Diwali 2025: Creative ways to paint your old diyas this year

Have you taken out your old diyas for Diwali yet? Every year you do so, the first step is to give it a thorough check and see which pieces can be used and which cannot be used at all. After discarding the unusable pieces, some are given colourful touch-ups. While you are at it, make it different this Diwali by adding in your creativity.

Here’s how you can give new life to old diyas this Diwali

Gather your paintbrushes, colours, old diyas and other accessories like flowers, mirrors, glitter paints, sketch pens and more to get creative.

Ombre love

While ombre is such a hit combination when it comes to fashion, apply the same rules to your diyas. Pick a colour and lay down different shades on the palette. Use a sponge, you may use your discarded make-up sponges, and dab it all over the old diya. Make sure that you don’t use more than two to three colours and choose combinations that easily blend into each other and yet leave a vibrant glow. Combinations like pink, red and maroon or sky, lilac and mauve or shades of green work very well in this case.

 Mandala magic

If you have the time and interest in doing a mandala work all over the diya, then paint the base colour white or black or any pastel shade. Then take the dotter and start placing your dots in different sizes and colours. Ideally, after the base coat is dried, you can make the design using a pencil and then go over it with the dotter. Don’t forget to apply a coat of varnish once the final pattern is dry. This helps in keeping the colours and designs intact.

Festive florals

Flowers or the floral pattern is an extremely versatile form of art and can adapt anywhere. There are three ways to do it. First, give the diya a pastel base coat and once it is dried, draw your floral patterns in a contrasting colour and fill it in. Folk art like kalamkari, warli which use a lot of floral motifs can be inspirations. For instance baby pink or white works well with pastel green or lime yellow is a good combination with deep blue. Second, after applying your base coat, you can stick on artificial flowers in different colours. Third, you can use real shredded flowers and petals. Ideally have an idea of what design you want to do or whether you want to cover the whole diya with the flowers. Keeping that in mind, either apply the base coat or skip it completely.

Mirror or jewel finish

Take inspiration from the old mirror works in home décor elements and get glue them onto the diyas giving it a refreshing makeover. Apply a base coat of your choice, decide on a pattern and stick the mirrors on to it. Ideally, mark the pattern first on to the diya, making it easier to stick the mirrors. These cut mirrors are easily available in your local art and crafts shop. You can also add some colourful jewels or stones in the middle of the mirror work to give it a royal look.

European wonder

If you want to give the diyas a very different look from Indian traditional ones, then check out the decoupage method. Layer it with chalk paint and add floral napkins for a decoupage look.

Classic elegance

Keep it absolutely classic by painting the whole diya white and adding in finer details in silver or gold lines and patterns. This can be done via paint and brush or marker pens, whichever you feel comfortable with. At times, a piece of two of mirrors can be added to this to give it a 3-D effect.

Theme–based diyas

While theme based Durga Puja pandals are very famous, if you are trying to decorate your house based on a theme, then you can re-use your old diyas by painting it accordingly. For a more galaxy theme, the diyas will be dark coloured with white spray. To weave it in with Lakshmi Puja at home, there can be feet motif or Goddess Lakshmi painted on the diyas. For a more funky look, you can use neon colours.  

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