Tag: Coasters

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Store Profile: Bamboo Canopy, Ahmedabad

Are you a green, eco-friendly person? I know, what a dumb question – who is not these days? If you like bamboo, then you’ll love this post for having discovered Rebecca Reubens. Seriously, the moment I discovered Rebecca’s work, I was floored and wondered how on earth could I not have heard of her before.

Rebecca runs a store called Bamboo Canopy in Ahmedabad. The store carries sustainable products designed by Rhizome, which she founded in 2009. So, how did it all began? Not one fine day in a single aha moment. After being associated for 7 years in the international development sector with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan coordinating projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America, she decided to pursue her PhD to assess the market and feasibility of selling sustainable design in a more organized manner.

Rebecca says the response for bamboo products has been overwhelming so much so that they cannot meet demand with the current infratructure and are in a expansion mode. She is proud to have broke even within six months. Currently, products are primarily retailed through Bamboo Canopy and other outlets such as Dhoop in Mumbai, Good Earth and TRIFED.

It’s time to delve straight into the pictures. So shall we?

Rebecca says the store is housed in a beautiful, spacious bungalow in Ahmedabad. The lovely surroundings definitely shows in the pictures.

Let’s start at the begining – entrance of the store.

A peek inside from the store window. Can you spot those bookends?

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How to: Decoupage Wooden Coasters Using Modge-Podge

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Hope you all had a good weekend. It was a busy, crafty weekend for us as my three-year-old son and I got into action. I had a set of six wooden coasters that badly needed some revamping. In the past, I’ve tried painting them with acrylic colors but the results were not satisfactory. I was wondering how to give them a face lift when an idea struck me. I noticed the tiny bottle of Modge-Podge lying ignored on the craft supplies rack; I’d picked it up from staples a month ago for another project.

Modge-Podge, and dozens of Femina and other home décor magazines collected over the years was enough to get us rolling and get our hands dirty for the decoupage project. Over the next two hours Sunday afternoon, I flipped through Femina/Elle cutting out interesting words and colorful pictures. Once I had enough, we started sticking them onto the coasters. And, this is what we made –

It reads – “Life’s a journey. Some say you must never look back. Why not?”

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How to : Recycle Old Coasters

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I had a set of 6 wooden coasters that were nearly 5 years old. Dull, faded, and ready to be discarded. But the coasters/place mats are the sturdy kind that I didn’t have the heart to just junk it. So over the weekend I transformed a pair (to begin with) into these bright, colorful coasters. How to paint: The steps are similar to how we painted the cane furniture: sanding, priming, painting followed by a coat of varnish. The only difference is I used acrylic paint for this project.