Kolam by Sudha Balaji

 I have shared these rangoli with colours elsewhere in this blog.  I am sharing them here so that you can colour them for Diwali festival according to your imagination.   You may also use them for vasal (entrance ) kolam if you are looking for some intricate designs  Some of you may be aware that I share rangoli videos on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.   I share some interesting comments and feedback I get there on my blog. Recently, I had this comment for one of my videos "Coming here first time. Amazing ...authentic... alignment .... accolades pouring unto to you our dear artist. Purely divine utterly beautiful.   Background music also synced so divinely.... Lovely experience.... I love Rangolisansdots "     I have shared some of the adjectives that she used as an alliteration.   So far as background music is concerned, I use Carnatic music provided by Facebook.   Alignment - I think she refers to symmetry.  ...

Collection of top rangoli designs for Diwali Best rangoli design simple 1 - This was quite a popular design when I first started sharing rangolis on social media. The secret is that as far as possible all lines both straight and curved should be continuous without breaks  Best rangoli design easy no. 2 Starting to draw a free hand rangoli is easy if we use basic geometric patterns like square or hexagon Best rangoli kolam no. 3 - After erasing a colourful rangoli,  I store the mixture of various colours separately.  The resultant colour is somewhat brown.  I used it as the background for the design in the image above. The photo was taken at an odd angle  Best rangoli ideas no. 4 - Floral designs are another easy way of starting a rangoli without dots.  If we have, in our memory, a set of patterns that can be used at the centre, we will not have a starting problem! Best rangoli kolam image no. 5 - I just love to create rangoli designs.  Here in the pi...

Drawing kalash is considered to be auspicious for any festival.  This rangoli design with dots is with 7 by 4 dots (interlaced dots). Two intermediate steps are shown so that it is easy to understand (for those who may need it).   Kalash rangoli design with 7 by 4 dots.  It can also be drawn for Navarathri and Varalakshmi Pooja.  Picture showing first step for the kalash rangoli simple  One more image for the kalash rangoli design with dots  Adding mango leaf patterns, lamp or coconut and Feet of Goddess Lakshmi make this rangoli suitable for Lakshmi Pooja, Friday kolam and Varalakshmi Vratham also. For a long time and that is a few years I did not have a profile photo on my Google account that included Blogger and YouTube.  As I stated elsewhere, I am not comfortable when in limelight.  Incidentally my manager in YouTube also asked me "only your hand is visible, you do not have a profile picture, I suggest that you add your profile pic and...

 1. Independence Day rangoli competition - a simple design 2. Simple Independence Day rangoli designs for beginniners Two rangoli designs for Independence Day competition ideas.  We can make it big or small according to our needs.  In the first rangoli the diameter of circles can be increased or decreased to make it large or small.  So also in the second rangoli design.  The number of birds we draw decides the size of the rangoli image. Birds represent freedom, peace , hence they have been chosen for the theme .   I have chosen orange white and green green colours   I have added a pair of birds in blue to represent the ida of India.  The birds are flying and so they denote or represent freedom.  Two  simple rangolis that symbolically represents Independence Day. Birds rangoli designs can also be used for Women's day to represent freedom and liberty for women. For the second rangoli, sprinkle rangoli powder  to get a suitab...

  How to make cotton wick / panju thiri / vattalu /Hatti Hirubatti for  Puja at home.   The image below shows how to make long wicks that are suitable for lamps that have holes suitable to hold these type. When you buy ask for cotton that is suitable to make wicks.                                   Dip the fingers in milk and draw the cotton.  We should be able to stretch  without the wick snapping.  We can also use vibuthi or sacred ash .  Take a ball of cotton and draw it into a thin long thread. Fold the wick using the hand and roll between the palms as shown in the pic below  Some types of lamps can hold only flower wicks ( puvvu vattalu ). Again , dip the fingers in milk , stretch the cotton and make the wick as shown below  This can be used for harathi plate also  These wicks are available in the market but when we make them ourselves at home...

  I have shared the rangoli design in the descending order i.e 1,2,3,4, 5 of the top designs in my opinion.  Please comment what in your opinion is the best in this collection.  The first rangoli uses a flower pattern . Browse the gallery.   Best rangoli for competition no. 1  I have used just two colours to shade.  Please note that I draw free hand designs without any aids.  I do not draw the pattern first with a piece of chalk.  If we practice regularly we can get better at symmetry.   Best rangoli for kolam competitions no. 2 I just love the orange colour used in the periphery.  Actually this is what makes the rangoli stand out in what is otherwise a simple pattern. Best and easy rangoli no 3  A very popular rangoli on social media particularly YouTube few years ago.  Making use of the square base at the centre is an easy way to create a rangoli for festival.  I have not used any colours.  What we have to obse...

