Papers, Notebooks and Memories

Back when I was a school girl, summer vacations began and ended with bookbinding. At the beginning of summer, my father would handsew tons of pamphlet journals for us to practice our handwriting and write "dictionary meaning" (which was looking up meaning for words in Tamil-to- English and English-to-Tamil dictionaries). We spent the last week of summer, before school opened, covering our brand new textbooks and notebooks with crisp brown kraft paper. We would cut the paper using an old razor blade (neither my father nor my mother would part with their scissors) and glue the covers with homemade rice starch. And then, we would carefully write our name,-- in cursive of course, that was whole point of practicing handwriting--class and the room number. Oh, what fun it was! More fun than the school itself. Interestingly, we were never allowed to decorate the covers which was seen as frivolous and would garner a good scolding not only from the parents but also from the teachers.

My father passed away eleven years ago and my mother just recently. And, I find myself cutting, pasting, sewing and binding notebooks and journals once again. I have also resumed my teaching. There is something deeply meditative about bookmaking--as one immerses oneself in carefully measuring, aligning, punching, cutting, sewing and gluing, one enters into a zone of deep silence, just the hands and the papers moving together in quiet harmony. During these moments, I find myself doing a lot of thinking not just about my parents, but also about the course materials, the syllabus and the students.

With the amount of junkmail that I get at home and at work, there is never any shortage of materials for making journals and notebooks.  The one above and below are some of the mini journals I made using junk mail, brown paper bags, unused papers, notepads etc.

This one below is more than six years old. My daughter bought it in Rajastan, India way back in 2004. The cover is made of camel leather and embossed appropriately with an image of a camel. It is handsewn and has held up quite well even after so many years.

Below is a stash of repurposed notepads as bookboards, handsewn signature--all ready to be transformed into a notebook or a journal.

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The Age of Copper

Copper, Green Opals and Turquoise Perfect Together!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/53905630/copper-green-opal-turquoise-autumn

The skyrocketing price of gold and silver has made copper an alluring and affordable choice in jewelry designs in recent times. Besides, in this era of increased yearning to be one with nature, the color of copper instinctively evokes the warmth of the sun, the rustle of the autumn leaves and the swirling of the desert sands making it suitable for many types of artwork.

Copper is a naturally occurring mineral and copper was known to some of the oldest human civilizations including the Mesopotamian and the Indus Valley civilizations. The Copper Age lasted from 10000 B.C. to 3500 B.C when it was succeeded by Bronze (which is an alloy of Copper) Age. The use of copper in agricultural tools, utensils, building materials, jewelry and later on in plumbing and electrical fixtures continued well into the modern age. 

Patinated Copper Roof on the Minneapolis CIty Hall (Photo: Creative Commons)

The Statue of Liberty has 179,220 pounds of copper (Photo: Creative Commons)

In India where I spent my the first two decades of my life, copper utensils were very much part of our life. I vividly remember the big coal burning copper boiler that we used in winter months for heating water. It was a glorious piece capable of heating about 50 gallons of water and my mother always kept it polished to its full coppery sheen with salt and tamarind paste. But, copper was burdensome to maintain for the already overworked housewives and the advent of stainless steel supplanted its use in the kitchen. Which is a pity because copper is antibacterial with the ability to kill several potentially harmful pathogens. It is also an essential nutrient for human health. Copper rich food are oysters, lobsters, brazil nuts, black pepper, sunflower seeds, avacodo and green olives.


Copper is a very malleable metal and an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. It is associated with the planet Venus and is considered beneficial for promoting love, positive relationships and peace. Copper yantras (tantric designs engraved on thin copper plates) are particularly favored by the Hindus. 

In jewelry designs, copper combines fabulously with dark, rough, semi-precious stones like turquoise, green opal or lapiz lazuli. With fall around the corner, this may be the best time to incorporate copper in your art. 

Sari Art Mixed Media Yin and Yang in Autumn

This sari art is my interpretation of the Daoist concept of Yin Yang-- dark-light, strong images-soft lines, text-symbols are brought together to create a unified whole. Select wisdom sayings from Dao De Jing are printed in soft colors on the background along with the Chinese symbol of harmony and peace. The fusion of Indian materials and colors with Chinese text and symbol is also very yinyang.

You can find more about this artwork here : yin and yang

Mixed Media November Challenge: Boxing Clever

Just finished decorating the top...looks like beadwork, doesn't it?

For interior lining, I thought I would use the mulberry paper I bought last year. Here it is with the first layer of color.

The one below is another piece I did for my daughter.

Legume and Tomatoes: Healthy and Satisfying

This is one of my favorite dish--healthy and easy to prepare. And goes with rice as well as chapati (Indian baked bread). Or you can eat it just plain with a little bit of yogurt.

It is easy to prepare because like a typical Indian, I cook the legume (green mung dal) in the pressure cooker. No overnight soaking or slow cooking. It only takes about 20 minutes to have it cooked in the pressure cooker.

Heat up a little bit of olive oil in a pan and cook some tomatoes with salt, turmeric and chilli powder. When the tomatoes are soft, add the already cooked mung dal and mix it thoroughly into the tomato sauce. Let it simmer for a few minutes before removing from the stove.

How to Create U-Tube Video for Your Etsy, 1000 Markets Teams

As an artisan with a shop on Etsy I belong to several teams and on 1000Markets, I founded and manage a market known as the Asian Inspirations Market.

This week as part of my team duties, I created u-tube videos for the Etsy Melange Team ( a mixed media art group with shops on Etsy) and the Asian Inspirations Market. Many of my team/market colleagues wanted to know if it was difficult to do. Actually, it is not. It is super simple and I did it all on Picasa. Basically, it is a slide show converted into a movie format. Below is the video I made for the Etsy Melange Team

Here is how:

Note: Before you gather the images for the video, get the artists consent first.

1. You need to create a folder to hold the images that will be included in the video. Give a name to the folder, preferably with the team name and a date. This is what will show on the first slide (you can also edit the slide later).

2. Go to individual shops and decide on the product that will be part of the slide show.

2. Saving the images---I have a Mac and it is simply a matter of dragging the product image to the folder. Do not use the thumbnail image. Click on the thumbnail and copy the image that shows up on the actual product page. 

3. Once you have added all the images that you want to include in the video, open up Picasa. If you do not have Picasa, you can download it  here

4. In Picasa, select the folder that contains the images and click on the Movie icon at the bottom of the screen.

5. The movie window will look like this

5. Now you set up the video as you want. Under the movie tab, on the left side, you can load audio from your hard disk and use the various options to play (e.g, fit photos to audio, truncate audio etc.).

6. Set the transition style.

7. if you want to add any text slide, click on the slide tab and it will open a blank slide and you can add your text. I must warn you here--the adding and editing text is the clunkiest part of this process. 

8. Click on "Create Movie" to make the movie. It will take a few minutes for it to process.

9. Play it and if you want to change it, click on edit, make the changes and click on "Create Movie" again. You can do this any number of times till you are satisfied.

10. Now the last step: Click on the YouTube button. You need to have an account onYouTube t to load the video. Once you set up the account, follow the instructions on the screen.

Etsy Melange video on YouTube

Peanut Butter and Capsicum Curry

This dish is for those who love  peanut butter is any form, any where. It is a very tantalizing combination, the mild spiciness of green pepper offset by the sweetness of the peanut butter. Though it is a comfort food, it can be still be considered healthy especially if unsalted freshly ground peanut butter is used. Aside from the peanut butter, very little oil is used in preparing the curry.