Shrirampura cotton market-Heaven for cotton and textile lovers

We, craft lovers and designers, keep on searching for  materials for craft and designing . In this age of competition always the quality and reasonable price are the factors make the product to win. But searching for quality material for reasonable price is really difficult task. In search of materials for reasonable price, I have ended up spending more money :). Positive side is , I have found many places where we get quality products with reasonable price.

One such search is Chindi Bazar of Shrirampura Bangalore(you can search in maps for the exact location). Once you enter Chindi bazar, you can see lots of small and big shops on both the sides of the road. Earlier here sellers used to sell only cut pieces(Chindi in Kannada), so the name "Chindi Bazar". But now there are nearly 400 to 500 shops selling different kinds of cloths.

Small and big shops on the sides of the roads

I feel its really a heaven for cloth lovers. Everywhere you can see cloths and materials required for sewing and stitching like buttons, needles, threads etc. Here we get many varieties of cloths except pure silk. The varieties include cotton, artificial raw silk, satin, velvet,Georgette and many more.

Various kinds of cloths available

The best part is price. Some sellers , price cloths per kilograms and they sell according to requirement of buyer. Buyer can opt for half kg, 250 grams etc. And some seller sell meter-wise. When I inquired a seller about the source of materials, he told  they source it from all parts of India, - Tamilnadu, Baroda, Mumbai etc. So many designs like block print , kalamkari , embroidered materials , batik are also available here.
 

Block printed and batik materials

Cotton, artificial silk etc

Not only cloths, the sewing materials like needles, threads, buttons, laces are also sold depending on weight.

Loads of threads

Laces

 Another feature is you get plenty of options, in colors or designs.

Lots of options in color

There are many shops selling curtains, mats, home decorating cloths:

Some shops selling curtails, mats etc

This market may not satisfy all your requirements for designing purpose. But the materials here are pocket friendly.This serves many purposes like learning stitching and sewing , learning fashion designing , making quilts, or for the clients who demand good design for less price. I have got many times good materials here. 

The sellers claim that clothes are not available this cheap anywhere in Bangalore. :-)

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Chitrasante 2016 at Chitrakala Parishat- Ocean of paintings

It's really ocean of paintings! I had missed Chitrasante for 12 years! I used to decide to visit Chitrasante and then missed it for some or the other reason. This year decided and visited too. It is an awesome experience.
Chitrsante is an event that is organized by Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath , every year. Sante (ಸಂತೆ ) means market in Kannada, and Chitra (ಚಿತ್ರ) means paintings. So it really a huge market of paintings. When I visited Chitrasante, started walking  form one side of the road. Everywhere I could see paintings, paintings and paintings! . And like me there were lots of painting lovers. There were thousands artists from different parts of country , lakhs of paintings and painting lovers. The whole event was spread across nearly a km . But I did not come to know when I came to the end of the road!
There were many kinds of paintings, traditional Tanjore paintings  , Kerala Mural paintings, pantings on canvas, leather, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, mixed media paintings ...uff the list is endless. 
Here are the glimpses of Chitrsante,
On both sides of the road I could only see paintings:

Paintings stalls @ Chitrasante

 These paintings attracted me a lot. The specialty of the painting is that, its painted inside a bottle with a bent brush. Hats off to the creativity and  patience of the artist

Paintings made inside bottles

 Kerala mural paintings:

Kerala mural paintings

 Some more paintings. You can see the paintings done on broken wooden pieces. Those are really something special.

Paintings on the wood pieces

Abstract paintings :

Abstract paintings

 Sports and scenery paintings:

 Artists with their paintings:

 Lovely paintings :

 The real Sante:

 

Sketching : 

Sketching

Sketching

 And an oil painting:

 As I have written, this is just a glimpse. Next time if you are in Bangalore during new year, don't miss to visit Chitrasante.
I have captured images of some unique paintings at Chitrasante. Will share those in the coming posts.
Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Tipu Sultan Palace - Bangalore

Most of the time, we neglect the monuments which are in the city or place where we reside. Though I wished to visit Tipu Palace,  many times, I could not. My niece who came here during summer vacation , is also interested in visiting old monuments. So we visited, Tipu Palace.
In actual sense, this is not a big palace. Tipu Sultan( Ruler of Mysore), used to address his people here.
This is how it looks from the entrance :

The Palace is built with wooden pillars and arches.

Pillars are very nicely carved:

It has  steps which leads to first floor:

The walls and ceilings are beautifully painted with flower and vine designs. This resembles Mughal design.

 

 

And finally , the balcony, from where King used to address his people:

Inside the Palace, few weapons and belongings of Tipu Sultan are kept. I could click Tipu's portrait :

We visited Bangalore Palace also.

Bangalore Palace

I will share about Bangalore palace, in the coming posts. 

Until then

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana