Rangoli , a necklace based on the traditional folk art

  “Rangoli” – the other word for Kolam,  is the name I have chosen for this necklace .  Since it is made to symbolize   festivities , I have chosen a multicolor palette . Bold , bright colors  to bring forth a spirit of  joy , happiness and prosperity associated with this art form . The focal  pendant, with red , blue , yellow glass beads  , in my mind depict  the perfectly symmetrical  pattern  of a geometric  rangoli with the circle as the basic form .

 The freeform  necklace , in copper  wire , emulates  the  flowing curves and lines found in the free-hand rangolis . I have added  few splashes of color to  break the monotony of the plain lines . Don’t miss out the two  tiny rangolis in a square  and diamond form which add a glitzy look to the necklace ! 

I have entered this necklace as my entry for the "Bead Peeps BNB Challenge 17" , which is on facebook at the following link here .   Do take a look at what everyone created for this challenge. There`s quite a variety of eye-candy out there . And do  stop by and vote for your favorite piece .  Public voting is open from 1st to 7th March .

Do drop in a line as to how you found my latest creation , and I look forward to your comments as always

motidana . 

A Wire wrap necklace .....

Greetings this Christmas !

May the Season bring

 Joy , Happiness and Good cheer 

 to one and all and a very 

Happy and Creative New year !

 A floral wire work necklace with green flourite beads , just perfect for the on going Christmas Season !


motidana

Beads-n-Wire ... My necklace "Shakti"

WOW! What a fortnight it has been. I have been busy with so many things in so many different directions that my poor blog post  has been left incomplete. But since things have quieted down a little and Diwali season is approaching ,  I can now share  the amazing things that I have done with my tool . Over the past few months my son has been pestering me to buy the Dremel tool kit for his car detailing (he`s an automobile engineering student ), I  finally gave in on a condition that I could borrow it for my jewellery making sometimes . Ever since I saw the tutorial Coiling wire on a drill by Lisa Niven Kelly , I have been wanting to try it . So, gathering a bit of courage , and a lot of help from the internet , I ventured into this crafting journey  .

It was fun trying out the dremel , of course with some help from a reluctant teenager, and lots of practice, I finally managed to get evenly spaced spirals . Made some coiled wire components and then attached lime green glass beads on a 18 gauge copper wire .
 ,

But after completing all the beads I realized that because of the metal , they were kinda heavy . So to reduce the weight I added felt beads in bold red color , and a couple of gold filled embossed beads and a pendant . With very little coil remaining , I made the clasp in copper and added a small piece of coiled wire for a decorative effect .
   "Shakti "I think , is in every way a proper name for this piece , as it  reminds me of Shakti- the Hindu Goddess because of the color red , a favourite of the divine goddess . Also , the second meaning  ,of the word Shakti is  power or strength , and I did have to use a lot of it when I coiled the wire and beads around a thick copper wire with no heavy duty jewellery making tools ...Haha !
  But apart from a sore thumb and painful fingers , I am quite thrilled with this piece and I hope you like it too .


Ciao
motidana 

Necklace - `Deep Sea Treasures`

While  making my necklace Samudra , I struck upon the idea to make another necklace , a more formal one this time , inspired by the Sea . Since the components I had were more or less off white in color and natural , I decided on using one of the shells from my collection as the focal piece  . It was easy to choose the simple white one from the lot , as it had the thinnest shell , (which would make my task of drilling a hole quite easy or so I thought)

But drilling a hole into the shell proved to be quite an ardous task as I did not have a proper drill . Making do with the bead reamer that I had , I carefully cracked the shell with the tip of the reamer , praying it would not be damaged , as it was a new one that I had got recently . Carefully widening the hole and making it round I inserted the metal chain and created the tassel using vintage glass leaves , mother of pearl , and crystal beads , along with pearls.

     It was fun to make the tassel as I desperately need to perfect my wire wrapping skills and this task would give me that chance .  To add a touch of  drama , I added the clasp not at the back , but in front . It would also serve the purpose of  holding and balancing the heavy tasseled shell .

 And so , here`s my newest necklace  Deep Sea Treasures . I hope you have as much fun reading this post as much as I had creating this , as I now feel slightly more confident of using mixed media in my jewellery creations !

Do drop in a line as always , it means a lot to me !

bye for now

motidana
 

Inspiration And Creativity ......( continued ) - Thanks to Nina Designs !

       In my earlier post I mentioned the silk ribbons that had come in the box that I received from Nina Designs . Well as you would have seen , in the previous post , creating a necklace was fast and easy with the turquoise ribbon , as it reminded me of the waters of the deep blue ocean , but creating something out of the lime green one was challenging. As my usual habit , bead weaving was the first choice and I promptly completed the beaded bead using netting stitch . What fun it was as there was no tangled threads , or bent needles with these bigger beads , something that usually happens when I use  seed beads . And the necklace looked quite good too , something that could be worn on formal occasions .

But then , a thought struck me ! why could`nt I try out a different technique , and create a new look for necklace . It would be a good learning experience for me to try out a different technique . So I promptly gathered my tools and dug into my bead stash and came up with these bell shaped bullseye beads. I had bought them earlier but had refrained from using them as I found them too big and grotesque .Somehow these beads and the lime ribbon reminded me of  Africa and so adding the copper wire work connections and the center pendant I created this necklace .

Of course , making these connections was by no means easy as I had not practiced this technique , since I had taken classes from   Divya ( Jewels of Sayuri )  ,  a couple of years ago . Coiling the wire did test my patience as I had to rework again and again , but I think I managed to get the connections more or less same in size and fairly even after all that toiling !

   And I`m happy to see how both the technique give a different look to the same ribbon ! Of course I love both but am slightly more inclined to the second one as it was more difficult for me

Which one is your favourite ? Do drop in a line . I shall love hearing from you . And do keep visiting to see more of my creations using goodies from Nina Designs .


  The materials above were provided as part of the Nina Designs blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.   

In a mood for Mangoes .

Come the scorching summer , and the trees of  mangoes are a sight to behold..Laden with the King of Fruits , the mango trees in India are a mouth watering delight to the young and old . And I am no more immune to the lip smacking and mouth watering  fruit.than all the other Indians out here!

    The trees , respledent with the fruit , gently swaying in the cool morning breeze, and the plump ripe mangoes , waiting to be eaten , transforms me  in a  mood of  eternal happiness . It take me back in time , to my childhood days , when I eagerly waited for my school to close for summer holidays . The days were filled with playing under the shade of mango trees,  plucking the fruit ( away from the hawk eyes of the elders  ) and eating the raw mangoes . Also it was a time when afternoons were spent  learning  a new craft skill and start a summer project.

 Even today , though I don`t get as much  time   , summer is a season that takes me back to the lovely time of my life .

So .........   here`s a bouquet of various articles I have created ,  as a fond memory to all the beautiful  "Summers in my life " !

A kutchwork saree with the beautiful Mango motifs in pallu . Keeping it simple , the border has spaced out tiny motifs in a similar theme.

Here`s a  Bhagalpur silk saree  that I assembled and stitched. Though the border is machine embroidered , this combination  reminds me of  the green n fresh raw mango and sweet n juicy ripened mango ,( both mouthwatering in different ways .)


Wanted to try my hand at some paper and wire jewelry and this is what I came up with

A mango shape that I cut out from an old wedding invitation and outlined with wire wrap . I wrapped wire around the punched holes to hold the paper in place .

, So what do you think? Does the summer hold similar memories for you too?