Wood carving from Bijnor(UP)

Bijnor is a small town in the district of Saharanpur in north east part of Uttara Pradesh. This has historical wood carving craft tradition dating back to the Mughal period. During my visit to an craft exhibition I came across some craftsmen from Bijnor.
Here are some of the their woodwork:

Combs made out of wood

 It is said that some of the carvers moved directly from Iran to Saharanpur and settled here. So we can see the influence of Persian designs in the wood carving.

Combs made of wood

 Most of the district is covered with forests. So wood carving is widely practiced in the stat- Saharanpur, Nagina, Pilakhuwa, Bijnor, Aligarh, Bareily, Bulandshahr,Lucknow and Mathura.Nicely carved combs are their specialty.

Framed carved combs

Now the wood carvers have extended their art, to meet the customers' requirement. Not only decorative items, they make many puzzles and games from wood.

Many puzzles made of wood

Puzzles and games

 When I checkd the price, these were not very expensive. One should have in woodwork collection.

Handmade Christmas Card-Merry Christmas

I had started my blog with the post of a handmade quilled card. And after that I had made many cards to wish on teacher's day , as my son had asked me to make to wish his teachers .  All were made using quilling.After that I had stopped making cards. Recently started making cards again inspired by many of my blogger friends, who make wonderful cards. The one I made to wish twin  babies was liked by many . And another I made recently is to wish on birthday. In both I have used punch-craft. I'm not so good in paper craft, but in both the cards I tried to express the concept.
Now made a Christmas card,

Handmade Christmas card

 How I made the Christmas card:

This involved very simple procedure. I love the handmade papers for cards. Here also I have chosen handmade paper in light green. 

The handmade paper I chose

 And some decorative cloth like paper and some embellishments.This very beautiful cloth like paper in my collection. It is light pink in color, with silver color stars all over.

Cloth like paper

Cut a strip from the cloth like paper and gave it zigzag border shape:

Thin strip of the paper

 Then attached it along the border of the card. And glued  some embellishments which are Christmas Symbols , on the border. I have kept the card theme very mild, so did not add many glittery materials.

Handmade Christmas card

And then small stars and pearl embellishments :

With Stars and Pearl embellishments

 And finally  a cute Santa doll. Without Santa how can anyone  celebrate Christmas  :)

With Santa

May this Christmas bring you happiness , peace , prosperity and of course lots of gifts. :-)

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Kalamkari border attached -Saree

I'm designing a saree after a long gap. I have collection of Kalamkari patches and borders. One such set of  patches ,I had attached to a silk cotton saree .Recently added  a black color kalamkari border with elephant design. I'm fan of Kalamkari designs and elephant designs. So both together!
Lovely border here :

Kalamkari border

I tried matching this with  different sarees, but I liked it on a black saree, which I had

and also the thin border in gold , which I attached along with Kalamakari border

It did not take much time for me to attach the border. I just had to keep the  Kalamkari border and the zari border and stitch . So the saree is ready:
The  saree looks like this now :

Kalamkari saree border

Kalamkari saree Pallu

And on my mannequin ( its name is chammak challo :) ) , it looks very nice :

Saree  on Chammak challo

I liked this saree. But I can't wear it on casual day. Waiting for an occasion to wear it :-)
Recently started learning Kalamkari painting on canvas. Soon will share about the same.

Until then,  

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Handmade birthday card

Recently, to wish on a birthday I made this handmade birthday card. Compared to the handmade cards made by experts it is very simple. But serving the purpose.
This was a masculine card, so I chose blue color handmade paper.

For the edges , attached the border made by Martha Stwewart punches, which was gifted by my sister in law. Recently I started crafts related to punches :-). So she had gifted some punches.

And used some embellishments which I had purchased recently. Front page a birthday cake and flowers:

And inside, the favourite things for boys with a happy birthday wish.

As I have mentioned already, it is very simple, but served the purpose. Slowly learning card making, soon will post some more.

Until then,  

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Pipali work-Applique art of Odisha

Applique work is one of the oldest craft done using fabric. There are many forms of applique work practiced in India, among those,Pipali work of Odisha is an ancient one. Odisha is famous for some unique art like, Patachitra  , also famous for some fabric art like making of hand woven Ikkat and Pipli work.

Pipli work : Colorful applique 

Pipli work is colorful.Almost all colors are used in this. Here you can see the use of different colored clothes in Pipli work:

 Origin of Pipli applique art: 

This art of applique dates back to 10th century AD. The Pipli is a village near Bhubaneshwar (the capital of Odisha). This place is the origin of Pipli applique art. This handicraft is related to the famous Jaganatha Yathra of Puri. History says that this colorful applique work was done to decorate  Jagannatha Ratha and temple during rituals.

Image courtesy -Google images:Pipli -work fabric covering Jaganath Ratha

After independence , this art  of applique work started declining, because of the loss of royal patronage.  But now it is again in demand , as the artists have started making many household and decorative items like bedsheets,purses, , wall hangings, pillow covers, lampshades and tablecloth using Pipli art.

Patterns and Motifs used in Pipli work:

In making pipli applique work, the traditional colors Red, Yellow , Green and Black are used. But nowadays, to accommodate current users' requirement , other colors are also used. Traditionally the motifs used are flowers, birds, elephant, vine designs ,geometric patterns etc. This is embellished with mirror work. We can find many variations in this applique art. Recently I visited an exhibition. Here are some variations in Pipli art:

Wall hanging with motifs of human beings

Purse with a small house and girl

Wall hanging with tree design. The artist told me its auspicious and lucky to keep this :)

i-Pad cover with house motif

And here is the artist selling his products:

Artist with his products

Coming up with some more posts on different handicrafts and some of my works too.

Until then,  

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana