Bloomin' Design Studio

Welcome to our home and enjoy the tour of our golu. This year’s golu theme was based on the villages in India. Rail transport is a commonly used mode of long-distance travel in India and it is very common to find railway tracks in India and hence the focus was on trains. All my creations were around the HO scale model train on the floor. The track was carefully built up to avoid the train from toppling over. All the dolls in the scenary were created to scale with the size of the train and hence are rather tiny. Lighting was added in the temple and its vicinity. Wanted to build a train station and post office but did not due to lack of time.

My 6-year old daughter created this Rangoli using a template that we purchased from a street vendor in Parrys Corner, Chennai.

I stepped out of my comfort zone this time and used a different color for the background on the steps. I did not like the way it turned out.

Food coloring was used to color the rice. The rice spreads well only when it is completely dry. Also, avoid using gel food coloring as the rice stays sticky even after it dries out. The outlines were highlighted with rice flour. My daughter used a chalk to draw the image first before we filled it in. I had to keep her away as she had the sticky rice all over her. I am not sure if the final look of the rangoli impressed others but my daughter was surely amazed at how it came out. Her exact words…."I can’t believe it mom, it looks like a real rug".

The temple creation from last year was enhanced with some lighting. This time it was made into a Shiva temple to incoporate a stone Nandi that was purchased at Chamundi Hills, Karnataka. The priest and the lady praying were also scaled down in size to match the rest of the scenes.

A lady sitting outside her home which happens to be next to a railway track selling fruits and vegetables (watermelons, carrot, peppers and corn). She is having a sleeping baby laying next to her. All are my handmade items in this scene with the exception of the Kondapalli house.

This village school is in a shed with children sitting on the floor, a typical scene seen in Indian villages. All are my handmade items in this scene.

This is my most favorite creation of all time. A mother playing a game of Pallanguzhi(similar to the Mancala game) with her son outside their house. All are my handmade creations with the exception of the Kondapalli house in this scene.

A lady is seen here sitting outside her house and grinding spices. She has black pepper, cinnamon, urad dal and red chillies in a bowl next to her. As you can see, the clay house is not yet dry in the picture. Used twigs from the garden for fence around the house. A man with a turban and dhoti can also be seen in this scene. All are my creations in this scene.

The playground equipment were all made my daughter. Some pieces were used from last year. You can see a lady pushing her son on the swing, a man sitting on a bench reading a newspaper, a boy sitting in the park and a fruit stall. The people in this playground were my handmade creations.

A Ganesh temple at the top of a hill with a pond at the bottom of the hill. There are a couple of lotuses in the pond. You can see the model train zooming past in the background.

My daughter put this theme park together. Chanapatana, Kondapalli and some locally purchased items were used to create this scene. All the rides here do move and some of them if wound up, move and play music.

Hanuman, Lakshman, Rama and Sita next to Lord Venkateshwara and Padmavati

Vaikunta set and Aarupadi Murugan Set. Murugan idols from Tiruchandur, Pallamulzhicholle, Tiruthanni, Swamimalai, Tiruparamkundram and Palani

Lord Krishna in all stages and Dasavatharam set (the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu)

The 12 alwars, followers of Lord Vishnu

The merchants with their supplies, Jaipur couple, the traditional marapatchi bommai which ia a must for every golu and a Delhi couple.

My friend and I made the flowers on the back wall of the golu with paper. I shall post a close-up photo of the flowers at a later time.

Click here to view a video of my Golu recorded using my smart phone…

Thank you for visiting my home. Love to hear your feedback on my golu. Do drop by again…. I may improve my video skills by that time .

I get numerous inquiries from folks on making the steps to display the dolls for Navaratri. Let me start from my first year of keeping golu and you can see how I changed my step making each year.

My first golu was in a closet. I took the doors off the closet doors and used shelves of various widths inside the closet to simulate steps. Not bad for a first attempt.

My second year’s golu was again in the closet with slight improvements.

For my third year of golu keeping, I purchased stringers from a local home improvement store and built up the steps.

From my fourth year onwards of golu keeping, got a carpenter to build one for me. He did a good job and made it easy for storing too. Only drawback is that it is not very easy to increase the number of steps. Will need to get the carpenter to build it up again. I am also sort of bored of a similar look for my steps each year.

Hope this helps folks who are planning on their first golu.

Good luck!