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Easy rangoli designs - beginners

Though I have drawn all the designs myself personally I am thankful to my family for the inputs, information and help in drafting all the posts so far.  I have used the terms kolam  rangoli quite freely in all the posts. Probably there would have been differences based on classical (!) explanations in the past but today kolams can also be colourful like rangolis both in the free hand and dots type  I find that even the terms rangoli kolam and kolam rangoli are used at  present. The only area where I think kolam are different are in sikku kolam and arisi maavu kolam. Both are beautiful, challenging and can be intricate . Rangoli is muggulu in Telugu and so this post will be useful for those in search of small and simple muggulu for beginners.  This post   may have answers  kutty rangoli /kolam designs The rangoli in the image below is one of the basic designs that can be used for learning.   Form a star with two inverted triangles.   ...
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To stand or sit while drawing kolam

Traditionally we have to stand and draw kolam at the entrance. Kolam is an art similar to rangoli that is drawn at the entrance of homes daily early in the morning. 

When we stand, bend and draw kolam obviously we perform a physical exercise too. It is a good practice to draw the kolam standing at one position without moving around.  Having said this, I have to add that it is easy for small and medium sized designs (I can draw medium sized kolam also from one side because I use a compact dot grid). It is very difficult to do it from one side for bigger kolangal.  There is no hard and fast rule.  It depends upon what we are comfortable with.  

 This will improve our visual skills because we try to visualise the patterns to be drawn in various directions standing in one place It is preferable to draw it early in the morning before sunrise.

 For a demo video please watch this video, how I stand and draw kolam 

Some more tips based on viewers/readers feedback and/or comments

1. White kolam powder and rice flour mixed in the ratio 3:1 respectively.  One viewer asked whether we could use wheat flour.  Rice flour gives brightness, and we cannot get it if we use wheat flour. 

2. Take minimum quantity of kola podi for better control while placing dots and for drawing thin lines. 

3. While erasing a colourful rangoli, mix all the colours and white.  The result is a totally different colour, depending upon the colours we use.  This is stored in a separate container and can be used for Margazhi and Thai months (Tamil months corresponding to December and January approximately) when we draw a lot of colourful kolam.  This tip I learnt from my elder sister.  She is of the type not to waste anything and will find some use for anything that is to be discarded.  

3. For drawing double lines or parallel lines take two pinches of kola podi on the index finger and the next finger.  Using the thumb push the podi such that one line falls outside the index finger and the other line falls inside the index finger.  This is the theory part of it. 



         

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