Family

Hindu Weddings are really colourful...I love that, being born into such a rich culture is really a blessing. I love being around my family...gives me a sense of belonging...

Wedding Day

These are some pics of the wedding...She looked so beautiful.

Haldi

The Haldi ceremony is a cleansing ceremony that normally takes place the day before the wedding. Turmeric powder(Haldi) is mixed with traditional oils to form a paste, the paste is then applied on the body of the bride by female relatives.

This is my cousin Natasha and I, You can see the Haldi on her skin. The haldi is meant to cleanse her body, It is washed of the next morning which will be the morning of her wedding.

Mehendi ceremony

My research report is going to be based on Hindu weddings and Mehendi. I went for my cousins wedding a few weeks ago, thankfully it was a traditional Hindu wedding so i manged to get pictures and information that should help me with my report.

Hindu weddings normally take place over 4 days, This is the mehendi ceremony, usually takes place on the Thursday. The mehendi night is a gathering of the bride and the women of the family as well as female friends, traditional music is played and mehendi is applied on the brides hands and feet. The elders of the family speak to the bride about marriage and give her advice about how she should act as a married women.The patterns that are drawn on the hands and feet mostly consist of flowers...Flowers are very important in Hinduism, they are used as offerings to God.

This year has been really difficult for me...I'm trying to put together the 1st draft of my B tech research report. Its not as easy as i thought it would be!

Its really difficult to get work done when there isn't anyone around to motivate you and believe in you. The 1st half of 4th year for me hasn't been very productive. Ive been trying my best but it just isn't good enough, I know what I'm capable off and I've just been feeling like I'm not giving it my all this year.

I never knew how important it is to have someone that believes in you...my boyfriend said that to me yesterday...and even though he isn't around me all the time, it just helps to know that he does!

Madness

Ive been trying to capture the intricacy of Indian Henna Design in my work...Ive found that piercing works best for me. This is a henna element that Ive pierced out of copper...I'm really proud if this piece considering it took two weeks.

Picture Perfect

This is a picture of a piece of jewellery that i made last year...I'm really excited about how perfect this picture looks...What do you think?

My Flavour

Mmmm....If my flavour had to be described in a picture, This is exactly what it would look like! Whats your FLAVOUR?

Kangans

This is a prototype of a bangle/Kangan that i am working on. I am trying to capture the intricacy of Indian jewellery without using the Indian traditional manufacturing techniques such as granulation. Im trying to focus more on casting and piercing elements which are derived from henna patterns.

Displaying

How would you display your jewellery?
Thinking of ways to display jewellery can be difficult. My jewellery has a very organic style so when displaying, I'd like to keep it simple so that the jewellery is the main focus. I think that it is very important for your display to relate to your jewellery, It should add to the message that you you are trying to send across to the viewer.

Henna Jewellery

This is a piece of jewellery that i have been working on...I think it is beautiful!

Design

Just one of my sketches.

Mehendi

source: http//www.bandphotography.com

My jewellery is inspired mehendi patterns...mehendi is used for adornment purposes on Indian Brides.

Bridal Mehendi

source: http//www.fatmamehendi.com/images/services.jpg

Emotional

My flower pod ring, inspired by spring and all the happy emotions that come with it.

Butterflies

This is the piece of jewellery that inspired my collection for the diploma show.

Amuletic

M y Pierced Bangle(Filled with resin)... Inspired by Henna Designs.

In my religion(Hinduism), It is believed that Bangles should be worn on the wrist of married women to ensure the well-being of their husbands. It is considered to be a protective band.

Found Object

The last few weeks of 2008 were dedicated to My Personal Project. As a jewellery design student, i was meant to find myself and the style of jewellery that i wanted to make and display at the end of the year. We were given a list of themes to work under eg. Emotional jewellery, Magical jewellery etc.
This shell ring was created under the theme of "Found Objects"