Snippets of Information - Crafts
* 23 Jul 2025
The basic material of Bidriware is an alloy of zinc and copper in
the proportion of 16:1. It is on this alloy that artistic designs in
pure silver are engraved. The Bidriware undergoes an eight-stage
process. The 8 stages are molding, smoothening by file, designing by
chisels, engraving by chisel and hammer, pure silver inlaying,
smoothening again, buffing and finally oxidizing by soil and ammonium
chloride. Now the Bidri item is ready for the final step of making the
surface permanently black so that the silver inlay design will stand out
in bright contrast against the dark background. There is a particular
type of soil found in the inner depths of ruins which are three hundred
years old, in buildings where neither sunlight nor rain has fallen for
hundreds of years. This soil, when mixed with ammonium chloride and
water, produces a very special paste which is rubbed onto the heated
Bidri article. The paste darkens the body of the piece, but has no
effect on the silver inlay. As the paste is rinsed off, the design
springs dramatically into view, the shining silver resplendent against
the black surface. Finally, oil is rubbed on the piece to deepen the
black matt coating.
Source: cauverycrafts.com
* 12 Aug 21
Kondapalli Toys (Kondapalli Bommalu) are brightly coloured
hand-carved wooden toys in bright reds, greens and yellows,
traditionally using natural powder colours.
Photo courtesy: Lakshmi Vuppuluri
Photo courtesy: Lalitha Srinivasan
Photo courtesy: Lakshmi Vuppuluri
Photo courtesy: Lalitha Srinivasan
The craftsmen migrated from
Rajasthan to Kondapalli near Vijaywada around the 16th century. The
knives used as tools for carving and the colours and brushes were
originally made by the artisans themselves. They carve the toys
out of soft wood known as Tella Poniki (punki). A paste made out of
tamarind seed powder & sawdust known as makku is used to fill up
gaps and to add features to the toys.
At present, the artisans have started using commercial glue and enamel
paints in place of the resin gum and natural powder colours.
References: Toys'story by Sabita Radhakrishna, thehindu.com, 3 Sep 2015 ; wikipedia.org
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