Design Resource
Channapatna Toys of Karnataka
The Art of Crafting Wood
by
Tools Machinery and Color
Channapatna still uses traditional machinery and tools in terms of production equipments. These are as follows:
1. The artisans have the overhead belt drivers that are driven by a small motor and one end of the belt drive converts the vertical motion into horizontal circular motion.
2. The artisans use various measuring equipments such as a compass, angles, planes and a wide variety of other such instruments.
3. For chipping they use a number of files and chisels of different shapes and sizes.
4. Coloring is done using vegetable dyes while the wooden block is still rotating on the lathe.
Apart from the mechanized or hand machines they use a number of other tools to manipulate the surface of the toys, such as a drilling machine is used to drill holes in certain toys, a chisel is used to develop grooves and create curves on the surface, the vegetable dyes are used to impart eye catching and bright colours to the toys to make them attractive for the buyers and visitors who visit the village. Moreover there is a wide range of files of different shapes and sizes used to further manipulate the surface by creating other innovative designs on the toys.
