Product >> Process
 
• Starting with a felled fresh tree, the carvers cut it into several basic blocks.

• With their skilled eye, the carvers begin forming the piece. It is carved with nothing more than a knife, but it requires especially sharp cutting edges to prevent crushing. It takes about two hours to make one large piece.

•The piece is carefully kiln dried to remove most of the water before the next step. Kiln drying removes the excess water until the moisture content is only 6%. Kiln drying also kills any bacteria, fungi and insects that may be in the raw balsa wood.

•As the piece dries, it cracks. The cracks are filled with small pieces of the same wood.

•The piece is sanded until its surface is completely smooth.

•The details of the piece are engraved by a process of pyrography.

•Finally, imaginative and skillful painters add wonderful bright water colours to the piece.