Betel Nut Dolls

With Valentine�s Day around the corner, Indu and Chandu decided to do something special for their parents. After dillydallying, they decided on making betel nut dolls � a lovely couple just like their Mum and Dad!

What did they use?

1. Four betel nuts, yes those are painted betel nuts!
2. Water colour / fabric colour
3. One clove, for daddy�s hair.
4. Trims, little beads, glue, embroidery skeins, paintbrush.

That looks swell! How did they manage it?
Indu : We painted the body black and the face a nice copper colour, the betel nuts silly! Then it was time for sticking the body and the head together. Dad should have clove-like hair, we decided! Then came the dark blue beady eyes! But they both looked sullen, especially mummy�s! We decided to focus on Mummy.

Chandu: Mummy loves sequins; we gave her a sequins rim. After sticking sequins on the edge of the black body, we decided to give her a stole! We tied a trim around her neck and glued the edges, so it wouldn�t fray.

Indu : Mummy liked the attention. We made her a smile with red embroidery skeins. How? We cut a small piece of red embroidery skein, applied some water on the edges so that they stuck together. Then we spread glue on the betel nut in the shape of a smile and stuck the smile! Now she needed some hair; she was almost pleading for it.

Chandu: Didi rolled brown embroidery skein over her fingers. I tied the centre of the rolled brown skein with red embroidery skein. We stuck it with glue. Mummy sure loved the attention but daddy was gloomy and so we shifted focus.

Indu: A nice beaded trim on his neck and blue buttons would definitely drive away the blues. We used small colourful beads for both. Daddy was beginning to feel better. We knew it when we added the smile to his face!

And they got beaming dolls for their parents. Betel nuts actually have some recreational value!