Plate art decoration ideas - thermocol , paper plate

Plate art
Plate art decoration is an important branch of arts and crafts.  It is done on  paper plates, glass plates for wedding plate decoration, food plate decoration and for festivals like Diwali pooja thali  and Navratri aarti thali decoration - for decoration of kolu or for offering haldi and kumkum to guests.  However, some  traditionally offer haldi and kumkum on a silver plate. Some of the ideas for decorating thali or plates probably could also be used for Karva Chauth puja thali ( a festival celebrated in northern part of India) for which  a decorated plate is also required among many other requirements.

Diwali aarti thali decoration with rangoli made with honey and cotton bud 
What we need are , a clean plate, honey , semolina , rangoli colours and diyas.

Dip the cotton bud in honey , draw the patterns or borders first .  Sprinkle semolina and shake gently the semolina sticks to the honey and the excess is removed.  Then the floral rangoli at the centre  is drawn.  Finally fill the gaps between the semolina patterns with rangoli colours.   Place diyas and decorate your home for Diwali with this simple, eco friendly decoration.
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Also for simple Dusshera decoration at home, office or school
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Aarti thali decoration with rangoli 
Using the same idea we can have decorations for festivals like Navratri, Karthigai Deepam and Karva Chauth
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Diwali thali decoration ideas

Diwali thali decoration or Diwali plate decoration can be done by drawing rangoli like patterns. I have tried in  on a thermocol plate  I have used 3D glitter fabric paint of various shades, a tooth pick for making the patterns and of course diya ( I have used battery operated artificial lamps for demonstration.  On a thermocol plate, first draw concentric circles of increasing diameter using 3D glitter colours.  Then with a tooth pick make patterns to get the design at the centre.  Then place drops of 3D glitter all around at different radii.  Again using a tooth pick make tilak like patterns.  Finally place the diyas on the plate.  The images below should give a better idea.

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Simple  battery operated diyas or lamps on plate decorated with free hand rangoli
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How to make rangoli on thermocol plate 

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Simple craft ideas with thermocol plate
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Take a thermocol plate of reasonably big diameter, the bigger the diameter the bigger design we can draw.  Draw a free hand design according to your imagination.  If you need some ideas there are some free hand rangoli designs in Rangoli-sans-dots. The pen used must be a marker suitable for writing on glass, metal or OHP.
The next set of images shows how a paper plate can be decorated.  Using 3D glitter or something similar make semi circular or circular patterns as shown.  Then using a sharp object ( like a compass or divider in a geometric box ) draw lines radially to get the final designs 
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Two simple thermocol art work
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Apart from the fact rangoli designs are drawn to welcome guests ( and of course insects and birds when drawn with rice flour ) they can ( and are being used ) for decorations on gifts.  One of the most common uses are on plates particularly for festivals like Karva Chauth, Diwali and Navratri when rangoli designs are ( or can be ) drawn on metal or thermocol plates to decorate and to gift.  They are drawn on metal plates when offerings are placed and for aarthi plates during Navratri festival. Rangoli designs  can be drawn on thermocol or wooden plates when used as gifts.

 Of course, when we purchase a blank plate and decorate with a rangoli design and gift it  the sentimental value the receiver attaches to it is more than what it usually has when we purchase and gift a ready made plate. So, the result, a thermocol plate decorated with three D glitters or outliner as they are called with a free hand rangoli design.  It starts with the now common pattern in Rangoli-sans-dots at the centre that radiates ( beauty and)  some more patterns from the centre towards the rim of the plate

.Aarthi plate decoration with rangoli on metal plate 
The image below shows how the plate art decoration is done.  However I have done the aarti plate with rangoli powder in this plate for aarti.  I have a video for this idea in my YouTube channel too. I have tried it Aishwarya kolam or Akshaya patra rangoli with rangoli powder following the steps above.  Place the dots pattern with honey and draw the kolam / rangoli design.  Sprinkle rangoli powder on the design made from honey. Shake the plate gently so that the rangoli powder sticks to the honey.  Tap the plate gently on the floor or table to remove excess powder. 

 Follow the same procedure for the rangoli border design in green colour.  A simple aarti plate decoration for festivals like Diwali, Navratri is ready. Instead of the video, the images below also give an idea how this simple home-made aarthi plate decoration is done.  The dots are placed using honey and cotton buds. With cotton buds the rangoli is drawn ( in this case Aishwarya rangoli or kolam ) with cotton buds as shown in the first image.

