Clay & Ceramics and Stone Carving

Clay & Ceramics and Stone Carving - High Quality Arts To Find Near Borobudur - Indonesia

Clay & Ceramics and Stone Carving - High Quality Arts To Find Near Borobudur - Indonesia
By Thorsten Neudeck

Hundreds of small and large factories are to be found in the Central Java city of Yogjakarta here, producing stone carving articles handmade of natural mountain stone (e.g. lava stone, limestone, sandstone) as well as clay & ceramic items, mainly clay pot or ceramics vases.

Borobudur Temple in Central Java

One historic and really worth mentioning temple is to be found in very close proximity to Yogjakarta: the ancient Buddhist stone temple of Borobudur. In the period 600 AD to 800 AD there was a golden age of temple construction throughout India, Ceylon and South East Asia. It was a time when Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished and men raised magnificent monuments to heaven in praise of their gods. It was built to resemble a microcosm of the universe and its purpose was to provide a visual image of the teachings of the Buddha. Reliefs depicting the life of the Buddha cover the upper half of the main wall all around the first gallery of the monument, a total of 120 panels. These reliefs were carved to illustrate a text entitled the Lalitavistara, "The Unfolding of the Play."

Anybody visiting the local craft shops will be impressed about the professional skills of the masons, about the variety of stone and clay & ceramic products they are able to produce with their bare hands: Sculptures, Lamps, Reliefs of Borobudur, Elephants, Statues, Vases, Buddhas, Lava stone, sand stone, limestone items, Garden & Landscaping items, Pillars, Wells & Fountains, and much more.

High Quality hand carved Workmanship

The local craftsmen sit together in dusty rooms, or even under the blazing sun, and swing their hammers down to their chisels to form figures out of the bare stone blocks. They sweat together in hot clay factories, firing the ovens to harden the material, and color, sand and polish their precious products.

In terms of how to optimally present the products, the bigger stone carvers and clay pot manufacturers of Java / Indonesia own huge storehouses and depots, while the smaller ones use their very own family gardens to establish showroom atmosphere.

Handmade Mountain Stone Carvings

Either way, the buyer encouraged to purchase in bulk, otherwise it makes little sense in terms of the overall cost structure for both the seller and the buyer. Regarding the packing of the products there is a reliable system in place: the fragile, sometimes even very large ceramic and stone products are wrapped and then a wooden frame is constructed to hold and protect the object during shipment. The items will then be sent to north Java, to the port of Semarang / Indonesia, and from there being shipped to anywhere in the world.

For more information on the natural stone, clay and ceramic products of Java / Indonesia, and on how to get them to any place in the world, please visit http://www.teak-rustique.com

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