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.

Terracotta of Phokaran(Jaisalmer- Rajasthan)

Phokaran is a small village in Jaisalmer. I know you remembered the Nuclear test. In this craft blog I'm not posting about the Nuclear test :). This small village is also famous for the very special type of pottery work(terracotta work). I would love to visit this place and see the process of making of the potteries. Hope this wish will be fulfilled soon :-).  I have tried my hands in making terracotta jeweleries and share about that in this post.
I had an opportunity to see these potteries in a craft exhibition. These are really attractive and in different shapes:

 

Earlier potters were to make only pots and household utensils. But now they have extended their skills to make variety of decorative items too like Pen stands:

 

Many decorative items :

Wall hangings:

Cute dolls : 

The specialty of Pokaran terracotta is, these are decorated with beautiful motifs, lines and dots.

Don't you feel grab some of these to add to your collection. I felt the same. I bought a  small hut , so that I can paint this: 

Eager to paint it and share the same with you. 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Madhubani Art( Mithila Art) -Art from an ancient city

Madhubani  (painting) art form originated from ancient Indian city Mithila.
This was originated as wall art, means paintings were drawn by the women of Mithila to decorate walls of the houses. Nowadays these are practised on silk, cotton and handmade papers. Colors are natural colors.This is painted with fingers, twine brush, nib pen, match sticks etc.
The motifs normally used in Madhubani paintings are mythological figures, Rama, Sita, Krishna, Radha etc. The motifs are also influenced by nature, so include Lotus, flowers, fish ,snakes etc.
I would love to visit Mithila once to meet the artists there. Recently I could meet a Madhubani artist in a art exhibition. Captured the images of the paintings, to share with you.
Some are here:
This one has painting of Rama , Sita and Laxmana  in forest. So the motifs of peacock , Sun and Deer can be seen there.

 

This is painting of Hindu God Ganesha:

\

 Some more paintings:

 A beautiful girl:

 The Sun:

And again my favorite peacock design :

 

The prominent features of  this painting are bright colors and minute black lines to highlight the design. This painting is made only in black color:

  

And the artist here:

Now Madhubani painting is done on clothes also. Blend of colors like Orange, Red,Green, Yellow , Blue etc highlighted with fine lines in Black color makes the painting really lively. 

 You can read about Madhubani art here

 With this painting, I'm adding one more section to my blog: Crafts of India, where I will be sharing about different crafts of Incredible  India.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana 

Bidri work- A perfect combination of Black and White metal

Bidri work is a unique metal craft which is found in Bidar of Karnataka (India).

I wish to visit Bidar once and meet some of the craftmen who do Bidri work. One day I will.  Fortunately, I could meet one of the Bidri craftsmen in a craft fest. When I asked him about the process of making Bidriware , he explained it very enthusiastically.

In Bidri work 2 metals are used- Zinc and Silver, which makes beautiful combination of Black and White.
Different items like flower vase, boxes, jeweleries are made with copper and zinc mixture. Then the different designs and motifs are engraved on the surface of the items. On these engraved designs , thin Silver wire is inlaid. You can read  more about Bidri work in this link.

The craftsman also showed me the method of inlaying the Silver wire on the surface of the item.I captured it through my camera to share with you ,

A small statue with design engraved

The craftsman inlaying the Silver wire

 

 

 

                

These are some of the items I've in my collection:

 

 

Kumkuma Bharani with Bidri work on the lid

 

 

 

 

A small elephant

 

 

Bangles with Bidri work

Bidri work displays the beauty of  blend of two opposites- Black and White!

Now Navaratri has started, I've lot to share with you about Gombe Habba , in the coming posts.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Hampi Stone Chariot in Bangalore!

I had planned to post about Bidri work. In between visited a craft fest , held at Chitrakala Parishat.
I saw replica of the  famous Hampi Stone Chariot there. Could not wait sharing with you.

Have a look :

 

This is made of cardboard and plaster of Paris. The side view

 

 

Hampi is one of my dream destinations. Since years I've been wishing to visit that place, but somehow could not. Hope to visit Hampi soon. If you have visited Hampi, then you can judge whether this replica is perfect or not. 

In the next post definitely share about Bidri work.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana