Last
month,
the
hubby and I took stock of our little
wallets and came to a conclusion that we were dealing with not just
holes but
craters in them. With maintenances and property taxes and insurance
premiums
and furniture and our unstoppable love for food, we'd pretty much
turned a
sprinkle into a downpour from our piggy bank. So the usual budgeting
and let's
cut this and let's cut that followed. The next thing on the horizon was
Diwali
and of course, we were in the kind of mood where we said, that's it. No
gifts
this time. But then Diwali still had to be special and fun. So a
brainwave (?!)
hit and said “I know! Let's make gifts”. So started our Diwali DIY
project.
With google
and pinterest, the possibilities were
endless. I spent many happy hours browsing and shortlisting various
things I
loved. Always having been extra strong (!) on feasibility studies and
planning
exercises, I drew up an impressive list of things to make. Hubby looked
at me
with the resigned look that he has learnt to wear when I am on one of
my crazy
streaks.
The first
day I was off work, I rushed to the heart of
the city and raided the stationary stores, paper stores and the like to
stock
up on all essentials. I wanted to make sure I had everything so I
bought
doubles as I usually do. This was definitely going to be a
super-economical
project.
So basics
were of course, diyas
For this
project, my daughter was super thrilled and
jumped aboard. All aboard the chhoo choo train. Off we were. Rushed to
the
potter's and got 24 diyas for about 40 bucks and soaked them overnight
in water
to minimize oil leakage. I'd already raided the stationary store for
colors,
glitter tubes, varnish and the like. A large wooden board covered with
tons of
newspaper, color palettes, brushes, painting aprons and we were set.
The lil
one would call out a color. We'd pour it into the palette cups, dip
brushes and
begin the whish-whoosh; one side and then the other. Turn it over and
carefully
set to dry. One mistake we made was put them to dry on the paper. So a
little
bit of newsprint joined the diyas. Nevertheless being super-proud of my
amateur
DIY'er status and completely convinced of the leeway I took to be my
right, I
took this in the stride. No harm done. A quick second stroke of color
over the
borders and we declared the problem solved. I don't think the diyas
would
agree. But hey, I declare the 'Done' here. It took us about
2-3 evenings
to complete the base coloring and then off to decorating. Squiggles,
(a)
symmetrical flowers, (un)evenly spaced dots - I just let myself go.
Master
creative minds at work do not worry about details but just go with the
flow.
So, we finally had 24 diyas all decked up and ready. A coat of varnish
and 2
days in the sun; these are now ready to be packed off
Meanwhile,
on the side, what was planned was Utna. Our
DIY diwali would not go with store-bought Utna. The search for this was
not
easy and google for once refused to be of much help. So I reached out
to my
sister who's an Ayurved doctor. She messaged me the list of
ingredients, most
of which I'd naturally not heard of. I went to an Ayurved store and
confidently
listed of all the ingredients that I wanted. The store-owner looked at
me and
started handing out everything powdered. Now my sister had asked me to
get the
original ingredients but then with powders, this would definitely be
simpler.
No such luck. One message to her and a definite answer - 'No,
absolutely not. That
would not be strong enough”. Luckily the store keeper sourced it for me
by the
next day. I spread them out on plates. The next morning was to put them
out to
dry. 1 day of sunshine, not too bright to ensure the fragrances stayed.
As luck
would've it, it rained the next day, and the next. I was in despair.
But
finally, the sun decided to make an appearance and I had these dried.
Next,
what I needed was a mill; a special kind of mill that drills shikakai
and the
like. Regular mills do not accept these due to the strong odor. I
called my
local JustDial (mother-in-law) and as always, she knew where one was.
FIL
kindly agreed to take it to the mill which decided on 2-days of leave
for polls
and then Thursday (the national power-cut day). But finally, he was
able to take it around and we now
have one container full of utna - about 0.5 kg.
Moving on
to the fragrances, I had no idea these
were so difficult. I read umpteen blogs on this and each one had a
slightly
different way. I knew this one would probably be the Achilles heel for
my
Diwali project. In any case, we decided to give it a shot.
