ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing ArtsISSN (Online): 2582-7472
3D Printing Technique to Document and preserve Traditional designs of Channapatna toys 1 Assistant
Professor, Department of B. Design (Interior Design), School of Planning-
Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, Hyderabad, India
1. INTRODUCTION India has a rich tradition of wood carving and idol making dating back to thousands of years. Mahabharata describes an architect (Purochana[1]) designed lacquer place-Lakshagriha built at the behest of Duryodhana as an assassination plot to kill Pandavas Lakshagriha (2023). Figure 1
The Puri Jagannath temple is said to be thousands of years old and mentioned in Hindu Puranas Jagannath Temple, Puri. (2023). In the planning of the temple, the inner sanctum of the temple contains deities of Jagannath, Balbhadra, and Subhadra. The idols are carved from neem logs, and they are changed or replaced once in 8th,12th or 19th year based on tradition Sengar (2019), Nabakalebara (2023). The Nabakalebara ceremony marks the occasion of installing new idols. Dedicated artisan families are involved in this sacred work National Informatics Centre, Govt. of India. (2023). Figure 2
Carved temple doors, idols have encouraged and patronized artisans to preserve and improvise their craft for thousands of years. 1.1. Literature Survey There are very few books published on the topic of traditional toys of India.” Indian Toys Come Alive” by Dr. Vijaya Gupchup Gupchup (2004) is an excellent book documenting toys that are preserved by several generations. Dynamics of Folk Toys by Sudarshan Khanna published by Office of the development commissioner Delhi is a rare book that documents the scientific design aspect of traditional Indian folk toys Khanna (1983), Khanna (2022). There are many research articles published on Indian toys. For the purpose of this paper the following articles are reviewed. Tradition of Toys in India is more than 5000 years old. The Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro excavations yielded toys like small carts, dancing women etc. Hindu mythology, epics and the tradition of storytelling have a great influence on Indian Toys. Each state in India has a unique and distinct style of toys. Figure 3
Table 1
Many Indian Toys and toy-based games are on the verge of extinction. The following are a few examples of such games. Deep research and serious efforts are needed to revive them. · Bagh Chal [2] (Tiger and Goat) A board game that involves the strategy of the goats to obstruct the path of tigers and being hunted down Bagh-Chal. (2023). Figure 4
· Pachisi [3]- This is a four-arm colorful board game. Players throw dice or cowrie shells to move the four pawns allotted to each player. The objective of the game is to move the pawns allotted to each player as fast as possible to complete the round of the board Lloyd (2018), Pachisi (2022). Figure 5
· Chaturanga [4] is the predecessor to modern chess. Four players play the game with two players teaming together. Each player gets eight pieces -Four pawns, one elephant, one horse, one bishop and one elephant. A single stick dice is thrown by the players to initiate the movements Bodlaender (2023). Figure 6
1.1.1. Dasara Doll festival Dasara is a traditional festival that is celebrated across India, as the concluding tenth day after Sharad Navarthri festival. The Sharad Navarathri festival falls during the first fortnight also known as the Ashviyuj month (Kannada/Telugu Lunar Calendar) during the months of September/October every year. Every Indian state has a unique way of celebrating the festival. Garba dance in Gujrat, Ram Lila is widely celebrated in North India, and Durga Puja in West Bengal are part of Navarathri celebrations. In the South Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, the doll festival is celebrated across homes Sadananda (2016). It is called Gombe Habba in Karnataka, Bommala Koluvu in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Bomai Kolu in Tamil Nadu. Dolls are arranged in a nine-step pyramid arrangement. Goddess Durga, Sarasvathi, Ganapathi, Shiva, Krishna,Vishnu are placed on the topmost step and other dolls are placed in the lower rows based on individual family tradition and family doll collection. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana some families celebrate the festival during the Makara Sankaranti Festival around January too Rotti (2017). Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Artisans of Channapatna produce beautiful wooden toys and no doll arrangement is complete without the presence of Channapatna toys. Demand and patronage has encouraged artisans of Channapatna for hundreds of years to produce different designs and preserve this art form. Channapatna Toys are historical dating back to hundreds of years. The available literature talks about designs that (1782-1999AD). Very little information is available regarding traditional designs before this period. 1.2. Channapatna Toys The process of making the Channapatna toys is interesting, and every piece is said to be made by hand by the artisans with the assistance of a few tools Salma (2023). The local artisans also use other types of wood to sculpt the toys, like rubber, sycamore, cedar, pine, and teak. Rosewood and sandalwood are sometimes used to make expensive and exotic designs. Lacquer and Vegetable dyes are used to give aesthetic finishing touches to the toys. Figure 10
Channapatna toys have a long history dating back to hundreds of years. During the period of Tipu Sultan Craftdeals in Admin. (2023). Syed Bawa Saheb Miyan also known as Bawas Miyan visited Japan twice and brought the technique of using wood lathe machines to increase the production quantity and quality of the toys. Channapatna toys are made out of wood and finished with vegetable colors. They are less toxic when compared with mass produced plastic toys. Large quantities of toxins present in plastic toys pose a danger to children while they play with toys. Eco-friendly wooden toys are a good alternative to plastic toys, and they are catching the attention of ecology conscious people Rangaswamy et al. (2018). Dr. Mahadeswara Swamy in his article Swamy (2018) talks about how Channapatna toys are made traditionally using the Ivory Wood tree. The tree is called as such due to the wood turning to ivory/white in colour with age. The common name of the tree in Kannada is- Beppale/ Hale Mara and the scientific name is Wrightia tinctoria belonging to the family Apocyanaeceae Swamy (2018). The tree is said to be native to India, and other countries Wrightia Tinctoria (2022). It also has medicinal properties as well. Channapatna toys have a wide variety. Simple games, playful toys, Hindu deities, the repository is huge. Rapid urbanization and people moving to cities and living in small apartments slowly reducing the patronage to Channapatna toys. Newly inaugurated Bangalore Mysore express highway bypasses the Channapatna town Ammembala and Mohapatra (2022). The roadside shops of Channapatna were the traditional points of sale for toys. Due to the highway, the daily footfalls to these shops have drastically reduced. Lack of selling avenues may force the artisans to abandon their traditional manufacturing activity and switchover to other jobs. The art and traditional designs are facing the risk of extinction Ammembala and Mohapatra (2022). Figure 11
This paper attempts to document the designs using CAD techniques and make prototypes using 3D printing techniques. The purpose is to preserve the rich tradition for posterity and also encourage artisans in other parts of the world to attempt making replicas. 1.3. Visit to Channapatna toy factory Figure 12
Channapatna Town is around two and half hours’ drive from Bangalore. The newly inaugurated express highway bypasses the town. Due to the highway, travelers have to exit the express highway and drive a few kilometers to visit the Town. The following pictures capture a typical toy factory with artisans at work. Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Manufacturing units Bharat art and crafts are striving hard to keep the tradition and gainfully employ local artisans Wooden Toys Supplier in Channapatna Toys Manufacturers in Channapatna. (2023). 2. Objectives of the research study Due to the lack of patrons and artisans abandoning their traditional crafts, the portfolio of Channapatna toys is reducing day by day. The object of this applied research is to explore and experiment with modern CAD based tools to document the traditional and rare designs so that designs can be preserved for posterity and designs can be reproduced in the future. 2.1. Significance of research study Traditionally design knowledge is gained by artisans by working as interns under the supervision of senior and elderly artisans. Research and development for developing physical products involves creating prototypes and testing them. This is applied research to solve a business/industrial problem. There are many tools and techniques available. 3D printing is an emerging technique to quickly make prototypes based on any design before investing in expensive tools for mass production. This paper attempts to use 3D Printing technique to build prototypes of rare Channapatna toys with an objective of preserving the design and passing it onto the next generation of artisans. 2.2. 3D Printing Technique 3D printing is a process of constructing a three-dimensional object from a CAD 3D model. Three dimensional solid objects can be manufactured from a digital CAD file using 3D printing technique. It is an additive manufacturing process enabled by software and hardware equipment. An object is created from a digital file by laying down successive layers of material. Several thinly sliced layers are made till the final object is made. Figure 16
