Studio Bulletin: Our little home studio

Welcome to our little home studio that I share with my father. It’s a small space which became too tight at one point for two people to work in especially since the studio also doubles up as the store! So we racked our brains and came up with all sorts of ideas to utilize the space in the smartest possible way, did a bit of shifting around and finally carved out our individual work stations.  It’s crowded, cozy, untidy and immensely inspiring and the best part is the terrace outside which creates a strange bubble of peace and serenity amidst the noisy city.

 This is my work station, beside the window where I do all my crafting work. All my supplies are organised in neat little rows, my beads in clear bottles and finished products and other materials inside individual boxes. I have a thing for organisation, cannot think clearly otherwise!

This part of the studio is my dad's. He built this area himself as a work bench mainly to work with clay and sometimes do his carpentry too! The packets below the bench are lumps of clay, smart way of storing don't you think? The wooden slats are my favourite part where we hang all our carpentry tools. They look so good too!

The corner by the window, a perfect place to read during those stubborn creative blocks. 





















My latest haul from the wholesale market, wooden beads that I'm currently in love with.

Work in progress...

Random: First Baked Cinnamon & Almond Cake

I’ve always been into baking, mainly cakes and sometimes cookies and a quiche or two. But till recently I’ve never had access to a proper oven. I’ve always made them in a microwave and needless to say, microwave bakes are far from the real thing! I remember, when I was in college, I didn’t even have a microwave and made a cake on the stove with the help of a pressure cooker (this process is quite popular in middle class Indian homes), which was a complete disaster! But yes, I’ve always hoped to have an oven someday!

About a week or two back, we finally got an OTG (oven/toaster/grill)! And the first few days, my husband didn’t even let me touch it since he was so immersed in grilling and baking meat and all kinds of goodies! His new found interest in baking is I guess is largely fuelled by the latest season of Masterchef!

But anyway, I finally baked my first cake and this is how it turned out! I’ve named it “First baked cinnamon and almond cake”. Alternatively since I used a star shaped dish I also called it “The Star of David”. The recipe is not entirely mine but is a combination of different recipes from various sources, so I guess it is mine! So, I’ve decided to share it with you! So, here goes:

The Star Of David

Ingredients:

Eggs – 3

Flour – 125 gms (about 1& ½ cups)

Baking powder – ¾ table spoon

Cinnamon powder – 1 table spoon heaped

Sugar – 130 gms (I used 1 cup since I like my cakes a little less sweet)

Almonds – ½ cup (chopped or coarsely ground)

Method:

Grind almonds ( spare about 6/7 and keep aside) in their jackets and keep aside.

Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon powder in a bowl and keep aside.

Separate the egg yolks and egg whites.

Beat the egg whites till they become foamy. Now mix the egg yolks one by one beating well. Add the sugar and beat well. (you could use an electric beater or do it by hand)

Fold in the flour mixture evenly.

Mix the ground almonds to the batter.

Grease the cake tin with butter. Pour the batter in.

Pre heat oven at 180 degrees C for 10 min. Then place the cake mix in the oven and bake for 30 minutes at 200 degrees C.

After the baking is done, let it cool down gradually inside the oven. After taking out the cake from the tin, decorate the top of the cake with the rest of the whole almonds.

And you Start of David cake is ready to serve!

Green Revolution: Upcycled tote bags from old sarees

I am a huge fan of recycling. I try to recycle every scrap if possible. My latest recycling project has been sewing some carry bags out of old sarees.




 I manage my mothers' boutique, "Smriti's Collection", which deals in folk and tribal art from this region. To know more about "Smriti's Collection", please vesit our official Facebook page here:


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smritis-Collection/121764314542318

Anyway, I've been thinking of an easy, eco friendly way of packaging the masks for quite some time. This was a huge challenge since the masks come in a variety of sizes and no two pieces are alike! So, a comercial way of producing bags was out! Then, I thought, why not convert all the old sarees lying around to sew simple tote bags customized to fit the sizes for each mask! And I promptly got on with it and the I quite like the end result.

Anothet plus point of using sarees as a packaging material is that the fabric is strong and also the numerous weaves, colours and designs lend themselves to add more value to the item and it goes so well with the rustic feel of the masks.


