Lockdown helps woman rediscover her craft skills

Sahana Venkat had forgotten the Dasara doll tradition but home confinement has rekindled her interest

Sahana Venkat found a new passion during the Covid lockdown: creating art from the waste she finds at home.

A mother of two and resident of Shankarapuram, she uses old shampoo bottles, plates, socks and matchboxes to make pretty vases, wall hangings, dolls and toys.

“Before the pandemic hit India, I had just returned to work at an accountancy firm after a long break,” she says.

She was excited, but couldn’t keep the job as she didn’t want to step out during the pandemic. Confined to her house, she rediscovered the joys of handcrafting.

“We used to follow a tradition of decorating dolls for Navaratri, but over the years, I had stopped following it. Last year, I decided to make an elaborate set of dolls, all with recycled items,” she says.

The new hobby is helping her look at everything around her with a fresh eye. Empty shampoo bottles and toothpaste boxes, that would have been thrown away as trash, are now being transformed into creative artefacts.

“When I looked at online craft videos, they had all the necessary tools and items at hand. But stuck in a lockdown, household items were all I could work with,” she says.

Sahana has now started conducting online art classes for children.

“During Covid times, art has become my therapy. It has also helped me reconnect with my children, especially my younger son, as he has become my drawing and crafting buddy,” she says.

*Sahana teaches craft online to children. She can be contacted on [e-mail].