Started a new blog for goodies foodies

Hi Everyone,

Please checkout our food blog

http://kausikitchen.blogspot.in/



Thank you all for your support

3000 views. Heartfelt thanks to all

3000 views: Words fail me and its a humbling experience.

Lot of stories and lot of new jewellery designs in mixed media to come.

Peacock and Pearls

Peacocks: Another common bird that you will find in our Indian Jewellery.

Made these jewellery with polymer clay. Loved it.

Temple jewellery - Lakshmi Pendant

Lakshmi Antique Pendant and Necklace.

Who does not love to wear this necklace.

In our state, almost all women love to wear this pendant as Goddess Lakshmi (the deity embossed on the pendant) signifies wealth and prosperity. There are big malas with lots of Lakshmi embossed coins strung together. These are a delight to wear and see. It is generally worn by the bride along with other jewellery.

Nowadays everyone wears it to the weddings. Its best when it is worn as the only jewellery.

So made one today.

To order visit our online jewellery store

www.myidentity-store.com

Mrina Jewels - A Facebook page that showcases our jewellery exclusively

Hi,

Just started a page that showcases all our jewellery creations exclusively. A facebook page dedicated to jewellery.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mrinajewels/1395123497423932?fref=ts

Know the names. But not the history. But let's enjoy the design

Kadukkam

                                                                            Thodu

Thoda

All photos courtesy: OKJ Jewellery. T.Nagar. Usman Road. Chennai. Tamilnadu. India.

The collection of antique jewellery that they have are awesome.

Plus great customer service.

Kunuk - Traditional jewellery in Kerala

These are traditional jewellery that are worn at the top of the ear and is mostly worn by Syrian Christian Women of Kerala.

The Photos were given by OKJ jewellery, a Jewellery store that was started in 1933. They specialize in making antique jewellery. It is managed by Mr. Babu, a wonderful person who is very knowledgeable about jewellery, techniques of jewellery. He also writes about it. He encourages his employees to update their knowledge on jewellery and also provides them continuous training.

The Jewellery store is in Usman road, T.nagar, Chennai, TamilNadu, India.

He has been guiding me and mentoring me for some time now, for which I am very grateful to him.

Terracota Jewellery

In India we always love to wear jumkaas, any size any shape.

Recently we processed an order for a customer.

My apologies for using this blog as a sales pitch.

I dont want to use this blog as a sales pitch, but since there are many women who are trying earn something from home and who are required to support their family, we wish to encourage them to earn an additional income by giving them jewellery orders.

For any terracota jewellery orders, please write to us at vigneshkavitha@gmail.com.

Varalakshmi Viratham

This is a very important pooja that we do, especially in South India. This pooja is exclusively done by women to the Lakshmi Goddess. This Goddess bestows good health and prosperity and all other good things on people who do this pooja.

I personally love to do this pooja. It generally falls in August.

In some houses they draw the Goddess face on the wall and do this pooja. This was done predominantly in the villages. Here we get a ready-made deity of Goddess Lakshmi. Again you get this in Silver or clay.

I love all, but have got a Goddess deity in silver. The deity is already decked with some jewellery on her ears, neck and a crown, not to forget the nose ring.
But still we place this deity on a coconut, tie a silk cloth around her and place this in a vessel called  "Sembu" ( I have written about this earlier). The deity is also decked with flowers and jewellery.

The sembu is decorated with mango tree leaves, and the coconut is placed and on top of the coconut the deity is placed.  I have done it very simply. There are elaborate decorations also.

The entire sembu is placed on a banana leaf that is laid with raw rice. The sembu will contain water, in which gold or silver coins are put. Only one or two.

This time I wanted to get two new silver lamps. The pooja went on well and I could positively feel the energy in the house. The entire day is sort of fasting. And we made sweets and savouries and offered it to her.

We also invited our ladies friends over and gave them "thaamboolam" ( A gift which has a coconut, fruits, and a blouse material) This is a must and it must be given to all ladies that are invited home on the festival day.

Jewellery/Trinket boxes

Decorated these jewellery boxes today. All boxes are made of wood.

To place orders, please write to vigneshkavitha@gmail.com. Each box Rs.200

Miniatures - New crazy hobby

I know this blog is about jewellery. But there is a new hobby that I got hooked into.

Is there no end to unleash our creativity?

There are so many things that fade away with time. So many things that I have enjoyed in Indian villages especially in my state.

The above are the miniatures of such things. These are the equipments that  were used to grind, pound spices in those days when there was no electricity.

These were made out of stone and lasted long and no dependency on power. Not to mention the taste. When the masalas where ground or pounded in these, they tasted awesome.

They were called (from left to right) ural, aatukal and ammikal.

A tribute to traditional  equipments that gave us a good exercise plus a great taste when food was ground in them.

When buying Gold...

This applies mostly to the people in India. 

Many of us buy gold as an investment and also to wear it. When we buy gold none of us are educated about the value of the jewellery. Only when we go for an exchange or return, comes all the education. It has taken me years to understand this. :)

1. Ornaments with many stones will not have any value while reselling, unless they are precious stones. Keep this  in mind when buying gold for investment. And when you are told as original rubies and emeralds dont get carried away. Most of them are lab grown. Each original stone cost more than a lak. Ofcourse it depends on the number of carat each stone represents.
2. Check if there are precious stones in the ornaments, if so then they should be certified. I once bought a necklace full of emerald stones ( that is what they said), but when I gave it back they removed the stones and gave the stones back to me telling that they will not take it. Remember if they are originals people will buy it back.
3. When billing, check if the weight of the stones is mentioned.
4. Very thin filigree designs involve a lot of labour charges and wastage as the work is very labour oriented. If you are buying gold as an investment, please keep this in mind.
5. Enamels add weight to the jewellery. It looks very attractive and elegant. But again its like stones. Adds no value while returning.
6. Check for the Hallmark and purity seal. For example if it is 22k then 91.6k seal will be there. 
7. Ask questions to the sales person. You will be surprised how less they know about the facts. Atleast this is what I experienced. Once I went to a reputed jewellery showroom. One of the ladies asked the sales girl if the corals in the necklace were original. The girl said yes its original. The lady was satisfied and moved away. I asked the girl what does she mean by original and where does that come from? She was quiet, she did not have an answer and she went looking for her manager:)

The manager came and asked me what help I needed. I told that I wanted to know the source of the corals. He said they all came from Burma. I was like Oh!. But I have read that Burma is a place for rubies! 

Ask questions about your jewellery. You are paying a huge amount on this. You have the right to know more about it.

Polymer clay jewellery

I made these polymer clay jewellery. Simple and elegant. Love the combinations.

Quilling and Cooking training pictures

MYIDentity for women conducted quilling training and cooking training for ladies.

Kids were interested in Quilling jewellery.

The cooking class was conducted by a Food technology expert who also guided them on how they can market them.

facebook.com/myidentityforwomen

www.myidentity.co.in

Kerala Jewellery

The name of this jewellery is called Paalaka. This is a jewellery that most Kerala women possess.

The jewellery has green enamel  and red stones. Have seen some in blue too. But predominantly green and red exists.

Today's Terracota jewellery workshop

Today when we had a workshop in Terracota jewellery making, we had 4 girls from Illinoi, U.S.

They were visiting India, and wanted to learn terracota.

Enjoyed teaching them.:) It is always nice to meet people from different parts of the world.

They sat on the floor like the rest of the students and made jewellery.

website: myidentity.co.in

Facebook page: facebook.com/myidentityforwomen

Kerala bride

I have been wanting to write about some jewellery that Keralites wear for their wedding. I will write about them later.

Kerala is a neighbour state to my state (Tamil Nadu) in South India.

The kerala brides wears jewellery right from close to her neck till her waist. It has always been like that.

Most of the jewellery are light weight though it looks heavy.

And there will be no gaps in between.

My friend who got married recently sent the photo that has been taken just before the wedding.

See how is she is decked with jewels and what a pretty bride.

Terracota jewellery

Been busy providing training on Terracota and quilling jewellery.

We had an informal training program on Terracota jewellery. We had an unexpected turnout of candidates and so we all had to take the floor.

It was fun and there was lot of interaction.

Below: Girls busy making terracota pendants and earrings.

web: myidentity.co.in
Facebook page: facebook.com/myidentityforwomen

Akshaya Tritiya

An important day for Hindus. Especially womenJ Guess why?

Its another excuse to buy gold.

'Akshaya' means never depleting.There is a belief that if you start anything good on this day it will grow manifold. So this is the day where all new ventures are started.

This day generally falls at the end of April or early may.

But jewellers use this day to market their gold. You should see the shops filled with people wanting to buy gold. 15 years before I never knew such thing existed. There was no marketing of this day’s significance. But when jewellers used this to market their metals, it became popular.

On this day, women buy atleast a gram of gold. Some times there are advanced bookings! 

The shops open early morning and go on till late night. Usually here jewellery shops close by 7or 8 p.m.

People atleast buy silver if they cant afford gold.

And there is another interesting buying pattern in women(in our state atleast). One of the jeweller told me and I always think of it.

When the gold price increases people rush to the shops to buy it, for fear that it might increase more.But when the price is dropping they wait thinking that it will reduce moreJ Interesting logic is it not?

Imitation jewellery rules

I was writing about Imitation jewellery so thought of sharing some pictures of them.

Imitation is the name given to only jewellery that looks like gold jewellery.

These types of jewellery has taken the place by storm and everywhere in exhibitions you can see them displayed. Ofcourse there are laks of designs and in different price ranges and in qualities.

It all depends on the place that you display. Now it has also become a fashion to conduct exhibitions in shopping malls and marriage halls.

One particular group takes the atrium for a fee and in turn divides them and allocates stalls to people.
In big malls they ensure that there is no repetition of stalls. Meaning if one person has a stall of imitation jewellery then there cannot be another. One for clothes, one for terracota jewellery etc. So here the sales is good.

These type of exhibition models have become too much that everyone started conducting it, both in malls as well as in marriage halls.

The exhibition that I displayed was in a marriage hall where there was no restriction to display items.
So, many had the same items and hence the sale was not good.

The same jewellery that was displayed here was priced double in the mall exhibition. So where you display matters! The crowd that comes to the mall also is different.

If I had to buy something in gold like the images below, I have to spend around 800 to 1000 dollars.
While I can spend just around 10 dollars to get these.

I am not saying that people are not buying gold jewellery. But the imitation ones are so beautiful and you get such trendy ones too, that most of them are switching over to this.

Earlier it was a stigma to wear imitation now it has become a fashion. I have seen some wearing imitation, but when asked they say its gold. Such is the respect given to gold.

My first day experience as a jewellery exhibitor at a jewellery exhibition

Today was my first day as a jewellery exhibitor in an exhibition.

What do I say and where do I start?

The jewellery that everyone displayed was imitation and beaded jewellery and ofcourse terracota.

Though I am part of a company 'MYIDentity  for women" where we do all types of trainings for women, my love has always been jewellery. So I wanted to start exhibiting with the terracota jewellery we made.

What a disaster it was! I always believed that you let your pieces speak about you and all along I was thinking I can do marketing very well. Yeah, marketing may be but not definitely sales.

It was the truth that struck me. I have been reading the post in Ganoksin/Orchid for sometime on marketing and sales, and I read that some jewellers left the sales to the sales expert and they concentrated on creating.

I thought why one cant do both. May be many do. But for me today was a revelation.

My neighbouring stall owner was convincing the buyer to buy her bead jewellery. I simply looked:)

And not to forget something. Selling is very difficult. Especially the place I live, people expect quality, the cheapest price and not to forget an offer or discount on that!

And terracota will break when handled carelessly. They dont want jewellery that breaks. I am not generalising but mostly they prefer un-breakable jewellery:(

I get upset when they bargain to the cheapest price, not understanding the effort that goes into it.

When I quoted the least price to a visitor, without even thinking she asked why is terracota so expensive?

I was shocked. I quoted less than a dollar. We usually quote a very reasonable price. Lesser than the market in fact.

I asked her if she has made any jewellery? She said no. I said when you do you will know the pain in creating such jewellery. Was I wrong in telling that? I then realised maybe I was rude and explained the process to her. But I dont think she ever paid attention.

I have been sitting here weeks creating, baking and painting till late nights and they just throw comments on your face.

I was bugged, but there were lot of enquiries for terracota training! I know that I teach well, and there are students who can second that. So I think that I should just stick to training and educating.

The set that I made late last night and displayed in the exhibition.

Trendy earrings

Really busy making lots of sets for the upcoming Terracota exhibition.

The work never seems to end.

Preparing clay, forming designs, baking, painting. Every step is a long process.

I used to enjoy painting, but when you have 100s

of sets of terracota jewellery staring at your face to be painted, it becomes a daunting task.

And I always never think to paint few pieces in similar colors. I keep thinking of different color combinations for each. So that is really daunting.

