STONEWORK

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – STONEWORK

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Stonework carving, is the ancient art of cutting natural rough rocks or stones into utility and decorative items. The end products are permanent and are least affected by forces of nature. Thousands of year old remains of rock cut artifacts have been excavated by the historians and archeologists depicting the existence of this art form from time unknown.

Stonework Carving

Stonework has been found to exist in almost all parts of the world. The raw material used depends on the local availability of the same. Compared to some art forms, where the end products can be modified, this form of the craft leaves little or no scope of rectification. The end product has to be made in a single attempt and needs a lot of skill and dexterity.

In SoapStone Carving of Madhya Pradesh, soapstone is used mainly for shaping and carving idols in many villages like Bastar which have shrines with stone idols. The villages of Bade Dongar, Chotta Dongar, Dantewada, Narangpal. And also many state make Stone Carving such as, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, Kerala, Andhra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and other.

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METALWARE

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – METALWARE CRAFTING

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The Metalware art is the art of creating a piece of utility or artistic item by the use of various metals. Though, iron in its various forms, cast iron, wrought iron, steel, etc. is the most commonly used metal for utility products, Aluminum, copper and tin are not far behind. The metal Gold occupies a very special place in the world of metallurgy and has been in use traditionally due to its availability in the pure form.

Metalware Carving

Thewa is a craft practised by a few craftsmen who specialise in the art of fusing filigreed gold sheets on to glass. The craft of thewa is still practised by hereditary craftspersons in the small villages. The craft of Bidri or inlay on metal originated in Persia, the motifs are leaves and floral designs of Persian and Mughal art, executed with the delicacy as seen in Mughal designs. The metalware or craft of Madhya Pradesh in the Betul district is done by the filling method or the ancient cire-perdue process. This casting method of making different utensils, animals and birds.

Metalware in many states of India is extensively used for making jewelery. Metal like Silver, copper and aluminum are also very widely used in the handicraft sector. Metals are used by the process of casting or molding. Sheets and wires of metals can easily be drawn due to the malleable and ductile quality and finds high application in the art and crafts.

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CANE AND BAMBOO CRAFTING

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – CANE AND BAMBOO CRAFTING

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Extensive use of wood over the ages for furniture and other products has challenged the environment more than ever before. It also depends on population of trees and forests. This increasing need for wood has been beautifully supplemented by cane and bamboo. Cane and bamboo can also be converted into strong and unique furniture, which are very popular now. It is also used on Jewellery, bags handbags, and Furniture are the other popular items of this craft.

Cane and Bamboo Crafting Designs

Cane may be used for a variety of artistic and practical purposes, such as Indian baskets. It is also used to describe furniture made of wicker. Cane is a length of colored or patterned glass rod used in caneworking a style of glassblowing. Bamboo fiber has been used to make paper in China since early times. A high quality hand-made paper is still produced in small quantities. Coarse bamboo paper is still used to make spirit money in many Chinese communities. Bamboo has a long history of use in Asian furnitures.

Cane and bamboo are the two most commonly-used materials in daily life in many states in India like Assam, Kerela, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir and others. Products ranging from household implements to construction of dwelling houses to weaving accessories to musical instruments. The remote islands of Andaman and Nicobar is famous for wonderful cane and bamboo furnitures. The raw material for these products are easily available locally.

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JEWELLERY

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – JEWELLERY

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Jewellery or jewelry Work is a form of personal adornment such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. With some exception such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, Jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to look appealing, but humans have been producing and wearing it for a long time with 100000 year – old beads made from Nassarius shells which are thought to be the oldest known Jewellery Designs.

Jewellery Designs

Indian history has a long Jewellery work, which went through various changes through cultural influence and politics for more than 5 Thousand or 8 Thousand years. India has the longest continuous legacy of Jewellery making anywhere since Ramayana and Mahabharata times. Because India had abundant amount of Jewellery resources, it prospered financially through export and exchange with other countries. While Western traditions were heavily influenced by waxing and waning empires, India enjoyed a continuous development of art forms for some 5,000 years

In India, Most of the cultures have, at some point had a practice of keeping large amounts of wealth stored in the form of Jewellery. Numerous cultures move wedding dowries in the form of Jewellery or create Jewellery as a means to store or display coins. Alternatively, the Jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good an example being the use of slave beads.

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LEATHER CRAFTING

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – LEATHER WORK

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Leather Handicrafting or Leathercraft is the practice of making leather into craft objects or works of art, using shaping techniques, coloring techniques or both. Leather stamping work involves the use of shaped implements (stamps) to create an imprint onto a leather surface, often by striking the stamps with a mallet. Leather carving entails using metal implements to compress moistened leather in such a way as to give a three dimensional appearance to a two dimensional surface. The surface of the leather is not intended to be cut through, as would be done in filigree.

Leather Handicrafts

Leather dyeings also involved in handcraft work, usually involves the use of spirit or alcohol based dyes where alcohol quickly gets absorbed into moistened leather, carrying the pigment deep into the surface. “Hi-liters” and “Antiquing” stains can be used to add more definition to this patterns. These have pigments that will break away from the higher points of a tooled piece and so pooling in the background areas gives nice contrasts. Leaving parts unstained also provides a type of contrast.

Leather painting differs from leather dyeing in that, paint remains only on the surface while dyes are absorbed into the leather work. Due to this difference leather painting techniques are generally not used on items that can or must bend nor on items that receive friction, such as belts and wallets because under these conditions, the paint is likely to crack and also flake off.

