Papier Mache craft of Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir, which is known for its natural beauty, is also known for many handicrafts. Who doesn't know about Kashmiri embroidery? Most of us wish to own a Kasmiri carpet. If we observe all the handicrafts of Kashmir, they are  done , using very delicate designs. Another such handicraft of India, is Papier Mache work.

I could collect some pictures of papier mache work , when I visited a handicrafts exhibition.The manufacturer explained about how they make  different products using papier mache. 

Different products of Papier Mache

The process of making Papier Mache:

Normally they use fine sheets of wood, from a kind of pine tree. And some use old papers too. These are made into pulp, by soaking in water and some chemicals for 4-5 days and grinding it. The pulp is molded into different shapes. And painted with natural colors . Earlier days, the golden color was made with real gold powder. Now they use acrylic and natural colors.

Here are two kinds of paintings. One with single color and another with different colors. The paintings which made with different color is very difficult to make and looks beautiful too.

Papier mache in single color and different colors.

Though papier mache was used to make boxes and pen stands, now the manufacturers make different decorative products. I could click photos of some :

Different products of papier mache

Small house boat model made of papier mache

pen stand and a box 

As any other handicrafts of Kashmir, papier mache also has very intricate work and design. I wish to see the complete process of making this , whenever I visit Kashmir.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Work In Progress on Wednesday- Saree design

This week was little hectic. Could not write any posts. Could not complete whatever projects I have started. Last week had shared about kutch work design , which I started, last week , is not completed. Many are giving suggestion to use cotton thread on that. So I have decided to follow same.

Here is the sneak peek of this week's project- designing a saree, with Kalamkari border.

Planning to complete this by next week, and share with you.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Work In Progress On Wednesday - Kutchwork on a Kurta

My work in progress series is stepping to third week. I started this with the post of Dress design .
This week sharing about the Kutchwork on a Kurta. I have shared How to trace design on stitched Kurta in my previous post. On the same Kurta I am starting to embroider Kutch work design.
Here is the Kurta with design traced on it:

The design traced

There are some mistakes, I can correct those as it is a geometrical design. The Kurta is in wine color, choosing between pink and light purple for the embroidery. Normally Kutch work looks good with bright color, hope this color look good because of the combination.

The threads selected- Which is better?

The last week's Work in Progress- Kerala Mural on Bamboo , is done.
Last week's work:

Kerala Mural on Bamboo

Here is the completed work:

Kerala Mural on Bamboo

A closer view:

Closer view of Kerala Mural on bamboo

I have completed a Kerala Mural on canvas too. Will share in the coming post.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Work In Progress on Wednesday - Kerala Mural Painting on Bamboo

This week in WIP series, sharing about the Kerala Mural. Most of the artists and crafters now know about Kerala Murala. Though these are mural painting, now many artists paint this on canvas, terracotta pots , cloth , bamboo etc. I'm  learning Kerala Mural painting. I have already learnt painting Kerala Mural on canvas, about which I will share in future. Now learning to paint it on Bamboo.

 WIP of this week, three days back I started. Here it is with outlines:

Kerala Mural on Bamboo-Work in Progress

This is the progress today :

Kerala Mural on Bamboo-Work in Progress

Hope to share finished work in coming week.

By the way,last week's work, was  designing a dress with Madhubani printed cloth. I have completed that work. Here is the dress I have designed:

Last week's WIP

Many suggested go with off white as top. As I have the Duppata in off-white, decided to make the pink  fabric as top. Hope you liked it.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

How to transfer design on stitched dress-Tutorial

This is the query I often get from most my readers. For embroidery projects, transferring the design on fabric is the tedious task. One method is to use charcoal powder. Another is using white carbon paper. Though this method is easy, but for large designs,even this is time consuming.

Whatever the technique we use, transferring design on stitched garment is quite difficult , especially around neck area.

How to transfer the design:

My suggestion for embroidery on stitched fabric, avoid large or complex  designs.

This is the stitched salwar top I selected for embroidery:

The stitched dress I chose

I chose , simple Kutchwork design . I have these two designs in Kutchwark. Kutchwork designs are geometrical, something goes wrong with the design, that can be corrected. Both the designs I have are similar , I chose the first one:

Kutch design sheet

Place a book below the fabric where the design to be transferred.

Keep a book for support

 Now , place the carbon and the design , trace with a pencil or pen. Here is the design transferred on the fabric. There are some mistakes, which I can correct.

Kutchwork design transferred

Hope to complete the embroidery on this dress. I was away from hand embroidery for few months. Starting it again with this Kutch embroidery. You can view other Kutch embroidery I had worked earlier , shared in this post: Kutchwork on Salwar Top .

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Work In Progress on Wednesday - Dress design

Starting a new series on my blog. As the title says, I will be sharing about the arts and crafts projects, on which I'm working on. It can be anything , sewing, embroidery , crochet, tatting, or paper-craft etc.

Why I started this series (WIP) ?

There are two reasons , why I started this series. I can get some suggestions about the work from my readers, like about color combination, technique etc. Second is, I can post the completed work as soon as possible :)

Today , starting this series with a dress design. I had bought a hand-block printed Madhubani cloth from an exhibition. Madhubani is an ancient art , about which I have written in one of my posts. Also I have tried painting it on a wooden box. 

Madhubani paintings are also used on sarees and dresses nowadays. The clothes with hand painted Madhubani paintings are very expensive. We can also get hand block painted ones in the market now. Though these hand block printed cloths do not match the elegance of hand painted cloths, if we use it properly in designing dresses and sarees, these look very nice.

Here is the hand block printed cloth I bought:

Hand-block printed Madhubani design on cloth

Hand-block printed Madhubani design on cloth

For Madubani hand-clock printed cloth,  I have chosen hand-woven cloth in pink and off-white. The hand-block printed cloth , I want to attach as border. Here is how the combination look:

The combination for the top

Both look good. But I have chosen to make the pink cloth as top, as the duppata is off-white with Madhubani prints. What do you suggest?

Once it is stitched, will share in coming post.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana