Making of Wall Mirrors in Lippan

8th June 2018

In the summer of 2018 we conducted a workshop ‘Hands- On with Lippan’ with Gani Mara an award winning traditional Lippan artisan from Bhujin Pune from 23^rd April to 30^th April acrossmultiple locations including Symbiosis International School, Viman Nagar.

As known Lippan kaam is executed on the walls of houses known as ‘bhungas’ using animal dung, clay, chalk powder and mirrors by many communities in the Kutch region. The mirrors are believed to ward off evil and are therefore found as an integral part of their walls. In these workshops we’ve had a splendid display of Wall Mirrors that participants created and carried back home.

These 3-day workshops were designed in a unique way.

Day 1
Gani Mara exposed the participantsto the rich history, origin and culture of Lippan Kaam. He demonstrated how the clay is prepared from a mixture of ‘ghodeki led’(horse dung) &‘sini / chiknimitti’ (clay). Participants also tried their hands in making the dough with contemporary materials like chalk powder, lakdikabhussa (saw dust), fevicol and gum.

Geometric and inorganic patterns were traced on practice boards where the master artisan taught the participants techniques of rolling and making coils with clay and pressing it with glue and water to the desired shape. Every participant created a composition on a 12” x 12” board on the first day.

Day 2
Participants received the Hands On Studios DIY (Do It Yourself) wall mirror kit. The product had a wooden base on which lippankaam was executed. Interesting mix of traditional and contemporary compositions were created by participants.

A twist was added to the artwork with POP (plaster of Paris) surface textures.

The distinct feature of Lippan kaam are the mirrors. Coates of white paint were given to the dried Lippan surface. Then different sizes and shapes of mirrors were added to enhance the beauty of the wall mirror.

Making of Wall Mirrors in Lippan

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