Macrame love

Macrame is a knotting technique that is belived to be originated among the 13th century Arabic weavers. Earliest representations were found in the carvings of the Babylonians and Assyrians. Macrame can be used to make a simple knotted bottle or plant holder. But the knotting can graduate into very complex decorative pieces, bags, jewelry or even fabric. I am taking my baby steps in macrame and I don't think I will ever be able to make a complex macrame piece. However, I am overjoyed at the possibilities of a hanging planter :)

A beer bottle macramed into a hanging planter :)

There is something so charming about the affair between light and beer bottles. There is something equally charming about the affair between biriyani and beer bottles, but that is another story I am reserving for a better time.

My my!

Just days after the beer bottle was installed (yeah, installed), we carried out macrame love to kerala.

Here is us tightening the knots in a macrame plant holder.
Me, Ma and the Boy.

Plant on a mango tree.

Mother plants orchids in coconut husks.

Macrame knots.

Next summer vacation, this planter will be replaced with a swing.

Bottle Love

Bottles are beautiful. I had collected all kinds of bottles ranging from whiskey, wine and vodka bottles to juice and badam milk bottles, beautified them with paint or other found objects and used them as decor while I was a student. Now that there is a toddler running around, I can't display bottles the way I used to. This is a nostalgia post about pretty bottles, back from my hostel room during 2009-10. 

The Dragonfly bottle

Dragonfly is a pretty being. Put it in a bottle using glass paint, keep a candle behind it. It is easy to sketch, but what a sight! 

On a different note, if anyone cares to have art tutorials on this blog, on glass painting or general doodling, let me know in the comments. We will think about it :) 

The flying bottle 

I used to pick up all kinds of pretty and inspiring things from the road side whenever I used to go for walks in and around my campus in Hyderabad. This beautiful peacock feather displayed in a wine bottle was found on one of my walks from EFLU towards the Osmania University Gate. It was not like any regular peacock feather, it was the side feather without the usually sought after ones with the blue eye. Look at how lovely the simple non-embellished feather is. 

The bottle tree 

This is another simple idea to embellish a bottle. Just wrap it in thread. I have used braided jute thread and red thread on this juice bottle. The red thread was bought from the Maula Ali Dargah. The twig was found on one of my walks inside the EFLU campus. The wooden rooster toys were from Shilparamam, a craft heaven in Hyderabad. 

Bottle Groups

Display two or more bottles together for a pretty sight in itself. Here, it is a juice bottle sharing some love with a badam milk bottle. The juice bottle is the same one above, the one with jute thread wrapped around. The badam milk bottle has rolled newspaper pieces inside. That is another thing I used to do, when I used to get bored with one arrangement, I used to move my props aka bottles around :) After all, there is only so much one can do with a hostel room. 

The showstopper Mermaid 

I will let this one do the talking by herself. On a smirnoff bottle, a mermaid, once upon a time. I gave the bottle away, I don't remember who has the bottle now. She must be doing her rounds in the EFLU 

hostel.