Endless Varieties of KOLAMS and RANGOLIS

Dear Saro

Thanks for your detailed reply. Saro, I live in Dubai, and here I dont get normal kolam powder. I get it from India. I am very fond of drawing kolams and I regularly do it in front of my home and at altar. Me & my daughter also do rangoli, the colors here sold are very fine and they are mostly holi colors....... I guess.

I made note of used coffee powder is dried and stored for this purpose. I will also do that instead of throwing them as I do now.

Best Rgds
Shanti

Originally Posted by Yashikushi

These are just from the internet.
Ya,some are done by the same.

When it comes to applying color to kolams, there are only a couple of ways, which meet all the requirements as far as beautification is concerned. You can color a kolam by using the color of nature, such as flowers, by removing the petals of the flowers and using it to fill inside the outlines of the kolam. Kolams colored with petals of roses, jasmines and marigolds look strikingly beautiful, and the whole area smells so fragrant!
Some colors like yellow or brown could be easily used from your kitchen or pantry. Turmeric is used for yellow and ground coffee beans could be used for brown. Some color savvy ladies in India like to save used-up coffee grounds and tea leaves for the purpose for coloring kolams. Red , orange and maroon color powders are collected by grinding up some red gravel or bricks.
There are commercially made colored powder or dyes available in the market. You can mix those dyes with the rice flour or the sandstone powder to get the desired hues you want and then color the kolams.

saroj.........wwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooowwwwwwww wwwwwwww..........
wat else to say???? thanks a looooooot for sharing...the main entrance and pooja room of all ILites....wud be adorned with these kolams....

YOUR R AN ALL ROUND CHAMP....

Saro Mam, Thanks a lot..........

for the endless collection

Loved your collection, copied them all.,

Originally Posted by Tulips27

Wow..Very Beautiful Kolams :)

Thanks Tulips.
Shanthi Various day-to-day colored powders are also variously used: indigo for cloth staining, and spices like turmeric, chili, rawa, rice flour, and wheat flour. Powder colours can be simply mixed into the base.

Originally Posted by gvart

saroj.........wwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooowwwwwwww wwwwwwww..........
wat else to say???? thanks a looooooot for sharing...the main entrance and pooja room of all ILites....wud be adorned with these kolams....

YOUR R AN ALL ROUND CHAMP....

Eda, eda, edathan ethir parthen.Vera ennatha na solla.
Thanks GV.

Originally Posted by meerapavya

Saro Mam, Thanks a lot..........
for the endless collection
Loved your collection, copied them all.,

Thanks Meera for glossing out here.
With pleasure,you can use them

Hello Saro....

Very Nice collection.. thnx for ur info abt colors.. I know abt tea dust and brick powder since in India my mom used to do coloring such a way... Pls give us some more tips.....

Originally Posted by ahilakaran

Hello Saro....

Very Nice collection.. thnx for ur info abt colors.. I know abt tea dust and brick powder since in India my mom used to do coloring such a way... Pls give us some more tips.....

Thanks Akila.
The colour theory follows:

The materials used for Rangoli take on either a flat appearance, when a uniform monolayer of powders are sprinkled or a 3-D effect when different sized grains like cereals, pulses etc are used either in their natural colouring or tinted with natural dyes are used. Some artists use the 3-D effect for borders alone while others create beautiful designs using grains and beads entirely. Coloured powder can be directly used for fancy decorations, but for detailed work, generally the material is a coarse grained powder base into which colors are mixed.

The base is chosen to be coarse so that it can be gripped well and sprinkled with good control. The base can be sand, marble dust, saw dust, brick dust or other materials. The colors generally are very fine pigment podwers like gulal/aabir available for Holi or colors mentioned above specially sold for rangoli in South India. Various day to day colored powders like indigo used for cloth staining, spices like turmeric, chili, rawa, rice flour, flour of wheat etc are also variously used.

Powder colors can be simply mixed into the base. If the base is light like saw dust, it can be used to make floating rangoli on the surface of stagnant water. Sometimes saw-dust or sand is soaked into waterbased color and dried to give various tints. However that probably cannot be used on water. If a rangoli is to be made on water, the color should preferably be insoluble in water.

Now – a- days, kolams are coloured using coloured kolam powders, same sized tiny pebbles, salt, grains, husk and sand.