Hopefully I will improve my skill and technique in due course of time and will be able to produce prettier looking bags for my masks. So, when the buyer takes home a mask or any other folk artefact, he or she can carry back a reusable bag along with it!

My 30th Birthday

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time, since spring came, but I’ve been so lost in work and various other stuff that I just couldn’t bring myself to write! Spring! The season of pure beauty and joy, my season, my birthday season. That’s right! I’m a spring child, born in March; I’ve always felt a special affinity to this time of the year. As soon as winter gives way to fresh sunshine and the light south winds begins to blow, I can smell a promising newness.

I’ve always been very enthusiastic and even a little vain at times about my birthdays. I hear that this is juvenile and as soon as you step into adulthood, you are not supposed to cry out loud about your own birthday! But alas! I’m yet to understand adulthood and I find no reason to not celebrate my birthday and in some way the arrival of spring and the turning of the wheel of seasons. So, in many ways, my birthday is almost a metaphor of rebirth and renewal in every sphere of my life.

This year’s birthday was a very special one for me, as I turned 30. 30! I still cannot believe I’m that old and yet I feel I’ve a long way to go in order to achieve true adulthood, maybe I never will! But no matter, no matter, it’s an important number and a landmark year in the life of any girl and another reason to have an extra special birthday party. Being a girl is fun but it is also difficult. And being older makes it worse. But it’s all in your head. I don’t see any reason why I should suddenly change everything about myself in order to fit into a stereotype. So, I promised myself to do what my heart desires and make myself believe that I’m special enough to allow myself all the attention in the world. But how am I going to do that without the help of my family and friends? In an ideal world, everyone should have tried to work extra hard to please me (I am narcissistic), but in this case, I’ll have to try extra hard in order to convince the others to please me for one day, PLEASE?

I’ve been asking my husband for days to please please plan a surprise something for me on my birthday. He is not very good with these things but I begged him to please try this once since I won’t be turning 30 again anytime soon. So he said he’ll try and I hoped in my heart and in my mind that he doesn’t forget. Apart from that, I also didn’t want to miss out on the regular birthday party at home that I have each year with a group of close knit people. As for me, I was also preparing in my own way to turn 30 and making plans, planning my birthday outfit etc. I also sew my very own clutch bag for myself and a pair of fascinators, one for my sister and one for me. Me and my sister are partners in crime when it comes to birthdays. We never miss out on each others’ birthdays. We share the same sentiments when it comes to that. So we were planning over the phone about stuff to do for my 30^th birthday. We planned our wardrobe together and decided to wear fascinators come what may!

It was her idea to bring in my birthday the night before by going out partying with friends. I told my husband the plan and he agreed. But what I didn’t know was he and my sister and secretly planned for the surprise on the eve of my birthday. We had decided to call on two very special friends for this occasion. All the others were invited to my regular birthday party at home the next evening. We had made a guest list and invited everyone and planned for food and beverages in advance.




As the day drew near, I got all excited and happy at the prospect of an extended two day birthday celebration that I never had before. At times I felt I was trying too hard, but I told myself, I better because it was important for me and if that makes me a…. it doesn’t matter!

On the morning of the bringing-in-birthday-party, I woke up feeling that familiar happy feeling that I get once every year, but this year I’ll be getting that twice, two days in a row! I spent all morning pampering myself, manicures and facials and all kinds of girly stuff. I still had no idea of what the surprise was going to be so that was fun! Late evening, we dressed up and waited for our friends to pick us up. I was wearing a A-line white twenties dress with a hot pink colored shrug paired with golden gladiator sandals that I had bought for myself, golden studs for my ears and the white and pink rosette fascinator

We went to a pub and drank and danced and got high. But as soon as the clock struck twelve, Cinderella was transformed into a retard looking fairy! You must be wondering what I’m talking about. This is what happened. The DJ suddenly stopped the music and wished me happy birthday followed by the happy birthday song and from nowhere my sister attached a tiny white pair of fairy wings on my shoulders and my friends put a stupid looking hair band on my head with stars poking out on springs and someone handed me a magic wand. I was surprised, I must say, such stuff has never happened to me when I was a kid, I always had very tame and mellow parties, not even birthday bumps! And now, when I’m 30, I get to be a kid! I found a chocolate cake waiting on the bar counter with the numbers 13 on it. The barman set the bar counter on fire with the help of all their liquid stuff. I blew out the candles and cut my birthday cake. Then a bottle of champagne appeared and we were poured sparkling bubbly in elegant looking glasses. A feeling of warmth and gladness filled me and for the first time I felt thankful for being blessed with great friends and family! It’s true that I had asked for a surprise in the first place but to think that my loved ones had actually planned this for me, just to make me feel important and loved is a great feeling and I confess that I have not felt this very many times in my life.

