Terra Cotta Candle Holder

This is one kind of Terra Cotta plate candle holder which I painted (did 4 of them) for my son's school teachers. Painted inside of the pot Dark green and the rim Red (inside and outside of the plate). The outside was painted sandstone color and made green and red stripes and added a flower design.

On the inside I drew a Christmas tree with golden Terra Cotta marker, and wrote Merry Christmas and Happy New year. To add to the Christmas theme, I added glitter on the outside rim of the pot. To finish it I glazed the plate with glitter glaze to give the finishing touch (shine).

Another kind was Terra Cotta Pot candle holder (2 of them) for my daughter's day care teachers. Made a similar concept as my "First Terra Cotta pot painting", but added the glitter on the outside rim of the pot. Painted the inside of the pot RED. Finished the piece with glitter glaze.

For more information on Terra Cotta painting refer to my blog "First Terra Cotta pot painting" .

Embroidary Card - Holly Wreath

Initiated this project to make a card for my son's school teachers. Since I was busy with my baby last year, I could not do something of this kind ( Embroidery on paper) which needed effort and patience.





This card design downloaded from online, pre-pricked the embroidery design with a special piercing tool and pricking pad. Completed the embroidery (Green for the leaves, yellow for the bow each of them with - 2 strands of embroidery thread) and finished off with red dots for border, and wrote Happy 2009 in the center.


Covered the inside of the card (which shows the thread) with another white sheet so it looks clean and nice. Wrote a personal message on the inside of the card.

This gives me a sense of satisfaction and happiness when I can make something personally for each of them to appreciate their work.

For more information on my embroidery project on paper refer to my blog "Embroidery bookmark".

This was one of the craft I did for them.. Refer to the other gift I did for them in my blog "Terra Cotta Candle holder".

Personal Ceramic purse gift

This was personally done for our Friend's daughter who was performing Bharatnatyam (Indian Dance) concert/achievement. This is very tiny gift (amount of effort) compared to the effort the girl put in for her achievement. I wanted to gift her something which she can use.

Again as you know me, I tried out a new technique. This technique was done on a ceramic plate by a staff member in that store. So they taught me how to go about doing this one.

So paint the base white (only once) and the handle, rim and inside of the purse pink (3 times to get a darker color). Then using the other side of the paint brush keep dots (one bigger dot) using one color. Then on top of that bigger dot, keep a little smaller dots (using different size brush) with a different color. Then again a third smaller dot on top of the second dot using a another different color. Fill up the whole purse with this kind of dots. Finished the piece by writing her name.

For more info on my ceramic painting experience refer to this link on "Introduction to ceramic painting" post.

canvas painting - wall Art

To add color to our living room I painted different colors on a canvas (which is already framed). Blocking the white areas with a tape, paint different colors on the bigger shapes as shown and once dried remove the tape. Then bodered the shapes with golden lines with a golden pen and drew spiral designs on each of them. Then on the white areas, made dots with different colors and with black paint made lines to get a design.

This project was actually a trial and error thing, but now this is hanging in our living room , liked and getting appreciated by all our friends who come by want to know,how I went about doing this one.

First Terra Cotta POT Painting

Terra cots Pots :- have come a long way into the crafting world with delightful results. They can be used for candle holders, bells, ornaments, and even angels. You can use any type of stencils or rubber stamps, rub-ons , scrapbook papers, florals, charms, buttons and everything. The book I reffered for my projects are from Micheals store "102 Terra Cotta Projects" by Lenae Gerig.



About my project

This was the second gift given to the teachers during Dec 07 Christmas time. To view the other gift done for the teachers Refer to blog "Dec 07 ceramic gifts for teachers". Designed it as a candle holder and of Christmas theme. Painted the pot green and the rim red. Then did a snowflake design with white pen (terra cotta marker pens) and wrote merry Christmas on them. Painted the inside of the pot black. Sealed with a glaze selear which gives a shiny effect for the pot. In some pot as you can see I have used also the golden pen for the design. Wrote my son's name and the class name under the pot.

The basic tips for working with Terra Cotta pots are

• Sealing :Terra cotta is very porous and requires sealing before painting. Seal with the liquid sealer before painting. This will save time, the amount of paint used to cover the pot and help prevent breaking and chipping.
• Painting your Design : Paint your project with the desired colors and design.
• Seal at the end: After painting your pot, seal again, this will not smear any pen work and give a nice finish. I used a glaze sealer, which gave a shinning effect to it.

Dec 07 Christmas Gifts for teachers

CERAMIC MUG

Have been doing lot of ceramic projects, but did not find the time to upload them in my blog. I guess with 2 kids just life circles around them and we hardly get time to update.

Coming to the picture on the left was given to my son's school teachers (preschool class ) (did 2 of them same type). This was tough one as you had to mark each row and paint different colors (3 times to get that intensity). Then the black design was done with a stamp with the black paint done only once. Under the mug wrote the teachers names in black paint and the class name.

The picture (purple and yellow) on to your right was given to his music teacher. This also you had to mark the columns and paint them alternatively purple and yellow 3 times. Once they are dried, made the white design (love sign) and wrote "live, Love and laugh" on each column.


For more info on my ceramic painting experience refer to this link on "Introduction to ceramic painting" post.
To view the other gift done for the teachers Refer to the blog "first Terra Cotta pot painting"

Star Ceramic Gift Box

This is again another ceramic project of mine, made it as a gift for my sister in law. The inside and outer cover is dark green and the base of the box is white. With contrast of green and white flower design.

This star gift box can also be used as a gift during valentines day, or birthdays. Indeed it was a nice gift for my sister in law.

For more info on my ceramic painting experience refer to this link on "Introduction to ceramic painting" post.

WindMill for my Son's bday party gift

Did this windmill as one of the items of goody bag for my son's 3rd bday party in his Montesoori school. All the kids and the teachers loved this idea.

Purchased the windmill craft kit from a craft store online, manually had to fold them and make the windmill (with the instructions given ) and color and paint them according to our taste. Since he was learning ABCs and 123, decided to print A B C... Z on one side and color the front side with crayons, and glitter paint.


Manually doing 42 (only 30 needed for school but did some extra ones for him to play and to give the neighboring kids) was a challenge as I was really getting tired with my second pregnancy and was in due in 2 months. So getting sleep itself was a challenge but worth all the effort I put into this. My son loved them.