Design Resource
Traditional Toys of Kondapalli
The Craft of Wooden Toys
by
J. N. Somya
Selection of Wood, Cutting and Seasoning
Healthy and mature trees of ‘Tella Poniki’ that have reached a height of a minimum of 10–15 feet and 2-3 feet bark diameter are selected from the nearby forests of Kondapalli. The selected tree is cut/ chopped into the wood of manageable pieces. The freshly wood is usually heavy in weight. It is therefore allowed to dry in the sun for about 20days to a month. This is called seasoning. During this time the cut wood loses sufficient moisture and becomes light and soft, to the extent that one can cut through the wood with ease. This makes it suitable to carve interesting figures (i.e for artistic wood carving).
Proper seasoning of wood is very important. Wood not seasoned properly or for long enough becomes worm-infested and unusable for toy making. As such no external pest control measure is adopted. The pieces are kept on a wireframe over a bowl with burning sawdust to make it warm and easy to carve.
