Visiting Card Diffuser - Blackstone

Details

dorn your desktop with this beautifully handcrafted Visiting Card Diffuser Blackstone from goroots. This superb relic combines style with utility and provides for a great decorative as well. Regardless of where it is kept, this card holder will prove to be of great use while adding an ethnic look and feel to the surroundings. Also, organize all your visiting cards neatly in this and avoid probable hassles.
It comes in a regular size and is easily portable as well. Simple yet stylishly flawless, this Blackstone cardholder has been handcrafted out of high quality black soil using traditional Longpi Ham pottery skills.
Treat your workplace with this one or pick it up for a corporate or personal gift to your near and dear ones.
 
About Blackstone Pottery
 
Blackstone or Longpi Ham pottery dates back to those ancient times when the utensils and cookware were used by prominent royal families in India, during religious ceremonies and festivities. Hence, also referred to as royal pottery, the art of Blackstone pottery is regal in its own sense.

Blackstone Pottery is consists of a mixture of crushed Serpentine rock and weather rock used in the ratio 3:1. The artefacts derived from Blackstone are not only used as cookware and serveware but also as decorative pieces of art.

The art is a symbol of devotion of the Thankul Naga tribes of the Ukhrul district of Manipur who accomplish and respect this form of pottery as a devotion to Goddess Panthobi and Nongpok Ningthou, equivalents of Goddess Durga and Lord Shiva respectively.
 
Procedure
 
Around 200 men and women artisans the Thankul Naga tribes, who are the inhabitants of the Longpi village of the Ukhrul district of Manipur, ply the craft of Blackstone earthenware with their rich untamed skills.

The remarkable feature of Blackstone pottery is that artisans do not resort to the potters wheel, instead, they use out of the ordinary the coiling method in order to achieve the desired shape and size of the artefact they have in their mind.

To begin with, the artists crush the Serpentine rock and weathered rocks in the ratio 3:1, along with a certain proportion of clay, water and soil.
The crushed rocks are mixed adequately to form a mixture which is later shaped by the use of hands. The final shape of the artefact wholly depends on the skills and techniques the craftsmen put to use. 

The faded brownish-black colour and the smoke stains are a result of intensely heating up the artefact to as high as 900 degrees centigrade.

Finally, the traditional Handi pots are baked on straw and cow-dung and polished with beeswax and a special leaf called Chirona.
 
Region
 
The art of Blackstone pottery exclusively belongs to the Ukhrul district in the north-eastern state of Manipur. The Thankul Naga tribes are the inhabitants of the Longpi village, which is situated in Ukhrul. The district is about 85kms eastward to Imphal, the capital of Manipur.
 
goroots provides a concrete backing to the Black Pottery craftsmen situated in the remote interiors of Manipur. We encourage the ability of the tribal handicraft artisans and genuinely support their efforts through our website.