Screen Printing tutorial

Many were requesting me to teach Screen printing.Also , I had received many emails  regarding queries about screen printing. So I thought I should post a tutorial about screen printing.
Screen printing can be done on any kind of cloth, but if it is done on Silk or Cotton, the effect is very nice.
The materials needed are as below:

 

Materials : Binder, Fixer , Gold powder( or any color ) , spatula and  of course a design screen.

In a bowl , the gold color powder shall be mixed with binder and fixer .

 The material shall be mixed well with the help of spatula.

 

The cloth should be spread on a wooden table.Then place the screen on the cloth.

 The mixture prepared should be put on the screen,

 The color put on the screen should be pressed gently with a rubber spatula against the screen.

 The design will be printed on the cloth  You can the print I have made on the cloth below:

Hope this tutorial will be helpful to many craft lovers. 

I'm designing a saree with screen printing , soon will share about that,

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

 

Collection of Batik paintings I have

Batik painting ancient type of painting which is made using wax and chemicals. These are basically from Indonesia , but Indian artists have developed their own style. This art has majorly flourished in West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh . You can read about batik painting in this link .
I tried to learn Batik, but till now not successful. I tried it , but it was a disaster :-). You can see the batik disaster here :

The painting is of 3 elephants, but in any angle these are  not looking like elephants. I'm trying to recognize it, I think its looking like lizard... !

Whatever, I will try it again. But I have a good collection of Batik painting- I have some good sarees, dress materials and paintings. These are the one I bought recently from an artisan of West Bengal:

 

 

Both are dress materials, planning to embroider on it. But sometimes getting confused, will the embroidery spoil the beauty of the painting . Can you please suggest ?

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

First tutorial in Paata Shaala- Making of flower loom patterns

Though I had created the page Paata Shala , to share my knowledge about some crafts with the readers. But no Paatas (lessons ) in Paatashala :-). Starting this with the first post containing tutorial : Making of Flower loom flowers.
The flowers can be made from yarn , by winding it to the small handy looms. The looms come in different shape and sizes. You can choose the looms according to the pattern you want to make.

You can take any yarn of your choice. I have selected wool yarn. Take the thread from the loom as shown.

The start winding the to the spikes of the loom, crossing in the middle.

 

Wind the yarn to the loom depending on the thickness you require.

After winding to required thickness, cut the yarn and insert  into a needle.

 Then insert the needle between the wound yarn so that , a knot can be tied behind.

 

Slowly remove the wound yarn.The below picture shows the completed flowers.

Many flowers can be made and , can be used as borders, shawl, lace etc. I have used this to make a hairband. Here it is:

Happy that, my Paata Shala has started. Many are requesting to post tutorial on screen printing. 

I will share about screen printing in the coming post. 

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Handmade jewelry and card- A Birthday Gift

This was a long pending order from a friend. I should be thankful to my friends who give the order and wait for the delivery :-). My friend wanted to send this as gift to his friend as a birthday gift. At work I was busy and also going through lots of emotional set backs, I had to complete this order. My friend had ordered this long back, trusting me.
Here are the handmade jeweleries and card I sent:
(A quilled card, after many months I tried quilling:)

 And some jewelries :

 

Closer view:

I'm happy that , the gift reached in time and she was happy to see the jewelries. I will definitely try maximum  to keep all my customers happy.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana