Introducing children to new crafts

Pottery teaching expert L Rajeswara Rao Achari has never been happier to display his art of making pots and other articles with clay to small children who watched with wide eyes the clay taking various shapes when it was put on a turning wheel. About 200 orphan children taking shelter at 'Chiguru' and 'Deepa Nivas' campuses run by Navajeevan Balabhavan at Venkatayapalem in Guntur district were introduced to age old crafts of pottery and basket weaving courtesy the Crafts Council of Andhra Pradesh (CCAP) for two days in the third week of May.

The CCAP organised this summer camp to introduce these children to the arts and crafts in order to sculpt the young minds. B Sujatha, executive member of the CCAP, says that this was an attempt to introduce these age-old crafts to children in order to continue the legacy of crafts through the next generation. The demonstrations on pottery wheel and basket weaving are held for three days from May 17.

On the first day, the children from the campuses of Chiguru and Deepa Nivas learnt basics of clay moulding, types of clay and its importance in day to day life.

Rjeswara Rao Achari taught them the basics of pottery. He trained them to make spheres, cylindrical shapes, cone shapes, triangles and rectangles in different sizes. With these shapes he trained them to do several things. He taught them to do Vinayaka idols, different types of flowers, butterflies, birds, fish, dolphin, tortoise, teddy bear, purse, basket and a few other items. Terra cotta clay was used which is pure and organic. The clay is also filtered before use.

Sujatha said that the children thoroughly enjoyed the classes. In all, the children from six orphanages gathered at the pottery demo. They enthusiastically participated and most of them had hands-on experience. Durga Rao, the potter, told the children the basics of pottery, right from how the clay is made and forming it into objects of different shapes and heating them to high temperature in a kiln, which removes all the water from the clay and induces reactions that lead to permanent changes including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape. Pots, tea cups, vases, diyas, utensils, saucers, glasses, bowls, bottles and others were made during demonstration.

On the second day on Wednesday, basket weaving demonstration was organised.

Basket weavers fetch the bamboo and palm leaves from the forest and weave baskets. Weaving is done manually by experienced artisans. The bamboo and palm leaves are divided into straps of different sizes that vary in width. This process is done using a sharp knife. The straps are then dried and made into baskets and other varieties.

First the base of the basket is made and then the reeds are bent into an upward position and the basket is woven by going over one spoke and under the next, alternately. Once the desired height is reached weaving is stopped. The top of the basket is finished by cutting the spokes with scissors. The spokes are then folded towards the inside of the basket and inserted into the third row from the top.

Venkatratnam from West Madhavaram village in A Konduru Mandal conducted the basket weaving demonstration. The children enjoyed the basket weaving and wanted to experiment with the bamboo straps.

On the basket weaving day, the children received an unexpected guest in the shape of the young IAS officer, the sub collector of Vijayawada, Surya Sai Praveen Chand.

The officer intermingled and interacted with the children and actively participated in the basket weaving session. The two-day training in two crafts ended with the children bidding good bye to the experts and the members of Crafts Council of AP.