FAMOUS HANDICRAFTS:

ORIGAMI:
Origami, also called paper folding, art of folding objects out
of paper to create both two-dimensional and three-
dimensional subjects. The word origami (from
Japanese oru [“to fold”] and kami [“paper”]) has become the
generic description of this art form, although some European
historians feel it places undue weight on the Japanese origins of an art that may well have
developed independently around the world.
Making models from paper can require very few resources and take mere minutes (or even
seconds) to execute. Complex designs, on the other
hand, can take hours to complete. Some folders
prefer almost cartoon like renderings of their
subjects, utilizing simple folding sequences, while
others strive for highly accurate representations,
requiring advanced techniques. The use of
diagramming signs, symbols, and arrows allows for
the folding sequences to be accurately described and
thereby duplicated, meaning this art form can be
learned independent of language.
Folders generally do not compete with each other
except in terms of achieving new heights of creativity. Creative competitions involve varying
degrees of competitiveness. Enthusiasts usually share their work freely, although the time
involved in creating diagrams for each creation means that folders can easily amass large
backlogs of un-diagrammed work. In light of the commercial use of origami, copyright law
has been exercised to protect the rights of creators.
Origami, like other art forms, has many styles. The more common ones include:
1. Realistic: Creations that exhibit the main features of the subject, often resulting in
complex designs with many steps.
2. Minimal: Creations that capture the essence of the subject with minimal folds and with an
emphasis on simplicity.
3. Modular: Multiple geometric "units" made from multiple sheets of paper whose flaps and
pockets tuck into each other to form polygons or polyhedra. Typically, all sheets are folded
in the same way or in a small number of ways.
4. Composite: As with modular origami, multiple sheets of paper
are used, but in this style each sheet is folded differently to
realize a different part of the subject. Composite origami was
one of the most common styles in the 1950s and ’60s but is
relatively uncommon today.
5. Practical: Models that have a real-life application, such as for
use as envelopes, boxes, cups, dishes, etc.
6. Pureland: A concept suggested by John Smith of England, who
proposed a composition system using only square paper and
“mountain” and “valley” folds, resulting in models that are easy to duplicate.
7. Tessellations: A geometric folding technique in which the image is created by the pattern
of folded edges across the paper. Tessellations are often periodic (repeating) and may be
flat or three-dimensional, and many of them exhibit further structure when held up to the
light. Not surprisingly, many of the leading practitioners of this technique have been
mathematicians.
8. Wet folding: A technique invented by Akira Yoshizawa in which the paper contains a
water-soluble glue (known as sizing) and is dampened slightly before folding. The dampness
permits the paper to be folded into soft curves, which then harden in durability as the paper
dries.
9. Crumpled: A technique created by Paul Jackson and developed by Vincent Floderer that
involves the crumpling of the paper before folding. This technique can produce highly
realistic organic forms.
DECOUPAGE:
Decoupage, also spelled Découpage, (French: “cutting out”), the art of cutting and
pasting cutouts to simulate painting on a wood,
metal, or glass surface. There are many variations in
technique, but the four basic steps of decoupage
generally are cutting out the pictures, arranging
them to depict a scene or tell a story, pasting them
on a surface, and applying several (sometimes up to
12) thin coats of varnish or lacquer to the pictures.
Influenced by a tradition of cut work that includes
the paper cutting of the ancient Chinese, the felt
appliqu és found among the Siberian peoples, and the Polish folk art of paper
cutting, decoupage originated in France in the 17th century as a means of
decorating bookcases, cabinets, and other pieces
of furniture. It spread throughout Europe and in the 18th
century became a fashionable pastime, especially at the
Italian, French, and English courts. Graceful, charming, and
colourful designs, cut from pictures printed expressly for
this purpose, were applied to fans, screens, and toilet
articles. In the 19th century, peep shows, miniature vistas
viewed through a small opening, were constructed of
decoupage.
The French Art Deco designer Jean-Michel Frank used
decoupage on some of his earliest Parsons tables in Paris in
the 1920s. Decoupage was revived in the United States in the 1960s, as a popular
decoration for boxes, trays, wastebaskets,
lampshades, chests, and screens.
CROCHET:
Crochet, craft that developed in the 19th century
out of a form of chain-stitch embroidery done with a
hook instead of a needle. In crochet work the hook
is used, without a foundation material, to make a
texture of looped and interlinked chains of thread.
In the late 1840s crochet was introduced
into Ireland as a famine relief measure. In southern
Ireland the industry centred in Cork, in northern Ireland at Clones in County Monaghan. As
it became more sophisticated, crochet work approximated lace, antique laces such as gros
point de Venise, or Venetian raised lace, being successfully imitated.
You can make crochet from materials such as metal, wood or plastic using a crochet hook.
You can manufacture it commercially or produce it in artisan workshops. Crochet thread is
made from mercerized cotton which has a denser pile and smaller diameter than regular
yarn.

You can make crochet from materials such as metal,

wood or plastic using a crochet hook. You can
manufacture it commercially or produce it in artisan
workshops. Crochet thread is made from
mercerized cotton which has a denser pile and
smaller diameter than regular yarn.

From the late 1940s until the early 1960s, the

interest in home crafts resurged, particularly in the
United States, with several creative crochet designs
published for colourful doilies, potholders, and other home items. The late 1960s and early
1970s saw the new generation developing an interest in crochet and using bright colours.

The end of the Victorian era brought a change in crochet fashions. Crocheted lace became
even more elaborate in texture and stitching. Preference for white or pale-coloured threads
increased. After World War I, the publishing of crochet patterns was scarce. Most of them
were simplified versions of the early 20th-century patterns.

After a small decline in popularity, crocheting

and other handcrafts picked up pace in the
early 21st century with a change in patterns
and use of bright colours. You can buy
materials online or in craft shops. Reading
about the craft allows it to be self-taught
through books.
Crochet has experienced a revival in the fashion world. Christopher Kane’s Fall 2011 Ready-
to-Wear collection makes intensive use of the granny square, one of the most basic of
crochet motifs. In addition, it is a craft that has been used many times by designers on the
popular reality show Project Runway. Websites such as Etsy and Ravelry have made it easier
for individual hobbyists to sell and distribute their patterns or projects across the internet.
Laneya Wiles released a music video titled “Straight Hookin'” which makes a play on the
word “hookers,” which has a double meaning for both “one who crochets” and “a
prostitute.”

Types of Crochet

 Single crochet – One chain

 Half double crochet – two chains
 Double crochet – three chains
 Treble crochet – four chains

FRETWORK:
Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is
either carved in low relief on a solid background,
or cut out with a fretsaw, coping
saw, jigsaw or scroll saw. Most fretwork patterns
are geometric in design. The materials most
commonly used are wood and metal.[1] Fretwork
is used to adorn furniture and musical
instruments. The term is also used for tracery on
glazed windows and doors. Fretwork is also used
to adorn/decorate architecture, where specific elements of decor are named according to
their use such as eave bracket, gable fretwork or baluster fretwork, which may be of metal,
especi ally cast iron or aluminum.
Fretwork patterns originally were ornamental designs used to decorate objects with a grid
or a lattice. Designs have developed from the rectangular wave Greek fret to intricate
intertwined patterns. A common misconception is that fretwork must be done with a
fretsaw. However, a fretwork pattern is considered a fretwork whether or not it was cut out
with a fretsaw.
Computer numerical control (CNC) has brought
about change in the method of timber
fretwork manufacture. Lasers or router/milling
cutting implements can now fashion timber
and various other materials into flat and even
3D decorative items.

MOSAIC:
Mosaic, in art, decoration of a surface with designs made
up of closely set, usually variously coloured, small pieces
of material such as stone, mineral, glass, tile, or shell.
Unlike inlay, in which the pieces to be applied are set
into a surface that has been hollowed out to receive the
design, mosaic pieces are applied onto a surface that has
been prepared with an adhesive. Mosaic also differs
from inlay in the size of its components. Mosaic pieces
are anonymous fractions of the design and rarely have
the dimensions of pieces for intarsia work (fitted inlay
usually of wood), whose function is often the rendering
of a whole portion of a figure or pattern. Once
disassembled, a mosaic cannot be reassembled on the
basis of the form of its individual pieces.Technical insight
is the key to both the creation and the appreciation of mosaic, and the technical aspects of
the art require special emphasis. There are also significant stylistic, religious, and cultural
aspects of mosaic, which has played an important role in Western art and has appeared in
other cultures. Although mosaic is an art form
that appears in widely separated places and at
different times in history, in only one place—
Byzantium—and at one time—4th to 14th
centuries—did it rise to become the leading
pictorial art.In Christian mosaics, tesserae of
mother-of-pearl or coarse-grained marble cut to
round or oblong shapes were used to depict
pearl. Though pieces of semiprecious stones
were among the mosaic materials of antiquity,
their use was rarely dictated by the wish for
particular sumptuous effects. Reduced to
common tessera size, bits of this strongly
coloured material served as part of the general
colour scheme of the mosaic pictures. Objects like those of the pre-Columbian American
Indian cultures, in which, because of its exquisite materials, such as turquoise and garnet,
mosaic attained the status of jewelry have not been found in Western art.
Among the materials that have played and continued to play a role in the production of
mosaic, ceramic is the most versatile. Terra-cotta “threads” were used in Greek mosaics
as contours, and tesserae of the same material were frequently used by the Byzantines for
the depiction of red objects and garments. Today, glazed or unglazed ceramic is used and is
one of the strongest competitors with glass and
stone. Ceramic tesserae are cut from tiles or, like
much modern glass mosaic material such as pressed
glass, come prefabricated. Prefabricated tesserae
have the advantage of a very uniform and smooth
surface which harmonizes with glass, steel, and other
new building materials.
PASHMINA:
Cashmere, animal-hair fibre forming the downy
undercoat of the Kashmir goat and belonging to the
group of textile fibres called specialty hair fibres.
Although the word cashmere is sometimes incorrectly
applied to extremely soft wools, only the product of
the Kashmir goat is true cashmere.
The fibre, known as pashm or pashmina in some parts
of Asia, became known for its use in beautiful shawls
and other ha ndmade items produced in
Kashmir, India. In the early 19th century cashmere
shawls reached their greatest popularity, and the shawls of England, France, and the town
of Paisley, Scot., were made to imitate the original Kashmir shawls.
The cashmere goat has a protective outer coat of coarse fibre that is 4 to 20 cm (1.5 to 8
inches) in length. The downy undercoat is made up of the fine, soft fibre commonly called
cashmere, which ranges from 2.5 to 9 cm (1 to 3.5 inches) long. Most of this down fibre is
plucked or combed out by hand during the molting season. Iranian cashmere, however, is
obtained by shearing. The annual yield per animal
ranges from a few grams to about 0.5 kilogram.
A sweater requires the fleece of 4 to 6 goats; an
overcoat uses the production of 30 to 40. Some fibre,
called pulled cashmere, is taken from the skins of
slaughtered animals.
Fabric made of cashmere is warm and comfortable to
the wearer, and it has excellent draping qualities and
soft texture. The fibre, which absorbs and retains
moisture much like wool, is somewhat weaker than fine
wool and considerably weaker than mohair. It is highly
susceptible to damage by strong alkalies and high
temperatures. Dark fibres are bleached to obtain light shades, although the process may
reduce strength and softness. Cashmere fabrics are subject to abrasion in wearing; pilling, or
bunching together of surface fibres, is a problem in knitwear.
Cashmere is used mainly for fine coat, dress, a nd suit fabrics and for high-quality knitwear
and hosiery. It is sometimes blended with other fibres. The strong, coarse hair separated
from the down is used locally for grain bags, ropes, blankets, and tent curtains. Because
world production is so small and gathering and processing are costly, cashmere is a luxury
fibre. Demand and, consequently, price are affected by fashion trends. New man-made
fibres with similar texture and fineness, produced at much
lower cost, have become a source of competition.
The major producers of cashmere are China, Mongolia,
and Iran. Cashmere is also produced on the Indian
subcontinent and in Afghanistan and Turkey. The United
States, the United Kingdom, and Japan are leading
consumers.
MADHUBANI PAINTING:
Perhaps the best known genre of Indian folk
paintings are the Mithila (also
called Madhubani) paintings from the Mithila
region of Bihar state. For centuries the women
of Mithila have decorated the walls of their
houses with intricate, linear designs on the
occasion of marriages and other ceremonies, Painting is a key part of the education of
Mithila women, culminating in the painting of the walls of the kohbar, or nuptial chamber
on the occasion of a wedding. The kohbar ghar paintings are based on mythological, folk
themes and tantric symbolism, though the central theme is invariably love and fertility.
The contemporary art of mithila painting was born in the early 1960’s, following the terrible
Bihar famine. The women of Mithila were encouraged to apply their painting skills to paper
as a means of supplementing their meager incomes. Once applied to a portable and thus
more visible medium, the skills of the Mithila women were quickly recognized. The work
was enthusiastically bought by tourists and folk art collectors alike. As with the wall
paintings, these individual works are still painted with
natural plant and mineral-derived colors, using
bamboo twigs in lieu of brush or pen.

Over the ensuing forty years a wide range of styles a

nd qualities of Mithila art have evolved, with styles
differentiated by region and caste - particularly the
Brahmin, Kayastha and Harijan castes. Many individual
artists have emerged with distinctive individual styles.
Among the best known early Brahmin artists have
been the late Ganga Devi, Baua Devi, Sita Devi, and
Karpoori Devi. Today’s leading artists, working in the
kayastha style, include Pushpa Kumari and her grandmother, Mahasundari Devi. Other
painters in their family include Pradyumna Kumar and Pushpa’s younger sister Mala Karn.
Works by several of these Mithila artists (Baua Devi, Sita Devi and Mahasundari Devi), along
with Santhal jadupatua paintings and old Bengali scrolls, were included in the show Stories,
Ceremonies and Souvenirs: Popular Paintings from Eastern
India at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Among the
current generation of Mithila artists, Pushpa Kumari, and
younger artists such as Mahalaxmi Karn and Shalini
Karn have expanded the canon to embrace contemporary
issues of education, technology, women's rights and
marriage equality.
TIE-DYING
( BANDHANI):
Bāndhanī work, Indian tie dyeing,
or knot dyeing, in which parts of a
silk or cotton cloth are tied tightly
with wax thread before the whole
cloth is dipped in a dye vat; the
threads are afterward untied, the
parts so protected being left
uncoloured. The technique is used in many parts of India,
but Gujarāt and Rājasthān pr oduce d, and are still noted for, the finest work.
Surviving examples of the technique do not predate the 18th century, making it
difficult to trace its earlier history.
The process is fairly laborious and largely confined to young working girls, who
grow long fingernails with which they deftly handle the fabric. It consists of
folding, tying, and dyeing the cloth in several stages; the final result is a fabric
with a red or blue field patterned with
white and yellow dots. Geometrical
ornament is most popular, but animal
and human figures and flowers are also
introduced in elaborate examples.
COCONUT CRAFT:
The craft of making decorative and utility
products out of coconut shell and wood is
mostly practiced in parts of India where
coconut is grown in abundance. However
in most of these areas coconut wood was
or is still used as firewood and/or building
material. Coconut shell has always been
used as a cooking fuel and to make small
multiple-utility bowls or serving spoons
with simple bamboo joinery. However with
the passage of time and the improvement
in tools, people started making various
other small utility and decorative articles by cutting coconut shell or by carving coconut
wood.
Coconut shell and wood craft is primarily prevalent in Kerala: in and around Calicut,
Trivandrum, Attingal, Neyyatinkara and Quilandy in
Kozhikode. Other states where this craft is practiced are
Goa, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and a few parts
of Bengal, Pondicherry and TamilNadu. Another
instance of availability of coconut shell craft is in the
tribal belt of Bastar where intricately designed patterns
in white metal are inlayed in the shell and cut to make bangles

