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

Banjara Embroidery- unique combination of patchwork, mirror work with embroidery

When it comes to craft, my favorite is always embroidery, hand or machine embroidery. I really love the way the threads fills the cloth with the colors. Nowadays , because of time constraints not able to work on any of my embroidery projects. Especially hand embroidery requires lot of time and patience.Sometimes its very tedious, and if the threads knot with one another,Uff! it really makes one to loose patience . So I wonder when I see the hand embroidery made on the entire  cloth or dress. One such , embroidery is Banjara embroidery. Here is a bag with Banjara Embroidery:

Banjara embroidery is very fine embroidery  combined with patchwork, applique work and mirror work. And also the work is decorated by cowrie shells. Here is the closer look :

This is made by  artist  Late . Smt. Manjula,I have  written about her in   my   posts ,

3rd anniversary of my blog

Cute... cuter....cutest dolls .  

and 

Lets enter the world of craft- Wire handbags made by Smt. Manjula

 Banjara embroidery is traditional embroideries by semi-nomadic community called Banjara or Lambani.  In earlier days women of Banjara community used to wear these kind of heavily embroidered costumes:

The top(Blouse)

 Embroidered Long Skirt:

And the veil :

Late Smt.Manjula with the costume she embroidered.

In Banjara Embroidery , majorly used stitches are Chain stitch, herringbone stitch , cross stitch, chevron stitch and mirror work.  Below image shows the different embroideries: 

 Embellishments made of silver and gold were used in earlier days,now the fancy artificial embellishments are used. Here the embroidery with silver color embellishments:

Embroidered waist belt with mirror work :

 

   One more specialty of Banjara Embroidery is, the cowrie shells are used to decorate the embroidery, like this one:

  

All the above works are made by Late. Smt. Manjula. She was an expert in almost all arts and crafts. Here is a cute doll decorated with Banjara costume, by her:

 Banjara embroidery is very colorful embroidery combined with mirror work, patchwork and embellishments. Now many Banjara women are using this embroidery on different kinds of products for sale. This is also supported by Government organizations too.

Planning to design a dress or saree with Banjara embroidery. Hope I will complete that soon and share with you.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Cute... cuter....cutest dolls

Dolls ...who doesn't like dolls... Dolls have been part of human being's life from ancient time. Human being used clay, wood , metal etc to make dolls . The archaeologists have found metal dolls from Mohenjadaro during excavation.
The Doll made of brass found in excavation of  Monhenjadaro

Image courtesy- Google images

So the history of dolls is quite ancient. There are also evidences that, Greeks and Romans used to bury dolls in children's grave.
Nowadays we find, lots and lots of dolls. Different kinds of dolls are sold by street vendors to the dolls sold in big showrooms, different varieties from handmade to branded ones like Barbie, American Girl etc.
I remember I had learnt making soft toys from one of my craft teachers. I used to gift them to the kids. I really regret I don't have photos of those. Its really nice to convert the the fur and cotton into lively dolls.
Some people are masters of decorating a simple plastic dolls. I got an opportunity to see such collections of cute dolls.
 I have already written about the artist Late.Smt. Manjua. in my previous posts:

 3rd-anniversary of my blog. Happy to write about the most talented lady ...but with tears in my eyes

Lets enter the world of craft- Wire handbags made by Smt. Manjula

In this post sharing about the cute dolls decorated by Late. Smt. Manjula
Here are those dolls,

This is a doll depicting western bride , made of wood. Its looks so lovely and lively, you can see the shyness  in the eyes of the dolls.

 

The below one is doll transformed to look like Kerala woman. Specialty is the  white saree with Gold border and the hairstyle. 

 The below one is doll with water pot, this one is done so perfect, that you can see the doll is decorated with a cloth with normal print, so that it is made to look like  a woman busy with household work

A Kathakali (An Indian Dance form) dancer

Manipuri(An Indian dance form ) dancer 

This one  really shows the artistic capabilities of Smt. Manjula.  .

Doll made to look like a Banjara woman (About Banjara or Lambani you can read here .) 

You can see the Banjara embroidery made on the cloth.

 The below one a plastic doll transformed into a Lambani woman. In this also you can see very fine mirror work and embroidery made on the clothes of the doll.

The back side is also decorated with Banjara Embroidery. This shows the perfection of the artist in her work.

All dolls are very cute, in fact, each one is cute, cuter and cutest doll. :)

Soon will write about the crochet works of Smt. Manjula. 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana