Recoloring Karthigai Deepam

Hello everyone..

Last year, I have colored these diyas for Karthigai.. But when I took it out of the box, I felt sad on seeing their condition and I knew I can't use it... So I thought of repainting it as an act of reusing.. I realized that I can change it into a new one.. That idea felt awesome...

So here are my old diyas which I painted last year.. Believe me.. It looked beautiful last year..

As the first step, I painted a base of brown acrylic color.. When they were half dried, I repainted another coat on it... After that I applied the gold,silver and bronze metallic dust on them with my fingers..

When we apply metallic dust, the intricate patterns on the deepam wiil be clearly visible.  Here is how they look now..

Hope you enjoyed this post... Thank you for visiting my blog.. Have a nice day..Happy Karthigai Deepam.. Keep on crafting..

Decorated Karthigai Deepam

Hello everyone..

Today is the auspicious day of Karthigai Deepam.. Karthigai is the 8th month of the Tamil calendar.. "Periya karthigai" or "Karthigai Thirunal" is the birth date of Lord Karthikeya, also known as Lord Murugan, a prominent deity of Tamil Nadu..

About Karthigai Deepam: 

On this special day, Fasting is done in the name of "Karthigai Viratham".. without eating breakfast and lunch but Fruits, Mavu Urundai(Flour Laddu) and Milk can be taken.. the fasting is ended with a grand feast(consists of rice,sambar and 7 or more vegetable poriyal and finished with sweet kheer or payasam) in the evening 6 pm after lighting the deepam and offering prayers to the Lord Murugan..



 Today, the famous "Maha Deepam" is also lit on the hilltop of the Shivan temple, "Sri Arunachaleswarar temple" at Thiruvannamalai,Tamil Nadu

 

As a deepam is the main feature of this celebration, today, I have decorated some clay diyas.. Lets get into it..

Painting:

The simple way of making a clay deepam colorful and beautiful is to paint it..I have painted this diya using lemon yellow and crimson acrylic colors.. (If acrylic colors are not available, Poster colors can also be used... but a coat of varnish is needed to avoid color fading..)

Metallic Dust:

We can obtain an antique effect on the deepam by applying metallic dust...Metallic dust comes as Gold,Silver and bronze... They add a wonderful effect to the plain deepam.. At first, when I brushed on some dust, more dust was wasted.. but accidently, i applied the dust which spilled on my fingers on the deepam, it was very effective and easy to do too..So on this deepam, i have applied gold and silver dust with my fingers...

Beads:

We can paste any decor items such as sequins, beads,bead strings or stones to decorte a deepam.. Please note to leave the place where it is lit.. to avoid melting of the decor items..

I have pasted a lotus shaped old pendant at one its end..

My favourite:

This deepam looks so beautiful that I could not think of any way to enhance it... Such was the talent  of the designer and craftsman of this clay deepam.. So, as a respect to the designer, I have decided to use this deepam as a clay one itself..

A VERY HAPPY KARTHIGAI DEEPAM TO ALL OF YOU"

Hope you liked my diyas.. You can try it too and post your creations at the comment section below..
Have a nice day..Keep on crafting..