I know its some time since I have written about jewellery. But very soon. One of my student is getting married this week and she has promised me to get photos of Kerala jewellery. (This is the neighbouring state to my state). The brides are decked with light weight jewellery from neck to waist. I am not kidding. There will not be any gap. That is their style of wearing jewellery especially weddings. Only the bride.

I will also be posting pictures of terracota jewellery. And the exhibition too.

Terracota jewellery and quilling

Been busy imparting training on terracota jewellery and quilling jewellery.

Some of the students' work. Will be posting more photos on Terracota jewellery.

Temple jewellery. Traditional studs with semi-precious stones.

These are the pictures of the traditional studs that were worn ages ago by women in Tamilnadu. Ofcourse earlier it was with a stud post, but this is with the ear wires. Old and new combined. Even now we can find old ladies wearing this in our villages.

A very traditional design, adds so much class when worn with silk sarees and salwars.

Mrinajewels - Facebook page : For all my jewellery photos

Hi,

I am posting some of my jewellery pics on facebook page: mrinajewels.

Please have a look.

Small pure silver earrings

We created this small silver earrings. Cute and elegant.

Quilling - Jewellery

For a long time I was thinking that quilling is only for kids. So ever since I heard about it, I did not give it so much of importance.

But then everywhere I saw the quilling strips and I was intrigued.

I always felt that whatever jewellery type you learn be it clay or metal or paper, there is always a connection between all.

When I do jewellery in terracota, I get ideas to do silver designs. Like this I can go on on how other mediums have affected designs.

Today was playing around and created Jumkas and small flowers, Interesting and so easy. Very attractive too and most of all inexpensive.

I guess once you are bitten by the jewellery creation bug, there is no end to learning!

Business Idea Three - Instant foods

Instant foods can be prepared at home hygienically and economically.

We spend so much money on buying instant foods. Have you heard of making rice-dhall pancakes ( Adai in Tamil) in a minute? Have you heard of making rawa kesari in a minute? Instant pongal, instant upma, you name it is there in the market.

You need not be worried of the chemicals that are added to make the process quicker. When you prepare at home you will know the difference. No chemicals added and yet safe to be stored and consumed.

The market for instant food is really good now.

MYIDentity for women provides training on preparing these instant foods. If you are interested, the training can also be on a commercial scale where we guide you to make in large quantities.

Business Idea Two - Food industry

Ground and processed spices

A very good business to start from home. Good spices and masala powders can be prepared at a small scale from home initially. 

 Nothing like the taste and not to mention the health benefits when we prepare things at home.

A very minimal investment is required to start at a small scale and not much space and equipments too.

Basic requirements like Chicken masala powders and biriyani powders can be prepared at home.

MYIDentityforwomen conducted training in Ground and processed spices. The training was conducted by a food consultant that has more than 20 years experience. One lady in the group took our advice and started distributing it to her neighbours and relatives. Now as a group they are selling to smaller shops.

Business Idea One: Starting a jewellery business

Every woman likes to be an entrepreneur. Period.

Who does not love to stay at home, do what they like and still earn money?
Who wishes to wake up early morning, get ready for office, eat/skip breakfast run to catch the company bus or whatever transport, arrive office again to be loaded with work, no time for breaks, then God knows what time they get back home only to eat ready-made stale cold food? Not to forget the guilt that they undergo for not spending time with the family.
Keeping in mind the stress that every woman undergoes, we have simple business ideas that can be started at home. These ideas need minimal investment and less of your time. But you should also remember that more time you devote for your business the more successful you will be.

Jewellery
Every woman loves jewellery and everyone likes to wear unique jewellery.
You can start a small business by first getting trained in jewellery making, be it silver, or costume or other clay mediums.

Most of the candidates that come to our workshop say the same thing; I used to buy jewellery, then since it was getting expensive thought I will make my own!
Savings is also earnings!

MYIDentityforwomen is an initiative that provides training in all  areas that are suitable for women. Trainings are conducted by professionals that have more than 20 years of experience in their respective fields. We provide training, consulting and marketing solutions.

Enamelled Anklets

We just designed and created this stunning anklet that you will not find in any jewellery shops.

Made of pure silver and enamel, this is a sure show stopper when worn.

If you wish to order pls write to vigneshkavitha@gmail.com

Heartfelt thanks to all - My blog has crossed 1000 views (Can't believe it!)

Hi everyone,

Thank you all so much for viewing my blog and making it reach 1000.

