Indian festivals and decor : Painting Diyas

The festival of lights- Diwali is there. Back to back festivals make me dizzy sometimes. Festivals come with hectic schedule. One has to shop for puja things, decoration items and ingredients for cooking savouries for the festival. Lot of guests come over and you have to tidy up your house making it presentable for the festival. In chennai, local people do not celebrate diwali like us- the north indians. I had a hard time locating shop where I could get the idols of Ganesh and Lakshmi. Finally I could get one along with other puja things at a shop here. I have not yet made any sweets. I am planning to make gulab jamuns and some salty savouries.

I have loads of things going in my mind. I have to make rangolis too for the entrance.I started painting these diyas yesterday. Today I have completed the ones which I will be using for puja. Here are some of them:

Important tips :

You must soak diyas in water and let them dry completely before you paint them. I used regular acrylic colors. You can also apply a coat of clean varnish on diyas. It will give more shine. You can also decorate diyas with sequins.