After ushering in my birthday in the greatest way possible and with the perfect set of people, we headed back home where I found a particularly special bottle of whiskey that my husband was saving for a long time standing on the table and the five glasses along with it. He had also tied a big red bow on the neck of the bottle. We opened the whiskey and drank some more into the night. The white fairy wings and the magic wand was now hanging from the back of the chair and I had also received some gifts (my favorite part!). My sister knows my obsession with packing gifts and that I always insist that a gift should look like a gift, it doesn’t matter what is inside. She had painstakingly wrapped each one in pretty paper and then put the little packages in a small basket. Just looking at it gives me pleasure, I wish I never had to open my gifts, that I could keep them that way forever and look at them once in a while and wonder what’s inside. As for this one, she had wrapped all kinds of odds and ends together, a chocolate, a plastic toy, paper flowers, fridge magnet, a pretty handmade diary etc. I had also got a beautiful pair of antique silver earrings from my friend. And my husband had given me a truckload of amazing looking crafting paper!

We drank very late into the night until everyone said goodbye. I went to sleep feeling happy and content and wished I could feel like this every day of my life. And I suddenly remembered that on the other side of the night was my actual birthday; this was just the run up!

Next morning we spent a lazy and happy morning with my family. We prepared for the evening festivities to commence. We had yummy lunch cooked by my mum. And we even snoozed a bit in the afternoon. It was perfect. In the evening, the festive feeling came back as one by one my guests arrived dressed in their best. I was wearing a black tunic and tights with long Tibetan earrings today, the Cinderella phase was over, I was back to being my ethnic, half-wiccan, woman-wants-to-be-child self!

The evening party was familiar and predictable and in its own way reassuring, that some things never change and thank god for that! Late at night when everyone had left, I started opening presents which were by now piled on my dresser and as usual looked pretty and inviting. I had received quite a number of earrings, as usual, since I’m a jewelry freak and everyone knows that so it’s quite easy to give me a gift! I also received a book from my parents, Jawaharlal Nehru’s letters to Indira which is a book everyone should read, it’s about world history (I love history). Among other things, I also got a electric egg beater from my aunt, thank you!

It had been a birthday of my dreams; I couldn’t imagine a better way to turn 30 and yet to feel younger and sprightier than ever! Till very recently I had never considered what I already have, and had always pined for things which were not there. But the greatest gift that I got on my 30^th birthday was that of wisdom and understanding. To have a loving family is the greatest gift of all and to know that there are friends who’ll love you unconditionally and this simple fact suddenly dawned on me that night and the way in which I look at life has changed ever since. Ever since that night, I have truly been reborn. This spring has been the most fruitful and by turning 30 I haven’t got any older, I have got better.

Random: Chinese New Year celebrations in China Town

Last week we went to the China Town of Calcutta, commonly known as Tangra to participate in the Chinese New Year celebrations. Tangra is a part of town that we only visit when we want to dine and feast on authentic Chinese food. Being born and lived almost my entire life in Calcutta, this is the first time I ventured there to see the Chinese New Year celebrations. I wasn't quite expecting a huge thing, just a small community affair, but I was wrong!


When we arrived around 9 O' clock, the place was quite empty. We promptly headed into one of the many restaurants there for a quick Chinese dinner consisting of soup and fried spicy chicken. When we came out about half an hour later, the place had completely transformed! The narrow dingy streets were now thronged with people, fairy lights strung across the entrances, hawkers selling balloons and toys. It was nothing short of a fair ground.