3D printing technique was first proposed by Murray Leinster in 1945 is a short story Wikipedia (2023). In the year 1980 Hideo Kodama from Nagoya Industrial Institute Japan filed a patent for XYZ plotter and invented two additive methods for fabricating three-dimensional plastic models Wikipedia (2023). A photo hardening thermoset polymer was used in the process. Hardening of the polymer was controlled by a scanning transmitter. However, this technology did not materialize in a commercial scale equipment. In the year 1981, American entrepreneur Bill Masters filed a patent for a computer-based manufacturing process. It is one of three related patents that laid the foundation for modern 3D Printing technique. Over the years industry has invested huge amounts of money to build software and hardware equipment to mature the technique. Nowadays, entry level 3D printers are available for as low as US$ 200/ making it a viable tool for any additive manufacturing process. During the initial years of development, 3D Printing used polymers for printing due to the ease of handling and using the material. However, modern 3D Printing has evolved to handle metals and ceramics. This has opened and extended the scope of 3D Printing from manufacturing prototype models to strong engineered objects which can become the backbone of various applications. 3D Printing technique is being extensively used in replicating archeological artifacts, historical buildings etc. The factum Arte is a 3D printing company which had taken the task of documenting the 3000-year-old tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The company used various modern techniques for the documentation, like digital photography, 3D laser scanning and 3D printing to recreate the murals and artifacts with precision Shaikhnag et al. (2014). Figure 17
Figure 18
In India, there is rapid development taking place in the field of 3D printing. There is an ongoing project where the proposal is to construct a Post office in Bengaluru using the 3D printing technique Abraham (2023). Figure 19
3D Printing has a great and promising future. Prosthetic limbs/body parts, homes and buildings, firearms, edible things, musical instruments are being built using the technique. This paper attempts to explore the technique to document, preserve and replicate Channapatna toys. 3. The 3D printing of Channapatna Toys Channapatna Toy shown in the following image Figure 20 (a), is chosen for the purpose of creating a 3D digital model/file as a preliminary step to 3D printing. The following steps are involved in creating the 3D model: · Making detailed 2D drawings of the toys in the CAD software. · Then exporting the model to the 3D modelling software Sketchup or any equivalent 3D modelling software (3Ds-Max, Blender etc.). · And then exporting the 3D file in a SLT file format for 3D Printing the toy model. Figure 20
Figure 21
4. Process of 3D Printing The following equipment is used to build the 3D Printing model. For making 3D Printing, PLA-Poly Lactic Acid is used. PLA is eco-friendly and produced from renewable resources. This is the most consumed bioplastic in the world. It is typically made from corn, cassava, or sugarcane Polylactic acid (2023). Fused Deposition Modeling - FDM 3D Printer is used to make the prototype What is FDM (fused deposition modeling) 3D Printing? Hubs. (2023). Extrusion 3D printing is an evolving technology. Models are made using wood filaments. Material used here is wood fibre extracted from wood chippings (around 20-30%) and polymer resin for bonding (around 60-70%) Polylactic acid (2023). This process can give samples which are very close to Wooden Toys Supplier in Channapatna Toys Manufacturers in Channapatna. (2023). Further research is ongoing in the process of 3D printing objects using wood filament through trial-and-error basis. There are guides to print the objects with different methods Theias (2022), Wikipedia (2023). Figure 22
5. Experimental Results Images of 3D artifacts of Channapatna Toy are reported below. The PLA sample weighed 200 gms. Commercial charges for 3D-Printing are around Rs 10 per gram. Figure 23
5.1. Scope of future work Serious effort and deep research are needed to obtain extinct toys from museums and art collectors. Many man hours of effort is needed to create detailed 3D drawings and funding is needed to obtain 3D Prints of these toys to preserve them for the benefit of posterity. 6. Conclusion Changing lifestyles, urbanization and road infrastructure changes have resulted in reduced patrons to Channapatna Toys. Artisan families who are involved in the traditional manufacturing activity are abandoning the trade and taking up other avenues of employment. There is a risk of losing the traditional designs. 3D Printing is futuristic technology which can be used to build aesthetic prototypes. The process of preparing 3D drawings of Channapatna Toys to enable 3D printing will preserve the designs for posterity. This paper has considered two rare Channapatna Toys and made detailed CAD drawings. 3D Printing technique is used to build a prototype of one of the toys. Experimental prototype built and reported in this paper is very promising. Drawings and prototypes can be made for all Channapatna designs which are current and an effort can be made to obtain antique pieces for the purpose of digitising the design. The techniques and results reported in this paper will go a long way in preserving the design. Artisans elsewhere can use the results and replicate the designs too.
