Kolam is a form of drawing (in the Indian culture) that is drawn at the entrance of a house using rice flour. People use coloured powder, coconut, dried tea leaves and all sorts of things to make Rangoli - a coloured kolam. The ones above are called 'pulli kolam' (dotted kolam) or 'kambi kolam' (string kolam) and is popular among the Tamil speaking population of India. Since I am Tamil... I claim it as my cultural stuff too. :-)
All four are 5x5 doted ones that I found in arusuvai website. The instructions on how to make these are on http://www.arusuvai.com/tamil/node/30530
In a nut shell... clean tiles with methylated spirit. Mark the dots; draw the kolam and paint it. Follow paint manufactures instructions on curing & fixing / baking. Remove pencil marks gently with a soft soapy sponge when tile cools completely. Pat dry. Stick foam backing when tile it completely dry.
Done!
One thing I have observed with any hand painted tiles is that they tend to stick to the hot mug and lift with the mug often. :-) With time, paint may peel off or the tile will lift with the cup, drop and attempt for a suicide. :-)
