Kawad-Amazing small wooden temple

Few months back, I had visited a craft-fest, where artists from different parts of India, exhibited their works. I saw very interesting piece of work. Here it is

Can you guess, what is this? This is a small wooden temple. Very interesting , isn't it? When I asked the artist , he told me , "Its name is Kawad". It has hinged panels, on each side of the panel, pictures of the great Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharatha, are painted. This is a craft type in Rajasthan. And in earlier days this was used to narrate stories, by professional story tellers.

You can  see , how the pictures are painted on Kawad:

The  door is painted with pictures of Door keepers (Dwarapalaka). Once the door is opened you can see, pictures of  two devotees painted. And inside painting of Shri Vishnu.

The hinged panels can be opened, which are painted with pictures of Ramayana and Mahabharatha.


Most Kawads follow the same general format, panles painted with pictures narrating the Ramayana on the left panels and scenes of life of Krishna on the right.


The story teller opens them in sequence with narration of story.If all the panels are opened, the Kawad looks like a colorful painting.

Inside again the door is painted with pictures of priests. Once the last door is opened, idols of deities can be seen( Shri Rama, Laxmana and Seeta). Here it is:

The top view and side view of Kawad :

 

There were many Kawads displayed. I bought a small one :

The artisan explained me about all the facts about Kawad. He was very happy , hearing my appreciations. His happiness captured :

He also told me one more fact , this craft is slowly vanishing. This made me very sad. Most forms of arts and crafts are vanishing in India and no effort is made to preserve that.

In my next post, share about the wooden carvings in a temple I visited,

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Kalamkari Patchwork on a Saree

In previous post I had mentioned to share about the Kalamkari patch work made on a saree.
Kalamkari is technique of painting on cloth with vegetable dyes. You can find out more about Kalamkari Paintings in this link.
Now these Kalamkari patches are used for dress design and saree design. I had bought some Kalamkari patches , in a Craft exhibition. It was in my stash for long time. Then bought a saree to attach the Patches. It took more than 6 months for me to complete the work.
There is a big Paisley design Patch and 18 small patches. I attached the small patches on the border :

And the big motif on the shoulder:

Some more motifs on the Pallu:

Closer view of the motifs:

 

    
I have not used any embellishment on this. Because I wanted to highlight the Kalamkari painting.
Blouse is also Kalamkari cloth in Maroon color.

Planning to use small Paisley motifs on the blouse.

Once blouse is designed, will share the photos. 

In between Screen printed on 3-4 sarees, and this time in vacation visited 2-3 temples. So many crafty experience to share with you!

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

My sketch in color

I hope you remember, I made the sketch of a lady in grief . If you don't then you can read that post here.
The sketch I made is :

Few days back, Ashwini (Her  blog is : http://ashsonline.blogspot.in ) had asked my permission to use this sketch to make a glass painting. I was also eager to see the sketch in color. So I agreed. I thought it would take at least few weeks for Ashwini to make the glass painting (Because for me it would have taken few months :-)). To my surprise , the glass painting is ready. You can see the painting in her blog here. 

I liked it very much. It looks better than the pencil sketch. I'm sure you also agree with me.

Once again "Thanks Ashwini ".

In the next post, definitely share about the Kalamkari Patch work I made on a saree.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Paper Mache Kumkuma Bharanis

I have shared about my collection of Kumkuma Bharanis ( Container to store Vermilion) in  previous posts :

My collection of Kumkuma Baharanis 

Some more Kumkuma Bharanis

In this post sharing about Kumkuma Bharanis made of Paper Mache . Paper mache is craft which is very famous in Jammu & Kashmir . I had bought these in a Craft exhibition from a Kasmiri Craftsman.

Below one is Flower shaped, with very delicate paintings on the lid:

The Below one is Egg shaped, again with very intricate design on it.

The below one is, Tortoise shaped. Very cute one!

                                                           

                                                         Another view:

Hope you  liked them.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Machine Embroidery work on Satin cloth

My first teacher for sewing is my mother. She had USHA sewing machine. Now also she has that sewing machine which is 50 years old, still in good condition. When I learnt hand embroidery, I always thought, machine embroidery would be faster. But I didn't have the embroidery machine. My dream of having an embroidery machine came true, on the first Deepavali after my marriage. Shankar gave me Usha Janome Machine as Deepavali gift. I've used it a lot, to stitch, for embroidery, to make quilts etc. After 12 years also its still in good condition. 

Today while remembering about the embroidery machine, remembered the works made using the machine. One is Satin bed spread, on which I embroidered using my machine. 

4 motifs on the corners and joined by vine design. The design was not copied from any book . I drew it myself and transferred on to the cloth using tracing paper. I had lots of patience  :-)

The motifs: 

Closer view

I didn't have practise, so its not perfect. Whatever, operating of the machine is very easy and stitches also come out very smooth. I started loving machine embroidery. I made many projects using this machine. Most of them are not with me now :-(.

A year back, bought a heavy duty embroidery machine. Now I'm using the same for all machine embroidery works. Completed the Kalamkari patch work on a saree using the same machine(At last :-)) 

So next post , I will share about the Kalamakari patch work,

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana