My Friday vaasal kolam
Some of the kolam I draw on Friday are shared below with some description of the steps involved.
Most of the rangoli here are with two colors white and red ochre or kaavi border , the old style of rangoli designs in kolam art.
Drawing a sikku kolam on Friday at the entrance should be avoided according to my mother and I invariably follow it.
I draw small free hand double line or single line kolam with a kaavi border for Friday.
This kolam design as with many free hand kolam designs is thought of after we bend down to draw the kolam.
The common star shaped double line kolam is drawn for the centre so that there is no starting problem the rest of the patterns
have been drawn as shown and the deepam or lamp patterns just fitted in the gaps so beautifully incidentally.
This kolam was drawn as a Friday too. This kolam is a combination of commonly used patterns / motifs in many of my kolams
. The central floral design, the lotus pattern, the heart shaped motif and spiral patterns on the periphery.
The lines that radiate outside all together appear as a sun like design has been drawn particularly the designs on the border of the kolam appear as if they are the rays of the sun to me. If it is true it is only incidental and not intentional !
Now , placing the dots around curlicues or curved lines is not my idea, like many other women, I learnt from my mother and so I tend to imitate or emulate her !
The kolam itself is a simple free hand kolam drawn on a Friday. Instead of decorating the entire kolam with kaavi powder, I have decorated or filled portions of the kolam with kaavi so the white kolam is dominant with kaavi in the background. I think it looks different doesn't it.
The rangoli in the image below is a free hand rangoli drawn with parallel lines, start with the three intersecting parallel lines ( an oxymoron says my son !) and evolve the rangoli design from there drawing floral petals and complete the design by connecting all the petals.
The patterns drawn inside the rangoli are optional however they will make the design more attractive. A kaavi (a red coloured sand powder ) border is usually drawn on Fridays.
The kolam below is also with parallel lines ( every practitioner of kolam has her own strengths and weaknesses - your weakness may be your strength or vice versa ! ). My weakness ( or strength ) is two line or parallel line kolam particularly when I draw at the entrance as vasaal padi kolam. So far as double line kolam is concerned while I prefer to have two separate lines to the extent possible , we can also draw two thick lines so that they touch each other, both are beautiful in their own way.
In the kolam below after drawing the central design with parallel lines I have completed the kolam with random radial lines with spiral patterns sprinkled inside and outside. Of course decorated with geru or kaavi powder because it is for Friday or Vellikizhamai. When we compare the kolam below with the one above we can observe the spiral patterns are from the central design in the kolam the spiral patterns are 'hanging from the top '..
In the kolam below after drawing the central design with parallel lines I have completed the kolam with random radial lines with spiral patterns sprinkled inside and outside. Of course decorated with geru or kaavi powder because it is for Friday or Vellikizhamai. When we compare the kolam below with the one above we can observe the spiral patterns are from the central design in the kolam the spiral patterns are 'hanging from the top '..
The central design with double stroke is what I use quite often as it is obvious from the previous kolam design and the one before that. The central design is surrounded by a number of curved lines as shown in the image below. Of course the outermost border is with kaavi
The two kolam below a deviation from the usual Friday kolam I draw with a kaavi or red ochre boder. The reason they were drawn for Bharani and Karthigai Deepam and Karthigai Deepam was on a Friday. So two double line kolam with some colours added to the basic design.
While it a tradition to draw a kaavi border around the kolam designs on Fridays (kaavi also called chemman in Tamil ) The first few posts were devoted to simple plain rangolis with parallel lines and show how a free hand rangoli evolves. Drawing designs with parallel lines is quite easy and takes very little time once we get used to drawing them. Of course everything in art comes with practice. So also in the case of rangoli. Since I would like share information I know about rangoli The designs are chosen at random (in the mind, of course)
The rangoli, is a near circular design. The central design starts from a swastik or in fact two. There is a slight difference in extension of arms between the second rangoli and this one because in this one I have extended the arms further with a curved line (or lines ) this make the rangoli more beautiful. Two pairs of parallel line borders both with kaavi borders complete this simple design.
The next rangoli is shown in the image below. Swastik patterns with two parallel lines are drawn to get two swastik patterns one superimposed on the other. This is achieved by first drawing three intersecting lines that are extended. The other decorations inside can be left to our imagination. Finally the entire rangoli is covered with a curved line design to match the inner patterns.
White rangoli designs for Navratri and other festivals
Rangoli that is drawn on a daily basis goes under different name colloquially, some of them are house rangoli, house kolam, door rangoli and daily rangoli. Hence separate posts have been allotted for them. The theme or the idea is the same but for the sake of convenience of the users and me this has been done. Here I will try to post a few house rangoli designs for Navratri that can be drawn for nine days of the festival. ( In Tamil Nadu it is celebrated for nine days (or nights ) )
The house rangoli in the image above resembles a padi kolam that is drawn for auspicious occasions particularly the square portion with lines. Four simple lotus patterns have been added. The gaps between the lotuses have been filled with the patterns as shown. The rangoli is decorated with borders of rangoli powder and kaavi powder.
Daily rangoli goes under many other names like door rangoli, everyday rangoli or door kolam. As I have stated elsewhere there is a tradition in some states of India of drawing rangoli designs at the entrance daily. Some draw rangoli both in the morning and evening. It is a nice and beautiful tradition and hence some of the rangoli designs that can be drawn at the entrance, daily.One more vaasal kolam for Friday this one with parallel lines resulting in the double line pattern shown. The kolam being decorated with florets like patterns. These resemble the florets of a cauliflower or broccoli according to my sister-in-law. After all, we borrow heavily from nature for kolam designs. It is the most abundant and freely available source for designs and patterns and there is no chance of a copy right violation too 
The house rangoli in the image above resembles a padi kolam that is drawn for auspicious occasions particularly the square portion with lines. Four simple lotus patterns have been added. The gaps between the lotuses have been filled with the patterns as shown. The rangoli is decorated with borders of rangoli powder and kaavi powder.
While two line kolam are relatively difficult when compared with a single line kolam, two line kolam with two different colours are more difficult and most difficult when you draw more intricate patterns with this concept. The picking up of two different colours so that the colours inside and outside or on the left and right match throughout the kolam is an activity for the brain - a brain gym really. Some examples and demonstrations of this variety are there in Rangolisansdots. However, the kolam below can rank among the simplest of free hand kolam designs drawn on a Friday with kaavi border. A simple floral petal design inside and outside.
The next kolam drawn on a Friday is also similar to the previous one the central design is slightly different but the two layers of outer borders are the same along the contours of the petals. In the space between the borders I have drawn a different type of pattern. Finally decoration with kaavi powder inside and outside.
Another Friday, another free hand kolam, this is similar to the one I have drawn elsewhere. The inverted triangles with double lines are among my favourite patterns at the centre and also easy to start the kolam - there is no starting trouble if we start with common and favourite patterns. The remaining designs fell in place - a kaavi border for the kizhamai - velli kizhamai.
The next Friday one more double line kolam, this time my mother's favourite design. She used to draw this many a time on Friday.
Aadi is an auspicious month in Tamil Nadu for kolam. We have Aadi velli and Aadi chevvai or sevvai kolam . It is preferable to draw a padi kolam with kaavi border for the theme Aadi vellikizhami kolam or Aadi sevvai kolam. I have shared one such padi kolam I drew of an Aadi Friday.
Another Friday one more kolam with kaavi border - a basic and simple kolam decorated with leaf like designs.
One more Sukravaram muggu, without chukki rangoli design
The next kolam - based on a common design at the centre ( partiularly in Rangolisansdots ) drawn on a Friday at the vasal. Kaavi is added to the rangoli either as a border or inside the rangoli as shown in some of the previous designs.
I am of the opinion that a kaavi kolam is as beautiful as a very big kolam with a lot of colours or in other words a rangoli . So even for important festivals like Navratri I draw a kolam with kaavi border. This kolam I drew on Navratri Friday 2016. This kolam can be drawn free hand or with a dot pattern using 5 by 3 or 7 by 4 . As usual some borders on the entrance ( dwara muggulu or gadapa muggulu as my mother used to call them )
This is a popular kolam video on Facebook and YouTube where I have drawn the lines continuously instead of drawing them in two stages as I have done in this kolam. I prefer such simple lines kolam even for festivals like Varalakshmi Vratham , Navarathri or Dasara.
