Design Resource
Wood Carving - Jaipur
Making of Wooden Idols
by
Prof. Bibhudutta Baral,Divyadarshan C. S. and Sandhya B.
Making Process
The wood that artist prefers to use for carving in Jaipur is called as Kadham wood. It is available in markets and it is easy for the artists to carve like in soft wood. The artists are well versed in carving out idols. The wooden idol carving process roughly follows three steps - marking on wooden block, carving and finishing it with all the details.
1. Marking on Wooden Block:
After cutting a block of wood of desired length and width, it is roughly marked with pen. The outlines of the picture that has to be carved to an idol are marked on that block of wood. Rough outlines are drawn on the block of wood so it becomes easy to carve.
2. Carving:
The outlines help the artist to carve and chisel out the wood. With the help of drilling bits artist carve out wood layer by layer. First with a bigger sized drilling bit the artist roughly carves to attain the basic shape of an idol. After working layer by layer once the artist is satisfied with basic shape he changes the drilling to smaller one to give further details. In this stage, the idol could be identified.
3. Finishing:
The idol still has to go through a lot of refining or detailing, the jewelry part, eyes, nose and ears, detailing of palm everything else is done with tools held in hand. The detailing of the palm is done with sandpaper. Other smaller chisel tools are used to give depth to the idol. The detailing is hand done for a good finish and a flawless work. The idol is polished with wax after all the detailing is given and the woodcarving of an idol is complete. The idols are carved according to the orders that the artisans get. Most of which are idols of Hanuman and Buddha.
Flow Chart of Making Process:
