This is a request to rangoli (kolam) experts and budding artists in this list. We are paving our (circular) drive way with two tone (gold and dark red) paving bricks. Right now I'm thinking of using the red for the border and gold for the body of the drive way and red for adjacent area of the drive way.
I'm looking for a simple but elegant pattern that can be implemented in the center of the drive way as well in the adjacent area. The pattern areas can be about 6 x 6 foot square (2m). The pattern itself doesn't have to be square. The workers are not artists and we are using 9"x4.5" bricks. So, it has to be very simple to implement.
The design has to be geometric (lines and rectangles) since the bricks are made of rectangles. Large circles can be arranged with the bricks. Think of it as design with Lego blocks. Also, we have the choice of only two colors (red and gold)
Please post your thoughts with examples.
Many Thanks,
Ram
P.S. The winning entry will have the bragging right of being seen in the Silicon Valley of Golden State of California
Designing a driveway with a kolam or a rangoli pattern is a neat idea! The following design could either be used as a stand alone or inside a red circle. I designed this based on one of the diya kolams:
The flower you see at the center is supposedly a medallion ... those fancy ones which are glassy looking but sturdy enough for a pavement. Home-expo stores has a variety of such medallions (I'm sure you knew that already!).
Let's hope you get many more ideas from our visitors... :)
Could you please post a photo of your driveway in this forum for all us after the paving work is over.
Thank you.
In reply to Diya based design by Lata
Hi Lata,
I appreciate the creativity and the time you have put into your suggestion. It sure looks very nice and simple enough to implement. I'll tinker with it on a grid paper.
Your idea of checking out Expo is also a good one. Before I posted here, I did visit expo for a medallion instead of the kolam design. As you may know, they are not strong enough to drive over. But a small medallion in the center, as you have suggeted, could work since it's unlikely to a wheel will go over it.
I definitely share your expectation that your posting will inspire more ideas from other readers of this forum.
Just looking at your prolific postings, you seem to be an inspiration behind this forum. Keep up the good work.
Of course, if you have another eureka moment for the driveway design, please post.
Thanks again.
Ram
BTW, What's Diya based design? As a male who left India at a young age, I am far removed from Kolam/Rangoli and I'm clueless on terminology :P
Hi Lata,
One more challenge for you and other readers to think about. I was staring at your design for a while which in turn made me think of Sri Chakra. (just the triangle part, not the lotus petals). So, I was wondering if you can let your creative juices flow and think of some pattern that's a variation on Sri Chakra.
Ram
P.S. I suppose I should consult experts in Hindu sastra to ensure this is not a sacrilegious act :lol:
Thank you for your compliments...I sure like working with designs and colors!
Diya is the earthern clay lamp which all of us light for Diwali (called ahal is tamil). I think Sri Chakra is a yantra which is supposed to be used in pooja rooms... but I'm sure one can use a variation of it in other places. I'll try to come up with a design along those lines...
Thanks.
Hi Lata,
One more challenge for you and other readers to think about. I was staring at your design for a while which in turn made me think of Sri Chakra. (just the triangle part, not the lotus petals). So, I was wondering if you can let your creative juices flow and think of some pattern that's a variation on Sri Chakra.
Ram
P.S. I suppose I should consult experts in Hindu sastra to ensure this is not a sacrilegious act :lol:
Hi,
I don't know if you are still looking for them; here is something that I came up with using simple kolam patterns. Since the size of the pattern has to be 6ftx6ft and the size of the bricks are big, I used a 16x16 grid to arrive at these patterns.
Hi Malathi,
Very nice. I certainly have room for good patterns. Thank you very much for taking the time and creating these.
Ram
Hi Lata,
The driveway was finally finished. Thanks for your and other members' ideas which I had heavily used in the design. I'd like to post the images of the drive way. Can you tell me how I do that? See a related post also.
Thank you very much,
Ram
Hi Ram,
Good to hear that your driveway is finally finished! I don't have a direct way to enable users to post images to the site yet. You could email me the pictures. I will post them for you.
Thanks
what e-mail address do i send the photos to?
You could email them to me directly to lata@ikolam.com or to mykolams@ikolam.com.
thanks
I had e-mailed the photos. Let me know if you didn't receive them.
Ram
I've received the photos you sent. Your driveway looks very gorgeous. I was both surprised and happy to see that you were able to reproduce every element of the 1st design I sent you :D including the shape of the medallion...one of my favorite part :)
I just need a couple of days to create some thumbnails of your pictures and maybe a different section in the website (showcasing your project/pictures). After I'm done uploading the pics you could provide your description/experience regarding that in the forum (we'll also use that in the main-site).
Thank you so much for sending in those photos. From nowon I plan to gaze into every driveway I come across since I too live in the bayarea. Who knows...I might just stumble upon yours...
:D
In reply to Request for kolam design for driveway by Lata