Friday, September 17, 2010

Art and craft bug

This Ganpati the Art and craft bug had bitten me. I had seen a show on the TV once with my kids, where they were showing how to make a small cave. I decided to do away with the “small” and make a bigger cave for decoration to keep my Idol in this year.

I started off with a cardboard box, after having secured the back with thermocol, i started making newspaper balls and using diluted fevicol stuck those paper balls on the top of the box. In the show they had used craft paper and tissue paper to cover up the paper balls. I found it unfeasible after starting. Got stuck. So then I used hessian bags to cover up the entire box and started giving the shape of a cave by using Plaster of Paris. Not being used to it, I used hand gloves, but found that they hinder the working. So started doing so with my bare hands. Daily evening after putting in 2-3 days into it, i realised that once i had put plaster of paris inside the box my height was reduced and that my Idol wont fit in. Infact I had overlooked the height factor of the idol totally!!!!

So it was back to drawing board. Now I got 50 mm thermocol sheets. but them below the box, on two sides and started cutting the centre of the box. Not an expert in mixing Plaster of Paris, some parts were becoming soggy, some parts were cracking, and the major hurdle i was facing was to prevent the front top from sagging down because of the weight. I next placed the entire thermocol and box cave on a table and right from the top of the box to the floor, i started shaping the cave using Plaster of Paris.

Support from family members was there, but then even they had their doubts , if it will look good. Finally, the entire structure was brushed using White cement with the help of a local painter on the last day.

We brought in some plants from our terrace and placed them all around the structure, lights were added.But……the main beauty came out after placing the idol in it. Ganpati Bappa Morya!!!!
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