My attempt at mass-produced cards

Well, not really..but I did make two of this kind. My bro and my very good friend S.'s birthday are very close and I made two cards that look the same for them. I used a stencil to create the center design (bought at AC Moore), and used Fiskers decorative scissors to cut out the borders from a black card paper. I also used silver outliner used for glass painting and some plastic mirrors. I hope both of them liked it.

S. and I set up a greeting card making and selling business when we were in fourth grade. I guess this might be the right time to revive that business, now that I've figured out how to mass-produce pretty looking greeting cards. What say S.?

My Entry to Wheat Thins Creative Expressions

I am a graduate student pursuing PhD in computer science. I have always been interested in various art forms including music, dancing, painting, cooking, knitting, embroidery and other crafts. Although research provides me with an opportunity for creative thinking, it gets quite tricky to catch up with these more tangible art forms under the pressure of my academic life. Hence, I always look for ways to release some of this “creative frustration” by taking up art projects and gifting the creations to my friends.

On my recent trip to India, I saw a very beautiful wall mural, which reflected the traditions of Gujarat, my home state in India. The very old and almost extinct art form is called “Mandana”, paintings made by women on the mud walls of their huts with limestone and mirrors. The beauty of these paintings is in the simplicity of motifs and color (white on dark background), three-dimensional effect and vibrancy of mirrors. I have also been inspired by other rich art traditions of India, which involve more colors and richer (but expensive) materials, like semiprecious stones and Zari (gold/silver weaving work). Despite the beauty of these forms, I have never seen a painting that brings together all these elements and modern medias like acrylic, watercolors and ceramic paints. I had been visualizing this big painting that captured all these elements including the richness of Zari, semiprecious stones and mirrors, vibrant colors, three-dimensional effect and traditions of Mandana motifs. My college friend bought a house and I wanted to make a unique gift for her. It was a perfect excuse to bring my concept to life. I was happy that the result turned out even better than my imagination. I was even happier when I saw the look on my friend’s face when she unwrapped it.

A birthday card inspired by tradition

During my recent trip to India, I visited a famous Gujarati Thali restaurant in Lonavala, called Chandralok. Any gujarati who's ever visited Lonavala, the small hill station near Mumbai knows that it's worth waiting for hours on a Sunday afternoon for a table in this place. So while we were waiting in the heavily ornamented lobby, I started clicking pictures of the modified Mandana work on the walls. Mandana is the traditional work done on the walls of mud huts in Gujarat (the state of India where my ancestors come from). It usually involves a lot of geometrical patterns and mirrors. I was really inspired by these and wanted to work with the form, but also wanted to make it portable art. So, I bought a ton of accessories from India and started making collages and greeting cards. Here's a birthday card I made for L. The basic shape was traced from my favorite book called "Embroidery Designs" by Nirmala C. Mistry, Navneet Publications. The design uses cloth laces, kundan stones and mirrors on creative cards paper.