Naari - The Woman » Fun / Leisure

Glass fish from a bangle

Varada — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:17:07 +0000

This post is special in more than one ways.

1. This is my first video post. Yeah, I am experimenting with a different media.

2. This is my first “how to” or “tutorial” post for any of the crafts. (If you count out the recipes of course). I’ve posted several of my own jewelry designs on A-mused-mind. But never got into the details of how I ended up making them.

So wish me luck.

This is something that Bhabhi taught me to do. Apparently they did do something like this in school days and weaved the fishes together into garlands. (Interesting na?)

When me and Princes Diya worked on her holiday homework, we ended up doing these fishes. (More about it here.)

Basically we created four types of fishes for her project.

Type 1 (Simple)

Type 2 (Intermediate)

Type 3 (Slightly Advanced)

Type 4 (It’s Different)

Type 1 – Simple: Simply stick two pieces of bangles together to form a fish shape. Let the bangle pieces move over each other at the tail part. Color the insides. This is simple, but the result was little unstable. Specially at the crossing part near the tail. So adopted Bhabhi’s way. (Type 3)
Type 2 – Intermediate: Stick the bangle piece. Roll a string of wool on your fingers to make it about 2 inches in length. Spread one side of this roll on the mouth of jelly fish and then cut the strands. Sticking one side and then cutting makes it real easy instead of sticking one piece at a time.
Type 3 – Slightly Advanced: This fish, unlike type 1, is whole and holds nicely when stuck. Check out this video to see how you can do it yourself.

Type 4 – Different: This one is not made from glass. It’s a metal bangle! Simply twist it gently to form a fish shape. Easy and really beautiful.

Some ideas where you can use it could be:

A photo frame? Watch this space for I plan to post a tutorial on how to turn a box into a photo frame. You could always use fishes and shells to decorate it!
Scrapbooking?
Interweave type 3 fishes to form a garland? Or if you have plenty of these interweave the fishes together, decorate with some beads / shells and make a curtain for your window / door.
Similarly you could make a wall-hanging or a wind-chime!

So, what are you waiting for? Start collecting pieces of bangles and get crafting!!!

Don’t forget to share your results with our readers out here.

Happy Fishing!

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Holiday homework – underwater scenery made of waste material

Varada — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 06:22:38 +0000

Holiday homework – something most parents dread of.

Princess Diya had to create a scenery made from waste materials – old pencils, bangle pieces etc. I was a little worried about this one, to be honest. How do you get a four yr old to create so much as a drawing that looks like what its label says?

Then Diya visited Mahesana – my BIL’s place and was fascinated by the fish tank they have. She kept talking about it, describing it on and on – which gave me an idea. We would (re-)create the magic of a fish tank as an “Underwater scenery” for her school work.

And so we did. Glass bangles were twisted over a candle flame to become colorful fishes. Discarded string of wool helped design a jelly fish. Old pencils, crayons with a green tape became underwater plants. The result was really stunning – check out:

Moral of this story:

Holiday homework – something most parents dread of.

Need not be so if you turn if you turn it into a fun activity.

What do you think?

Update:
Learn how to make these fishes from this post: Glass fish from a bangle

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The good old DD days…

Shikha — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:11:00 +0000

Yesterday, as i was flipping through channels, I stumbled upon a very old ad ‘Washing powder Nirma…’ on DD (DoorDarshan! Yes, our cable guy does provide us that). The ad lasted only a few mins but it took me years back in time… to the good old DD days.

Instantly, al those memories came flashing and made me feel nostalgic. It reminded as to how roads used to be deserted when the greatest ever epic “Mahabharata” was telecast on Sunday mornings. It seemed that city came to standstill for that one hour every Sunday! Everyone in the family used to be glued to the television. Mom used to prepare breakfast well before time so she would not have to miss a single scene.

