Wooden Toys - Kondapalli
The wood used for carving Kondapalli wooden toys is from the tree called “Tella Poniki’ (White Sander wood and botanically called Jiuotia Rotteri Fromis) and this grows abundantly in local forest. Tella poniki wood is very soft and light in nature; hence it is chosen to make wooden toys.
Before cutting, the wood is treated by warming as the weight of the wood reduces to one third of the original weight. After treating, Tella Poniki timber is cut into required blocks.
Initially, the design is marked on the surface of the wood. The wood blocks are then carved with bahudara (chisel) into the desired shape of the toy. The chiseled components are then filed to remove uneven edges. All the pieces like Body, Head, Ears, Trunk, Tail are carved separately and fitted together with glue and a slow process of heating on a wire frame is done to evaporate the moisture.
Once the carving is done, the early-prepared Aakra paste is applied to the toy to fill the cracks and also to give proper shape of the toy. The toy is dried and then smoothened by rubbing with sand paper. Once the surface is smoothened, it is sent for coloring process.
