Nits Arts and Crafts

Crepe Paper Rose - A Perfect Imitation :)

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose!!! :)

This was a poetic line said in Gertrude Stein's poem Sacred Emily, written in 1913 and published in 1922.

I still don't understand how many interpretations that line has.

All that I want to say here is, a rose is a rose even if it is made out of paper. :) :) :) as simple as that!!!

And you know why I have posted this one today????

Today as it is childrens day which is Nehruji's Birth day, I wanted to dedicate his favorite roses to him :)

Happy childrens day to all!!! :)

My passion for paper art is still on its go.. :) Crepe paper is one versatile version of paper that best suits for making flowers.

I just gave it a try and was absolutely impressed with the outcome. Hope you all like it too.

Made this large bunch in a marathon stretch of 6 hours. :)

A closer look at the shy flowers :)

This pic alone was shot by my sis. :)

A welcome bunch of red roses :)

I love red and roses! :)

Royal Yellow Roses :)

Google is my guru for lot of my crafts and so is this one. Find the tutorial for this flower here.

I am happy to send this to the Arsty-Craftsy event.

Grandma - More than just an Inspiration !!

For most of us our grandparents would have been a great source of inspiration or their love and affection would have kept us going to reach our goals. For me my grandma is really special in all ways.

Those days most of the ladies used to attend schooling only till their primary or at the max they would have reached the middle school. My grandma was born and brought up in a little village where none of them studied more than 7th class. They get married right away and their lives change drastically. All that they have to do at home is to cook and then spend their time doing some art work or so. No television to entertain and no time killing serials to cry over. So she used to tell me that each and every lady she knew in her place had learnt at least one fine art. :) Wow.. Thats interesting isn't it.

My Grandma is a super active person who always wants to keep her brain and hands busy. She learnt loads of fine arts and also created lot of artistic things herself. Remember its all with the minimal facilities that were available those days.

She is in her late seventies now and she is still active with her creativity. Thats exactly what amazes me always. I love her. :)

She is good at Crochet, Matty, Hand embroidery, Bead work, Wire work, Flower making, knitting etc... the list goes on..

I am presenting few of her creations here for you to take a look. Most of them are around 50 years old. :)

Wire and Bead work

Wire flower vase and flowers

Bead work on a glass vase and cloth flowers

Bead table mat(I really wonder how good she was in mathematics)

Suitcase covered with beads (This is an amazing piece for sure)

Purses and Bags

Those days there was this fashion of carrying matching bags and purses. Here is my mom's collection that grandma made. :) I preserve them as my treasures.

Pinky bead purse :) ( I don't think you would ever get one of this kind now)

Woolen purse

Bead purse again (Too much of fashion trends those days na!!)

One more Bead purse ( I can't dare to try all these! )

Bright red bead purse

One more (A very cool combination and looks so neat isn't it!)

One other master piece ( Detailed designing)

A hand bag made of wire

Crochet and Knitting

Woolen Table mat

Crochet Sweater set(oops got to learn patience from her!)

Crochet frocks and sweaters (Some are that I wore when I was a kid and others are for my kids)

Crochet table spreads

Matty work

Matty work incorporating beads for the parrot

Matty bedspread(I remember her teaching me all the items in the spread when I was a kid :) )

Miscellaneous Creations

Aarathi plates that she made for my sister's wedding

Bride and groom decorated by grandma :)

Ufffff.. This is just a sample of her creations.. There are loads more of mom's and grandma's works.. Would surely collect more pictures and feature them later. :p

My MOM - My Inspiration

Quite commonly I used to face some questions when people see my art works.

They simply ask, who inspires you??? Who taught you all this??? How did you get these talents and interest???

The answer is simple.... My Mom is my inspiration!, followed by my Grandma :) Yeah!!! you are right the interest in art flows through my blood for generations.

But one astonishing point is that, we have never established ourselves in what the other one did. Meaning, my major interests was not on the works that my mom did and my mom's major interest was not on the works that my grandma did. :) Interesting na!!!!

Mom is an expert in Fabric painting, Metal sheet carving, Crochet, Hand embroidery, Machine embroidery, Kolam, Cross stitch, Glass painting and so on......

Thought of featuring some of my Mom's work in my blog too. Come on.. she is part of my life and why not part of this blog too ;)

Fabric Painting

She loves to do Fabric painting and can be called a master of it too. She started working on it around 30 years back. It should be the time when fabric paints had been introduced in South India. The most appealing and astonishing point is that she learnt it all by herself, without any guidance. She tried the concept of shading, color mixing etc. Here are few such samples. I will try to post more of her paintings soon.

This is a painting of Lord Krishna as Ratha Sarathi, done on fabric and framed as a wall hanging.

Click on the pic to get a detailed view. This one was done in a bed spread. I have done a collage of the pics here.

This one is the cute game of 'ring a roses' on my kurtha.

Metal sheet carving

Metal sheet carving is an art where pointed tools are used to carve outlines of a picture on a sheet of metal. I would tell you that it isn't as easy as I could say. It needs a lot of concentration and strength to do it. One slip of the hand can spoil the whole art. So I always appreciate mom for her patience in doing such detailed and pretty work. This is one of the many carvings that she did. She did lot of such pictures and had an exhibition and sale in Victoria technical institute, Chennai. She has gifted so many such pictures to our relatives. So will try to get more pics of her metal sheet carving soon. :) Keep waiting.

This is a pic of cute Krishna and Balaram as kids eating their favorite butter :)

Crochet

Mom learnt crochet from her mom who was a major expert it in. Both mom and grandma have done loads of stuff in crochet. This is one art that I really cant get into my head ;)

This is one of my favorite round table crochet that mom designed.

Square table crochet spread

Woolen shawl

A designer tops for kids

A crochet thambulam set

Crochet fruits

Closer look at the mango and pineapple

A baby cap

Crochet coffee! :)

An open banana

This is just a sample of all her talents. Will post more now and then.

Want to know who was my Mom's Inspiration??????? Wait for the next post!!! :)

Paper Lotus

I have still not lost interest in folding papers. :)

Here is my next one.

I loved the tiny ones too :)

Approximately 1 pink and 1 green a4 sheet is required for making this one.

You can find the tutorial here.

Paper Daisies

The next of my tries with paper is these cute little Daisies. I fondly call them fan flowers.

They are pretty easy to make.. The only challenge lies in sticking it to a wire. It took time for me to do that. Otherwise its a cake walk to make it.

I love the pattern so much, the cuteness lies in the quilled center part. :)

My favorite bunch :)

A location change ;)

Guess what??? I used a pepper pot as a vase for these flowers. I've Put each of them in one hole of the pot :)

Do take a look at this link for the tutorial: Paper Daisies