Kolam by Sudha Balaji

This information is based on the questions that were asked through comments on my videos on YouTube.  The information has been collected here so that it can be book marked for reference particularly when kolam or muggu drawing is at the peak during Margazhi ( Dhaurmasam ) upto Pongal ( Sankranti festival )  1. What rangoli powder do you use I use kolapodi as we say in Tamil Nadu purchased from the local vendor.  It is sieved to remove rough particles.  Then to three parts kola podi one part rice flour is added and mixed well.  This video shows how it is done . The YouTube video is 👉  rangoli tips video     2. Do you make rangoli colours at home Not at present.  I get colours from Nagpur where my sister lives.  There are many requests for rangoli colours making tutorial , so I am planning to make one 3.  Which rangoli book do you follow There are thousands of designs in Rangoli-sans-dots blog and hundreds of videos in Rango...

9 dots Sankranti pot rangoli designs with dots  | Pongal panai kolam | pot , sugarcane , sun designs Margazhi is also important due to the fact that the English New Year falls in this month and the month ends with Sankranti.  Since our family lives in Tamil Nadu, we are lucky because we celebrate the English New Year, adi (New Year celebrated in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra)   and of course the Tamil New Year.    On the new year's eve we find many rangolis  big and small welcoming the new year.   The words "Welcome 2" or "Happy New Year " will  be written on the periphery of many Margazhi rangoli heralding the arrival of  " Puthaandu ( New Year ) ".  Margazhi ends with Sankranti celebrations.  It is celebrated for four days in Tamil Nadu.  The first day is  Bhogi,  2nd  day is Thai Pongal,  3rd day is Maattu Pongal and the 4th day is Kaanum Pongal .    Apart from  othe...

The theme followed in this post is flower based kolam or pookolam with dot patterns.  This collection of chukki rangoli designs with floral patterns can be used for our daily kolam  poo kolam with 11 dots The kolam for the Navaratri Dasara season is of 11 to 6 idukku pulli (dots in between) pattern.  This is called parijatham (a flower) type kolam.  Obviously, this is not the poo kolam drawn with flowers.  I have named it so because I have drawn a few petals at the end of each arm. Though Rangoli-sans-dots means rangoli without dots no collection of rangolis is complete without rangoli with dots aka pulli kolam in Tamil.  Hence, I shall have to post some designs with dots in future.   So far as this design is concerned it is a common rangoli with dots. Only I tried to make it appear different by filling up with grey colour inside the pattern and filling different colours of the petals.  Usually, we find it drawn plain without colo...

  Drawing the Pongal panai images for festival decoration This theme is ubiquitous during Pongal festival.   The Pongal pot, sugarcane and sun represent the day after Bhogi i.e Pongal or Makara Sankranthi.   The Sun travels to Uttarayana which heralds the advent of the spring season. Sugarcane is harvested during this season.  Sweet Pongal is prepared in a new pot decorated with designs.   Four or even five rangoli designs may adorn the entrance of the house. There is also a tradition of wearing new clothes.  This festival is similar to Diwali in the joy, celebrations involved except crackers. I  have shared lots of  Sankranti pot rangoli with dots in Rangolisansdots.   There were requests for making drawing of the Pot design easy  because drawing near perfect curved lines requires a lot of practice.  The interest is rangoli is increasing and there are many who want to learn and try this art daily and for v...

Saraswati Puja rangoli | Dussehra rangoli  This is a traditional rangoli design drawn for Saraswathi Puja in Maharastra .  If you are following the blog , it would be obvious that I learnt from my sisters who live in Mumbai and Nagpur. The design though it appears simple is a little tricky - where we are likely to make mistakes - in choosing the length of the lines - the seven lines that are drawn should be of such lengths i.e the ratio of the length of the top and bottom lines should be such that all the curved lines can be drawn comfortably without interfering with one another at the top of the rangoli .   Otherwise the patterns are repetitive in nature and we should be able to draw it easily. All the curved lines on the left go above the top line in a symmetrical ( as humanly as possible ) manner The next three images show how the curved lines are drawn so that they do not intersect or meet each other. After drawing the curved lines on the left , the lin...

Simple peacock rangoli for Diwali | Easy Sankranti peacock muggulu  One of the most fascinating creations of nature for colour, pride and grace is the peacock.  No wonder it is the national bird of India.  We all have a fascination to draw the peacock kolam for our festivals.  Peacock is considered to be the vahana of Lord Subramanya ( Karthigeya ) so there is a divine connection also.  So I have added many different types of designs in Rangolisansdots using the peacock,  this is one of the easiest methods. Place a white dot for reference.  Draw thick white lines using the shades of green and blue we usually associate with the plumage of the bird.  This is shown in the image below. Using the finger form designs as shown in the next image for creating mor rangoli designs for Diwali Repeat this patterns expanding the plumage part as shown the next photo.  Both the colours mix and blend giving a beautiful effect. P...