On my recent trip to India I collected some seeds called manjaadi kaai. Here is a link to some info on it. Well, strictly speaking, I did not collect it, I just picked up my mother's collection. These little coral like seeds, drop to the ground as the seed pods mature. I was meaning to make some jewelry from it, initially, but then I decided that rather than store it away somewhere until I am ready to make something out of it, I would rather display it:
The flower like woody things sitting inside this glass jar are actually seed pods that my mother also collected for me. The tree sheds these massive seed pods during the rainy season. Now, no one is able to tell me the name of this tree from which such magnificent seed pods arise, so I will have to keep searching until I find it. These pods occur in a bunch, almost like a flower. Each pod is about 4 to 5 inches long and three inches wide.
Once I put it up in the vase, I realized that I wanted some more luster on the pods. Not exactly color it, but, you know, to just add a little punch.
So, I experimented with several things. Here is what it looked like with Martha Stewart's metallic paints. I believe the shade was called copper. It was a bit much for me.
Next, I tried some nail polish on it. Yes, I know! :)
I tried four colors on that pod. The silvery color is actually Martha Stewarts titanium. I thought I might try the titanium thing on an entire pod and see how I liked it.
I kinda liked it, but still... just wasn't able to commit to it. I thought I might paint the rim of the pods this color.
So the search continued on.
I decided to try the patio paint I had bought for another project, where I made a planter from some patio blocks. I never did paint the planters, so I had lots on hand. This is how it looked.
Now, this I liked a lot. It looked just like nature intended, only dressed up a little to party!
Now that the outside of the pods were all painted, I thought, may be some color on the inside -- something to "pop" would look even nicer. So I tried another shade of nail polish.
I kinda liked it, but still... just wasn't able to commit to it. I thought I might paint the rim of the pods this color.
So the search continued on.
I decided to try the patio paint I had bought for another project, where I made a planter from some patio blocks. I never did paint the planters, so I had lots on hand. This is how it looked.
Now, this I liked a lot. It looked just like nature intended, only dressed up a little to party!
Now that the outside of the pods were all painted, I thought, may be some color on the inside -- something to "pop" would look even nicer. So I tried another shade of nail polish.
Meh... wasn't that exciting. So, I tried some red glitter glue.
I kinda liked how it looked, but I thought too much of this may just be too overwhelming. Also, it might have a very Christmasy look and I was kind of going for an all year thing.
So, in the end, this is where I am at. I still don't know if I want the silver on the rim and what I want to do with the interior. What do you think?
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