Rangolis on my bookmarks

My love for rangolis on bookmarks continues.

I am a non-traditionalist. Certainly not the kind who washes the doorstep and decorates it with rice flour everyday. But I love the universality of rangolis, with their focus on the center, and expanse from there, the importance of dot...in creation, in design...

This time, I also tried out design inspired by Chittara, the rich folk art of Karnataka.

Rangolis, that adorned the doorstep and verandah in my grandma's home...rangolis, that changed with the festival and season in front of the doorstep at my parents' home.

The material did not have to be much...

This cardboard was what I saved from an earlier purchase of household repair threads. 

Some sandpaper...

And cardstock, known in India, simply as cardboard, with some cutting tools and glue.

I glued the sandpapered  cardboard to the deep blue cardboard, after cutting to a required size. When it comes to cutting the household cardboard, I am really not bothered about a standard size. It is because I want to use every inch of the material possible, instead of trashing it.

That is intrinsic to handmade crafts probably. And I like the lack of identical results.

And after enough gluing and trimming, I used white paint with a size zero paintbrush.

Here is how it turned out:

And here are the bookmarks with Chittara influenced design.

I read about Chittara art, and love the intricacy of this art, though I would not want to agree with its feudal origin based on caste.

Am hoping to use more of it in my other projects.

Try the designs yourself, and you will love yourself for not trashing household cardboard.

Pics Courtesy: Radhika M B

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All pics are watermarked.