Maha Rani pink Bridal Jewelry

In Indian languages especially in Hindi, colors are named after certain objects – fruits, herbs or even nature. For example, Sky blue is called Aasmaani (like the sky), olive green is called Mehendi (after henna), pink is called Gulabi (after a rose) and Gray is called Saleti (after slate). But them some names are peculiar and it makes it hard to trace their origins. Case in point – Rani!
Rani refers to a hot pink colour (I don’t know the story behind it, and do tell me in the comments if you know). It is more saturated than a magenta and yet darker than pink. Its vibrant, strong, saturated, rich, and full of life and maybe that is why it is called Rani or Queen (of colors). No wonder I chose it as the brand colour (albeit a slightly darker shade) of Sayuri.
Though hot pink is a very common colour in fabrics, it is very difficult to source jewelry supplies for it. A Supplier once told me that the hot pink color is very difficult to achieve while dyeing beads as they tend to lose out the vibrancy very fast and for the extra trouble, they are priced higher than similar beads of other colors.
I get a lot of requests for rani pink flower jewelry, but I turn down most of them as I find it very hard to source hot pink flowers. Here are pictures of two similar sets I made recently after a lot of hunting for materials. Take a look.

After I made the first set, I realised that it look more royal than I excepted so I thought why not call it maharani pink instead of rani pink. Most dictionaries describe or Define “Maharani” as the wife of a Maharaja, an empress to an emperor but is that all, what makes one a Maharani?

Most vernacular languages have words that lose their emotion (or feeling) when translated into English. I feel that Maharani is one of them. More than a position, it is an endearment, an estimation of how beautiful someone is. Where I come from, there are endearing terms that a loved one uses to describe a girl/woman who is traditionally dressed (usually a saree and jewellery). These words will be accompanied by gazes of love (adoration), pride and most often than not , a long sigh! For instance, a father would refer to his daughter as “Rani” or queen, a boyfriend or a husband who call her his “devathai” or angel and the grandmother would call her a “Maharani” blessing her with a long and fruitful life.

Maang tikka and haathphool

Indian bridal jewellery might start at the crown of the head but a lot of importance is given to what is worn on the feet. Toerings due to their ability to compress pressure points impacting fertility have the foremost importance but anklets come a close second. In my first set, I made an exotic looking mixed flower anklet with 8 different types of flowers. The idea here is that every bride should dress up her feet as she takes the first step towards holy matrimony. Too cheesy? I thought so too!

In the first set, I made a statement Five strand Ranihaar in pink and gold with red, pink and a gold bead choker necklace with red and pink roses. I used bud roses, full roses, button roses and daisies in 3 different colors to create bracelets, rings, anklets, headpiece, armlets (first image of this post) and clips for the braid.