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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Eco Friendly Ganapati



every year, people get ganpati with pomp and happiness in their hearts. its a very bright and happy festival, but the after effects are disastrous for nature and environment. the idols are made of pop, which dosent dissolve in water, and next day after visarjan, the beach is covered in broken idols and garlands etc. people, please try and avoid using pop and dangerous paints. please try to be eco friendly this year, and do your bit for the environment. people, please try and avoid using pop and dangerous paints. please try to be eco friendly this year, and do your bit for the environment.



The main pollution is caused by the Plaster of Paris Ganesh idols and the chemical paints used in them. Plaster of Paris (POP) is not a naturally occurring material and contains gypsum, sulphur, phosphorus and magnesium. The idols take several months to dissolve in water and in the process poison the waters of lake, ponds, rivers and seas. The chemical paints used to decorate the Ganesh idol contain mercury, lead, cadmium and carbon and this increases the acidity and heavy metal content in the water. Several accessories used during the Ganesh Puja like Thermocole, plastic flowers, cloth, incense, camphor and numerous other materials are dumped carelessly adding more strain to the already polluted rivers and lakes. Careless dumping of Ganesh idols in waterbodies blocks the natural flow of water. This results in stagnation and breeding of mosquitoes and other harmful pests. The polluted water causes several diseases including skin diseases. The pollution from Ganesh Chaturthi idols also damages the ecosystem, kills fishes and water plants. In many areas, the same polluted water gets pumped into homes.

Alternatives 
Use eco-friendly clay idols painted with natural colors.
Use permanent idols made of stone and perform a symbolic immersion and reuse the idol each year.
Avoid public waterbodies to immerse the idols, instead immerse idol in bucket or tub.
where to get eco friendly ganesh idols
PUNE-http://www.e-coexist.com/products/ganesh-chaturthi/ganesh-2010/biodegradable-ganesh-idols-for-2010

idols are available in the price range of Rs. 350-1,500 at stores like
Either Or, Bandhej (9422306673) and environment groups like Oikos Kothrud (020-65289576) apart from Ecoexist's location at Kalyani Nagar (9850084383).
MUMBAI-

Available at:
H Collection, Rahguvanshi Mall, Kandivali-Goregaon
Fusion Jeweller, Jewel World Mall, Zaveri Bazaar
Treasure, Lokhandwala
Imtiaz, Atria Mall, Worli
Titan, Heer Panna, Haji Ali
Inorbit Mall
Shubam Motiwala, Andheri
Thane Korum Mall -
Unit No s-21
Mangal Pandey Road,
Thane (W)
Mumbai - 400606
Phoenix Mills Compound
Unit No.12, Block No.43,
Grand Galleria, Senapati Bapat Marg,
Lower Parel
Mumbai - 400013
Tel: 400 48218
Nepeansea Road Shop No.1
Shop No.1, Burani Mahal 59,
Opp Priyadarshini Park,
Nepeansea Road
Mumbai - 400009
Tel: 236 10805
Inorbit Mall Vashi
G 47, Sector 30,
Vashi,
Navi Mumbai - 400703
Tel: 278 14919
Ghatkoper City Mall
Shop no. S-33/A, 2nd Floor
L.B.S. Marg
Ghatkopar (w)
Mumbai - 400086
eco friendly ganeshas from powai-
Indian Education Society’s New English School
Govt. School,
Kherwadi, Opp. Police Station, Bandra (E).
Mumbai, 400050.
contact- (these are last years numbers, so please check)
Anil Chaubal-9320055911
Yogesh-9819287444
Dhoop Crafts, Khar-9322230788
Green Ways, Peddar Road-9820562063
Ramesh Sheth, Andheri-9869254935
Radhika Arora, Juhu-9821017349
Culture Shop, Powai-9322741705
Mr. Waghaule-9821043505
PLEASE TRY TO SPREAD THE MESSAGE AS FAR AS YOU CAN, BECAUSE THIS IS JUST ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT.

