Contents

1) STONE CRAFT

• Process and Techniques: The carving process essentially has the following sequence:
• SELECTION OF STONE: The stone used to make idols for temples as well as of a human consists of Black and grey granite which are locally available. In traditional language the artisans of the village call the black granite as ‘Purush Shila’ (Male Stone) and the grey granite as ‘Stree Shila’ (Female Stone), which is less hard, than the male stone. The artisan chooses the stones for making the idols according to the characteristics of the god or goddesses. • Selection of the stone (Hard granite, Soft Gray granite, Mysore stone, White granite) is done on the basis of the sculpture to be made, depending on male or female carving the artist wants.
• ROUGH EXERCISE: • The artist prepares detailed Sketching of the sculpture in the form of template on the hard paper, if necessary he also makes the clay models too. If there is a change in the figure style e.g., cloth draping etc., he also makes a wax model of the sculpture, in small scale. All these techniques not only give the artist the rough idea of the sculpture, but it also helps them to understand the proportion of the sculpture. This helps the master craftsmen to communicate with their fellow craftsmen who work under them as trainee regarding the understanding of the form
• WORKING PROCEDURE: The master craftsmen divide the work of sculpting into the three parts depending on the shape and size of the structure to be made.