MetaIndia.com

These wooden jewelry boxes are made by the very same craftsmen who are acclaimed for making intricate design wooden blocks for printing Indian sarees. Carving wooden blocks for the handblock printer's art is a special skill. Many artisans who provide these blocks to printers have become highly skilled in the art of carving and also using brass with wood to fashion blocks to print finer lines and motifs. A small town not far from Delhi, called Pilkhua, follows a proud and dynamic tradition of using local wood to carve anything from small blocks and door knobs, lampshades and tabletop accessories to huge murals and doorways, if commissioned to do so. Not only do they carve the wood into intricate floral and geometric patterns but also chisel the fine patterns which are then inlaid with brass wire. As a variation they also inlay the wood with white metal and bone chips.