The marble carving technique is a slow, but very precise process. The process is especially slow when the type of stone the craftsmen work with is tough. Because of the slow and expensive process, the students choose to create an object by marble turning. In this manufacturing technique the stone is turning in a lath and the craftsman carves in a spinning stone. With this technique you can only design a symmetrical object, but the process is easier, faster and cheaper. With the objective of creating a new market for the handcraft people in mind, this production technique seemed the more viable.
As the favourite medium for Indian sculptors and architects, marble has become a cultural symbol of tradition and refined taste. Its extremely varied and colourful patterns make it a favourite decorative material.
In folklore, marble is associated with an astrological sign. Pure white marble is an emblem of purity. It is also an emblem of immortality, and an insurer of success in education.
Indian Yellow is a brilliant golden yellow pigment which is supposed to have originated, as the name suggests, in India. It is supposed to have first been used in Europe by Dutch artists and by the end of the eighteenth century being widely used across Europe. But beautiful as the pigment was, it was reputedly foul-smelling in its raw form (hard, dirty yellow balls of pigment) and the origins much speculated over. The debate was supposedly settled in 1883 when an investigation found that it was created in one village from the urine of cattle fed only mango leaves. By 1890 enough anti-cruelty legislation had been passed to make the supposed practise illegal and by 1908 the colour was no longer available. If it had ever been? It remains an enigma……