10 x 10 dots rangoli ,10 pulli kolangal

   Bow and arrow rangoli | Bow & arrow design in kolam

A common kolam that is drawn for Rama Navami .  It can also be drawn for Holi.  I have shared the steps for the white rangoli only.  We can add colours or draw the designs with rangoli colour.

10 pulli sikku kolam

This 10 dots sikku kolam uses 10 by 10 dot pattern.  The pics should be useful and I think necessary to understand the steps involved in drawing this design.

10 by 10 dots rangoli designs | 10 pulli kolam

                         

The next four images show the birds being drawn , I have shown the position of the hand to  indicate that all  the patterns being drawn from one direction only. Drawing from one side is not easy.  In fact almost all my rangoli designs  are drawn sitting or standing on one side of the dot grid.  This is particularly difficult for birds and shankh designs.  Please try this method and tell me how it goes , through the comment section.

I have stopped at the white rangoli step.  We can add colours for festivals like Pongal and New Year

10 by 10 dot grid i,e a square grid of this size is not very common in kolam with dots.  These dot grids are used in Maharastra for rangoli with dots designs that are drawn for Diwali.

Coming to the kolam , this is quite a common kolam though the dot grid is uncommon.  It appears as if birds are perched on a stand.  Whether the stand will be stable given the shape is a totally different question.  Just as poets have the liberty to imagine , similarly rangoli artists also have the liberty or they take the liberty to draw patterns to suit the dot grid.  ( It just like music in the movies ,  I understand that either the music is composed for which the lyrics are  written or the lyrics are written first for which the music is adjusted accordingly )  So some kolam need a particular dot grid and usually there will some dots that cannot be connected perfectly to get a pattern that matches the theme.  It is not a good practice to erase those dots .  We have to make use of those dots to get some design that somewhat matches the original theme of the rangoli.  So here we have the stands to help the birds to perch.  

Now the kolam has been explained through the steps and written text where ever required in the images above.  However though it is a simple kolam , what I have done is I have drawn the kolam sitting on one side of the dot grid .  While drawing the base on which the birds perch is quite easy, drawing the birds from one side , I can assure you is not so easy , in fact it is very difficult because visualising how the birds will look in different directions is indeed challenging.  Probably this the reason why kolam is nowadays being used as an activity for school kids and also as an art therapy.  

kolam drawing is also a very good physical activity for us , women due to the movements we perform bending down and drawing the designs.  The designs themselves are probably a good exercise for the mind.