Contest @ Lets do Something

Lets do Something (the activity center @ Velachery) is celebrating its 2nd anniversary on 2nd October. There is a Drawing and Painting competition for children 4yrs + between 3 PM to 4 PM. Prizes sponsored by Crossword bookstore, Chennai.

They are also offering discounts on their regular classes. You can call 9042806148.

Warli busts Gender Stereotypes?

We were trying our hand at Warli. We made a family for starters... and Pattu wants to know, "In Warli the men also wear skirts?" 

And while on this topic....

At Nalandaway's Art and Craft Carnival, I found many parents (both moms and dads alike) steering the daughters towards jewelry making and their sons away from it. Consciously or sub-consciously, I don't know. One of the little boys was so fascinated with jewelry making that he insisted on trying it out while his mum was pushing him towards greeting cards and the likes. I couldn't resist the aaarrrggghhh that was building up inside me, so I told the mom (politely only...) that a good number of jewelry designers are men and that it is a very lucrative profession. 

To which she said, 'but it is a waste of time...he cannot wear any of these na'. **Gggrrrrr...the woman didn't get it! ** 

and here's the best part... the little boy said, 'but I'll make bracelet and chain for you amma... see this one is nice..'  **awww so cute it was**

So, they were made by the boy and proudly worn by the mom. She came and showed me...she was beaming! **Gggrrr gone and happy**

So, Parents, leave them kids alone!

Pencil and Crayons

Still Life - Thandu keerai before it was  mashed into pulp.
I was quite happy with the way it turned out... I mean the sketch, though the pulp also turned out well ;)

This Mayil danced when it rained in Chennai - Crayons on wall

Upto something Fishy... Crayons on wall
What's the lone Warli man doing there? Wondering how to catch this fish...

Fragrance of Spring - Crayons on wall

We made it this time...

...to Nalandaway's Art Arattai Aarpattam. Pattu along with her friend A explored all the art and craft activities by Let's do Something - pot painting, pop up cards, finger painting, jewelry making - they made their own bracelet and earrings.

We went back for the Sing along with Jeeva and Krishna Iyer. Awesome! Pattu and A had V as well for company and the three of them were super excited singing and jumping along! LB was just two rows away from us ... I can't tell whether the kids or the parents enjoyed it more.

And this Aarpattam continued all the way back home as well!

Highlight of the evening was V telling the girls, 'ayyo CD odanju pochu' (The CD got stuck) when the girls were stuck on a song trying to recall the next line. LOL! 

Sketchy....

...you mean, 'why suddenly'?? Nothing....jusht like that wonly...simbly...

Idle mind at Sea

Still Life - Flowers in Jaadi

Copy from a picture

Copy from a picture

6 cups of tea

to light up your day...

Plain chai, Ginger, cinnamon, chamomile, mint and red bush.... what's your pick?

Come Back Post - Chapter I - Hey!

Hey folks, been away for a while, no particular reason - just been occupied with some important and some inane things. Pattu hasn't really been in the pink of her health last month. I'm hoping the current bout of cold will be the last for this season and we can cheerfully look forward to Santa's gifts... She wants a pair of Yellow Ladder Slide Shoes and a box of Extra Dark pencils.

She has quite an impressive collection of pencils to fill a museum - that sends me on a trip down memory lane..... where pencils used to be rationed and the life of each pencil was carefully tracked. We used the pencils till the last bit of lead while Pattu abandons pencils when they are just 2 inches short. That just shows that it is time to take stock... maybe she'll get a letter from Santa saying she has too many while lot of other kids have none... not sure if it is too early for that kind of letter... still, I think I should try that...

Btw, anyone who's already visited the Dastakari Haat at Kalakshetra? Planning to catch it this weekend if it doesn't rain

Last but not the least, The Little Theatre is back with their pantomime, RipVan Wrinkle at Museum Theatre between 17th to 21st December. They say it is suitable for ages 2+ to 80, last year's experience tells me it would be better to validate that - just a word of caution.
Now, off I go to catch up on all the blogs I missed...

Picture this

My first 3 glass paintings.... 

Pattu the Artist

The Art and Craft Trail - Part I

If you've seen M.A.D on Pogo or Mr Maker on Ceebeebies, you would, without doubt, be itching to try out some of those little art and craft ideas by yourself. It is when you set out to execute that plan, that you realise that you don't have some things that'll make it as pretty as the ones you've seen them make. I just love Mr Maker's Doodle Drawers and wish I had one like that. Whenever I visit the regular neighborhood shops for art and craft supplies, I find them lacking in most of the interesting things - like the wiggly eyes, beads and foam sheets for instance. Ask them where to find these and they would promptly tell you to go to Parry's Corner.

