As much as I am excited about Halloween, I am also super duper excited by another holiday in this season.
IT’S DIWALI!!
(It will be on Monday 24th October 2022)
Diwali is a festival celebrated in many cultures (Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and some Buddhists), and a central theme of the festival is the celebrating the victory of good over evil.
There are a lot of fun ways to celebrate Diwali, but the crafter in me loves creating Rangoli patterns. I think it is a lot of fun, and it is an easy project that the whole family can get involved with (what could be cozier than that?).
‘Rangoli is an art form originates in the Indian subcontinent, in which patterns are created on the floor or a tabletop using materials such as powdered lime stone, red ochre, dry rice flour, coloured sand, quartz powder, flower petals, and coloured rocks.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoli
I was raised Hindu + Sikh (yes, I realize that sounds conflicting but it doesn’t feel it) but don’t follow either religion. Having said that, it is important to me to pass down knowledge about my heritage to my daughter, and making Rangoli at Diwali is one way I feel I can do that. It also feels like a cool way to connect to my ancestors.
Traditionally, Rangoli powder is colored using natural ingredients. I didn’t feel quite confident doing this, so I have used food dye. It is also what I had at hand.
This is a super quick project which as I mentioned, the whole family can get involved in. Continue scrolling so you can see how you too can make your own Rangoli powder!
D.I.Y Rangoli Powder
Items I used for this project
– 2tsp of food coloring in desired color*
– 1 TBSP Salt
– 0.25 Cup Rice Flour**
– Mini blender
– Storage container (a Ziploc baggie works well if you have nothing else).
Instructions
PLEASE BE AWARE!!!
This powder is fine, and depending on how you blend the mixture, may suddenly disperse in the air when opening your blender. Please make this project in a well ventilated area.
Add the food coloring, salt and flour in to the blender.
Blend until all ingredients are well blended, and you have the shade your desired.
I found my food coloring getting stuck in the edges of the chopper container, so I used a spatula stick (with the silicone spatula removed) to try and get it unstuck.
Store in a re-sealable plastic bag or container until ready for use.
You are done making your rangoli powder.
To use the powder, simply use it to draw and colour your design on the ground outside. We decided to use chalk to outline our drawing, but you can use the powder too.
In hindsight, you might want to use some sort of stencil/tool to create your rangoli, because I struggled to make our images look neat and defined. Definitely had a lot of fun though!
My daughter also had a lot of fun mixing up all the colors, despite my best efforts to keep the colours seperated. In the end, I gave up trying and just let her get on with having fun.
* Depending on the colour you want, you may need to adjust the amount of food colouring you use, though 2tsp of colouring was right for me.
** I am aware not everyone happens to have rice flour laying around at home. I have heard that others have used salt, sand and even grounded up coloured chalk in place of the rice flour. I personally haven’t used those combinations of ingredients, so am unable to comment on how well they work. If you have those ingredients available though, it might be worth experimenting with them.
If for whatever reason, you can’t do this project, I have an alternative for you! Use these free printables below to color in your own rangoli pattern! You can use markers, crayons, paint, or complete it mosaic style to make it your own. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
You can also share your version of this project with me the following places:
To make sure I don’t miss it, just use my tag @cozymagichome and use the tag #cozymagichome.
Until next time!
Blessed Be!
Amrita