Design Resource
Wooden Bhoota Figures – Udupi, Karnataka
Art of Traditional Udupi Wooden Statue Making
by
Making Process
It starts from a pooja and distribution of prasadam among devotees of the tree which is considered for carving Bhoota figures. Generally customers helps the craftsmen to locate Hebbelsu and Halasu tree in their region which is a sacred for these kind of idols. Gudigar community get regular orders to carve bhoota figures and are replaced with old as they fade due to various factors like age of wood, deterioration of surface treatment (wood paint)
Seasoned wood log is used and sawed to obtain a blocks of required size, on which rough sketching is done with a pencil looking at other idols and based on the experience of a craftsmen. Unwanted wood is removed in layer by layer in large quantity (rough carving) and the same process of removing the wood is continued in small quantity (semi-finish carving) and continued using scraping tools. Detailing of body parts like eyes, nose and ears are done with carving tools to obtain a well-crafted idol. Hands are made separately and joined using keel (structure member) with wood-adhesive to wedge (fix in place) the hands to the body.
Outer surface of the body is treated with enamel paint as a basic coat. Further a coat of wood varnish is applied to get smooth finish. Other parts like eyes, nose are painted with various sizes of brushes to increase the look of the idol. Earlier chemical powder was preferred for coloring the statue that used to flow away when it comes in contact with water. For the past thirty years enamel paints are preferred for coloring on to the statue. After the painting is completed, artificial sword and trishula are fixed to the statue.
It takes about two and half to three months to complete small idols, whereas 3 to 4 months is required for bigger sized idols of around 6 to 7 feet as per the intricacy of the design. Ornaments are decided and carved based on the style (shyli) of the idol.
Finally, finished statues are delivered by performing pooja (referred to kala koduvudu or bettu koduvudu which means ask forgiveness to the tree for hurting it to make into a carved form) to temples, where priest perform rituals on a daily basis as it turned to the idol for worshipping.
