Showing posts with label Diwali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diwali. Show all posts

Saturday, November 22, 2014

DIY Yarn Lantern and Votive Holders

Hi there....Today's post is about yarn lanterns which is a rage right now....
As promised in my earlier post Diwali 2014 , I am now explaining you the procedure of how to make a round yarn lantern....Plus, there is a bonus ahead...so, continue reading....
Let me first show you a picture of the yarn lantern I made....

Yarn Lantern

The materials used were:

  • Yarn- I used wool, but cotton works best
  • White PVA glue- Fevicol/ Elmers
  • Cornstarch
  • Water
  • Plastic cup/ bowl (preferably disposable)- to make the mixture
  • Candy stick/ skewer- to stir the mixture
  • Inflatable ball/ balloon
  • Oil - any cooking oil
Materials

Let me walk you through the process.... The quantity of the mixture required depends on the size of the ball/ balloon you are using..... I used a small ball for which I'll tell you the quantity..... You can increase the quantity as per your requirement....

You can use a balloon if you don't have a ball...However, use a good quality thick balloon, as it holds shape better, and so will your lantern.....

First of all prep your surface by laying a lot of newspapers, as this project can get messy...
Also, wear an apron or garbage bag to cover yourself....I learnt it the hard way....

Now, for making the mixture, I used five teaspoons of glue, five teaspoons of water and five heaped teaspoons of cornstarch. I poured each of these ingredients in a disposable glass....Then, I took the help of a skewer stick to stir the mixture well.....The mixture should have the consistency of pancake batter, not too thick and not too runny.....Then I soaked my yarn ball in the glass for 20 mins.......Before soaking, I rolled the yarn in a loose ball, so as to allow the mixture to reach to its center....That way, I made sure that every inch was soaked in the mixture......Meanwhile, I inflated my sons plastic ball and lubricated it by rubbing a few drops of oil on it with my fingers....This was to ensure easy removal of the ball after the lantern dried.


Now, comes the fun part....I used a disposable salad container for the base...you can use any bowl or cup you have on hand.....This is just to rest the ball for drying.....I slowly unravelled the yarn and removing the excess mixture, I started rolling the yarn around the ball.... I am sorry I don't have the pictures while doing the process as my hands were too messy to take any pictures.....I rolled the yarn all over the ball in a criss cross pattern till most of the ball was covered....I rolled the yarn in such a way that the top white circle of the ball was not covered....I needed that space to put the light in....I left the ball on the tray to dry for 24 hours....When it was completely dry, I opened the ball's air lock and deflated it....The ball left the sides easily due to the oil coat I applied to it in the beginning.....I slowly pulled out the ball from the top.....It looked like this....

Ball Lantern

Since I used a small ball I could not fit in a bulb, so I put battery operated string lights instead....
It looked like this when lit.....

Yarn Lantern

Inspired by my success, my little sis also tried it out...She used a bigger size ball...This is how her yarn lantern turned out......

Fancy Yarn Lantern

She pepped it up by using contrast color wool to glue some flowers.... I justloved it....
It looks better than mine!!!!
Since it was of bigger size, she ued a low watt bulb and put it up as a lantern for Diwali.....
This is how it looks lit up......

Ball Lantern

Hope I succeeded in explaining the procedure....Do try it out....its pretty easy....

Now, let me show you the bonus I talked about earlier....Yarn Votive Holders!!!!

I told you about them too in my post Diwali 2014
When I made my lantern, I had some leftover mixture....Instead of throwing it away I decided to do something different....I took a square shaped glass bottle and the water bottle shown in the pic above, and used them to make my votive holders.....


Just like I did for the ball, I oiled the bottle to make the votive holder easier to remove.....
I soaked orange yarn (wool) in the mixture and rolled it in a criss cross pattern on the bottle just like I did for the balloon and left it to dry for 24 hours....For the plastic bottle too, I did the same.....After it dried completely, I slid the square votive holder off the bottle.....But for the plastic bottle, I used a slightly different approach....I cut the plastic bottle with the yarn at the top level of the yarn and left the bottle inside the yarn as it is....Its a good way to upcycle used water bottles.....
This is how they looked.....

Yarn Votive Holders

I used LED votives inside them to avoid the risk of fire...This is how they look when lit....

Yarn Votive Holders

I hope you enjoyed the post...I loved to share the process with you as I had a lot of fun making them....Go ahead and make some, and share the pics with me in the comment box too.....
Thanks for visiting and comment below to let me know you were here...See you soon with more!!!



Tuesday, October 28, 2014

DIY Hand Painted Diyas

Hi...Today's post is about the most fun I had doing something special for this Diwali....I painted so many diyas this year that I am going to share with you today.
You must have seen some of them in my previous blogpost Diwali 2014 
I have used the following materials:
  •  Terracotta Diyas- varied sizes.
  •  Acrylic colors- Regular and Pearl finish.
  • Rhinestones- Different colors, shapes and sizes.
  • 3D Outliners/ Puffy paints.
  • Glue- Any strong glue will do.
  •  Paintbrushes.
  • Water- for cleaning the brushes.
  • Rag cloth.
I soaked the diyas in water for 15-20 mins, then rinsed them and let them dry completely....
When they were dry, I used acrylic colors in different combinations to paint them....
When the paints were completely dry, I further decorated them with 3D Outliners....
After it dried, I glued the rhinestones to the diyas...It was a backbreaking project, but the final output washed away the pain....I was very happy with the way they turned out...

Let me show you some pictures now....Here, I have used big Diyas, approximately 6 inches in diameter.....I have tried to give them an Antique look....


Antique look diya

Hand painted diya

Diya

Terracotta diya
Antique look diya

This is the diya that I am really proud of.....This is a big diya too....I spent nearly 6 hours for making a pair of these.....

