Ikat Pattern- Diwali Greetings

Hello friends,

In India, textile industry is the second largest industry after agriculture. Cotton is the major fiber produced currently, and was probably also in ancient times. Cotton weaving and spinning seem to be known to Harrapan civilization which flourished around northwestern Indian subcontinent between 3300–1300 BCE. 

When I see a lot of variety in traditionally made textiles, which especially reflects in patterns and textures of saris from different areas of India, I wonder how they evolved and became so distinct and iconic.

When I saw Avery Elle's ikat stamp set last year, it reminded me of a traditional textile made in my state. Patola saris are famous saris from Gujarat which are a double ikat woven sari made from silk. They have royal history however, sadly, there are only a couple of artisan families left with knowledge of this type of weaving.

Anyway, I had been meaning to use this ikat stamp set for long. But only way I can think of using it was as in way of patterns I had seen in those saris.

         

Following are the cards that I made.

For first two, I tried to conjured up traditional patterns. I know it is too busy but I could not resist stamping every element of the set in there. 

I used watercolor paper and first colored the ombre background with distress inks in red and yellow. After it dried, I stamped images in line with pigment and dye inks. In between the dark red and orange sequences, I stamped same images in a metallic ink- Amber Satin from Colorbox Brocade collection. I added Liquid Pearls- Platinum Pearl and tied golden embroidery floss at the top. I stamped and white embossed the sentiment.

Designing the second card took a bit of thinking. I first stamped elements in line with red and orange inks. I added golden lines in between each sequence and then hand-sewed over with golden floss. It felt incomplete and plain just to paste this panel without any delicate embellishment. So, I used Spellbinders'- Flourish trim die for decorating edges and painted them with gold metallic Gelatos. I added white embossed sentiment on vellum over a red ribbon and wrapped golden floss.

This third one is a modern take on the pattern. I stamped the elements directly on card base with
bright colors and added shimmer cardstock stripes. I added gold lines with marker and embellished with flat golden sequins.

 I like this simple version. I am thinking of designing more cards with this set. Let see when I get a chance...amidst thousands of other ideas that I am eager to try!

Enjoy!

Submitted to:
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

Items used:
(affiliate links used)

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