These are the two blogs that I referred to
most since it dealt with mostly procurable (?) materials
http://www.rookiemag.com/2012/11/diy-fragranc/
http://sweetteaapothecary.com/blogs/news/7644907-how-to-make-your-own-perfume-oil.
http://sweetteaapothecary.com/blogs/news/7644907-how-to-make-your-own-perfume-oil.
The first
challenge, glass bottles to bottle the oil.
These are not available in our area and available only in the city.
Working
weeks and other-priority weekends did not give me a chance to do this.
Again,
my local JustDial (mother-in-law) stepped in. She’d unused glass
bottles that
we’d bought about 3 years back for gifting. I gladly stole them from
her and
set off with my task. The glass bottles were first sterilized. The
second
challenge was the carrier oil. Most blogs recommended jojoba as carrier
oil.
Almond oil can also be used but apparently has a stronger smell and can
overpower the flavors that you use. Now, in Pune, jojoba oil is still a
specialty. It’s not available in local stores easily and that launched
another fruitless
search. Then on some blog, I saw olive oil mentioned as the carrier
oil. It did
have to be cold pressed. But thanks to the proliferation of Italian
cooking in
Indian homes, this was much easier. I went to a cosmetic store to buy
olive oil
for massage and to my surprise was handed over a regular bottle of
Borges EVOO
which the label said ‘Used for pastas, salads, dressings’. Hmm, this
one for
Diwali oil? I decided to give it a try.
I filled
the bottles with coarsely ground clove,
cinnamon, chopped mint, rose and golden champa, one in each bottle. I
covered
these with oil and tightly closed the lids. These were then immersed in
boiling
water and left till the water turned cool. There was a failed
experiment where
one of the bottles filled with tuberose had an argument with the
boiling water
and just lost its cool. It cracked and water entered the bottle.
Odor? Yes. Fragrant? Decidedly, No.
The next
was a sun bath. So put them out in the sun
for 3-4 days and then let them rest a bit for another 3-4 days in a
cool, dry
place. Now, the third challenge was small perfume bottles to blend
these.
Thanks to a super cooperative WhatsApp group, I was able to reach
Deepti
Chemicals near Vijay talkies and got them. The blending is yet to
begin. That
is planned tonight. I did a sneak whiff on these and there is a mild
fragrance
in each bottle. The result remains doubtful since I believe it would
need
longer to rest.
Then,
came the next part. I wanted to make handmade paper lanterns/lamps that
could
be used easily. I was spoilt for choice with the variegated designs
available.
But how do you illuminate these? I did not want wires and plugs. I was
bent on
using handmade paper so that ruled out actual tea lights. There was
some
information available on fireproofing paper but it mainly made the
paper fire
resistant, not fireproof. The other option, LED tea lights. However
these are
fairly expensive in India as yet. More research, led to LED throwies.
This may
be something I go with, if I do get time. Since now, I am officially
behind
schedule by about 1 week.
The
designs
I loved,
LED
Throwies:
I
tried
the pyramid lanterns and they
were mostly simple to do. When I do manage to get them illuminated,
will
definitely let you know. I also have materials ready for Idea #4. Any
takers?
And
finally, the part I did not
account for. Packing. What do we pack these in? Since I’d done my bit
of
research and truth be told, was exhausted, I handed this over to hubby.
Read:
begged him to take over and threatened with dire consequences. So, he
got on YouTube
and followed video instructions to make simple paper bags. We do need
to make
these special so Nandini’s handprints will adorn these simple bags. A
small
pack of utna packed in tissue envelopes, a pair of hand painted diyas,
pyramid
lamps minus the illumination and a small bottle of very lightly
fragrant oil.
Not too fancy and definitely amateur. But great fun and hoping for more
next
year. And here’s leaving you with our own homemade lantern
#Note
to
self
- Plan better, plan smarter
- Involve the whole family (extended as well)
- How do you light the diyas? :S
- Use WhatsApp for material sourcing information ALWAYS
