The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Electrical potter wheel comes in handy in Pudukottai district

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Sunday, May 04, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Electrical potter wheel comes in handy in Pudukottai district

Staff Reporter

— PHOTO: R.M. RAJARATHINAM.

CONVENIENT: A woman operating an electric potter wheel at Viriyanipatti in Pudukottai district.

PUDUKOTTAI: The supply of the electrically operated potter’s wheel, on a trial basis, to a few select persons in a village noted for pottery in the district by the State Government’s Potters’ Welfare Board, has gone down well.

The wheel, replacing the manually operated and labour intensive wheel, nearly looks like a small grinder in shape with a rotating wooden plank attached to its middle.

The board has supplied four wheels to its members at Viriyanipatti near here, noted for high-quality terracotta wares of ‘Pavai Vilakku’ ‘Ayyanar Horse’ and giant-sized ornamental wares preferred for interior decoration works at Guest Houses, Star Hotels and bungalows.

More concentration

“The electrical wheel facilitates us to concentrate more on our work, as we can now use both the hands for moulding the piece without any extra care for manual rotation of the wheel,” says L. Jayalakshmi, animator of the ‘Marumalarchi Self Help Group, who, in co-ordination with the United Front for Rural Workers, a trade union for the working classes, enrolled 60 traditional artisans of the potters.

Free supply

It is only from this village that a large number of potters enrolled themselves as members of the board and four of them opted for the free supply of the electric wheels, says the organiser of the front.

The Secretary of the District Supply and Marketing Society, S. Sathyaseelan, says that the society had floated three SHGs in the village and even supplied an electrical wheel to one of them a few years ago.

The society, as part of its quality enhancement drive, would shortly supply an electrical grinder to be used for powdering and mixing various ingredients to facilitate the potters to prepare a soft paste of the mixture. Presently, the mixing is done manually.

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