Decorative Carpets

Special occasions call for special deco, and I love working with the following materials to create floor carpets.

• Flower carpets - give a lush look, but sometimes I dont feel so good about wasting all that flower! 
• Grain carpets have fewer colors and if used on a clean surface can be reused if you take care to keep the grains separate while removing the carpet. 
• I love salt carpets best - because they are inexpensive, disposing means just dissolving the salt, and you can add rangoli colors to make vibrant carpets. A word of caution  though - salt tends to water so your fingers get dark and sticky while working with them. Also ensure that you make your salt carpet on polythene, else the color seeps into the floor and takes some scrubbing to clean all that color.

Introduced to this art by my aunt, I have made several carpets over the years and continue to enjoy making them - hoping to locate the pictures and share some inspiration.

Made from peppercorns, rice, toor dal, channa dal, ragi, and green gram.
Design courtesy: Needle n Thread magazine

Paper crafts

Origami

The Japanese art of paper folding is another rare indulgence that oscillates between frustrating, when the folds don't work and fulfilling, when the pattern miraculously emerges. My maternal aunt gifted me an origami instruction book when I was in school and I managed to complete patterns from that beginners paperback. Since then it has been a distant wish to fold more complicated patterns. However so far I have managed only a few easy to medium difficulty origami. 

Writing this I am reminded of the origami cranes that make a brief appearance in the beautiful Hindi pop number Pari hoon Main by Sunita Rao. You can see the red crane that I folded in the picture. 

There is the other memory of origami animals that are clues in an episode of X-Files, one of my favorite shows. Origami of this level are not yet in the ambit of my skills. Perhaps with more time and practice.

Check this site for some mind-blowing origami.

Sandpaper Art

I had fun creating an art project with my son last month.  Taking time out of chores and errands was well rewarded with his look of glee and achievement as the art took shape.

Idea Courtesy: http://www.thecraftycrow.net/2012/03/crayon-sandpaper-art.html

The project was to create sandpaper art by:

1. Getting a small piece of sandpaper

2. Drawing a butterfly with pencil

3. Drawing along the pencil lines with black crayon

4. Coloring the butterfly using his choice of colors

5. Creating a theme around the butterfly so the entire sandpaper is covered in crayon color

6. Placing a piece of white cloth over the sandpaper and ironing on the cloth at minimum temperature

and Voila, the art is done!

The picture was transferred to the cloth and the sandpaper had a homogeneous fusion of pastel shades from the melted wax. 

Tips:

• Apply some pressure while coloring on sandpaper, else there will be uneven transfer of color 
• Use plain white cloth while ironing if you like the impression better 

This art project was simple and quick - qualities essential to keep a child interested and motivated.

For me, it was quality time!

Crochet

One of the needle crafts that I enjoy is crochet. I learned crochet from my grandmom during summer vacations, a coveted period in student life. Swatches were crocheted as my grandmom patiently took us through various patterns. Come school the projects were suspended to be picked up again in the holidays. This practice continued till work and my own family took priority and the crochet needle was forgotten altogether.
In 2012, after a long hiatus, I wanted to revive my skills and so with a visit to the craft store and armed with a beginner's guide to crochet I got started.
Two crochet projects later - I am thrilled to have invested my time in a hobby. I love the way the mind remembers what I thought it had forgotten. Besides, its fulfilling to get into flow as you focus on getting the pattern right. And finally the sense of accomplishment when the project completes is worth the time spent on crocheting.

Here they are: 

With yarn, a cap with a little flower for style

With thread, a doily

Howie the Penguin, design from www.freshstitches.com

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting or knitting stuffed animals. This art seems all the rage in the crochet world and many blogs have sprung up offering instructions, design, some free others paid. This form of crochet appeals to me because of  3 reasons: simplicity - basic easy stitches, quick - ideal for a project that can be done over a weekend, and endless possibilities.


Useful links:
http://www.freshstitches.com/beginneramigurumi/
http://allaboutami.tumblr.com/post/8476868368/amigurumiforbeginners
http://freeamigurumipatterns.blogspot.in
Some history and collective knowledge about crochet
Crochet resources that I subscribed to