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 The second image shows rangoli powder is sprinkled on the design. Only part of it shown.  The powder is sprinkled to cover the rangoli completely.  Next the plate is tapped gently to remove excess rangoli powder, while some of it sticks to the honey forming the rangoli design.  The result the rangoli design in the third image.  Finally a simple border is added along the periphery of the plate.
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              Navratri aarti plate decoration ideas 

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Dasara decoration ideas 
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This is done best on a metal plate as shown above.  It you want a simple design you can stop at the level shown in the photo below.  However if you feel that the aarthi plate needs to be more colourful add colour rangoli powder as in the photo above.  All designs are of course drawn free hand usually starting with a floral design at the centre with petals or we can try some other pattern or motif.  As we do in a free hand rangoli decorate the rangoli design at the centre with some more patterns in a symmetrical form.  The outermost part of the plate can be filled with borders of any design.

 It is a simple home-made puja plate decoration method or idea a temporary design like rangoli !

Apart from Navratri plate or thali decoration ideas given here could also be used for festivals like Karva Chauth for which a decorated thali is one of the requirements.
Rangoli craft - aarti plate or thali decoration for Diwali , Karva Chauth with semolina or salt

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Yet another aarthi plate decoration for this post devoted to some types of  displaying art.  The method for decorating an  aarthi thali with rangoli  has already been explained earlier. However a quick recap is given below

Method for making the aarthi plates shown above

The plate  for aarti is cleaned with a  dry cloth.   Using a cotton ear bud dipped in honey draw the free hand rangoli of your choice and imagination.  Allow the honey to settle for a minute or so.  Then, sprinkle semolina on the design . Use the optimum quantity of semolina because too little will not fill the design and too much will pose a problem in removing the excess and there are chances that the free hand design may get after.  Everything settled, allow the the sooji to stick to the honey, the plate is gently shaken to remove excess sooji or semolina  and the result is a design with semolina. The rangoli is filled with colour powder of our choice.  The final design is as shown above.  This is a simple decoration that can be made at home and is eco-friendly too.

If honey is not available, you can dissolve jaggery in water so that it as viscous as honey. My mother after seeing this post gave me this information.  In this case the viscosity of water and jaggery solution is the main criterion.

Navaratri and Diwali decoration idea - rangoli on water on a shallow plate

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Floating rangoli or rangoli on water is an important and interesting type of rangoli design.  If you try to draw a rangoli on water with rangoli powder you find it to be impossible.  So we have to add rice flour to water so that it becomes denser.  Now one can draw a rangoli on water plus rice flour with relative ease. Once such rangoli below with 5 dot pattern. Place the dot pattern (!) on water and draw the rangoli design as shown in the image below or  follow the video that is from my YouTube channel Rangolisansdots.
Kolam on plate / rangoli on plate for Navratri decoration idea also for Diwali

It is a simple and beautiful idea to have a decoration for Navratri kolu that is different.  The procedure followed is what is done for drawing a kolam in water.  On a clean plate add a few drops of coconut oil and spread it evenly with the hand.  Now place a dot grid if  a kolam with dots is to be drawn.  Draw the kolam of your choice, add colours.   The coconut oil ensures that the kolam sticks to the plate.  This decoration can be placed in front of the Navratri kolu to give a value addition ( !) to an already beautiful kolu or golu.  If we add water to the plate the kolam goes under water and becomes a kolam in water. I have drawn a simple parrots kolam with a 5 by 5 dot grid for demonstration. This kolam can be carried or moved.
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Rangoli kolam on plate 
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Plate art decoration - rangoli under water for Diwali
We can also have a kolam or rangoli in water for decoration of Navratri kolu or Diwali deocration.  It is quite simple and easy.  Take a clean plate, add a few drops of coconut oil, spread the oil evenly on the plate, draw the rangoli on the oil film, The rangoli or kolam sticks to the plate.  Now add water, gently along the side of the plate so that the kolam is not disturbed by water. In the demo I have used a rangoli stencil covered with a few colourful lines drawn free hand
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                               Thermocol plate art and craft                                                 

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The image above, is a plate art decoration I have added for Diwali and Navratri festivals.  It is drawn on a thermocol plate.  I have used only 3D glitters and star shaped chamkis at the centre. Only two designs have been used repeatedly, throughout the plate from the outside to the centre. Few blue and bright chamkis and a free hand design at the centre have also been included.  Though it is a simple design, patience is needed to get uniformity and some degree of  symmetry.