On Sundays, even I used to wake up early, only to catch the latest songs on Rangoli (who on earth would now wake up to listen to blaring songs from thousands of music channels). My personal favorite was Surabhi, the best show that projected India’s cultural diversity. So used to look forward to the questions asked in the end, only then we did not have access to Google Difficult to resist the urge to list a few more – Potli baba ki, Vyomkesh Bakshi, Vikram Betaal, Malgudi days, Hum Log – the list can go on..

It was not just about the quality of serials that used to be aired but also the fact that they were telecasted only once a week (most of them, if not all) unlike the K-soaps these days that are on no matter what time and day of the week it is! These days, we have news channels that cover everything from ‘who-slapped-who’ videos to ‘a cat stuck on the top floor of a building’ but NEWS. We even have reality shows that has made a mockery of the concept of arranged marriages. Also now, all the shows are available at the click of a button, courtesy YouTube, Google and many more…

Ohh… How I miss the good old Days, wish I could go back in time and re-live some of those, with no access to mobile phones, internet or the cable network. In a world, where everything was not so readily available and where we can live each moment and relish them later, as I just did …

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Merchant of Venice (in Hindi)

Varada — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:13:35 +0000

There are two things that fueled this
(a) I am an Indian to the core and
(b) I simply love literature

Let me explain those two a little. I am an Indian to the core. I can (and do) love Greek food, English fiction, American (monster) trucks, Japanese furniture and crafts, Chinese calligraphy and beads and several many other from all over the globe, but deep down I have India in me. I love my country – its rich and varied heritage, culture, being a part of this colourful, soulful community. Naturally what follows is a love for all our festivals and celebrations. Being able to enjoy Diwali, Eid and Christmas in a small town in Goa is an experience unlike any other. I also love our national festivals and days – Independence day, Republic day and even Children’s day

Secondly, I simply love literature. Fiction mostly. I get really carried away, misty eyed even when I read something beautiful. (Remember Yugandhar by Shivaji Sawant? Or Heidi by Johanna Spyri?)

So when Children’s day came by this year I tried to combine these two seemingly unrelated ideas. Here’s what we did at home:

- I scripted “Merchant of Venice” by W. Shakespeare into a skit in Hindi
- - - – Hindi’ized it (Shylock became Thakur Ratan Singh)
    - – Slashed etcetras from the plot (I had only 5 actors, one of whom was a 3 yr old!)
      - Broke down everything into scenes, dialogues
      - Explained the story, each character and scene to my 5-actor (children) crew
    - - Our kids’ tuition teacher and her sister along with Bhaiya became our judges. Tuition teacher’s family was audience.
    - - Bhabhi took up make-up-artist-cum-hostess role.
    - - My husband Chiran put on his cameraman’s cap
    - - Practiced. Practiced. Practiced.
    - - Rehearsed. Rehearsed. Rehearsed.
    The result? It was through and through fun. Kids and elders all worked together as a team. Come to think of it, how often do we really manage that?
    
    I’ll be uploading the video shortly on YouTube. Watch this space for a link..
    
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Bitten by the “design” bug

Varada — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:36:53 +0000

Last year this time around I was obsessed with interior designing. I looked up internet (obviously), local books shops, anything I could lay my hands on for scraps on info on how to create a harmonious, functional and beautiful looking room.

We purchased our house in 2005. An apartment on the ground floor in Ghaziabad, U.P that was just right. If you look at it from outside it’s a nondescript, yet-another three storey building. But inside the ground floor apartment is my personal heaven. (Or at least I wanted it to be )

Between paying off home loan and stuff we kept the plan for renovation-beautification on hold until last year, when we managed to put some cash away for this purpose. That’s when I decided to pursue my dream. In the course of searching for proper guidance I discovered the site called Universal Class and found that they have online courses, rich with content and well within the budget. I ended up taking their course on Interior Decorating and also managed to get a certificate of outstanding performance through the assignments I submitted. (Yeah, modesty is my middle name )

Armed with all this info I created a floor plan and a mood board for my house.

We did get major pieces of furniture created (mostly wall mounted so as to save floor area), painting for all the rooms, added wall art pieces and other accessories.

How’s that?

