A cluster is defined as a geographic concentration (city/town/few adjacent villages and their adjoining areas) of units producing near similar products and facing common opportunities and threats. An artisan cluster is defined as geographically concentrated (mostly in villages/townships) household units producing handicraft/handloom products. In a typical cluster, such producers often belong to a traditional community, producing the long-established products for generations. Indeed, many artisan clusters are centuries old Artisan.

About Puri Cluster:-

Puri Cluster falls under Orissa  State in Puri district.

The Puri cluster is able to form 195 plus Artisans & 15 SHGs supporting the strong work force. The mobilization gains momentum day by day.

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Stone Carving craft:-

 
Stone carving is an ancient activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest societies indulged in some form of stone work.

Work carried out by Paleolithic societies to create flint tools is more often referred to as knapping. Stone carving that is done to produce lettering is more often referred to as lettering.

Stone carving differs from stone as in marble quarrying in that it is the act of shaping or incising the stone, whereas quarrying is the activity of acquiring useful stone, usually in blocks, from geological sources.

The term stone carving is of particular significance to sculptors being a reference to a particular way of producing sculpture, as opposed to modeling in clay or casting. The term also refers to the activity of masons in dressing stone blocks for use in architecture, building or civil engineering. It is also a phrase used by archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists to describe the activity involved in making some types of petroglyphs.

Raw Materials:-
 

 The Basic Materials are:-
 
 1. Hard granite
 2. Soft Gray granite
 3. Mysore stone
 4. White granite

Process:-
 

The crafts person while working on the Hard granite first studies the natural design contains in the stone selected to work upon. The shaping is done thereafter very carefully with chisel and hammers. Water is sprinkled repeatedly to avoid heat generation. The stone is smoothened by rubbing with sand papers or file.

Dimensions of the figure to be manufactured are marked on a stone slab. Extra edges are removed from the slab by beating with a hammer. Big pieces of stone are cut vertically into smaller slabs, and rough sketches are made on it. The article is taken out from the slab with the aid of a saw. This slab is now converted in the form of the desired figure with a hammer and a chisel. Minor carvings are done by pointed chisel. A hammer and chisel do further smoothening. Before carving the stone is kept in boiling water overnight and treated chemically. This smoothens and whitens the surface of the stone. Polishing is done for the final finishing with sand or carborundum pieces. Several of the carved artifacts are painted. Others are fitted with the looking glasses, brass fittings etc.

In carving an image, the stone carver sketches a rough outline of the sculpture on the stone - block. The craftsmen, sprinkle water on the stone during the course of their work because of the friction generated due to the constant chiseling away of the unwanted material results in the tools heating up. Finishing is accomplished in a variety of ways from sand-papering, polishing with multani-mitti or clay, oil and cloth.

An outline is drawn on hard or soft stone which is already cut to the appropriate size. Once the outline is incised indicating the shape, the final figure is brought out by removing the unwanted portions. While for the harder stones this is done by chiseling out the extra material, with softer stones. This is done by scraping out the same with a sharp flat-edged iron tool.
 


Techniques:-
 

The carving process essentially has the following sequence: Selecting the stone and Sketching, Rough dressing to remove material to get the basic shape, smooth/Flat dressing to define the details, Fitting the surface, finishing the surface with a variety of carbarundam stones (chane kallu) and Final Polishing with water and emery papers.

The main techniques are following below:-

1. Cutting
2. Grinding
3. Buffing
4. Polishing

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Wood Carving:-

Wood carving is an old art form practiced in different parts of Orissa in many unique ways. Colourful or painted wood carving is famous of Puri where the local skilled artists prepare the finished goods using vegetable colors as well as chemical colours. The prepared article is so beautifully done up as every article is a unique piece. Colourful masks, wooden toys, chariot decorations and idols of gods and goddesses are very famous.

In the second kind of wooden carving, carving done on white teak . This plain carving is mainly done on white teak as it is soft in its properties and easy to work on with the local tools. This white teak is creamish in colour and this carving is mainly done in Cuttack. But the finishd items are available in rest of the country as well.

The last but not the least is the skilled work of Daspalla town where the local artists work on the rose wood. These artists prepare items such as bowls, jars, stands used for fixing incense sticks and many more house hold items. Rose wood in its properties is dark and heavy there fore such articles are prepared.
 
Other carved wooden items include small shrines and deities, low carved stools for marriages, carved fans for the deity, fertility couples and various small ceremonial containers. The carved panels of deities fixed to either end of a metre-long pole were the other ceremonial items. These panels are called kavadi and afre carried on the shoulders of a person to fulfill the vow to Lord Murugan or Karthikeya. Household kitchen instruments in wood such as grinders, vegetable cutters and serving ladle holders are items given in dowry.
 
Lathe-turned and lacquered toys in bright colors and at affordable prices are popular all over the state. Carved wooden toys, dolls and elephants exhibiting the skills of the artisan are also made.

Wood Carving’s Raw Materials:-

Basic Material : Bhurkul or gular wood, mango wood, green bamboo, shisham wood
Colouring Material : Alta, turmeric.

Basic Material : Doodhia wood, lac, lac stick, oil, old cloth, coloured paper.

