Category Archives: stuff made of folklore
yellow-hello cute birdie
Wooden birds from Crafts in India
These too cute pairs of wooden birds are handmade by traditional artists of Andhra Pradesh, India.
celebrating kantha artisans
I was not paying any attention to ongoing Lakme Fashion Week spring summer 2008, Mumbai until I saw this photo feeling a little heaviness around my vocal chords!
It is a rarity, the kind of scene I have not seen before! A fashion designer brought with her kantha artisans on stage to take a bow . I have developed sudden admiration for fashion designer from Kolkatta; Agnimitra Paul who celebrated kantha embroiders in such a beautiful way. (Such things are long over-over due from fashion industry)
Just to celebrate kantha artisans, here are few random kantha work images and how-to and award-winning artisans’ work.
How to do kantha work step by step. More here.
What is kantha embroidery and history.
A few award winning creations and the artisans.
mud art of Kutch
Lippan kam or mud-mirror work
Lippan (roughly translated-mud washing in Gujarati language and the spelling should be lipan)
kam (is work in Hindi and Gujarati)
Lippan kam is a decorative art done by common people mainly women.
Lippan kam is done inside bhungas/mud huts in villages of Kutch, Gujarat.
Lippan kam is generally done inside the house but sometimes you can find it on outer walls too.
Generally harijan and Rabari women make birds, trees, animals, peacock, human figures etc in lippan kam.
It is done with a mixture of clay and camel dung. Now gum is used to stick mirrors.
Originality of lippan kam lies in adding no colour or only whites.(You may get few pieces of very colourful mud-mirror work in export houses online; exotic pieces but I won’t call it lippan kam!)
Small round, diamond-shaped or tringle mirror pieces are essential to lippan kam. Many a times mirror pieces are a little embroidered.
It is simple technique, anyone can do it.
Can you see slightly raised mud lines-spread with hands.
You just need to use the thumb with two fingers! ?
See the embroidered mirror here ?
I just love-love lippan kam.
All of you who go to Kutch, don’t forget to take photos of lippan kam (and don’t forget to send me all images!!).
(Not all photos are of good quality but I had to put all)
(images courtesy Llnosom on flickr, panjo kutch, hodka villages, travelblog, baps care, indi studio, my cuttings)
weft, warp, clutch
This bag bibi has captured Indian grandeur and royalty onto bags. A riot of Indian colours and sensibilities are portrayed with the use of mediums like wood carving, marble inlay, brass, copper and silver engravings, the use of ‘kinkhabs’, ‘jadau’, ‘kundan’, semi-precious stones with extremely rich embroidery.
Meera Mahadevia is a Mumbai based accessory designer. Qualified as textile designer, Meera in her handcrafted bags uses exquisite texture like silk, jamewar, zari borders, organza, velvet inter woven with multiple layers. Her accessory line also makes shoes and belts and more recently sarees.
Her ornate bags have come to be considered as heirloom pieces and were displayed at Asian Civilization Museum Gallery, Singapore and at the Newark Museum Gallery , USA as pieces of creative art.
On October 3, as a part of The India Celebration Week (incredible India @60), a preview of Meera’s accessories and garments will be hosted by the Newark museum and displayed in the Museum Rotunda and the Education Shop in New York for exclusive shopping. She will be felicitated by the Newark Museum in New York for her 21 years of hard work and creativity.
rakhi-the thread of bond
Rakhi-the thread of love and protection:
I do not know of any Indian festival without at least one element of design entwined into it. Rakhi is no exception. In fact it is so laden with crafts and designs that with changing fashion and market new avatars of rakhi keep coming.
The sister ties a rakhi on the right hand of brother and brother is thus bound with love to protect the sister. The history of rakhi is told here.
Today, rakhi is also market and convenience driven.
I live in a metro city. So the work and distance to my brother’s place had me tie rakhi to him on Sunday already. But my daughters tied rakhi to my husband (his sister stays too far away, on her behalf) today.
The Chinese are always so eager to penetrate any and every market. They are already into our rakhi festival. Indian markets are full of made in china rakhis.
Our film industry does not remain far behind. In kid’s rakhi there is always an element of advertisement. Hanuman rakhis, Jadu or Ganesha my friend rakhis (films released or to be released) become the most popular too.
Rakhis originally made with colorful threads have taken many embellishments with it. From beads, jari and zardosi to stone, diamonds and even swarovski crystals and gold, silver designs are woven with threads. In the small scale industry of rakhi making, now big gold and diamond brands also want to have a say.
Generally brothers sport rakhis but in few casts (Marwar-Rajasthan) woman too wear rakhis. Today we too are tempted to wear rakhis. Not only we sisters get promise of protection we get fabulous gifts from brothers too.
A few; Types of rakhis.
And if you are smitten by rakhi, you can make one on your own: a few DIY projects for how to make rakhis.
thali (dish) decoration with rakhi
(Rakhi images courtesy chennaibazaar, homeindia, indiagiftsportal).