If we use the internet in a constructive way, there are millions of learning, growing opportunities out there. In today’s world knowledge is really at your finger-tips, may it be from any field, any area.

I used the site “Universal Class” for interior decoration stuff, but that’s not all that they do. They have 100’s of courses in various areas (from Entrepreneurship to Medicine related, from Mathematics to Crafts) which people with less time and resources can avail of.

So, what are you waiting for? Head out to your favorite learning place on the net and start working on your dream today.., And yes, don’t forget to share with us and rest of our readers if you know of any such learning centers / courses which they can benefit from

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A walk in the past…

Shikha — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:17:00 +0000

If the Ladakh trip had me bewitched, it would hardly be a surprise that I so wanted to get close to nature again. But, being a resident of Delhi, I was not too sure of how that could become a reality.

But as they say, “where there is a will…”. Some Googling for opportunities to be with nature within the city gave me the idea of “Heritage walks” conducted by a group, “Delhi Heritage Walks(DHW)” every weekend.

That is how the Saturday morning found me thrilled, half smiling to myself, leaving early to see Delhi in full swing. Even at the early hour, the driving was crazy and honking incessant. Me and my friends, somehow managed to reach on time.

Guided by archaeologists from the DHW, we entered the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. Sprawling over 100 acres of land this is where buildings from all periods of India’s conquer-and-build history stand. Mosques, tombs, guard towers, living quarters, and minarets – stone witnesses to the romance and hatred, bloody wars and progressive, peaceful times, poor servants and beautiful princes. Each seems to whisper to you in their own silence, tell you tales of their proud yesterday and neglected today; beckon you to understand and empathize for their uncertain future.

As we began our walk and the walk leader from DHW explained the monuments and the history behind them, I was ashamed I shunned away from history as a subject in school! Never did I know before that the rich heritage of India can be so alluring. As per one of the archaeologists, it is only here that you have remains from almost every era of Delhi’s history from the early Hindu settlements to the more recent British times.

Among the attractions were the beautiful Jamali Kamali mosque, an adjoining tomb that has beautifully preserved interior with lovely red and blue plaster work on the ceiling, the Balban’s tomb although somewhat dilapidated and a stepwell – “Gandhak-ki-Baoli” – considered to be the oldest in Delhi. As the walk came to conclude, I was left feeling hungry to know more…

So, if you too want a sneak peek into the past, take one of these heritage walks and rest assured it would be a walk to remember. Here’s where you can visit to know how to…

http://www.delhiheritagewalks.com/
OR
http://www.intach.org/pdf/DelhiHeritageWalk.pdf

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Edward Cullen

Varada — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:25:10 +0000

“About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was ….” I watched Bella Swan muse to herself on my laptop screen. My own thoughts were not much different. I was watching “Twilight” – the movie made from the first of four books from “The Twilight Saga” series.

A seemingly impossible mix of characters from ancient times and modern where no one seems out of place.
Dialogs and descriptions that Stephenie Meyer out to you to the core.
A tangle of emotions – uncontrollable thirst for someone’s blood, fear of being the monster you can be, pain of loving someone who you think should not reciprocate and finally, love, that washes all else away.
Twilight Saga series is a set of four books,
                      Twilight,
                      New Moon,
                      Eclipse and
                      Breaking Dawn,
with all this and more….

After a long time I got to read some romantic stuff so alluring, its almost an obsession.

Stephenie tells the whole story mostly from Bella’s perspective. Her emotions, her opinions, her life. However, she also created a draft of Twilight that was the way story unfolded from Edward’s eyes (in my view, more potent than Bella’s books ). Unfortunately it circulated on the internet without her consent. Finally she did share it on her website. You can more about the draft and the draft itself from Stephenie Meyer’s official website here.

The movie does not disappoint either. Every single character plays to perfection. From Rob and Kristine in lead roles to their parents, siblings and friends every single role is very well cast. A remember-to-blink-if-you-can entertainment!!!

Here’s where you can grab your copies of books / DVDs. Enjoy!!!

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