DIY RAVAN EFFIGY (with Electric Ignition and Its the Biggest Diy One)

this is a simple instructable about how to make your own ravana effigy on this dussera (a hindu based festival) with a diy electric ignition and much more all under 10000 rupees or $200. (SORRY FOR LACK OF PHOTOS AND DETAILED STEPS )

Step 1: Figuring Out What Is It......

actually it is a ritual in hindu community to burn a ravana effigy on every dussera. so this dussera we built it with $200, 28 people ,lots of efforts.to build such a thing of any size first thing you need is a base structure or a typical skeleton to support it then you need a long and strong pole to support it and then explosives and a outer body.all would be explained so,,.... keep scrolling :)

Step 2: The Skeleton

this is one of the most important and the most time taking step of whole project(took 28 people about 2 weeks) so to make the skeleton a very flexible and durable material was needed so we took bamboo and then for binding it a lot of nylon strip (279 meters).at first 2 rings were made and then lots long bamboo strips were used and later many rings were inserted (sorry the images arent in order ) afer it every thing was held in place with nylon strips and using thr same teqnique the hands,lower part,and upper part were made. main goal was to make a very strong skeleton or a support (as the weight was about 256 kg ).once it wad done we had to cover it.

Step 3: The Layered Covering

at first a lot of thin cloth was used and then was held in place by glue (total glue used was 12kg ) after it lots of newspaper was used to cover it and at the end shiny glace paper was used to give it a nice look.

Step 4: Explosives !!!

as usual lots and lots of explosives were used a shoking 9kg gunpowder was used they were simply rolled in balls and were held in place by metal wire.

Step 5: Face and Other Props

the eyes,teeth,moustache were made out of paper and were later filled with wood and paper mache.

Step 6: The Electric Ignition

no instructable of mine is complete without involving electronics.i desided to make it safe so i made a simple diy electric ingnitor. to make it i used a high frequency generator to create a spark gap. the i broke a butane lighter and opened its valve slightly to release gas and as the button was pressed there was a boom.

Step 7: Final Finnishing

so i would say that it was all a result of sincere efforts by me and my friends.at the end the stongest pole of bamboo was inserted and then burried and also the effigy was tied to prevent any misshapening. at last it was burnt.

HAPPY DUSSERA