This craft is also prevalent in oth er countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines,
Java, Maldives and Sri Lanka.Coconut wood is known for its spotted grain. This varies from
one portion to the other even in a small piece, and this irregularity makes it unique and
beautiful.Coconut wood is obtained from 60 to 70 year-old trees which no longer yield fruit.
The tree is selected by an experienced person who can gauge the texture of the wood by
looking at the tree. The grains in the wood are determined by the soil quality and the
geographical location.In a coconut tree the usable timber is the portion between the inner
core and the outer bark. This usable woody section is only 2” thick. The texture and quality
of timber is not guaranteed and at times only the first 7 feet from the ground yield wood
with grain. The timber is seasoned for two to three months. The seasoned timber is cut to
size as per the product requirement.
JUTTI:
The jutti is a type of footwear common in North India and neighboring regions. They are
traditionally made up of leather and with extensive embroidery, in real gold and silver
thread as inspired by Indian royalty over 400 years
ago. Prior to that, Rajputs of the northwest used to
wear leather juttis. Now with changing times
different juti with rubber soles are made available.
Besides Punjabi jutti, there are various local styles as
well. Today Amritsar and Patiala ("tilla jutti") are
important trade centers for handcrafted juttis, from
where they are exported all over the world
to Punjabi diaspora. Closely related to mojaris. Juttis
have evolved into several localized design
variations, even depending upon the shoemaker.
However by large, they have no left or right
distinction, and over time take the shape of the
foot. They usually have flat sole, and are similar in
design for both women and men, except for men
they have a sharp extended tip, nokh curved upwards like traditional mustaches, and are
also called khussa, and some women’s juttis have no back part, near the ankle. Even with
changing times juttis have remained part of ceremonial attire, especially at weddings, the
unembellished juttis are used for everyday use for both men and women in most of Punjab
mostly called Jalsa Jutti which is blackish in color.
Many Punjabi folk songs mention juttis, like Jutti
kasuri peri na poori hai rabba sanu turna
paiy and Jutti lagdi vairia mere'.
There is a wide variety of juttis (pronounced 'jeut-
tii' in Punjabi or 'jeu-tea' in Hindi/Urdu) available
for both men and women. During certain festivals
special juttis are also fitted to the feet of cows.
Elsewhere in India, juttis are commonly also
known as Mojari, while an alternative name in
Pakistan is khussa. They are now very popular in
the West too. Like mojaris, these are long shoes
with the end curled upwards.They have been
traditionally handed down over generations, with each generation contributing some
variation to it. These are the traditional ethnic Indian footwear.
They are usually made of fine leather and are delicately embroidered with threads or beads.
Juttis are slip-on in style and are characterized by rising high to the Achilles' tendon in the
back and covering the toes with a round or M-shaped heavily-embroidered upper, leaving
the top of the foot nearly bare. Some feature extensive hand-done embroidery.
It is believed that one of the earliest examples of footwear worn on the Indian subcontinent
is a sandal of wood, datable to circa 20 0 BC. During the 3rd and 4th centuries in the
Buddhist period, it was quite common to wear strapped sandals and Indian kings wore
sandals ornamented with precious jewels. Jain literature shows that leather was used for
the making of shoes, which protected the toes from getting injured. Hides of cows,
buffaloes, goats, sheep and other wild animals were used.
These ethnic shoes were worn by
wealthy zamindars, chaudhary, nawab, jagirdars Maharajas and Maharanis of India
(especially Punjab), various designs showcased in this category are inspired from the Mughal
era. All these are handmade by skilled artisans in remote corners of India. Jutti is the
traditional Indian footwear popular in North India, especially
in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. It also has slightly different variations which are known as
kussa or mojri. Beauty, vibrant color and utility are combined in these juttis of India. Rich
golden threads and colorful beads are used to craft exquisite motifs in order to impart a
royal touch on these juttis made of different shades of leather. People prefer wearing them
on traditional occasions like weddings. Along with traditional dresses like sherwani or kurta
pajama, juttis form the quintessential accessory.