Having heard enough, I finally trotted off along with a friend who was as excited about it besides being more familiar with the area. I've only scraped the tip of the iceberg and I still have lots to report!

We first went to Rahman Decorations. A huge market with both gaudy and pretty decoration materials. Danglers, streamers, grass carpets, gift bags - you just name it! Found some pretty cane baskets, candles, vase, flowers, birthday confetti, wall stickers etc.The cane baskets were tempting, but I exercised restraint and moved on. We were looking for handmade paper and we were given some names and directions. Most of them were wholesale dealers and were reluctant to give us a few sheets. We finally found one dealer (whose shop was more like a hole in the wall) who didn't shoo us away. He had a wonderful collection. Papers of varying thickness, coarseness, colours, design - self, glitter and dry leaf types. Irresistible! If you love handmade paper, you'll love this collection!

Here's the name and address:

Kibla Paper and Stationery Stores, 27, Anderson Street, Parrys, Chennai 600001. Mail - kibladiary@yahoo.co.in; Phone: 044-25380985/ 044-25380986

I still hadn't found my wiggly eyes, chenille sticks and pompoms. After some asking around, RR Fancy seemed to be the place to go.We hopped over puddles and navigated some difficult lanes to find RR Fancy Stores snugly sitting next to the famous Saravan Bhavan. Knowing the Sowcarpet area, we didn't expect it to be a big, fancy place but we didn't expect a shop of this size to have pretty much every art and craft material one can name.

Here's the address and the phone number : No 8, Umpherson Street, Chennai 108. Broadway, Near Saravana Bhavan Hotel. Ph: 8124757562/ 044-42064586.

So, finally what did I buy? Here's the list of things that I carried back home:

- Wiggly eyes - so many sizes, shapes and colours...and nose

- Quilling kits complete with the tool box

- Wax for candle making

- Gel wax

- Candle molds

- Wicks, Wick holders, Aromas and colours for candle making

- Glass cut to size for painting

- Emboss painting kits

- Paints - Ceramic paints, glass paints, fabric outliners, various 3D and glitter shades

- Foam sheets

- Felt material in different colours

- Handmade paper  various colours and designs

- Books on the basics and some designs

- Beads, buttons, threads

- Pre stitched zardosi patters and stones - you just have to stick it with glue

- Pompoms

- Set of brushes

What they also had:

- Canvas stretched on boards and canvas rolls

- Complete materials required for oil painting

- Ceramic powder and molds for ceramic art

- Plaster of paris with molds

- Different types, designs of molds

- Paper - all kinds including quilling supplies

- All things required for Zardosi work, borders, designs etc

- Lace

- Wool, knitting materials, Knitting kits

- Embroidery materials

- Craft punches

- Complete charcoal set

What I still haven't found

- Chenille sticks/ Pipe cleaners

- Furry pompoms

- Bendable wires 

The Glass paintings would have dried by now...will post a pic soon...

While I was away

...lots of Happy Birthdays happened...

• This blog turned one - since my first post i.e. Happy Birthday Blog!
• Puttu turned 4 - a few friends out here saw the ticker and wished too - That was really nice guys...thank you sooo much! We had a simple and small get together at home.
• Krishna and Ganesha were born

...I went gallivanting...

• I set out on an Art and Craft trail and discovered some wonderful shops selling artsy craftsy stuff, tucked away in some nondescript corners - I promise to cover these in a few parts.

...some experiments

• I tried my hand at some art and craft stuff - made some candles and tried glass painting besides the pottery workshop

AND...I won ..

• ...'Flex the workplace' contest... Yay!!

Workshops unlimited

at Lets Do Something. Here's a sneak peak and for details, visit their website or just call them up...

Am going for the pottery session on 12th and 18th. There's also a free Drawing and Painting competition for children on 25th September.

Pattu Theories

At a wedding:

Aunty A : Come here, sing me a rhyme
Pattu acts deaf
Aunty A : Do you know Humpty Dumpty?
Pattu relents..and sings - Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
Aunty A : Nooo... that's the second line... the first line is, 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wa;;'
Pattu: This is a different Humpty Dumpty. It goes (and sings in her own tune), 'Humpty Dumpty jumped up and fell down from the wall..'. You don't know this?


