Handicrafts on Pitara Kids Network

The Kite-Maker

Fri, 27 Apr 2001 11:57:02 +0000

The night was pitch dark. A street lamp shone dimly, creating pools of shadows along a tiny lane in Bareilly city. Sitting beneath the light was Imran. His nimble fingers were busy pasting thin sheets of coloured paper. He was making a kite.

Even though he could barely see, he didn’t fumble in his work. He could make these kites blindfolded now. At 10, he was an old hand at the craft, having started making kites when he was just six years old – the kites that Bareilly, in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, is so well known for.

Table Mat

Tue, 13 Nov 2001 00:40:44 +0000

Table Mat [Illustrations by Shinod AP]

You can make mats of varying sizes and colours and give them as souvenirs to your friends.

The things you need:

Pieces of old cloth
Adhesive

Step 1: Cut the cloth in three strips half-an-inch wide.

Step 2: Hold the strips together and tie a knot at the end.

Step 3: Plait the strips until you get a length of half-a-metre.

Weave a Thread

Mon, 19 Aug 2002 12:59:17 +0000

Weave a Thread [Illustrations by Shinod AP]

This beautiful design board is perfect for your drawing room wall and extremely simple to make.

The things you need:

Pin board
Small size nails
Hammer
Different coloured threads
Black cloth
pencil

Step 1: Take a soft board and cover it with a black cloth. You can take any size you want.

Step 2: With the help of a light coloured pencil draw out the pattern. Try to keep it simple if you are doing it for the first time.

The Magic Carpet

Tue, 09 Jul 2002 14:31:51 +0000

October 21: Meet Sheikh Tayyab Mahajan. This resident of Nagpur has a dream – he wants to create a carpet in which he can weave the complete cultural pattern of India.

Ambitious? But possible, thinks Tayyab. That is why he started weaving a durrie or rug seven years ago. At that time, he wanted to make it to the Guinness Book of Records for weaving the longest carpet in the world.

Now he is aiming higher having already woven 900 feet of the durrie. He has decided that he wants the rug to remind people of the diverse cultures of the country. This was reported in an article in

Towel Ring

Sat, 13 Oct 2001 10:55:56 +0000

Towel Ring [Illustrations by Shinod AP]

The things you need:

Plain cotton cloth (18 inches by 18 inches)
Cardboard
Needle and thread
A plastic or iron ring
Foam or cotton
Wool, sketch pens/fabric paints,
Adhesive

Step 1: With the help of a thread and needle, do a running stitch at the edges of the cloth. Let the stitches be spaced out. Do not knot the thread after finishing it.