Next to Indian viewership, I have viewers from the U.S. followed by the U.K, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany and France and many more.

To have an audience from all parts of the world makes a very humbling experience.

It encourages me to write more and makes me nervous too.

Each blog I spend a lot of time trying to get primary data for both information and photos.

Do give me your feedback on what areas you need more information etc.

You are welcome to write to me at vigneshkavitha@gmail.com

Once again thank you all so much.

Terracota Jewellery workshops in Chennai

Recently I conducted Terracota jewellery workshops in Chennai. There was a good response. I conducted both in Adyar, Chennai and for the MSME, Govt of India. Lots of networking and ideas. It was a good experience.

The little girl in the above picture is a child artist and acts in Tamil TV soaps. She was so interested to learn. Though we did not have plans to teach children, we accomodated her because of her interest. Her mother is sitting next to her.

This is the picture of the workshop conducted in MSME, Govt of India, Chennai.

Silver for Baby

We believe literally in 'Born with the silver spoon'.

As soon as the baby is born, grandmothers and grandfathers are so excited not to forget the parents.

They all rush to the jewellery shops to buy jewellery in gold and utensils in silver. Most of them they buy all this in advance and keep! Again what everyone buys is according to their financial status.

A small utensil called "Paaladai" is used to feed the baby medicines. A unique shape.

I find fillers less punishable:)

Then a silver bowl with a silver spoon.
Again a hand-raised silver plate. I know what you are thinking. The baby is just born!

But we need a reason to buy silver and gold:)

And a silver glass to drink milk.

Recently I saw a silver feeding bottle!

I visited a silver shop to buy a lamp and I requested the owner to take some pictures of baby items.

He agreed and was so nice to unpack them and he himself took all the photos and sent it thru Whatsapp!

Here are the pictures.

The second one is the "Paaladai" that is used to give medicines to babies.

Facebook page

Hi,

MYIDentity has started a facebook page.

www.facebook.com/myidentityforwomen.

We will also be posting about our events and jewellery workshops in that page, regularly. Pls visit.

Baby Jewellery

In India, jewellery is given or gifted for every function and the affluent give also for the festivals.

The baby's jewellery start right from when the baby is in the mother's womb. Not joking!

In TamilNadu, at the seventh month or ninth month of pregnancy a function is conducted for the pregnant girl.
It is called Valaikaapu, valai meaning bangles.

In this function, all ladies in the family bless the pregnant girl, that her delivery and the kid should be safe. In this function all elders put a lot of colored bangles on the pregnant girl's hand. Every lady who is a guest for the function is also given half a dozen of bangles. Special kid's bangles are also ordered for the little girls in the function.

The pregnant girl is supposed to wear all the bangles till her delivery!

One important part of the function is, a particular bundle is given to the pregnant girl.
The bundle contains small baby bangles in black color. She has to keep it careful and when the baby is born they wear on the baby for some days.

The parents usually gift the girl with gold bangles. Recently I attended a valaikaapu of my cousin where she was gifted with these gold bangles and I have already written about with pictures on another blog.

Jimikis/Jhumkis

It is the favourite jewellery of all women, especially the younger ones. It has got hundreds of designs all over India. North Indians wear a different type and south Indians wear a different one. These are worn for weddings mostly since they are heavy and big.

There is an ornate stud from which a long inverted cone or basket like shape hangs again with filigree work and with stones, or with stone work or with pearls. The one with pearls are very traditional in Tamilnadu, and the Bharathanatiyam dancers wear this type.

The little girls wear small jimikis with their traditional silk skirt and blouse especially on functions and festivals.

Its a delight to see small girls even one year babies are sometimes dressed up with small jumkis.

Maatal

Maatal is thin ornament that acts as a support to the studs or long earrings. If the earrings are heavy or if the wearer has a big hole in the ear where the studs dont sit correctly, then the "maatal" give support.

It falls between the back of the earring and the hair behind the ear. The end finding is pinned to the hair to prevent it from falling.

Not only this acts as a support but also beauty to the wearer when seen from sideways.

There are stone studded maatal, plain ones, and also simple ones that are worn around the ear front and back. This type is mostly worn by elder women.

Maatal are worn by younger girls and little ones too.

Workshop on Terracota Jewellery making

We are conducting a workshop on Terracota, Silver, Fashion, Polymer Clay jewellery making in Chennai, India. Those interested please call 9003288051. Online classes are also available.