Arts and Crafts Collection

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.

 The Sun:


-Ranjana 

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,

I wanted to publish this post yesterday, 5th Sept 2012, on which Teacher's day is celebrated in India.
 I think for everyone mother is the first teacher. I learnt many things from my mother. In crafts, she taught me stitching, how to sew, how to do embroidery etc, etc. Then my father, who taught me first lessons of spiritualism, lessons of life, how to face problems. Whenever I was tensed about academic exams, I remember he used to tell me " Don't worry , these exams are nothing compared to exams given by life. In academic exams you first learn and face the exam. But in life you first give the exam and then learn the lessons of life". How true!
I remember all my teachers  . I cherish and praise them and thank all of them. Especially my Maths teacher, who motivated us to learn.
I learnt different forms of arts and crafts from different teachers. I thank all of them, who made my life beautiful! Still all of them inspire me.
My little son wanted to wish his teachers by giving cards to them. He requested me to buy some cards. I thought it will be better if I make some cards using quilling. Here are those:

Terracotta- its an earthy craft. This connects with mother earth and nature. I think this is the most ancient craft in the  world. Archaeologists have found terracotta artifacts in many excavations.This craft dates back to the time of  Harappa Civilization . During excavation near Indus valley , many  terracotta artifacts were found:

Image Courtesy - Google Images

Recently in China also a huge collection terracotta Army dolls  was found, which is called "Terracotta Army" . You can read it about this Terracotta Army in this link.

Image Courtesy - Wikipedia

In India Bishnupura ( of West Bengal ) is famous for terracotta craft. Many temples are built using terracotta. Bishnupura is one of my dream destinations :-). You can find details about Bishnupura here . Even in Andhra Pradesh  terracotta is practiced as one of the major crafts. This is widely known craft, may be because the major resource for this craft is Mud, which is abundantly available.


 

Some jewelry

Today taking you through street of handicraft. This street in mainly famous for wood-craft. If you walk down this street, you will feel you have entered a world of arts and craft.

In the last post I've shared about tatted motifs I made.
I have used tatted motifs in combination with hand embroidery on dresses.
Below is a short top (Kurti) I have used lace and tatted motifs:

Tatting takes me 15 years back. First time I saw this in 'Anchor Needle n Thread', magazine. I tried a lot to learn tatting, reading instructions given in the book. But could not. In every attempt I left with knots :-).I felt disappointed. One day a lady came to my home told that she knew tatting. At that moment she looked like Maata Saraswati (Hindu Goddess of Knowledge) holding Tatting shuttle in one hand and tatting thread in other hand. :-). When I requested her, without hesitation she agreed to teach me tatting. To learn this craft you need threads, tatting shuttle and lots of patience :-)

Tatting is lace making craft, basically evolved in European countries. (About Tatting you can read here).Tatting transforms thread into beautiful lace and motifs, with the tool called 'Tatting Shuttle'.

Tatting shuttle and thread