Soap stone carving

Different shapes carved out of variety of stones such as soft stones, marble stones, serpentine stones available at different places in the country forms stone carving. This is an ancient craft practiced in Pondicherry and it is highly skilled craft. Most prominent structure like God Ganesh in different types, Lord Buddha, animals, etc are made out of naturalistic colour of the stone. The skilled person practicing the craft is known as "SILPI". In the first instance, before the structure is carved, the stone is first selected and after confirmation, the outline of the structure is carved and the final shape is carved using high quality chisel so as to avoid even a very small hair line break in the structure. Finally, polishing will be given to have its natural colour.