Diwali - The festival of lights

 Diwali or Deepawali - in Sanskrit means a row of lights.

From today, the festival of lights has begun. It is Dhanteras today. On this day, it is considered auspicous to buy gold or any form of a steel utensil.

Here's a Diwali Fact file I found. 

DIY: Terracotta Jewelry Dish Holder tutorial

A friend's birthday is coming up and I was wondering how to package the gift in a special way. (I plan to give her one of my jewelry pieces) Looking for inspiration, I found this large box of terracotta clay lying in my studio, totally unused!  Sometime last year I had purchased a lot of polymer clay to make some rangoli inspired jewelry.  That got me thinking that perhaps I could do more than just designing jewelry with the unused clay!

So that's when I got thinking and made these terracotta jewelry dish holders.

First things first.
MATERIALS 

❉ Terracotta Polymer clay ( I used Sculpey Oven Bake Terracotta clay) You could use any colour from the range of polymer clays available. I just liked giving mine that earthy touch.

❉ Floral Cookie cutter 

❉ Rolling pin

❉ Wooden block stamps. Any picture rubber  stamp should work as well. I just used what I had at home.

❉ Silcone cupcake liner and a small steel bowl or any oven proof bowl.

❉ Gold sharpie marker

❉ An oven

STEP 1

Roll out the clay on an even surface and place the cookie cutter on it. You can do several at a time if you have several silicone cupcake liners and small oven proof bowls. I will be showing you how I made 2 of these dishes.

STEP 2

Take your stamp of choice and make an impression on clay

STEP 3

Now gently remove the clay from the surface and place one on the back of the cupcake liner like this. Just lightly press on the centre to give it a shape. 

Remove the other impression gently and place on the steel bowl. Now this you can cup it very close to give it the shape of the bowl.

Be very careful in placing the clay on the back. If you don't pay attention and just place however and bake it, this is what you will get! I placed mine on a ramekin and of course was not paying attention to place it on the centre -  so I got a very uneven dish!

STEP 4

Place the cupcake liner and the steel bowl in the oven to bake. Please see the manufacturer's instructions for how long to bake the clay. I had to bake mine at 265 deg F for 15 mins.

STEP 5

Once the dishes are completely cooled, take your gold sharpie pen and use it to color the impressions of the stamp. 

Let the ink dry and you are done!

I love the look of the earthy elegance of terracotta. 

Use your handmade dish for small trinkets, coins and of course jewelry.

I plan to make these with my daughters again as gifts using tea lights for Diwali this year. 

Let me know if you plan to make these. I would love to hear from you.

Happy Diwali

A very HAPPY DIWALI to all of you!

(I mentioned in my last post about this beautiful Diya silhouette here!)

See you all in a brand new week!

Picture courtesy: Taken by yours faithfully

Fabulous Friday Finds: Diwali Diya Prints

U still looking to give something different to friends and family this Diwali?

Look what I found!!!!

I bought this beautiful print from Dezign Whimzy

This is a gorgeous diwali diya silhouette on a vintage book page.

I have plans to give these prints away to my daughters' friends at school.

Image and photo copyrights of Dezign Whimzy

Fabulous Friday Finds: Tealight Splendour

Hello and hope you  have had a fantastic week.

The festival of lights is coming soon. I chanced to see these at Ballard Designs. Totally love them and want it all- not only for DIWALI but Christmas too! What say?

Pine cone tea light holders

Le Marais Tea light holder

Picture Courtesy: Ballard Designs

Diwali wishes

Picture: via me

Wishing you much joy this Diwali

How is the Diwali preparation going?

Here's a glimpse of the Diwali Decor in my home.

Washi tape gives instant glam to tealights. Here I have used turquoise and gold washi tapes around tea lights.

Here's a close up. I have done 2 dozen of these. I hope to wrap a dozen more teal lights.

 Barni tea light holders from Varnams. Handmade by artisans of Channapatna, these gorgeous tea light holders come in gorgeous earthy colors.

And this beautiful set of candle holders are from Crate and Barrel I love that they have the peepal leaf and mango leaf on the side. As Hindus, we all know the sacred significance of the peepal and mango leaf in our culture!

Here's wishing you all a very HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS DIWALI!

All pictures: By me

Diwali gifts for Children

Diwali, the Indian festival of Lights will be celebrated this year on November 13, 2012. 

As a tradition, my husband and I buy gifts for our daughters M and N. And this year we decided to give them a story book about Diwali. It also come with a Flash card set. Isn't that nice?

Get this Diwali book and flash card set at Gnaana Here

A beautiful diya note card is attached to the gift.  Complimentary from Gnaana.

Image courtesy of picture no 1 above Gnaana

picture no. 2 via me

Gold Leaf shape candle holders

A friend of mine G loves candles. And she gave me a beautiful russet candle for Thanksgiving. I was wondering how to use it. So last evening, I happened to be at Crate and Barrel and  bought these candle holders. These gold plated leaf motif candle holders  are made in India and I am so excited that I will be able to use them this Diwali.  With a myriad of holes, the candle holder has a peepal leaf pattern on one side and a mango leaf pattern on the other side.

Picture credit Crate and Barrel

Diwali dazzle with Ekam Creations

This year, diwali is on November 13, 2012. Get these rangoli style tea light holders and celebrate diwali - the festival of lights - from Ekam Creations

Picture credits : EKAM CREATIONS

Fashion for Diwali 2011

Some of my favorite fashion designers showcase their collection for Diwali 2011

Anita Dongre's saree in gorgeous vermilion red, white, cream and gold....drool

Neeta Lulla's turquoise blue and red....WOW

Payal Singhal's almost lavender gray with that lovely embellishment on the shoulders...Dazzling

All images: via here