DIY - Making of Lord Ganesha at Home

by archanajayakumar

132K6653

Intro: DIY - Making of Lord Ganesha at Home

I have made my entry for Instructables contest category - HOMEMADE GIFTS CONTEST. Your votes are very valuable. So if you like this craft, kindly vote and help me get through this. I would really appreciate your support.

Ganesh Chaturthi, a very famous festival celebrated in my home country - India. Having moved to Florida, I didn't want to miss the celebration without traditional clay Ganesha. I remember watching making of mini-Ganesh in the streets back at home. So here is what I tried to replicate. I really enjoyed making this and it was one of the best Ganesh Chaturthi i ever celebrated. I hope you will enjoy too! Happy crafting!

Construction time - 60 to 90 mins

SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED:
• Clay
• Toothpick
• Acrylic paint

STEP 1: DIVIDE YOUR CLAY TO FORM THE VARIOUS BODY PARTS

Divide the clay in proportion as shown in the image.

STEP 2: MAKING OF STOMACH AND BASE

  • Flatten the base pedestal clay (like the way you would flatten roti dough). Flatten it in such a way that it has space to hold stomach and legs.
  • Insert a small piece of toothpick into one end of the base and fix the stomach onto that. This way these parts will stay together even after drying.
  • Use water when required to brush at places that are dry.
  • Roll out the leg portions as shown in the picture.

STEP 3: MAKING OF LEGS

  • Press on top and bottom, and bend to form shape of the leg.

STEP 4: MAKING OF HANDS

  • Fix the legs to the stomach and base pedestal, reinforce it with toothpicks. Press the joints of leg and stomach at the back, so that they become one and joints are not seen.
  • Roll out the hands in the same way as legs and bend them to form the shape of hands as shown in the image.

STEP 5: FIXING HANDS

  • Fix the hands and gently press them to join it with the stomach.

STEP 6: FIXING HEAD TO THE BODY

  • Insert a toothpick into the body and fix the head to it.

STEP 7: FIXING EARS AND TRUNK

  • Similarly fix the ears.
  • Roll out the trunk (similar to legs and hands). Bend it and fix it to the head as shown in the image.

STEP 8: ATTAINING BASIC FORM OF GANESH

  • Gently press the years and flatten them.
  • Make eyes, tusk and 3 tiers of head crown.

STEP 9: ORNAMENTING

  • To make the back crown, first roll and press the clay like roti dough (about 6cm in diameter). Then use tools like bottle/mason jar lid, pen refill, pen cap to do the ornamentation.
  • Allow this to dry a bit and gently fix it to the body by using more wet clay.

STEP 10: MAKING AND FIXING UMBRELLA

Kindly check the below link for making of umbrella.

https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Paper-umbrella...

Fix the umbrella skewer to body of Ganesh using clay.

STEP 11: CUTE LITTLE BAL GANESH AT HOME

  • Leave it to dry for couple of days and paint them.
  • To make the elevated pedestal, I have used a square thermocol piece (3"L x 3"B x 1"H) and wrapped it with 1" blue satin ribbon.

23 Comments

Aatreyu shau 3 years ago

And ears should be well joined to the head and extend the at the sides of the ear

Aatreyu shau 3 years ago

Also making the head more almond shaped helps it look better almond shaped with a blunt top.

Aatreyu shau 3 years ago

I found this tip by mistake that putting the trunk on top of the forehead makes it look more commercial and also lot better

rahulsongire9 3 years ago

Thanks a lot to share with us, We made Ganpati successful from this document, I and my kids are very very happy, Thanks

jyotsdod 3 years ago

Exactly how many days do you can keep the idol after drying, and how many days it requires to dry

Ritika Nagpal 4 years ago

Where can i get Terracota clay in Lusaka?or suggest a replacement of it

GeetaV1 5 years ago

Hey Archana... your instructions are very helpful. I am writing this from Illinois. I am having hard time to gather information to know more about the clay. As this is first time, Can you please help me or let me know the link where I can buy clay.

DevendraR4 6 years ago

which clay you use to make ganesh murti and how much grm or kg clay you take to make murti of lord ganesh

NimmyJ 8 years ago

great job, i would however place the trunk a little lower...but great work.

VivekD7 8 years ago

Is it possible to speed up the drying time from 2 days to 1 day or lesser?

peppypickle 9 years ago

beautiful, great job on the paint job, too!

AngryRedhead 9 years ago

Awesome! Can you talk more about the festival? :D

archanajayakumar 9 years ago

Sure. Im happy to share it with you. Ganesha, favorite god to a lot from kids to adults. Derived from mythical story. We celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi festival by worshiping and honoring him with clay idols ranging from 1 ft to 10 ft high and with all his favorite sweets made at home. Here are a few snaps.

archanajayakumar 9 years ago

The date (changes every year) falls between the months of August and September. It will be celebrated for 10 days.

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