Eco friendly Decorations Ideas 


 

 



Create your own "green" 

Ganapati (Ganesha)


List of material –
  1. Clay and paper pulp
  2. Base for your work. 
  3. Water for keeping the art work damp, for shaping and pasting separate parts
  4. Water or poster colors and brushes (#2 and #8)
  5. An exacto knife for cutting and carving clay
First, thing you will have to make would be a good estimate of the size. Based on that you will have to make separate spheres of clay – for face, torso and the legs (for the legs you can make two elongated rolls). Remember some names of Ganesha and go further with your preparation, example: 
Big ears (Lambodar), one tooth (Ekdanta), etc.

Once you have the spheres with proper size the next step would be place them accordingly. Place the two rolls for the legs on the wooden board. This should look like a person sitting with crossed legs (Lotus posture or Padmasan). Then place the torso on the legs. You may require a bigger base of clay, this will act as a support for the complete art work. You can cut or remove the base later. Place the face sphere on top of the torso.

Take a few steps back and look at your art work. You will see an outline of the sitting posture of Ganesha. Keep your art work damp at all times. Clay is easily moldable when wet. Now you can work on other body parts, think of all the names and start molding. Ganesha has large ears (Surpakarnakam), tusks (Ekdanta) and trunk. For making the ears, take a piece of clay and make a flat coin like structure. If your idol is big then make a bigger flat piece. Make the sides of the head moist so you can easily blend the ears. Place the ear on the side. You will need to use lot of water, wet your fingers and with light strokes try to blend the head and ears evenly. Make sure both ears are equal in size. If they are not equal you still have an opportunity to add more clay. Now with wet fingers you can shape the ears as required.

Using the same procedure you can add tusks and trunk to your art work. Reshape the torso to give it a realistic appearance, like broad shoulders and a big stomach (Lambodar). Now you can make two small elongated rolls of clay to represent the two arms. Don’t worry about the palms for now. Make sure you use lot of water to paste and shape the two arms. Blend the arms with the torso. Use very light pressure to flatten the end of the arms so that it looks like a palm.

Remember the name Chaturbhuj (four hands), we still have two arms. Since these can be very close to the body you may make these very tiny, one in the form of blessing (Varadmudra) and one taking Prasad or for a Laddo. Add two tiny feet at the bottom of the legs. See the picture up to this stage here.


The structure so far will be very uneven and this is the time to smoothen the art work.

Wet your fingers and lightly smoothen the surface.

To complete the structure you can add a crown on the head. 
Don’t forget the mushak at the feet of Ganesha. If you wish to increase the height of the idol or want the Ganesha to sit on a raised structure then you can make a platform (pat) as shown in the figure.

Once you have reshaped and added all the details then you can let the idol dry completely. It will take about 2-3 days for the clay to dry. Once dry the idol will be hard and brittle. Do not apply pressure (accidentally) on any part once the idol is dry. It may break and will be difficult to patch.


When the idol is dry you can use a fine sand paper (200) and lightly sand the surface. This will remove any uneven surfaces that you couldn’t smoothen while the clay is moist. This will also help to apply color on the smooth surface. Do not use pressure while sanding as you may break some delicate pieces, like the trunk and tusks.

Once the idol is smooth and dry it is ready to be painted and decorated. You can choose your color combination. I kept it simple and decided to paint the complete idol with saffron color (Shendur color). For the color to be bold and bright you will need at least three coats of color. Allow time for the previous coat to dry and then apply the next coat.
Decorate the idol with ornaments – use gold metallic color and bindis of your choice.










4 comments:

  1. Great Information at proper time (@ GANESHOTSAV..!! :) I'll definitely spread it.!! Thanks a lot!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. thx ajit. it is a need of this decade to see the further decades.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is the best blog I have ever read. Thank you for publishing this information at the right time. I hope everyone in India come to this blog and read this. Thank you so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete