Craft inspiration for your craft projects

Craft inspiration around every corner!

Creativity is a passion to create and you won"t stop creating on this craft tour. With a different and unique craft arranged for you throughout your travels, you will learn ancient techniques that has been kept alive through generations by the creativity of others. You can apply any of these crafting skills to your own art and craft projects. It refreshing to try new thongs that you would never think to try. Take a look at only a few of the destinations that await you on a craft tour to Kerala, India. Get creative and have fun!

 

A Trip to the Vellar Craft Village

Vellar is a hamlet nestled into the rocky countryside of Thiruvananthapuram not far from Kovalam. It is one of the region’s newest craft tourism destinations, and boasts traditional handicraft stalls, modern shopping and recreational facilities and eateries of all kinds.

Having recently received an upgrade and remodelling costing more than 700 million Rs, one of its biggest draws is a large covered theatre where there is training in a variety of local handicrafts – including the use of local coconuts and coconut shells. Several governmental and government-related agencies and projects give their support in order to bring these traditional local crafts back into the public eye in the Craft Village.



 

Palm Leaf Weaving

Southern Kerala is known for its weaving and basket-making using palm leaves. Young, tender palm leaves are harvested and their ribs removed before being dried in the sun. They are used to make all manner of handicrafts, including bowls, shades, folding fans and many other ornamental and practical objects. You can learn the techniques of palm leaf weaving that have been handed down in distinct families for generations.



 

Mannar & Aranmula Bell metal crafting centres

Kerala has long been associated with traditional metalworking crafts, including iron, silver, gold and bronze, but also ‘bell metal’. Bell metal is akin to bronze, but it has a unique ratio of 78% copper to 22% tin, and is traditionally used in the region for temple bells, lamps and religious statuary.

It is heavy yet extremely durable, and is particularly prized for its ability to withstand heat and fire, which is why it is also used for cooking pots and utensils. At the bell metal crafting centres of Mannar and Aranmula, you can learn how these items and more have been crafted for generations.

 

 

 

Kanjirappilly Plantation

The Kanjirappilly region, sometimes spelled Kanjirapally, is known for its gently rolling hills and warm, pleasant weather. Naturally, this is amazing agricultural land, and it has long been the site of many sprawling plantations. Located amidst this pastoral wonder are the Kanjirappilly Plantation Bungalows. These well-appointed homes away from home are just a few hours from Cochin, and also convenient to both Periyar and Kumarakom. While we’re there, you can even tour the plantation!

 

Ayurveda & Yoga

Ayurveda is the medical tradition of ancient India. It is said that the Hindu god Dhanvantari incarnated himself as the king of historical Varanasi to teach these arts to humans for the first time. However, modern scholars suggest that the core of Ayurvedic medicine and thought goes back much farther, possibly before the rise of the Indus Valley Civilisation which predated India.

Ayurvedic practices form the core of most modern day ‘complimentary’ or ‘alternative’ medical techniques, many of which are practiced in the UK. Here, you’ll get a chance to learn about Ayurveda from traditional practitioners directly.



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Colouricious holidays craft tour

Come on a craft tour to Kerala

Colouricious Holidays offer you the opportunity to travel the Kerala region of India and delve into the wonderful craft culture that has been thriving there for centuries. On this craft tour you will visit crafting centres participating in a a range of creative workshops all organised for your enjoyment. You won"t have to worry about a thing! Here are a few of the crafts you can expect to experience, ready to takeaway new skills for your own creative home projects.

TASARA Centre for Creative Weaving

The TASARA Centre is located in the Beypore village of Kerala,along India’s west coast. ‘Tasara’ means ‘weaver’s shuttle’ in Sanskrit. The centre works to bring together both contemporary and traditional weavers and other textile artists to encourage both a respect for traditional forms and real innovation. The TASRA centre’s Artist in Residence programme has given studio space and facilities to support to artists and artisans throughout India for more than 25 years. And has jump-started the careers of many successful textile artists and painters.

TASRA also provides extensive training opportunities in weaving and both traditional and batik dyeing, using natural dyes and pigments as well as modern chemical colours. Its annual textile workshops have become a gathering place for weavers and textile artists throughout India to meet, network and collaborate.

Pottery Making 

Kolenchery is a small town in Kerala State, specifically a few kilometres east of Cocin in Ernakulam district, near India’s west coast. One of its most important features, as far as Colouricious Holidays is concerned, is the Pottery Making Unit which focuses on the traditional terra cotta pottery techniques of Kerala State. Not only is this an opportunity to see the works of some of India’s premier workers in terra cotta pottery, it is a chance to gain insight into the way this traditional crafting material (and a mixture of traditional and modern techniques) can be used to create art that is both thoroughly modern yet truly timeless.

Toddy Tapping

Throughout Kerala, toddy tapping is conducted in the same way it has been for hundreds if not thousands of years. The ‘palm toddy’ or simply ‘toddy’, is harvested from coconut palms without cutting down the coconuts – if they are instead carefully ‘tapped’, the milk inside will refill over time. In this way, a single tree can produce hundreds of litres of coconut milk each day. You’ll learn how this is accomplished, and also how to make a delicious palm toddy – even with purchased coconuts at home.

Kalaripayattu

Kalaripayattu is one of India’s oldest martial arts, and one of the oldest continuously practiced martial arts in the world. ‘Kalari’ means battle or battlefield, and ‘Kalaripayattu’ means ‘Practice in the Arts of the Battlefield’. Its written history is more than 2300 years old, but it is believed that many of the practices go back much further. It involves the use of what we would call mideval weapons, especially shields, spears, bows, swords and the more obscure silambam.

To stay up to date with our creative holidays follow are newsfeed or visit our website to book a place!