Some small wonders

You might love food and call yourself a ‘foodie’ but there’s only so much you can eat. Aruna, however, has found an innovative way to indulge her tastebuds all the time. She uses her creative energy to craft miniature ceramic items that closely resemble your favourite dish. Magnets in the shape of ‘dosas’, ‘idlis’, ‘vadas’, blackforest and whiteforest cakes, bread baskets, fried egg earrings and English breakfast keychains are some of her creations.

She sells her products under the brand name of ‘World o’ Cerámica’, a venture that took its first steps 12 years back. Talking about how she got into the field, she says, “I took crafting seriously when I was in college. Initially, as a kid, I never liked crafting and I wasn’t very good at it. I’d bunk all my art classes in school. But when I actually got down to making something, I was hooked. It has become an addiction! In college, a few friends and I started doing pottery and ceramic art to make extra pocket money. After college, I decided to go my own way and take it more seriously.” And this is how the start-up was born.

For a few years she dedicated all her time to the craft but now, she does it as a part-time hobby. And she wasn’t always into miniature works; that’s only a recent indulgence. “I have always worked with ceramics but I used to make only pots and other large items. Since I used to sell my products at exhibitions, this became difficult as lugging the products around isn’t easy. A few years ago, I came across someone who makes miniature products and learnt from them. I instantly took to it,” she explains.

Ask her how she makes such small items and she says, “I use a homemade dough of plaster-of-Paris, maida, ceramics and Fevicol. I also add acrylic paints to the dough so that I don’t have to paint later — I’m not very good at painting! Then I use pins, needles and other small items to make the final product. I varnish it to give it the finishing touch, so even if you drop them they won’t break (but try not to step on them).”

Aruna tries to be as environmentally-friendly as possible.
“Some of the products are upcycled plastic bottle caps and other waste items. I also use waste plastic in other ways to be environmentally-friendly. This is one of the reasons I stick to the homemade dough even though there are a variety of doughs available in the market.” Although she has tried her hands at other crafting techniques, she always comes back to ceramic work because, “I like that it’s so versatile and isn’t that harmful to the environment.”