The wrought iron craft of Chhattisgarh is centuries old. Crafted by the Muria tribes, wrought iron was traditionally used by the
tribal people to make tools such as ploughs, knives and axes. While
today’s artisans use recycled scrap iron, their ancestors extracted iron
from the ores. Over the past few
decades, artisans have adapted to the urban market and adopted newer designs.
The tedious craft process begins with cutting the iron sheets into
smaller strips. A coal furnace is prepared alongside.
The iron is made malleable by heating it in the
coal furnace, and then beating it over a metal anvil using a hammer and tongs.
This heating and beating process is repeated
until the sheet takes the intended shape. The artisans work tediously in the
heat, first creating the shape and then finely detailing the product. (This
forging process usually halts around noon as it becomes unbearably hot for the
artisans to work due to the heat from the furnace and the asbestos roof.) It’s a rather tedious process; for example, forging the flat peacock outline
below took around 20-30 minutes of heating and hammering.
Each product is entirely handmade and no
machines are used in the process. The fine craftsmanship is evident as each
figurine is created from a single sheet and has no joints. Decorative additions
such as clothing/adornments for the figurines are made separately and attached
to the product without using any welding technique or machinery. Finally,
a coating of red oxide is applied to prevent rusting and then a coating of black
paint is applied for lustre.