Meesaila manne ottalaye... (Meaning...something like 'the fall didn't hurt')

At home - Pattu is deep in thought and translating the thoughts into a sketch. To the Amma it looks like a triangle that is struggling to become a circle and goofing up miserably.

Amma: What is this?
Pattu: Still engrossed and a little annoyed at the unnecessary interruption. This is Meeks
Amma: Duh?! Er.. What is Meeks?
Pattu: Still Annoyed. Not even looking up. Tch... Meeeeks! It is a world
Amma: Humpf... A word??
Pattu: Sigh. Worlllllld amma... worllllld (She must have thought her amma to be an illiterate)
Amma: Oh, ok, what world?
Pattu: (who by then had drawn long lines radiating from the triangle-circle) There are lots of children there ... see..(and points to the long lines)
Amma: These are children??
Pattu: Defensive at last. The children there have looooong legs...see (again points to the long lines)

She scribbled on it before I could take a picture. The world (including Meeks) has lost a masterpiece :(

Bubbles and a colourful 100!

This is my 100th post - Yay!

Shruti guessed it! Our bubble wrap block print for the Artsy Craftsy June is here:

Cut out bubble wrap in desired shapes and print. Make sure the air in the bubble is intact for better effect. Make sure that you don't take to much paint - it'll get smudged.
The Rooster & Peacock: (Inspired by Tulika's Rooster and the Sun) The rooster and peacock are friends and they were playing. The rooster saw the sun and smiled and the peacock saw the clouds and started to dance.

The Dirty Peahen: This peahen didn't listen to amma and fell into a ditch and got dirty. Now no one is playing with him.

Flowers for Ummachi: This one is my favourite because it was conceived and designed and executed entirely by Pattu. Story by Pattu as well: There are no flowers for ummachi in the sky (which is why we keep flowers for ummachi here...you see?) so Pattu has planted some flowers in the sky. Potato carved for flower and pegs and blocks for clouds.

Hand Print- Pattu who loved colour: Inspired by Tulika's, 'The boy who loved colour', Pattu painted her hands (in fact the whole of her arms and legs..)

Okra Art: The Caterpillar who loved flowers. This one is also pattu's work - almost 90%. There's a caterpillar who liked to eat flowers and not leaves and when he became a butterfly he wore flower printed wings.

These two are newspaper strip art that we had done earlier... not for the Artsy Craftsy...We painted whole sheets of newspaper in different colours and cut them into strips and smaller bits. Then drew an outline and stuck the strips within the shape...

Only a mom...

..can be proud of this.  Pattu drew these all by herself and enlightened us on what they were...

1. A Tree

2. Cars - Lots of cars on a road

Artsy Craftsy - May Entries

Here is our entry to the Artsy Craftsy Challenge for May. 

Edited to add some more... and some more details

Plate Art - This one is simple. Just pick up a Styrofoam plate and paint it.

Earring and Necklace Stand - Simple again. Thermocol board, painted.

Flower Float (It kept moving on water so couldn't get a good water shot)

This is a styrofoam bowl cut into the flower shape and painted.

A leaf wall hanging

Thermocol board cut into the shape of a leaf and painted. Mount it on a cardboard and hang it up on the wall.

This time, Pattu was so very involved in this whole thing. The room was a mess every evening and am sure my maid is expecting an extra sum for clearing up every day.

Entry 1. The Photo Frames - Mother's day gift from Pattu to both Grandmoms. Two thermocol boards, one cut out in the center to make space for the picture and stuck on top of the base board with just a slit on one side through which the picture can be slipped in. There's a slit at the top to actually insert the picture and it is operational :)

Pattu did some base colouring and me the details. One has pista and sea shells (coloured by Pattu) stuck to it.

 

Entry 2 - A Pen Stand - This was Pattu's idea. She accidentally poked a hole in that styrofoam bowl and I surprised her by calling it a 'neat idea'!

 Entry 3 -Pattu's Room (sans the mess)

Entry 4 -Arty Clips - Pattu did base colouring and me the details. Cut out shapes on a styrofoam plate and paint them. Stick it on a clip (the ones we use for clothes?). I wanted a wooden clip ideally but couldn't find one. I feel the clips are a bit too big for the shapes here...they should cover up the entire clip.