Peacock diya

These are the regular sized diyas that have been painted in different combinations....

Krishna diya

Flower diya

Flower diya

Flower diya

Flower diya

Flower diya

Flower diya

Flower diya

Hand Painted Diya

Terracotta diya

Hope you liked these hand painted diyas.....If you paint some, feel free to share their pictures in the comment box....Thanks for visiting....See you soon again...










Monday, October 27, 2014

Diwali 2014

Happy Diwali and a Happy New Year my dear friend...
Hope you had a very fun filled Diwali this year...
I had so much fun decorating and beautifying my house for Diwali this year...
Let me walk you through how I decorated my house for this festive season....

This was my center table decor...

Diwali decor

This was a small floral arrangement with a floating LED diya....

Floating diya

I tried something different with a diya this time...I painted a big diya and instead of just putting a tea light inside, I lit a tea light inside a mosaic glass, which I then put inside the diya....The light filtered through the colored mosaic casting its glow on the whole interior of the diya...I loved the dramatic effect this combination gave....What do you think?




I also made this string lantern for this Diwali...I kinda wanted to make a non traditional 'Kandil' this year.....So, I experimented with this technique and it came out beautifully.....
I filled it up with battery operated string lights and hung it outside my front door...
Not bad for the first time, eh?....Will be posting the tutorial soon....

String Lantern

I was so pumped up after seeing the result of the Kandil, that I thought of making votive holders too...
These are those two string votive holders that I made for the first time....Glad to see how they turned out :)

String votive holders

Finding rangoli is next to impossible in the US, so I made these two rangoli's, one out of foam and the other out of a wooden (MDF) board, both of which I had on hand....I'll post the tutorials for these two rangoli's very soon....So , keep visiting !!

Rangoli

I also put some LED lights in small diyas and lined them up on the stairs....Cute, huh ?


This is a readymade marigold Toran I put up outside my front door....


Hope you liked my Diwali decor....If you make something like this, please don't forget to mention and link this post....And, feel free to share your pictures in my comment box....
Thanks for visiting...see you again soon....

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

A little more Diwali

Hi….I hope you had a lovely Diwali….
In my last post “Diwali Decorations 2013”, I told you about how I made some stuff to make our Diwali a little extra special…..Today I’ll tell you about some articles I made last year for my Diwali workshop…..I had conducted my first Diwali workshop for kids and adults, where we made a bunch of items, about which I’ll tell you now….

Every Diwali begins with the installation of an “Akash-Kandil” or a lantern as we call it…..So, we started by making a lantern…We used handmade paper which was quite translucent…..We cut it according to our template, and then assembled it….We left an opening on top for passing a lightbulb in it…..We also stuck small shiny punched flower on each piece…..This was the final product…..

Paper Lantern

And, this is how it looked when it was lit….

Akash Kandil

We then proceeded to our Rangoli…..Rangoli is traditionally used to adorn the doorstep, as it is considered very auspicious….It was traditionally done with rice flour and some natural dyes…But, with the availability of various commercially available colored powders, rangoli has become an art……What we made in our workshop was a rangoli with a twist…..We made a permanent rangoli using some cardboard, Rainbow/ Iris paper and some rhinestones……We made a 6 piece rangoli which can be used in various ways……This was our fruit of labor…..

Rangoli

Then, we started with our “Toran” aka garland…..We used a gold ribbon, construction paper, rhinestones, 3D glitter and key rings to make our Toran…..We made leaves and flowers and glued them alternately on the ribbon and put key rings on either ends to hang them……This is how our Toran looked…..

Flower Garland

Toran

Finally we moved on to the last item in our workshop, the integral part of Diwali- a “Diya” or the Lamp…..Rows of oil lamps are lit and placed outside the doors and windows during Diwali….How could we forget those….I gave a choice of two designs to my class and each participant made one as per their liking….We used paper, terracotta lamps and acrylic colors to make these….This is how they turned out…..

Terracotta Lamps

Festive Diya
Hand-painted Diya
And, this is the whole package!!

Diwali workshop


Hope you had a good time reading about this…..Don’t forget to let me know your opinions and feel free to contact me through the comment box if you have any questions…..Till then, keep crafting and come back soon for more !!!

Friday, November 22, 2013

Diwali Decorations 2013

Hello again, hope you had fun this Diwali.....
I had my share of fun and happiness this year with my family....
The cleaning, cooking and decorating made me feel at home....The only thing missing were the fireworks!!
I made some things for Diwali this year that I had never made before...a lamp, a lantern and a garland :)
Let me start telling you all about them......I'll start with the lamp first.....
I made a Lotus Lamp by recycling a plastic bottle and some florescent paper....
This is how it looks.....


Lotus Lamp


Paper Lamp

I fitted a blinking LED light under the base and it got transformed into a lamp....
Here's how it looks at night with the light on....

Diwali Lotus Lamp

Hope you liked it...I'll give the details on how to make this lamp very soon.....

Now, let me tell you about the lantern.....We call it "Akash- Kandil" in India.....
I made this lantern with skewer sticks and tissue paper....


Paper Lantern

This is how the lantern looks when it is lit up....

Diwali Lantern

I'll try and put up the instructions for making the lantern at the earliest....so keep checking...

I also made a marigold garland this year....Hanging a marigold garland with mango leaves, on the main door is considered very auspicious....I wasn't going to find any here, in US, so I decided to make one myself......I made the garland using orange and yellow tissue paper, green construction paper, floral wire and some beads......
This is how it looks....


Paper Marigold Flowers

Marigold Lantern
Hope you liked what I made......I would love to hear from you what you did this Diwali.....
Thank you for visiting, and keep coming back for more!!!