Saturday, October 22, 2011

Diwali



Colour and lots of hand made fun this diwali

Quick post about Diwali prep at home. This year, we have tried to reuse things we have at home,  add more colour and have loads of fun  in anticipation of the day!



The kids having a go at painting the diyas, which are soaked, washed and primed with offwhite paint first.

For many years now, I have refused to throw my used earthen diyas away. Just so long as they  are not chipped and cracked, we wash dry and repaint them using bio-safe acrylics giving them a new lease of life.

This year, we are making story- stools to prop the Diyas on too. All manner of old chowkis and peedhas,  have been sanded down and painted in vibrant colours. Some featuring motifs and scenes from my kids favourite traditional Indian stories.



Painted and finished..together with a bunch of yellow and orange foot stools  to house them on.
The stools make bright little spots- ideal to brighten up the house for Diwali. These will get used in the house easily later, as tiny study desks,  table top accents, to store books and ofcourse just normal stools to sit on. 
Since they  can be painted over easily, the activity allows for maximum fun..something my kids too have had a liberal hand in. Unabashedly playing with paint, leaving the finer details from me to tweak later  ;).


The Bull from heaven.

The stool pictured above is based on a lively  Buddhist story chosen by my son.
 A word about the illustration: I  have based the drawing in good part on a drawing by illustrator Linda Edwards, from a children's book called ~Stories from India~ published by Usborne. 

Hope to comeback with yet another Diwali post, provided I can make the time to tend to the blog while so much is going on around.
Have a good one folks !