In today’s Meet the Maker series, we introduce you to Ms.Julie, an artist who is doing very well with one of the most spectacular handmade sculptures & figurines from compressed sawdust. After being involved with a small sawdust business in her own village, Miss Julie had an idea of extending this business into a larger global market for export which was the reason and motivation to create more designs for her products. Made purely from sawdust and glue and completely hand molded, these works of art always fascinates us due to their intricate and charming nature of the diverse range of animals that these artisans create. From geckos to iguanas, and dragons to turtles, each have their own unique look which makes many of our buyers consider them as good sellers for wholesale and retail. Furthermore, they are reinforced inside with metal wiring, so all delicate spots are strong for shipment and handling. Both used as showcase products and functional pieces, they all have their own distinct selling points, whether it be simple decorative standing iguanas and dragons, or practical products such as animal pencils, incense burners, and trinket boxes. As a huge plus, these hand molded sculptures can be marketed within the eco-friendly and recycled product category since the sawdust comes from waste material of wooden furniture factories that is recycled by Miss Julie and her team. So the furniture factories don’t have to throw away or dispose of their waste, and the artisan team can use them to make a living. Win win situation for all involved!
In the previous video, Part One, we introduced her background history in starting her business, including a brief description of her products, and in this video, Ms. Julie goes through with us one by one the steps of production in detail. The way of making these products is rather difficult as there are multiple steps of crafts making that is involved in order to bring to life one figurine, such as a dragon or iguana. First of all, you need to prepare the sawdust and glue for the molding steps. For example, you can get the sawdust from the factories where they produce furniture or anywhere else that you can get plenty of recycled sawdust. After mixing the glue and sawdust, next thing is to do the molding and sculpturing part according to the design you would like to create. After the molding process, you can leave your hand sculptured products under the sunlight for drying. Sometime later, after they have completely dried, you can paint them by covering the animals in black color first because the black color will make other following colors look shiny and bright, in addition to keeping the added painted colors stable. Then the final process is to actually paint and color the figurines and products in the color and design that the wholesale buyer has ordered and allowing them to dry as well.
You can be sure to appreciate all the handcrafted processes that goes into producing every single piece. We are so proud of her and her manufacturing team and hope you enjoy these two videos on her artful capacity and our description on how to handcraft figurines and sculptures made from compressed sawdust in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Meet The Maker
Manufacturing Process of Sawdust Figurines, Sculptures, Iguanas, and Dragons
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