Upon asking a bystander, we learned that everyone was waiting for the Dragon! Whatever that meant! We waited with everyone for the arrival of this mythical creature. Soon enough, we heard loud drum beats booming across the street and a procession of school kids, all dressed in similar t-shirts coming our way. And sure enough, there was a very colourful and ornamental dragon floating above their heads. The lucky one got to be the dragon's head and some other kid would hold the tail and they would dance around and interact with the audience. It was quite a sight!


As soon as the excitement of the first Dragon was wearing off, along came another dragon with it's very own procession and paraphernalia! Then came another and then another. By now, the small and narrow streets were bursting at the seams with people! In one word, "Breath taking"! The amazing thing about Tangra is that it wasn't only the Chinese who were involved in the festivities, there were other locals as well!

After a point the numerous dragons got into mock fights and danced around all over the place, their respective drummers beating their instruments louder than the other which was complimented by the bursting of fire crackers! I was scared that the crackers might hit someone, but apparently no one seemed bothered.

At around 11:30 PM, the Chinese New Year arrived and everyone wished each other. Everyone seemed to know each other in Tangra. The Dragons slowly made their exit only to return next year with their respective  processions. We spent an amazing evening at China Town, unlike any other that we've ever witnessed and came back home feeling happily tiered.




Note: Due to poor light conditions and an amateur digital camera, I couldn't get good photos!

The story so far...

Charcoal drawing

I always had trouble choosing a singular path in life. Be it my career or my innumerable hobbies, I always got interested in too many things at once. Call me eclectic (although that’s exotic sounding), or plain fickle minded, I have always struggled with myself to keep on track.

After finishing school, I went off to Art College, not that I had any clear idea of what I wanted to do there or even had a strong urge to become a world renowned painter, I just thought it would be a fun place to be in and I was always the artistic type (needless to say, I sucked at math and science!). During my five years in Art College, I dabbled with numerous mediums and also took to performance art and theatre. Now when I think back I probably did more dance and music than I did art!

"Journey", an installation with
painted bamboos 

So, after finishing my Bachelors degree, I thought dance was my true calling and joined a classical dance troupe and enjoyed myself tremendously out there. During this time, I also started taking up small scale design projects commercially (brochures, books, title cards etc.) to earn some pocket money.

Oddissi, a classical
Indian dance form

I got married in a couple of years time and changed cities. I went to live in Delhi with my long time friend and husband, Anirban, Baan for short. Once in a new city and very few friends around me, I soon got bored stuck inside the house 24X7. I took up a job with a craft shop. I learned quite a few things about managing a business there. But a 9 to 5 was not meant for me. After about a month and a half, I quite!

Acrylic on canvass

I started painting again but solitude and a complete lack of social life in Delhi soon got the better of me and I found my trips to Calcutta becoming more and more frequent. I would come and live in Calcutta for long periods of time. Some people started suspecting that we had split! I took up another job in Calcutta at yet another craft shop for three months.




I was missing Baan at the same time, so I decided to settle down in Delhi after all. I took up web designing seriously (BTW, I’m still at it!). But as always, my life took a sudden turn. Baan was getting tiered of his desk job and both of us were getting weary of life in Delhi. After five years, we said goodbye to Delhi and finally came back to Calcutta for good.

"The Earth Story", an installation-
performance in collaboration with
a Bangla music band

We now have a lovely apartment in Calcutta not far from where my parents live and we are finally starting to enjoy life as it presents itself each day. Baan is now a freelance travel writer and photographer. As for me, I’m still my eclectic self.

I earn a living through designing and managing sites. I have also started my very own craft NGO. I have big plans for it but alas, still looking for funds. I call it “Kulungi Society for Community Arts”. I want to work with traditional communities who are involved with various indigenous art forms, both plastic and performing. My interest in crafts had started early when my parents started collecting folk art and we had a small crafts gallery in our living room. I inherited their passion for folk and tribal arts. This society aims at documenting, promoting and propagating traditional folk art forms by means of workshops, fairs and exhibitions.

Acrylic on rice paper

Apart from struggling to get Kulungi going, I am also managing “Smriti’s Collection”, the craft shop originally founded by my mother. The only difference is that I have a far more powerful tool which is the Internet to market it with.

