This Diwali celebrate the festival of lights in a special way. Bring nature into your homes along with the light that dispels all darkness.
In this age of environmentalism and with the growing focus on preserving our ecology, pressed flower candles make an imaginative, colourful addition to Diwali decorations.
Puja Guha, whose passion is painting, has been conducting workshops related to art for some time now. She will be conducting a pressed or preserved flower candle decoration workshop at Café We in Anjuna.
She has held workshops on botanical art, teaching the tataki zome (meaning “hammering-dye”) Japanese method of hammering botanicals on cloth; indigo tie-dyeing; vegetable block art on shopping and tote bags; and tataki zome and hapa zome (involves transferring the natural colour pigments of plants and flowers on handmade cards using a hammering technique).
This pressed flower candle decoration workshop, however, is a first. Not only will participants learn to apply the pressed or preserved flowers on to the candles in a tasteful and artistic manner, they will also be taught to make glass votives with pressed flowers.
Puja emphasises the use of natural, biodegradable materials in her workshops.
She says, “In all my workshops, I only use natural things. For example, making colour from fruits and vegetables, using pressed flowers for decoration, even the paper which we use to draw on in workshops is handmade (recycled). We do not use what is usually available in the market.
Indeed, Puja has taught participants to make their own natural dyes using turmeric and kokum and to extract vibrant dyes from vegetables like cabbages (purple).
Burn the decorated candle entirely if you want to erase any memory related to that flower.
The artist, who also loves working with oil paints, learnt the technique used to create pressed flower candles watching tutorials on the internet, initially. Then she began to experiment and learn some more on her own.
Puja says of the concept of pressed flower candles, “The idea came from the desire to preserve flowers in a beautiful and creative way. At the workshop, we will be making candles which you can use to decorate your house. This is a way in which you can preserve flowers in wax candles.”
The flowers may be a token of affection that you want to cherish in the years to come. This is an excellent way to safeguard the memories embedded in those flowers, says Puja.
“Even where the votive, in which we will stick the pressed flower against the glass, is concerned, the main idea behind it is to preserve the flowers and memories,” she adds.
Since Diwali is coming up, participants will want to light these candles. Puja advises that you can light the candle, but you cannot let the entire candle burn if you want to keep the flowers. “We will be putting the flowers near the bottom, so you can't burn the entire candle,” she says.
She suggests a therapeutic alternative, “You can burn it entirely if you want to erase any memory related to that flower.”
The pressed flower candle decoration workshop, which is open to people of all ages, will be held on October 19, 2024, from 11 am to 1 pm, at Café We in Anjuna. The registration fee is Rs 800 per person and is inclusive of all materials.
Make your Diwali an environmentally welcoming one this year!
DETAILS
WHAT: Pressed flower candle decoration workshop
WHERE: Café We, Offbeat Goa Space, Chinvar, Anjuna Panchayat Road
WHEN: October 19, 2024, from 11 am to 1 pm
FEES: Rs 800 per person, pay at puja.guha74@oksbi to register
CONTACT: Instagram @cafewe.goa or @puja.guha.9275