When it Rains :-)

Since decades now, I have known how it feels when it rains, but when it drizzled in the dessert land it was a new feeling altogether.
The temperature here is very high(50`s) in summer and very low (5`s) in winter. The arid climate doesn't have a monsoon season in particular. It rains anytime when winter is coming and retreating.
In some way I feel it marks the joy of goodbyes to summer hotness and then the sadness of the departing winter coolness.
The area witnesses showers for only a few minutes, but ironically it sometimes leads to floods on the street(blame the drainage).
Ah, but unlike back home, flood here is just water logging on the streets, there are no children playing in the knee deep waters, no automobiles splashing water on the people walking along the street, no fun!

My heart aches for the rainy season back home. I remember when we were kids, school reopened during the monsoon and in just few weeks everyone would be drawing for the topic 'A rainy day' in their drawing books.Pages painted with grey and dull blue showing a lady in umbrella, raincoat and gumboot clan children being escorted to school, on street children making paper boats and sailing them in the gushing gutters were typical.
And as we grew older we went from playing in puddles to trekking near waterfalls. The rain showers turn everything on land green. Our colleagues and friends would organise treks into nearby mountains. The lush green mountains with springs and waterfalls here and there were so refreshing!

I stand here now in my window, hands outstretched to catch the pouring rain drops. My husband looks at me with a smile and says 'makes me remember my days as a kid when going out in the rain was forbidden'
Ah...I am young again....The rain is still refreshing...the smell of sand still nostalgic...

Reincarnate that fav purse!

Hello beautiful hearts!

Two weeks back, I realized my favorite wallet needed to be bid goodbye...
Perhaps I have been tagging it along too much with my shopping fetish recently...

All of its other parts, the zip, the lock the inner lining seemed good, but it was its skin that showed all signs of old age :(
Then I though why not give it an age defying act? So I got my paint supplies and started to draft a design I would want on it.

This was my chance of playing a designer....hmmm...this very thought took me time to look for designs.
Then it occurred that the design cannot be anything i want, rather it should be something i can use.

So how did I go
                                    from

                                     to

                                    ????



You will need-

1. A worn out old wallet or purse.
2. Acrylic colors.
3. paintbrush size 4 and 1 and a flat brush.
4. an old toothbrush or soft grit paper (maybe size 800)
5. clear varnish(available at a hardware store)
6. water
7. bowl
8. masking tape

What to do-

Rub the outer surface with a grit paper (sand paper) to make it clean, level and little rough. This will make it easier to paint. Brush it with a toothbrush and then clean with a soft damp cloth.

Tape a masking tape on surface where you do not want to paint like zips, metal.
Taping is a good way when you want to do a color block design where you tape one part and paint the remaining, then later with contrast color you paint the part that was taped.

If your purse is a leather or rexine one, then you can use shoe polish to give the first coat.
Let it dry completely before proceeding.
I would suggest you use specific colors available depending n the fabric of the purse, like leather paint for leather fabric etc. This purse was made of some felt type material and so I used acrylic colors.
I have used fevicryl acrylic colors, and acrylic colors work great on most surfaces.

Chose a color you would like to be the background(base color),
Mix it in the ratio 1:1 with water.
Here I chose a Blue shade to give a denim effect.

Using a flat brush paint the entire outer surface of the purse.
Let it dry.
The water in the color will be absorbed by the fabric.

Apply a second coat. Its a good idea to keep bending your purse in between coats to minimize the color cracking.
You will have to apply more coats depending on how the color is absorbed in the material.
Finally apply the solid paint directly.

Now you can paint more designs on it as your wish.

Once it dries, apply a coat of clear warnish. This will secure the paint.

And voila,
   Your purse is reincarnated....

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