Return gift ideas with thermocol plate art
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Take a thermocol plate and paint the face with one or more colours.  I have used violet and metallic copper to get an enhanced effect.  Mirrors shaped in the form of mango leaves are pasted around a kundan-like design formed using out-liners  Using colourful out-liners- gold, torquise blue and multi colours (called rangeela colours ) I have drawn a free hand rangoli design.  At the top two roses with leaves made out of artificial clay have been added.  
The next image above is a plate decoration that has been used by me for Karthigai.  It is a simple decoration again with out-liners of few colours.  I have tried something similar to a free hand rangoli design. Things needed for this decoration are thermocol plate, outliners (different types like glitter, pearl, metallic etc are available ) and chamkis.   Once one is comfortable with freehand designs art plate decorations should be easy. These designs above could be good return gift ideas or suggestions.  Nothing like making a gift ourselves.

Aarti plate decoration ideas for festival of lights - Diwali and Karthigai Deepam ( in Tamil Nadu )
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More craft ideas with thermocol
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   The deepams (diyas) are earthen  lamps painted with acrylic colours and glitters. Acrylic colours may be used suitable for the basic earth lamp i.e, dark pink, brown or gold.  Two images are posted above one with the lamps on it and one with the lamps around the plate to show the designs on the decorative plate.  Both are simple and easy and hence can be done in a jiffy.  Thermocol plates decorated as above can be used for almost  all occasions.   I will try to upload a video of the designs drawn on the thermocol plate in future.

There is a tradition of wishing our friends and relatives for festivals and the (English ) New Year as it is called in India.  In this age of SMS and e-cards creating greeting cards and sending them to our closed relatives and friends may help bonding the relationship further.  Rangoli-sans-dots will obviously give ideas of making greeting cards using rangoli designs ! One such greeting card with one of the designs drawn in Rangoli-sans-dots.  A simple method of creating a greeting card that will however serve to create long lasting relation 

The image shows some free hand flowers, floral bud (!) and leaf patterns drawn using three D glitter ( or out liners ) as they are called.  Draw as you would in the case of a free hand rangoli design. I have added the words " Best Wishes" making it suitable for any occasion including wedding anniversaries, gifts for festivals  and other special occasions.  This is a very simple design. We can fill the entire plate with designs to make it more attractive.   We can use double-sided tape that has adhesive on both sides and hang on the wall or any other surface. 
Craft ideas with thermocol
                                   
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Plate art with clay
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The next image above is another plate art idea that I tried. The leaves and roses are made using artificial clay and colours added, suitably.  The tendril like designs extended upto the top are also done with chemical or artificial clay.  Roses and tendrils? Give some allowance for imagination.   The flowers between the tendrils are drawn with out-liners.  I tried to have it as simple as possible. The plate is not made from thermocol or paper in this case but is a plastic plate.

    Sticking to clay art, I have added one more craft made with artificial or polymer clay.  The base is a wooden plank.  Choose some light colours preferably white. Add crackle medium coating and add then different shades of acrylic paints to the plank as shown. The result is a cracked appearance. Take a paper cup cut it into two pieces so that it matches the base and can be stuck to it easily.  Apply chemical clay on the cup to make it strong (otherwise, the paper cup can be crushed easily).  Using polymer clay make the leaves and flowers and colour them with different colour paints.  This can be used as a wall hanging if suitable supports are provided.  The paper cup , now somewhat strong can serve as a flower vase or can be used for storing light things like pens, pencils.
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The next plate art decoration idea for festivals like Navratri or Diwali or for wedding, party plate art decorations is in the video below.  Take a thermocol plate, using colourful and glittering outliners draw semi-circles on four sides on the circumference so that colourful bands are obtained..  Using a sharp object (take care ) like a needle draw straight lines through the the semi-circular bands. 

 I have used green, purple, blue, orange and fluorescent green for the the first set of semi-circles.  For the second set of semi-circles I have used pearl colours that are commercially available - pink, purple and blue .At the centre place a chamki and draw colourful circles around it using out-liners.  Finally the remaining gaps are filled with free hand decorations of our choice.  Colourful borders are also added  along the periphery with blue, yellow colours to complete the thermocol plate art decoration.
                                     
Plate art idea
The idea in the plate art decoration shown  has been used by me for my art and craft display.  The tile art shown in the image below is one of them.  Actually for the tile art I have not used a ceramic tile but have used a thick cardboard on which I have pasted good quality paper and following the same method have tried an art tile or wall art tile that can be hung on a wall or displayed by another means.
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Rangoli through Tile art
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There are so many visual art forms in this world. All have their own contribution to this world.  One of these is tile art from ceramic tiles.  I would like to add my share of ceramic tile art to this blog.  However only one at present.  In the future, probably a separate post with some videos too.  I have not been able cover rangoli designs to my satisfaction, so these will have to wait.  
                                               
A ceramic tile is cleaned and using acrylic paints, a simple background is drawn.  The background is chosen so that it interfere with the patterns or designs in the front.  What I have drawn is a simple plant design with flowers and leaves.