I do not use any aids viz.  drawing the pattern with chalk piece, using scale to get perfect symmetry.  Whatever symmetry I attain is through practice only.    Use the white rangoli for daily purpose  Same small and easy rangoli with colours for Diwali  I hope you will agree that the rangoli drawn above is reasonably symmetric.  This design can be used as the central part of a bigger rangoli.  We can start with this and then expand.  As a matter of fact, the flower design is most commonly used.   Here there are 16 petals.  We can have 8 or 32 petals too.  Optimum number is 16, for drawing 32 we should use the thin line technique.  Whatever the number the gaps have to be filled with some simple patterns. I get personal messages (DM) for drawing rangoli designs for functions and weddings.  I politely decline the requests though the organisers promised to pay for my art.  Somehow, I am not inclined to do it....

We use the term " ezhai " in Tamil Nadu when referring to line rangoli designs.  Actually, ezhai does not mean line only.   Ezhai refers to a strand of a thread.  It can be considered as a metaphor.  We should draw lines that are as thin as a strand of a thread.   Of course, with kola podi the thinnest possible lines that can be drawn should be drawn when we make this type of rangoli.   This is also a beautiful method of representing this simple art, just like double stroke technique. Remember to decorate the kolam with wet kaavi (we can draw using a cloth, I use a cotton bud dipped in wet kaavi )  to indicate that it is an auspicious function or festival. The pics above show the step-by-step procedure to draw the design.  Maintaining thin lines throughout comes with practice. Rangoli tip How to draw thin lines - Take minimum quantity of kolam podi.   Step by step pictures for line rangoli padi kolam The next step in the r...

  Quite a few viewers on social media ( Facebook, Blogger ) ask me why I have used the name "Rangolisansdots ".  Sans means without in French,  I am told.  I started with rangoli without dots.   A white design that can be used for daily purpose I am on social media sharing rangoli designs for eleven years now.  Obviously there are several requests for designs with dots too. So I am sharing both types.  However the name stuck.  It is not possible to change the name .  It leads to several problems with search engines.   They frown upon changing name.   T he freedom with free hand rangoli is that we can decide the size depending upon the space , time and imagination at our disposal. Same rangoli with colours for Diwali festival ( also known as Deepavali in southern part of India ).  Adding colours to the plain white design can result in creating the most beautiful rangoli designs ( in the world !) Most of the design...

  Nowadays stickers for rangoli designs are available.   The satisfaction I  get when I  draw a kolam in the morning listening to devotional songs in the background is bliss.   It is to be experienced and  cannot be explained in words. When I visit my acquaintances, it is painful to see rangoli stickers at the entrance .  Stickers should not replace a traditional kolam .   If time and space are constraints, we can draw small and simple designs. You can choose from the thousands of designs available on this website.     The images above show one of them. While the black and white kolam in the pic can be drawn for our daily kolam.   It can be filled with colours for festivals like Diwali (Deepavali in Tamil Nadu). The use of spirals in simple rangoli is demonstrated in the design shown above.   If the spiral designs are drawn at a single stretch without any breaks , the rangoli will look even more beautiful....

While rangoli themselves are beautiful, when  drawn with parallel lines are even more beautiful.   Drawing the rangoli lines in parallel - simultaneously can be used for smaller and bigger designs.  You may have observed  that drawing  2 stroke designs  is my weakness :) :) I just love to draw them . For this technique the trick is to take    rangoli powder is taken between the index and middle fingers.  Using the thumb, the index and middle fingers allow the rangoli powder to flow between the middle and index fingers ( one line ) and on the outside of the thumb ( second parallel line ) .    The distance between the middle and index fingers depends upon how comfortable we are in drawing  When we use two diferent colours instead of while , the result is a rangoli with parallel lines of two different colours.   If drawing parallel lines in rangoli is  difficult, drawing two different colours is  more diff...

  How to draw 2-line rangoli  Pick two pinches of while kola podi with index finger and central finger, push both with the thumb such that the powder falls between the middle finger and index finger (first line) and outside the index finger (second line). The lines should be discrete and should not smudge as can be seen from the images. Simple rangoli designs without dots for Dhanteras too.  The rangolis are simple but the technique of drawing parallel lines comes with practice.  What better occasion that the festival of lights to try something special  Green glass and gold bangles combination worn by me has become popular on social media, it appears. " I like your karakamalam with green and gold bangles " Rarely, when I changed the glass bangles with those of a different colour "This is not Sudha Ma'am's hand?"   It is our family tradition to wear green glass bangles.  On rare occasions I used to change them with red glass bangles but after the ...

  A collection of 7 simple rangoli designs for seven days of the week that can be drawn at the entrance .   Simple kolams that I create in the afternoon listening to old Tamil songs   ( Mornings are reserved for devotional songs including Venkatesa Suprabhatham,  Vishnu Sahasranamam , Abhirami Thirupadhigam , s ongs on Sai Baba , Raghavendra Swami, Maha periyava ,  Murugan - takes 3 to 4 hours and evenings for Kanda Sasti Kavacham 🙏🙏 ) reach the blog or as videos on social media.   Many designs are still there in the several notebooks I have only some are shared  One of my followers sent her feedback through email  "Hello Mam... This one is inspired by your latest post on YouTube and FB... My mom who is 82 years old is a big fan of yours... she watches all your posts... selects and gives me the execution to take it to the vaasal... If anything can be done in pooja room she will do herself.   I tried posting this thank ...