Basic Material : Remnants of cloth, bamboo, rags, paper
Colouring Material : Dye colours

Basic Material : Punki wood, tamarind seeds, lime glue, brush, water colour, oil colour, red sanders wood

Basic Material : Cloths, colours, waste material for stuffing, coloured papers, clay
 


Wood Carving’s Process:-

The wood as per the size of the form to be made is cut from the block. The piece is cleaned and smoothened. The design of the toy to be made is traced on this piece. Extra wood is chipped off according to the design. Fine strokes with the hammer are made on the chisel, which is placed on the area to be shaped. It is smoothened with a file and painted. The painting starts with coloring various body parts. Next the dresses with specific designs are marked out by fine strokes of the brush. The facial features are added in the end.Sugga (parrot) are the wooden toys fixed on the marriage mandap. The mosara, (central part), charkhi and sugga (parrots) are made by the same process These are joined by bamboo killi (screw). The marriage post is coloured with yellow (turmeric), red (alta) and green colours.
 
The lacquering is done by pressing the lac stick against the revolving article. Oil is also applied at the same time for giving the better polish. Leaves of a kind of flowering cactus are used for polishing. The articles are either in single colour or in bands of different colours. The complicated designs and colour schemes are effected by manipulating the lac turnery and using the multifarious techniques.In Jaipur, the toys are made out of old cloth dyed afresh and stuffed with waste material. When they are gaily decorated with coloured paper and tinsel they look very alive especially with their expressive faces.
 
Rag dolls are made out of remnants of cloth usually thrown away. These are painstakingly collected and dyed into different shades to work out a variety of colour schemes. The eyes and mouth are indicated by black line . In case of a Rani doll, the clothes & body are fully decorated.
 


Wood Carving’s Techniques:-

Each wooden piece that is cut to make an item is subjected to a process of slow heating to draw out all moisture. Every single limb is separately carved and joined to the body with adhesive paste of tamarind seeds, and later passed through a coating of lime glue. The painting with colours is done by very fine precision with brushes made of goats hair. Water and oil colours are both used. Lacquering is done on a lathe, hand or is machine operated. For turning slender and delicate items, hand lathe is considered suitable. In the lac turney method, lac is applied in a dry state that is the lac stick is pressed against the woodenware to be lacquered. While the latter keeps revolving, the heat generated by friction softens the lac, making the colour stick. Lacquer ware toys are produced in this way. It is with remarkable skill that the craftsmen manipulate the stick where several colours are used. Some of the lacquered pieces are painted with a brush.

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Grass, Leaf, Reed and Fiber:-

Like any other state Orissa also produces wide variety of Grass Leaf items. This art is totally derived from nature and are free from chemicals and are environmentally friendly. The high-tensile strength of bamboo and easy to mould in any shape qualities have made it very popular for architectural uses. These artists give shape to many household items such as baskets, rice and vegetable strainers and brooms. Designer items such as furniture, racks are also in vogue. Bamboo has a great specialty; it does not require much of maintenance as once in a year wood polishing is sufficient for its longevity.

The articles from tender palm leaves which have their ribs removed and are then dried in the Sun include bags, dinner cases and ornamental hand held folding fans having anything between 37 to 56 blades.The blades are tied together by copper wire through holes on them and sewn together to spread out as a fan.The fans are made attractive in appearance by painting floral motifs on the blades.Palm leaf and stem weaving is a flourishing craft in southern Kerala with bags, hats, and suitcases being made both for the Indian and international markets these days.A reed is a firm-stemmed grass, with a hollow stem that looks like bamboo.It is a sturdy material and reed mats are used as walls for structures and roofs.The reed is first split and shaved before it is woven in a twill weave into mats. They are made starting at one corner and plaiting or weaving is done diagonally.Long strips are folded at the middle and another strip is inserted crosswise, which is in turn folded and the next strip is again inserted crosswise and so on.The creases of the crosswise strips form the edges of the mat.Reeds are also used to make very sturdy baskets.

Raw Materials Used :-

The villages of Tamil Nadu are full of Palm trees, coconut, date and Palmyra. Palm is the major source of raw material for preparing baskets and related products. Other raw materials like bamboo, cane, grasses, fibers and reeds are also used in making baskets, thatch, ropes, mats and many other things.

Process:-

The jute fiber comes from the stem and ribbon (outer skin) of the jute plant. The fibers are first extracted by retting. The retting process consists of bundling jute stems together and immersing them in low, running water. There are two types of retting: stem and ribbon. After the retting process, stripping begins. Women and children usually do this job. In the stripping process, non-fibrous matter is scraped off, then the workers dig in and grab the fibers from within the jute stem.Jute bags are used for making fashion bags & promotional bags. The eco-friendly nature of jute makes its ideal for corporate gifting.

Jute floor coverings consist of woven and tufted and piled carpets. Jute Mats and matting’s with 5/6 mts width and of continuous length are easily being woven in Southern parts of India, in solid and fancy shades, and in different weaves like, Boucle, Panama, Herringbone,etc.Jute Mats & Rugs are made both through Power loom & Handloom, in large volume from Kerala,India. The traditional Satranji mat is becoming very popular in home décor.Jute non-wovens and composites can be used for underlay, linoleum substrate, and more.Thus, jute is the most environment-friendly fibre starting from the seed to expired fibre, as the expired fibres can be recycled more than once.

Techniques:-

The practical course is to introduce modernization of technique and improve the skills and make the worker capable of enhancing his productivity and his earnings so as to enable him to meet at least the basic necessities of life and come out of the clutches of poverty within reasonable time.

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How to Reach:-

The nearest airport is located in Bhubaneswar the capital city of Orissa. Bhubaneswar is connected by air to cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad. An important district in Orissa, Puri is civered by extensive network of roads. Main cities and tourist destinations, like Bhubaneswar, Konark in Orissa are connected to Puri by road. Puri has a Railway Station too. Many important stations link Puri to places like Kolkata, Rourkela.