What do you do when a NRI ( non resident Indian) bride requests you to make a bridal Flower jewellery for Pithi at short notice, because she couldn’t find what she wanted anywhere else? You make it; even though you are completely swamped and super tired – for every girl is entitled to look like a princess during her wedding !!
For the Uninitiated, Pithi (like haldi) is a pre wedding ceremony in certain Indian communities where a paste of chickpea flour, turmeric and rose water are applied on the bride and groom’s face, hands and legs to cleanse the skin and impart a bridal glow. After the paste is applied on the bride or groom (the ceremony takes place separately for the bride and groom), the relatives assembled, particularly women apply it on one another. It is said that, when the bride or groom apply it on their unmarried relatives or friends, it increase their chance of getting married, much like the catching of the bouquet in the western context.
Anyway this particular Bridal story starts with this sweet bride mailing me to ask for artificial set that will look like real jasmine flower jewelry in a very short time. After work I do this mad dash for the stores, where I don’t find anything remotely similar to what is required. I mail her lots of alternatives, quietly taking photos at the store till the shopkeeper shoos me out. After some mad continuous emailing and hopping from store to store, I find bead and charms that could pass off for Jasmine flowers and then slowly magically, everything falls into place. I find the exact color beads, findings and stone I require as per her brief.
JasmineFlower Flower jewellery for Pithi- This White jasmine and gold bridal set with orange and green accents comprises of a short necklace, a Maang Tika (forehead ornament), Ear Studs, Waistbelt and Haath Phool
This set is very different for all the other designs I did so far as its very dainty. The haath phools do not have a flower for the ring but a kundan center, and this was also the first time that I did studs in flower jewelry. It was a bit challenging to make flowers of different sizes, using the same size ‘buds‘ and I had to embellished all the kundans first with orange color thread to match her attire and then incorporate them into the design.
While working on this set I thought of how Haldi or Pithi can be compared to the south Indian Nalangu that I am used to. We too put ground turmeric on the bride’s and groom’s hands, feet and face. It might be done pre or post wedding mostly as a blessing ritual as opposed to a beautification ritual and it is all done during other celebrations like puberty function, baby shower, 60th wedding anniversary, etc. Thinking about the ritual reminded me of one of the verses from Varanam Ayiram by Andal (from Nachiyaar Thirumozhi), where the Goddess poet describes a post wedding ritual where she and her husband where smeared with Kumkum and sandalwood paste, taken for a ride atop a majestic adorned elephant and cooled with a bath of sacred waters.
Alas this bridal story has albeit a slightly sad ending with a lot of heart ache. Even though I made the Flower jewellery for Pithi in 4 days time and sent it through express post and it reached US in 5 days; She only received it well after her wedding as it got stuck in ISC New York NY for almost 18 days before they finally delivered. That too after repeated request from both her side as well as mine. This is why I request all prospective brides, particularly those abroad to place an order well in advance and avoid any heartache arising due to shipping. I do hope that someone gets to wear the set, as I made it with a lot of love!
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I hope you found it interesting
Cheers
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