But as I said earlier, there is no end to things that I want to do and that characteristic is probably the only persistent factor in my personality. After coming back to Calcutta and settling down, I started thinking, what now? I was meant to be an artist, a creator. Can I be content with designing and managing websites and mentoring craftsmen? Where and how do I channel my creative impulse?

"Agnijaato", a performance using
fire and water

I always felt and increasingly started believing that mainstream art was not my thing. Somewhere there was no connection. Sitting and painting or sculpting in my studio and then exhibiting them in a space seemed insignificant to my life and times. Not that I didn’t consider installation and performance art, I did try them out also but was never happy with the end result.

From the time I started dancing after college, I fell in love with it and wanted to become a dancer but at the same time I realised that I was a little too late. I started learning at the age of 22 and it would take almost 10 years to finish learning. I didn’t have that much time on my hands. Besides, I had to think of a way to earn a living. From then on, I always had this nibbling feeling inside me of not being able to wholeheartedly enjoy anything that I did. I started trying to imbibe certain aspects of dance in my work. That is how I came to performance art, an outlet for me to perform. But that couldn’t be the guiding factor, it was all wrong.

At work

The other major factor that attracted me to dance was the aesthetics of it. The costumes, the jewellery were as important. And that brings me to my latest plan: jewellery. It was always staring right in my face but I never realised. I was always very passionate about jewellery. From a very early age I felt a kinship to ornaments and collected various pieces from different places that traveled. I have boxes full of them; I can almost open a museum!

A tribal mask from Bengal
stocked by "Smriti's Collection"

So, alas, I think all my interests are connecting somewhere. Crafts, dance, art, is converging into jewellery. Yes! I think at last I have found my true calling! At last, I think I’ll be able to focus my energies into jewellery making and be completely happy with it for a change.

I have been collecting all kinds of junk from all around the house and trying to convert them into something beautiful, literally “Junk Jewellery”. You could also call it eco friendly or recycled jewellery. Nothing goes to waste, just like in my own life, all my varied experiences are coming together, my creations too would also convey the same message, “Don’t throw away anything, everything is precious”.

As for the list of my various endeavors, my interests and hobbies, that can be the subject of another post. Maybe I’ll talk about that later. I hope to write more often now about the pieces I create, along with pictures, but for now, I had an urge to explain myself, so I did. This has been the story so far…

Random: Musings of a diary obsessed crafter

My diary is my lifeline. My entire day is planned on it and my life depends on it! Starting from chores to run for the day, to when to pick up the laundry, visit the doctor, deadlines, parties and even when to shampoo my hair! I also make a list of things I have borrowed and things which I have lent out, mainly books and CDs. I am an organisation junky! I wouldn't be able to complete half the things if it wasn't for my little diary. That's why I never carry my diary with me when I'm travelling, holidays are completely unaccounted time, entirely diary-free.




Every year, just before new year, I have a ritual of going to the store and selecting a diary for the year ahead. This year I selected a beautiful pastel pink leather bound one. It has three pretty little flowers embossed on top. It's simple and elegant. Those are also the keywords which I'm trying to adhere to this year in every other aspect of my life. SIMPLIFY is my new mantra. 

Anyway, the only problem with this particular diary is that the spine and the covers are too soft and since I'll be carrying it around in my bag all the time, chances are it will start to disintegrate by April. While trying to find a way out of this problem, I realised, that the diary would have retained it's original shape if only it had a covering or protective casing of some sort. So, I went on to make my own customised diary pouch which turned out to be as pretty as the diary itself. I made a snug fitting, slip on cover from old left over rags lying around the house and invested an afternoon to sew this to save me many more afternoons later in the year trying to mend the diary.

I chose a strong denim fabric for the casing and stitched it snugly to fit the size of the diary. Then I sew the piping as the border to secure the frayed end. The mouth of the pouch will be subject to most wear and tear. Then I chose three complimenting colours and cut out a simple flower pattern in varying sizes and attached it in one corner with a tiny sequin on top.

Voila! My very own hand crafted diary pouch!

My diary, in many ways is symbolic to the year itself. So, I'm hoping, just like I so lovingly crafted a protective charm over my diary, may I also take as much care to cast many such spells and craft many more beautiful things!