Living Raaga in Deccan Chronicle

Living Raaga got covered in Deccan Chronicle. Hoping to see more responses for this project.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloids/giver-one-001

Genesis of Living Raaga

For years, it kept running in my mind to do something, something philanthropic, and something that will add value to others and me. It ranged from building an orphanage to a temple. Finally, it struck me that I could teach art and crafts to women who can't make a decent living. They can use this skill to earn few extra rupees and also it can be their hobby.

The NGO will be a group of like minded people who will go and teach these arts and crafts to women. Then market their products under our brand name. The profit that gets generated can be re-used by the women to buy more raw materials.

I started this project at Abhala ashram.

Glass painting - Birds

I found some bird’s glass painting design on the net. Downloaded them and made small coasters. Now that they are made, I am planning to make them a wall hanger :-). What say?

Punched flowers

Punching is very intresting. I bought few flower punches and colour papers. I punched different colours randomly and stuck them up together. I put a quilled round in the center of the greeting card and then stuck the punched flowers all over. The card looks cute. :-)

Quilled - Photo frame

This is my post on quilling. I made a quilled photo frame. I made some cut flowers and stuck it on the frame. The leaves are punched. The combination of quilling and punching looks pretty.

Origami - Lotus

This is my first hand at Origami. I used crape and duplex paper to make these wonderful lotuses.

I learnt it from this link Origami - Lotus.

Glass Painting - Ganesha

I got a pretty Ganesha design on the net. Downloaded that and made a glass painting.
I used black and gold liner to create the outlines. I decided to keep the painting simple and not to make it complicated. I started wondering how to make the palm look lighter colour. I put 2 drops of the sunflower yellow and then added 2 drops of the glass paint thinner. I got the effect I was looking for. :-)

If you want this design you can download it from here. Print the image with the options - A4 setting  and fit to page. So the image you will get as A4 size.

Antique Ganesha

I found an old Ganesha and Krishna idol. I gave it some antique look. The final output looks pretty.
Steps:

1. Take an old idol which you want to revive.
2. Wipe it well to remove the dust.
3. Make small pieces of aluminum foil and stick it all over. It takes a while to dry.
4. Paint the idol with Camlin Calligraphy black ink.
5. Using a slightly moist soft cloth, polish the idol well.

Warli Painting

I did some warli painting on the pot.

Steps:


1. Take an earthen pot from any roadside shop.
2. Wipe it well to remove the dust.
3. Paint it with Camlin Black Acrylic color. It dries almost instantly.
4. With thin brush, start drawing the warli figures in Camlin white Acrylic color. Just put the outlines. Ensure the outlines are as thing as possible. If needed, use water to mix with the paint to make it thinner.
5. With a slightly thick brush, fill the figures with the same white color.

 

Lilly using Crepe / Duplex paper

I bought some gold coloured crepe paper. The colour is so vibrant that I couldn’t resist making something out of it. So I made huge a Lilly. But for the leaves I used the Duplex paper. Once done, the flower looked gorgeous and when placed amongst the rest of the artificial flowers I have made, this stood out. I tried hard, but couldn’t capture the beauty of the flower I had made.

Modern Art – Painting

I did some painting of random shapes and objects. I used vibrant colours. Once, done, I was amazed at how it looked, so went and got it framed :-).

Modern Art

Crystal Flowers

I was waiting to make some crystal flowers because they look so royal and different. But I didn’t have the right coloured crystals at home. When I got them I could hardly wait and immediately plunged to make those. The crystal flowers looked so pretty. Whoever saw it, just said “wow!!!! Beautiful !!!”.

Crystal flowers

Door Decor

Door decorations are very common in India; you will see it in front of almost every home. I made one with green crystals.

Door decor

Terracotta Jewelry

I made some terracotta jewelry.  I bought some clay, made different shapes of beads, dollars and earrings and left them to dry. Once they dried up, I painted them with different hues and assembled to form necklaces. What do you think of them?

Full neck chains with earrings

Half neck chains

Rudrakshi chain

Glass painting and flowers

I made a new glass painting last week and a couple of duplex, stockings and origandy flowers.
The flowers look so good that i want to make more but no time :-(.

Glass painting

Orange flowers are made of origandy. Red and pink flowers are made of duplex

Flowers made of duplex paper

Stockings flower

Soft Idlis – Kunigal

Sometime in August 2009, Dad and mom had been to Hassan. While returning, the car driver stopped at Kunigal for a quick snack of idlis. Since, then my mom has always praised those idlis. On Jan 31st, when we planned for temple near Hassan, my mom made sure we stopped by that hotel for breakfast.

In Kunigal, opposite to the Office of Talasildhar, is small road side eatery "sri Siddalingeshwara". Just by myself I would have never gone into that eat out. But, mom had already said so much about it, and I saw a fleet of cars at the hotel, so I decide to try it out.

The hotel is run by a young lady, and is just but a space covered with asbestos sheet, few chairs and tables around, and runs just on trust basis. People go in, order and a helper just fills a plate with their order and hands it to them. And no note made of the order. Once the person is done, will go to the cash counter and tell what he has eaten and pay the amount!!!!

We ordered idlis, they were amazingly soft and had sprouts, onions and green dill leaves. Apart from idlis they had crispy yummy vadas and pulav. Tea and coffee was just perfect. It was ages since I had such perfect beverage. The recipes were handed over to the owner by her fathers, who use to run that eatery earlier.

If you pass Kunigal, it is a must stop.