Made Ganesha Idol This Year

I still like creating handicraft stuff, really I do. Well that’s what I would do all day if I am not occupied with listening to the music, or flipping through pages of a book or hang around social media or FB, twitter, blogging, movies, food, friends. Can’t help it.   Too many distractions or should I say ‘too many interest’?

Well, last week I was with some friends in Tenerife and my friend suggested I make an idol of Ganesha for her. In India, during Ganpati season, all the stores are full of idols but in places out of India, it is difficult to find unless you visit an art store.

I have silicon mold to begin with, all I needed was the rest of the art materials.

I have an artist friend who also owns a hobby store, so it was not difficult to find the materials required to make the idol. Many years ago I had learnt to make clay by binding fevicol glue with corn flour (which is more eco-friendly) but my friend suggested I use chalk powder.

First step was to mix chalk powder with water and pour it into the mold. Let it set for 30 minutes and then remove it.

The idol was ready and now it has to be kept for drying for at least a week.

The idol has to be scraped and polished using sand paper, to give it a smooth finish, a special attention to be given to the base so that it is able to stand. I stuck the base to a rectangular cardboard and stuck few beans to give it a rough look.

After one week, the idol is coated with base solution (kind of rubber solution) that will prevent it from absorbing too much paint.

I selected white paint for the idol because it gives an ivory look.

A final coat of gold paint to highlight the jewelry on the idol.

It was important to mount it on a stand. I bought empty boxes, stuffed them with newspaper and covered it with gold paper.

And finally a decorative lace on the border did the trick.