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POTTERY

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – POTTERY

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Pottery Hand Art is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called “potteries”. Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery. It is a very old and traditional rural Indian Handicraft.

Pottery Handicrafts

The definition of pottery art used by ASTM means “all fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and also refractory products”. Some archaeologists use a different understanding by excluding ceramic objects such as figurines which are made by similar processes, materials and the same people but are not vessels.

Pottery art work is made by forming the clay body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln which removes all water from the clay, which induces reactions that lead to permanent changes including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their differnt shape. A clay body can be decorated before or after firing and some shaping processes. Kneading helps to ensure an even moisture content throughout the body. Air trapped within the clay body needs to be removed.

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EMBROIDERY

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – EMBROIDERY

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Embroidery art is the handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread. Embroidery art may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. A characteristic of embroidery is that the basic techniques or stitches of the earliest work—chain stitch, buttonhole or blanket stitch, running stitch, satin stitch, cross stitch—remain the fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today.

Embroidery Handicraft

Embroidery art can be classified according to whether the design is stitched on top of or through the foundation fabric, and by the relationship of stitch placement to the fabric. In free embroidery, designs are applied without regard to the weave of the underlying fabric. Examples include crewel and traditional Chinese and Japanese embroidery. Counted thread embroidery work patterns are created by making stitches over a predetermined number of threads in the foundation fabric.

Machine embroidery are arising in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, mimics hand embroidery, especially in the use of chain stitches, but the ‘satin stitch’ and hemming stitches of machine work rely on the use of multiple threads and resemble hand work in their appearance, not their construction.

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WOODWORK

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – WOODWORK

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A WoodWork HandiCraft is the process of building, making or carving something using wood. Historically, woodworkers relied upon the woods native to their region, until transportation and trade innovations made more exotic woods available to the craftsman. Woods can be sorted into three basic types – hardwoods typified by tight grain and derived from broadleaf trees, softwoods from coniferous trees, and man-made materials such as plywood and MDF.

WoodWork Handicrafts

This work Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, was one of the first materials worked upon by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood. The development of civilization was closely tied to the development of increasingly greater degrees of skill in working these materials. Typically furniture such as tables and chairs is made using solid stock, and cabinet fixture makers employ the use of plywood and other man made panel products.

Among early finds of wooden tools are the worked sticks from Kalambo Falls, Clacton-on-Sea and Lehringen. The spears from Germany provide some of the first examples of wooden hunting gear. Flint tools were used for carving. Since Neolithic times, carved wooden vessels are known, for example, from the Linear Pottery culture wells at Kückhofen and Eythra. Examples of Bronze Age wood-carving include tree trunks worked into coffins from northern Germany and Denmark and wooden folding-chairs. The site of Fellbach-Schmieden in Germany has provided fine examples of wooden animal statues from the Iron Age. Wooden idols from the La Tène period are known from a sanctuary at the source of the Seine in France.

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CARPETS

INDIAN HANDICRAFTS – CARPETS

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Carpet Handicraft is a textile floor covering consisting of an upper layer of “pile” attached to a backing. The Indian Carpets are well known for their designs with attention to detail and presentation of realistic attributes. The Carpets industry in India flourished more in its northern part with major centers found in Kashmir, Jaipur, Agra and Bhadohi City. The pile is generally either made from wool or a manmade fibre such as polypropylene, and usually consists of twisted tufts which are often heat-treated to maintain their structure.

Indian Carpets Handicrafts

Their are many Carpets types such as Woven, Needlefelt, Knotted, Tufted. The term ‘Carpets’ derives from Old Italian carpita, “carpire” meaning to pluck. The term “Carpets” is used interchangeably with the term “rug”. But, they are not the same thing. Historically the word was also used for table and wall coverings, as Carpets were not commonly used on the floor in European interiors until the 18th century.

A Carpet stretches from wall-to-wall while a rug does not. Though this is considered a modern American usage and rugs have been considered in the past as of lower quality and of smaller size, with Carpetss quite often having finished ends. Only with the opening of trade routes in the 17th century were significant numbers of Persian rugs introduced to Western Europe.

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BIHU DANCE

FOLK DANCES OF INDIA – BIHU

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The Bihu dance is a folk dance from the Indian state of Assam, religon related to the festival of Bihu.This joyous dance is performed by both young men and women, and is characterized by brisk dance steps, and rapid hand movement. Dancers wear traditionally colorful Assamese clothing and perform the bihu dance.

Bihu Dance

The Bihu is a group dance in which males and females dance together but maintain different gender roles. In general, females follow stricter line or circle. The male dancers and musicians enter the dancing area first, and they maintain their lines and follow synchronized patterns. When the female dancers enter later the male dancers break up their lines to mingle with the female dancers, who maintain their stricter formations and order of the dance. The dance is usually characterized by definite postures, movements of the hips, arms, wrists, twirls, squats and bends but no jumps. Male and female dance movements are very similar, with only minor but subtle differences.

The dance is performed in accompaniment with traditional Bihu music. The most important musicians are the drummers (dhulia), who play a particular twin faced drum, the dhol, slung from the neck and played with one stick and a palm. There are usually more than one dhulia in a performance and they play different rhythms and compositions at different sections of the performance.These rhythmic compositions called ‘seus’ are traditionally codified. Before entering the dancing area, the drummers play a short and brisk rhythm.

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