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Design Resource
Shivarapatna Stone Crafts II
The Craft of Stone Carved Sculptures and Idols
by
Prof. Bibhudutta Baraland Antony William
Tools and Raw Materials
Tools:
Common Tools used for Stone Crafts are:
• Compass (Ttiwar)
• Pencil
• Steel ruler (L-shape)
• Red oxide to mark centerand base of the statue
• Hammer
• chisels of different sizes and points
• Blades
• Grinding stone (to polish)
• Brick to sharpen the tools
• Cloth or brush to take the dust out (while polishing)
• Power Drill
• Die Grinder
• Stone Cutter
Raw Materials:
Raw materials used are:
• Stone– Sandstone
• Soft stone
• Granite and marble,
• Brass, Silver, Gold and Panch Loha (Bronze, Gun metal, Gold, silver, Copper)
• Fibre (Acrylic and Fibre reinforced plastic)
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.
Few other stones are also imported from other states to make idols when there are any specific requirements of the client. Mostly the stone carving is done with the help of various traditional hand tools, which includes various kinds of iron chisels and hammers along with some measuring instruments like right angles and compass of various sizes. For finishing, waste grinding stones of various grades from the industries is used. The craftsperson forge the iron chisels and they themselves do maintenance work like regular sharpening of the same in-house. In current time in order to increase productivity the artisans have started using basic power tools also like Power drills, Die grinders, stone cutters etc.
