quilled kolam

       

       After a long time I have quilled a kolam design. Kolam is an art of decorating courtyards and houses ,a tradition followed up to this day. Every morning women draw beautiful kolams in front of their houses with ground white stone powder or rice powder. Kolams are more a part of south Indian culture. It is considered as a symbol of auspiciousness. During festivals large colourful kolams(Rangoli) are made which adds to the festivity.

       We have free hand kolams which have lot of swirls and curls ,and then there is the dotted kolam where dots are placed on the ground according to a particular count and design and kolams are drawn joining those dots. Just like in quilling we have fish , flowers , birds ,elephants ,peacocks and lot more designs in our kolams.

       Below is the picture of the kolam from my kolam book that I took as inspiration for my above quilled kolam. It is a free hand kolam. The paper that I have used is very thick , it is the one which I used when I began to quill. Therefore the kolam is really sturdy .

         I have used  the same length of strip for all the curls .I have cut the strip into two for the S shaped scrolls.