, will definitely be posted in this blog! :)

Hasthakala makes it to the print media!

Wow! I am totally excited about my achievement, all thanks to the Vanitha Veedu team of Malayala Manorama and of course, my husband :) This is an article on recycled crafts that featured in the August issue of Vanitha Veedu. They had started this new page on recycled crafts and I sent them a few samples of my work. After a few emails and telephone calls, here it is!

 More pictures and details on all these are there in earlier posts in this blog.