Crafter in the Spotlight Harshada Rege

Hello arty crafty folks! Hope you all had a wonderful Diwali and enjoyed with family & friends. I am super excited about our upcoming Itsy Bitsy Creativity Carnival, India’s largest art & craft event to be held in Bangalore on December 8 and 9, 2018 at Shankaraa Foundation, Kanakapura road. Hope to see you all there!

Amidst gearing up for the big event, I am here with an interesting story of an ardent crafter, Harshada Rege from Mumbai in today’s “Crafter in the Spotlight”.

Harshada is a versatile and enthusiastic crafter who loves to experiment with different art and craft forms. She quit her job to pursue her love for crafts. As she puts it, crafting is in her genes! Being a huge Harry Potter and Marvel Comics fan, she wishes to create extra space if she had magical powers for crafters to hoard tons of craft supplies. She also wishes to add an extra hour to each day for crafting!

How did Harshada get into crafting, what inspires her, what are her tips for fellow crafters, her favourite quote, how would she contribute to the crafting world if she had magical powers? Read along to find more about Harshada’s journey. Don’t forget to shower your love on her! Also, catch a glimpse of a step-by-step tutorial project by Harshada.

Rashmi Closepet M.D Itsy Bitsy: Tell us a bit about yourself & your background?

Harshada Rege: I’m so excited to be featured as the ‘Crafter in Spotlight’. I would like to thank Rashmi and Harish Closepet and Anitha Mallesh for this.

Hi all! I’m Harshada Divekar Rege, born and raised in Mumbai. I was passionate about art & craft since my childhood days. Art for me is like meditation. I loved reading about art and architecture of ancient Indians and Egyptians a lot; and therefore, I did my B.A and M.A in Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology. Later, I completed a Diploma in Museology & Conservation and B.Ed. Throughout this journey, I was associated with varied forms of arts and crafts, attended different workshops conducted by traditional Indian craftsman, took part in competitions and I enjoyed it. I worked as a teacher in college and school for five years but was unhappy as I couldn’t get time for art and started feeling stressed. Thus, I quit my job and now I’m a full-time crafter and have started running a small venture from home, taking orders for gifts and home décor and I also conduct workshops. My goal is to set up my own craft studio in future and run different art classes.

RC: How did you get into crafting?

HR: I guess it’s in my genes. My mom was into knitting, crotchet, embroidery and Rangoli making while my father did gorgeous sketches of ancient sculptures, fabric painting and foil embossing and all these things always intrigued me. My actual journey started when I won a silver medal in an interschool mehendi competition in third standard and since then my parents have been supporting me in all my crafting endeavors and now my husband also encourages me.

RC: What is your favourite type of craft?

HR: I enjoy making murals, candles, flowers, bottle decor but now it’s decoupage and mixed media, as they offer endless possibilities. I also love to up-cycle objects using different mediums since it is a lot of fun.

RC: What are your favourite products at Itsy Bitsy?

HR: It is too hard to choose; but chalk paints, embossing pastes, stencils and Colour Splashes have a special place in my heart.

RC: If you had magical powers, how would you contribute to the Crafting world?

HR: Most of us Mumbaikars have space and time issues. Being a Potterhead & an ardent Marvel fan, I always dreamt of having a magical wand and creating a mirror dimension wherein crafters can hoard loads of craft supplies and have their own space for craft studios. I would also love to add the 25th hour for crafting.

RC: Your prized possession in your craft stash from Itsy Bitsy?

HR: My Little Birdie Dream Cut Machine, heat tool, stencils and handmade flowers.

RC: How would you describe your style of crafting?

HR: Experimental! I like to experiment a lot with different mediums and styles.

RC: How do you organize your time for crafting?

HR: Being a passionate crafter, I make sure that I give at least 4-5 hours to craft daily.

RC: Tips for people who want to craft

HR: Lots of Practice and Patience are the essential factors as crafting requires loads of it.

RC: Your all -time favourite quote?

HR: “Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done, life’s too short to think small”.  “In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations”.

Here’s my step by step tutorial for a beautiful wall hanging. This one is a kind of best out of waste project. I have used left over paper pieces and a discarded MDF board as a base.

Step 1 First, I applied Chocolate Truffle chalk paint to the MDF board to cover the previous designs and stains.

Step 2 I had two different design paper pieces left with me. I trimmed them according to the shape of the board in two different sizes and distressed them. Stuck one above the other and applied Texture Paste on them.

After applying Texture Paste with a stencil, I splattered some Wild Wasabi chalk paint on the papers.

Step 3 Thereafter, I took a piece of waste packaging box and trimmed it. Then I painted it with white chalk paint and applied texture paste using the brick stencil. After they were dry, I applied a light coat of Fortune Cookie and Chocolate Truffle chalk paints on the piece. After this, I sprayed a green shade of Color Splash on the bricks.

 

Step 4 I adhered this piece onto the board using double tape and stuck Little Birdie’s beautiful handmade white roses. Used some pink color to shade some of the petals. Then I trimmed some wire, turned them into spring shapes and stuck them to create my floral composition.

Step 5 I sprayed some Golden Mocha Color Splash on the bricks and placed more leaves on the piece. Thereafter I used shapes made with a new Little Birdie thin die cut- lamp and fence, and pasted them on the bricks. Painted the borders of the board with dark brown acrylic paint and applied Fortune Cookie chalk paint on the visible paper borders.

Step 6 Next, I applied green embossing paste on the sides of the brick to create a textured layer and to give a mossy effect.

Step 7  I brushed Little Birdie matte varnish on the exposed MDF parts and then used a copper wire for hanging.

Here are a couple of  Harshada’s other awesome creations:

Many congrats  Harshada for being the CRAFTER IN THE SPOTLIGHT – ITSY BITSY!!

You will receive Rs.500/- Itsy Bitsy gift voucher & a Crafter in the Spotlight badge, which can be proudly displayed on the side bar of your blog and other platforms. Looking forward to many more creations, Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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