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS None. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS None. REFERENCES Abraham, B. (2023, April 15). This Is India's First 3D-Printed Post Office, Coming Up in Bengaluru. Indiatimes. com. Ammembala, N., & Mohapatra, S. (2022, November 4). Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway Bypasses Toy Town of Channapatna, Crippling Livelihoods. The Federal News. Bagh-Chal. (2023, April 27). Wikipedia. Retrieved From 2023, May 11. Bodlaender, H. (2023, May 7). Chaturanga. Wikipedia. Retrieved From 2023, May 11. Craftdeals In Admin. (2023, January 1). History Of Channapatna Toys. Craftdeals. in. Retrieved From 2023, May 2. Gupchup, D. V. (2004). Indian Toys Come Alive. Navneet Publication Pvt. Ltd. Indigenous Toys of India. (n.d.). Toy Story - Promotion of Indigenous Toys of India. Retrieved From 2023, May 9. Jagannath Temple, Puri. (2023, April 29). Wikipedia. Retrieved From 2023, April 30. Kanchana, K. M. (2023, May 3). Photograph Snapshots [Trip to the Channapatna Town]. Ramanagar District, Channapatna, Karnataka, India. Khanna, S. (2022, October 2). Dynamic Folk Toys. Internet Archive. Retrieved From 2023, August 31. Lakshagriha. (2023, February 22). Wikipedia. Retrieved From 2023, April 30. Lloyd, S. (2018, January 19). Pachisi Game Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved From 2023, May 11. Nabakalebara. (2023, March 24). Wikipedia. Retrieved From 2023, April 30. National Informatics Centre, Govt. of India. (2023, April 23). Shree Jagannath Temple- Website of Puri District Administration, India. Puri District. Retrieved From 2023, April 30. Pachisi. (2022, December 14). Wikipedia. Retrieved From 2023, May 11. Polylactic Acid. (2023, May 31). Wikipedia. Retrieved From 2023, May 9. Prasad, S. (2023, April 10). Country's First 3D-Printed Post Office Coming up in Bengaluru. The Indian Express. Retrieved From 2023, May 7. Rangaswamy, J., Kumar, T., & Bhalla, K. (2018, April 18). A Comprehensive Life-Cycle Assessment of Locally Oriented Small-Scale Toy Industries: A Study of traditional Channapatna Toys as Against Low-cost PVC (Poly-Vinyl Chloride) Toys Made in China. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India, & Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. Procedia CIRP, ScienceDirect, 69, 487-492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2017.12.164. Ray, S. (2015, June 29). 9 Traditional Indian Games and Toys on the Verge of Extinction. Indiatimes. com. Robot 3D Print Timelapse on RepRapPro Fisher. (2023, March 25). Wiktionary. Retrieved From 2023, May 7. Rotti, J. (2017, September 25). Dasara Doll Festival - Significance and History. Karnataka. com. Retrieved From 2023, May 2. Sadananda, R. (2016, October 3). The Allure of Dasara Dolls. Deccan Herald. Retrieved From 2023, May 2. Salma, N. (2023). How to Make a Channapatna Toy - Google Arts & Culture. Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved From 2023, May 4. Sengar, R. (2019, July 4). Did You Know that the Idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are Replaced with New Ones Every Few Years ? Times of India. Retrieved From 2023, April 30. Shaikhnag, A., Hanaphy, P., Tyrer, A., Petch, M., Everett, H., & Taylor, S. (2014, May 6). 3D Printing Saves Pharaoh Tutankhamun's Tomb. 3D Printing Industry. Retrieved From 2023, May 11. Sharma, B. (2021, August 30). World's First 3D-Printed Steel Bridge Opens in Europe, And People are Loving It. Indiatimes. com. Swamy, D. M. (2018, July 8). Ivory Wood Tree : A Nature's Gift for Making Channapatna Toys. Star of Mysore. Retrieved From 2023, May 4. Theias, M. (2022, December 17). Wood 3D Printer : How to 3D Print Wood. All3DP. Retrieved From 2023, May 9. Toys of India - Vikaspedia. (2023). Vikaspedia. Retrieved From 2023, May 9. Toys of India- Indigenous Toys of India. (2020, December 1). Indian Safaris. Retrieved From 2023, August 26. What is FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) 3D Printing ? Hubs. (2023). 3D Hubs. Retrieved From 2023, May 9. Wikipedia. (2023, June 11). 3D Printing. Retrieved From 2023, May 7. Wooden Toys Supplier in Channapatna Toys Manufacturers in Channapatna. (2023). Bharath Art & Crafts. Retrieved From 2023, May 7. Wrightia Tinctoria. (2022, May 2). Wikipedia. Retrieved From 2023, May 4.
[1] In the Hindu Vedic texts, it is mentioned that
Purochana was an Architect in the ancient kingdom of Hastinapura. He was known
to have created the palace Lakshagriha, also known as
the House of Lacquer Lakshagriha (2023). [2] Bag Chal is to have originated in Nepal Bagh-Chal.
(2023). [3] Pachisi is also
known as Ludo and it is said to have originated in India, as recorded in the
ancient text Mahabharata Pachisi (2022). [4] Chaturanga is another strategy board game that
originated in Ancient India Bodlaender (2023). As per records, Chaturanga means
"four-limbed" or "four arms" in Sanskrit, referring to
ancient army divisions of infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry Bodlaender (2023).
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