Kid craft: Cute fish on my machine

After consistent pestering, my friend Bhumika from Bangalore, a super-woman, sent me this lovely picture of recycle craft collage that her toddler son Mitr and she made.

Looks super simple and fun, doesn't it? And what does it take? Not fancy glitter paper or expensive crafting apparatus. But simple advertisement pamphlet trash that floods your doorsteps.

How to do it? Self explanatory, ain't it?

You will need:

- a pair of scissors

- a pencil to draw the fish out on a base paper

- a base paper of course:)

- some black glazed paper. alternatively, either construction paper or if lucky,
some ad page that has plenty of black from an old magazine - this is for the eye and fin

- loads of paper ads trash

- Glue or gum

- a big bottle cap, or small circle-shaped bowl - try anything that comes handy to  draw out a circle for the eye

Kids love their hands getting sticky with glue! And the idea of messing up a place in excitement - how their eyes light up!

Their love for messing up comes in perfectly handy here.

Bhumika helped him cull out random shapes from the ad-trash. She suggests that since it is kids who are involved, it is better to tear these pieces. Together, the two stuck them on to the fish-shaped base paper in such a way. In doing so, pieces are likely to pop out of the base paper fish edges. Do not worry. You could cut out the extra parts later, says Bhumika.

For a toddler, this is a bit of an effort, and for you, an unobtrusive way of teaching alignment. Summer vacation in India draws to a close. Such a collage piece is useful not just for vacations but any leisurely weekend.

Guess where the cute collage fish found its way to?

The facade of their washing machine!

They stuck it up with fridge magnets.

Meanwhile, I was so much in love with the rag-tag fish, that I tried my own experiments with the picture on Pixlr on my machine aka laptop.

You could try it too. It could be this fun way of using your kid's art to make something more permanent to frame and put up on your wall, or transfer on to some keepsake around home.

As for me, I had fun just playing with the different options on the online photo editing site.

 Thanks a tonne Bhumika! You made my holiday fun enough!

Fishes and bicycles go together, don't they! Courtesy Gloria Steinem and Irina Dunn! Am all for printing this one and framing it up. Thanks to my li'l friend Mitr.


Picture courtesy: Bhumika K
Picture experiment courtesy: Radhika M B

For permissions to use pictures, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

Traditional jhumkis using paper-quilling

I have come across a whole lot of paper quill projects online, even jewellery. But did not think you can make something traditional with the universal paper. Am amazed though, the the sheer imagination that paper-quill enthusiasts can come up with! It will be a while before I get hooked to this craft that's become a rage in India, but here is something from someone who is dear to me.

Like the growing breed of paper quill crafters trying out traditional jewellery, my friend and the ever chirpy and creative Sankgetha Sripathy (pronounced Sangeetha) who runs the Smudgy Trove Facebook page, tried out of all things, jhumkis or jhumkas, that are so integral to an Indian woman's conventional attire.

She was kind enough to send me the pictures of material she used, and details of how she made them.
 

Aren't they super colourful and gorgeous! Unlike the usual greens and reds besides gold hues that we use for jhumkis , these can be used with a range of clothes. I am yearning for such jewellery to be made using recyclable paper. Game anyone?

Here is a picture of the materials she used -

Craft glue

Nose plier

Eye pins in brass colour

Earring hooks in brass colour

Quilling paper

Quilling needle or tool

She describes the procedure here:

``Take two colours of quilling paper. Hold the needle and roll the quilling paper of one colour. Once done, glue the corner of the paper and let it dry.'' 

 

``Once it is dried, gently push or nudge the centre end of the rolled paper upwards in such a way that it brings out a conical shape. Now with the help of the needle tool and your fingers, set the shape properly. 

Make sure there is some room in the cone's tip, to insert the eye-pin.''

You could get an idea from one of the unfinished jhumki sets in the picture above. 

Now insert the eye-pin in that narrow hole, in such a way that the `eye' sits on top of the cone, and bend the pin's other end inside the cone to steady it.

 

You are left now, with the plain cone and `eye' ready to be hooked.

Use some small beads to embellish the broader edge, to resemble a traditional jhumki. And then, using the craft nose plier, fix the earring hook to this `eye'. Your jhumki is ready.

If you notice closely, you may find some unwanted white from the glue.

You could overcome this problem by minimising the amount of glue you use while rolling the paper, and alternatively using a finishing spray to give the pieces a glossy shine.

Use your fingers to pull out the sticky dried glue debris too.

Are you the kind who loves matching pair of earrings for your clothes? You can reach out to the paper! Look at the colour combinations that can be so enchanting!

If you are into paper quilling and love jewellery, this one is a perfect combination for a creative afternoon! Wait not! Try your bit!

I am so in love with these earrings that I might grab them for my own use. But I have jewellery boxes waiting to be painted:) See here.

Pictures courtesy: Sankgetha Sripathy

Watermark: Smudgy Trove

For permission to use pictures and content:

radicreative@gmail.com