charancreations

Art and creating have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I love to experiment and try my hand at any interesting craft/ art that I discover. I've created artwork in various media: oils, acrylics, paper cutting, collages, wood and clay sculptures, 'blockprinting' and screen printing textiles, handcrafting/sculpting jewelry etc. My inspiration comes from so many places. I find it everywhere, in Patterns, nature, structures, colors; all of these things have played a part in my creations.
Motivated by the positive comments from friends and family, I started looking for an avenue to sell my creations that gave me liberty to create and sell while managing my home and kids. That's when my etsy shop 'Charan Creations' came into being. I am extremely lucky to be a stay at home mom with 2 small beautiful girls, doing what I love to do.
Charan Creations is home to unique Hand carved wood stamps, traditionally used for the ancient Indian art of 'Block-printing' and hand block printed items.
I introduced these unique, versatile stamps at my online shop in an effort to help preserve, promote, revive and save this dying art. These are carved on a very sturdy & durable wood called Indian Rosewood (from Teak family). After my attempts at carving the stamps on the local varieties of teak failed, I decided to only create the designs and get the stamps carved from artisans in India according to the principles o Fair Trade.
I feel proud to inform you that selling these stamps in my shops helps sustain livelihood to a poor family of artisans in India, who’ve been in this trade for 5 generations (over 100 yrs). Their forefathers started this trade in 1912. Unfortunately, the popularity of block printed fabric and hence hand carved stamps considerably diminished. Block Printing is an ancient Indian art of printing, especially on fabrics & textiles, dating as far back as the 12th century.

I also 'block-print' with these wood stamps, using non-toxic fabric paints. Some of block printed items in the line include eco-friendly tote bags, wine gift bags, stationery (greeting cards, gift tags etc), 100% Silk & Cotton scarfs, Table placemats & Napkins etc. The popularity of block printed fabric and hence hand carved stamps considerably diminished. Sadly, the art of 'block printing' is almost lost to modern printing techniques like automated web presses and silk screening.

One recent addition to my Creative Ventures is hand sculpted Polymer Clay Appliqué jewelry. Each jewelry piece is made with great love, patience and passion to create something exquisite. No moulds are used to create the details. Each small detail in the design is carefully applied with thin needle and many hours are invested in the creation of each piece.