Rangoli making tools DIY Diwali ideas

Creative lotus rangoli ( kolam )

While lotus is one of the most favored patterns in our rangoli designs ( In South India this pattern is quite popular during Navratri and Varamahalakshmi Pooja )  drawing it free hand may be difficult for some of us.  While browsing the internet I discovered that there are table coasters with lotus patterns on Flipkart.  These can be used as stencils .  The result a beautiful multi colour rangoli design that is is a perfect circle also.

Fill the lotuses with colours

Remove the coaster gently otherwise the pattern formed can get smudged

A simple technique with a match stick or tooth pick to form a flower pattern

Shading of the lotuses

Gaps can be filled with patterns according to our imagination.

Another idea for lotus designs using tea coasters

We can also have rangoli borders 

While traditional methods of making rangoli are beautiful in their own way - as the saying goes - regimentation suppresses creativity.  So some simple tools that can be used for rangoli making can also be thought of .  These methods will be particularly helpful for those who want to try rangoli designs for the first time and are still learning the traditional methods of drawing rangoli with fingers and hands

The first rangoli in this collection of  images and videos.

The CD can be used to a get perfect circular pattern around which we can extend the lines as shown.

Inside draw floral patterns with cotton bud

Outside also use cotton buds to form floral patterns

Light diyas around the flowers or in the gaps to get the festive atmosphere as in the case of Diwali.

The common chakli template that is available in homes to make savouries for festivals like Diwali  ( Deepavali ) can be used to form symmetrical designs and patterns.  I have already shown in another design how I use these templates for making rangoli design.  (  We are not aware of what they use for making rangoli colours so it is preferable  to have a separate one for rangoli or to wash them well after using )

Using only CDs we can get really awesome and beautiful rangoli as shown in the images below.

The photos below show how a bangle and ball pen can be used to create a small and cute rangoli .  Kids may love doing this for Deepavali and as an art activity ,  I hope.

Place a CD and other CDs around so that they all touch each other.  Fill the holes in the CDs with white or any other colour rangoli.  Remove the CDs carefully.

Use a vegetable masher ( when we use tools that are used in cooking it is preferable to buy one exclusively for making rangoli to avoid contamination with chemicals that may be mixed in rangoli powder ).

 Place it at the centre and fill the holes with two colours one for the holes in the periphery and another colour for the remaining holes inside.

Repeat this process for all the white dots.   The result  is the pattern as shown in the image.

In the gaps place white and pink dots as shown in the next two photos and make floral patterns with cotton bud.  Fill the white and pink flowers with pink and white dots respectively.

Now using a cotton bud make patterns out of the yellow dots to get a design that represents a flower.

Green rangoli is used to formed leaves or stems as we may call them

A simple trick to get a colourful rangoli for festivals like Diwali and Navratri.

Two very popular videos on YouTube from my Channel on rangoli or kolam using innovative methods of creating rangoli ( this is an update )

Both have crossed more than a million views on YouTube without me sharing them anywhere,  I just left it to YouTube as I usually do for all my YouTube videos.  I do not share on any social networking sites.

This video shows how CDs can be used for creating rangoli and the second video shows how paper cups can  be used for creating rangoli.  The major advantage of these techniques or tricks is that the tools themselves take care of the symmetry.  

The only area where we have to concentrate is to see that the CDs or cups that we use for creating rangoli touch each other to ensure that the design does not become asymmetrical.  Rest is left to our imagination to fill colours in the gaps, holes . Remove the tools that we use and develop further on the pattern that is available on the floor using fingers, cotton buds or tooth picks .

   

This rangoli with paper cup and the previous video with CDs I thought of when I was trying to find a solution to the problem to a number of my regular viewers who through comments, through mail and through messages on my Facebook page - Rangolisansdots - conveyed their difficulty - though they liked many of my videos , they found it difficult to make rangoli designs using the traditional rangoli drawing methods of using the fingers.  For them and for children , I wanted to ensure that their interest in rangoli making is not dampened by this handicap , so these two and other innovative rangoli making tools were "discovered "

  

Using paper cups and moving them  after filling rangoli around them we can get beautiful rangoli  as can be seen in the pictures below

The next rangoli is a traditional rangoli pen or gun technique.
The images show a not so easy design drawn by me using the rangoli pen.  Control in flow of powder comes with practice.  Initially we may find that the powder flows or falls unevenly

The gaps are filled with pink and green colours

We can use chakli templates or murkku acchu as we say in Tamil for creating easy designs for rangoli  Already we have patterns stamped in the chakli templates so it easy is quite easy to create the designs.

One such rangoli is shown in the image below.  The video for this rangoli which is from my YouTube channel "Rangolisansdots " is available here 

Another idea I have tried as a rangoli making tool that is readily available at home or shops is the Popsicle or ice cream sticks we use for crafts.  One sample representation through a couple of pictures in the patterns below.

Drawing floral petals , free hand may be difficult for some of us.  So I thought of this idea ( I try to make of items available in our households ) using a cookie cutter .  Place the cookie cutter in different places around a bangle, fill with colours of rangoli.  Rest is our imagination for decoration.

The images should give an idea

Want to create an easy rangoli for Diwali , the video below ( one more innovative idea I tried to make things easy for all of us ) a manual juicer that we use to make moosambi juice has been used to make the rangoli.  Place the juicer in such way that the patterns match and are in line .  Then add some dots , lines and colours to complete the rangoli

If you would like to view the video for making rangoli using juicer it is here 

One more innovative rangoli tool that we can use for important festivals like Diwali and Dussehra is the ordinary plastic spoons.  The photos below show ( I have shared this in another post too, however I am adding a different set of pictures and steps to show how innovative we can get with rangoli making tools )

After placing the spoons in a radial pattern , rose buds are created in a rangoli .  We can make bigger rangoli by placing the spoons around a compact disk ( CD ) or plate and decorating inside the plate too.  The permutations and combinations are infinite as in the case of traditional rangoli designs.