DIY Thoranam/Door Decorative

Thoranam or festoon of fresh mango leaves is an indispensable part in all Hindu festivals and weddings. As a kid, it was my responsibility for most of the festivals to change fresh mango leaves and adorn the front door. It wasn’t fun to string on a thread and hang on to the door frames 😉 Now, I really miss this part of festival preparations.

This is just not mere decoration but the tradition has a scientific reason that the leaf helps in absorbing carbon dioxide and generate fresh oxygen as large crowds gather during festival days.

Some places it is really hard to find mango trees and if you want to keep the tradition and pass on to your kids, here is a D.I.Y Thoranam/Door Decorative 🙂

Isn’t that fun project to make and decorate the front door welcoming happiness that the festival brings along 🙂

What you need:

12×18 Foam sheet- 2 mm thickness – Hobbylobby

Large and medium kids craft acrylic stones – Walmart

Puffy Paint – Walmart

Hole Punch

String or scrap yarn

Scissors, Paper and Pen

How you make:

Step 1: Gather your supplies

Step 2: Draw an image of leaf of your choice on the plain paper as shown below and cut it to use as a template.

Step 3: Transfer the template on to the foam sheet

Step 4: Cut the stenciled foam leaves.

Step 5: Punch a hole both the sides of the leaf like shown below

Step 6: Drop some puffy paint and press the acrylic gemstone large/medium and let it dry for couple of  hours.

Step 7: Once dry string the leaves on to a scrap yarn or cotton string and they are ready to hang.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and Happy Crafting!!

TIPS:

• It can be fun to involve kids
• The thinner the foam sheet, the easier it is to work with
• You can use thick cardboard too