 

Entry 5 - Streamer - Stringed assortment. Pattu did all the colouring but for the details on the butterfly. She even broke one of the tail fins of the fish

 Entry 6 - A house and a park - Pattu's Caretaker's kids had come over and they did this. Such wonderful girls!

We Won..

... the Artsy Craftsy April Challenge.....Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!

Here's the entry

Shruti - What an effort! And how well you pull it off! Thanks for adding that extra splash of colour to our lives :)
And thanks to all of you for all the nice words.... *ALL SMILES*

Artsy Craftsy - April

Edited to add:

Shruti asked me to share my clay recipe and here it is:

For the clay -

The recipe said
1. tear paper into strips and soak overnight
2. Grind it into a pulp using a blender
3. Add glue and knead into dough
4. Make whatever you want

and you could add some colours while grinding if you want some interesting combination and patterns...

But what I found while trying to make this:

1. Soaking for couple of days makes it softer to grind and the lower the quality of paper the better - eg TOI is better than Hindu in this context :D
2. Blender doesn't do a great job - the paper gets lumpy and clog up. I had to mash it a bit with hands and then use the blender - better still, the grinder. Also, you need some water for it to grind. I tried using some soaked methi and it works because it adds a bit of sliminess which helps the blending
3. Since I couldn't avoid water while grinding, I squeezed the water out before adding glue
4. My glue:pulp ratio was something like 1:3. I used fevicol.
5. Then I made all of these... I used some bowls for the form - I should remember to use Shruti's tips next time. And for some of the bowls I applied a very thin layer of pulp which became thinner when it dried. The thicker ones are more sturdy.
6. And for the lady, I made a skeleton with an iron wire - I wanted to make one who would be able to stand on her two feet but my pulp collapsed.
7. My sheep, mushrooms, fish, tortoise and Ganesha were nice and fat when I made them but they shriveled up on drying and the sheep got a sprain in the neck as he also couldn't stand on his fours and hence had to make him lie down. I think my pulp/ clay wasn't thick enough.

Then after drying and after the struggle to separate the bowls from the form, I used acrylic, undiluted to paint them all. The insides of the bowls were easier to pain since the surface was smoother...

On the whole - 2 days to soak paper, 4 hours to grind and make all the stuff, 2 days for drying (3 days of struggle to get them apart) 2 hours to paint them all and 1 night for paint to dry.


Here goes...

All but one of the bowls were made from paper mache clay...

Art on a Platter - Group Photo

A Gopika and a tribal woman - same piece painted differently on either side. Two shallow bowls, Fish - again the same fish painted differently on either side, two withered mushrooms, a sheep with a sprain in the neck and a Tortoise...

See some flowers that the tribal woman is picking?? A Ganesha who hasn't had his quota of kozhukattais and the bowls ...

The bowls up close - kitschy, drippy, sprinkly and all...

A peek into the making...

Phew!!!

A goofy tale

My paper mache stuff has dried crisp in the hot Chennai sun for the Artsy Craftsy Challenge. But let me share the making of the *great piece of art* by the eternal goof...

This is my first attempt at paper mache with recipes that I gathered from few sites. By the looks of the specimen, I don't think I got either of the recipes right - my FIL was going to dump the 'hideous looking lump' around the plants thinking it was cow dung LOL!  I tried the strips as well as the clay - but they just refused to leave the containers that I used for the form *ROFL*! So, I told Shruti that if I manage to pull them apart without much damage, she'll find an entry from the Pattu household...

 

Did they part? Well, we forced them apart. Quite a struggle it was and you will see the evidence on the piece(s) of art. I think I used too much glue. My maid and Pattu's care taker told me that the glue is not required - it seems that they just mash the pulp with methi seeds soaked in water and that's enough. I should have taken the wisdom instead of waving it off with my 'google' confidence. They laughed and laughed and laughed at my struggle :(

The painting is WIP - watch out!

Prized...

... we came third at the Artst-Craftsy Challenge, though huffing and puffing :D .. Here's the entry
I thank my husband for sacrificing the loofah (though it was stolen when he was away) and Pattu for successfully pulling out parts of her hair clip which inspired the princess idea...( I would have thanked my dog and my dinosaur but I don't have one ...)

But seriously you guys - Shruti and TPL , are awesome! Some effort and passion it takes to do something like this... I'm gonna flaunt this badge

Shruti, TPL - the cards & the puppet look lovely!