Coconut Shell Craft - Marcel, Goa
Coconut grows in more number in the coastal regions of India as its temperature and climatic condition suits its growth. After the harvesting of coconut, it is selected as per the requirement, quality and placed under sunlight for about seven to fifteen days continuously. The outer portion, husk is removed with a sharp tool and cut with hacksaw to the required lengths. The inner meat or the copra is taken out with a knife, if it is good can be used for cooking otherwise it is used as manure. The outer portion of the shell is sand with the sand paper to obtain a smooth finish.
In case of the Liquor coconut shell glass bottles, glass bottles are placed in the coconut shell and pasted with newspapers around till it is fixed firmly. The portions are fixed by repeated pasting of the newspapers from the shell to bottle and then the coir rope of smaller width wrapped around the bottle leaving only the shell part without the coir rope. Thicker plaited coir ropes are wrapped in between the smaller coir ropes that can be used as a handle for holding.
A shell cut of the circular shape is glued with the glue gun and the shell with bottle is placed over it such as it becomes the stand. Newspapers applied with adhesives are pasted to the gaps that are found in between. After the gaps are filled it is then wrapped with the thicker coir ropes for ornamentation. It is then applied with varnish to obtain the glossy look of the products.
In the case of the soap boxes after the husk, copra is removed holes are made on the shell pieces at the required portions then it is sand till the smooth surface is obtained and varnish is applied. It is kept away from dust to maintain the glossy look of the products.
