These bookmarks are done on Bamboo leaves using fine tip pen (Rotring pen). The motifs are freehand and include some of the motifs are I commonly use in my work specially the one in the extreme left bookmark. This motif is a combination of a peacock and paisley (mango design).

Embroidered Motifs

A motif is a design which is used as a decoration or as part of an artistic pattern. The motifs above are embroidered using variety of stitches like satin stitch, chain stitch, stem stitch, button hole stitch, filling stitch, running stitch etc.
The designs used for embroidery are inspired from Arabic Mehandi (Heena) designs. The Arabic designs are characterized by floral motifs with inclusion of birds like peacock but there are no human faces or bodies as evident in Indian mehandi designs. Another feature of distinction among the two designs is the placement of motifs.The Arabic designs are spaced apart, while Indian designs are placed as close as possible almost covering the complete hand or feet, the common body parts for mehandi application. Colour also is significantly different as Indian Mehandi is red to dark brown or even blackish brown in colour (made by mixing ground mehandi leaves, tea leaves, gooseberries or amla, clove or laung etc.), whereas the arabic mehandi is commonly done in black colour (obtained by mixing hair dye or synthetic dye in henna powder) with brown filling.
The pictures below show some common Arabic and Indian designs

The two pictures show Arabic Designs

These two pictures are of Indian Designs

Hi there....
Let me welcome u all to my blog with a brief introduction about myself and the blog.
I am Neha from Bangalore, India. I am into teaching profession and my subject is Fashion and Textiles. Being into a subject like Fashion, I get a lot of opportunities to explore my creative side. My hobbies include reading, embroidery, doing some craft work and internet surfing. I have a passion for Indian traditional textiles and embroideries.
This blog will include various things that I make during leisure time and as well as some occasional information on Indian Textiles..
HAPPY EXPLORING!!

Embroidered Bookmarks

The two bookmarks are done on white cotton fabric taking inspiration from Parsi Embroidery, which is a very fine and delicate form of embroidery, using mainly satin stitches, long and short stitches, french knot etc.
the fabric after embroidery is sandwiched between a cellophane paper and thick colored paper.