Palm Leaf, Kora Grass, Banana fiber, Screw pine, Sisal, Talipot, Coconut Shell products, Coconut Hus

Fiber Extraction

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Tree -> Fiber -> Product

Banana Fiber..

Banana Fiber is extracted from Banana tree bark. The trunk is peeled. Brown-green skin is thrown away retaining the cleaner or white portion which will be processed into knotted fibers. The fibers are extracted through hand extraction machine composed of either serrated or non serrated knives. The peel is clamped between the wood plank and knife and hand-pulled through, removing the resinous material. The extracted fibers are sun-dried which whitens the fiber.

Once dried, the fibers are ready for knotting. A bunch of fibers are mounted or clamped on a stick to facilitate segregation. Each fiber is separated according to fiber sizes and grouped accordingly. To knot the fiber, each fiber is separated and knotted to the end of another fiber manually. The separation and knotting is repeated until bunches of unknotted fibers are finished to form a long continuous strand. This fiber can now be used for making various products.

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Tree -> Husk -> Product

Coconut Husk..

The products are made by carving a single raw coconut. Extreme skills and patience is required in making up this product and only very few artisans are engaged in it. The product is 100% manually carved in a single coconut. Careful selection of full coconuts at farm level has to be done, in which the coconut husk should be larger than the coconut shell. Even if the full coconuts are carefully selected, out of 100 only 10 for example will be suitable for making the product.

Once the coconut is selected, the required design is drawn on one side of it and the water and fruit is removed by making a hole on the other. After drying it, the coconut base is ready. No artificial paint or colouring agent is coated on the surface. The natural colour of the coconut husk enhances the beauty.

The craftsman's skill is essential to achieve sharp features. Final touches are given with small knives and cutters. To bring out a single product, involvement of 3 different skilled artisans working from 1-7 days is required.

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Grass -> Processed Grass -> Product

Kora Grass..

Kora mats are extremely reliable and can be easily folded. Kora grass grows abundantly along the banks of the rivers. The process of creating the mat is complex and painstaking. In its original form the grass is green in colour and normally grows to a height of 3-4 feet. The grass for the mats is cut very fine, while it is still green. The inside white pith of the stem is removed with a sharp-edged knife while the outer part of the stem is used for weaving. The counts of the mat depend on how many strips the grass is cut into; the greater the numbers of strips from each stem, the higher the count. The strips of grass are then dried in the hot sun.

When the dried grass strips turn a yellowish greenish colour, they are boiled in a pot of water and dried again. The dried grass is made up into bundles and soaked in running water for 3-7 days. This wetting causes the grass to swell up to three times its original size. It is then dried again in the sun. The weaving is done on a floor loom. The process is slow and follows a basket weave pattern. Once the weaving is complete, the mat is dried in the sun for a short while. The mats woven are very fine with counts ranging from 100 to 140. It is then finished with a polishing stone. For dyeing the grass both natural and chemical dyes are used.

Tree -> Leaf -> Product

Palm Leaf..

The Thunder Palm Leaf which is required for making the products is got from Palm Tree which is ivory in colour. These leaves are dried under sun for 2 days. Each leaf is then split into 3 or 4 leaves using splitting tool which has a knife on wood stand. These leaves are dyed according to design requirements. They are then dried under sun and desired products are made out of it.

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Tree -> Shell -> Product

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Coconut Shell..

The coconut shell is a fantastic material which invariably finds its place at all homes, hotels and institutions as an item of status in the form of cutlery, crockery or decorative products. It has a natural hardy shell, which yields to the craftsperson's vision and skill. Coconut shell based products have always held the eye of its beholder in awe.

Coconut shell craft is a popular craft. Carving Coconut shell is very difficult and only highly skilled craftsmen can make products out of it due to its hardness. Vibrant Nature for nurturing this art has put its effort in improving the design, training artisans to take up this craft as a home/cottage based self employment opportunity, improving the quality, developing the products and promoting them.

The market potential of coconut shell products as a craft piece is well recognized and Vibrant Nature is offering more than 125 various attractive hand carved Coconut Shell products in eye-catching designs to its Customers worldwide.

Plant -> Leaf -> Product

Screw pine..

Screwpine is a stubby fan-shaped plant. Its leaves are covered with throns that grow in both directions along with main rib. Cleaned leaves are split into half without disturbing the original length of leaves. This long and narrow leaves are boiled and transferred and kept in fresh water overnight. The leaves are dried and within one or two days it becomes ivory in color.

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Plant -> Fiber -> Product

Sisal..

Sisal Fiber is extracted from the leaves of Sisal Plant. The fibers are extracted through hand extraction machine composed of either serrated or non serrated knives. The peel is clamped between the wood plank and knife and hand-pulled through, removing the resinous material. The extracted fibers are sun-dried which whitens the fiber.

Once dried, the fibers are ready for knotting. A bunch of fibers are mounted or clamped on a stick to facilitate segregation. Each fiber is separated according to fiber sizes and grouped accordingly. To knot the fiber, each fiber is separated and knotted to the end of another fiber manually. The separation and knotting is repeated until bunches of unknotted fibers are finished to form a long continuous strand. This Sisal fiber can be used for making variety of products. Screwpine is a stubby fan-shaped plant. Its leaves are covered with thorns that grow in both directions along with main rib. Cleaned leaves are split into half without disturbing the original length of leaves. This long and narrow leaves are boiled and transferred and kept in fresh water overnight. The leaves are dried and within one or two days it becomes ivory in color.

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Plant -> Fiber -> Product

Talipot..

Talipot Stalk is taken from a variety of Palm Tree. This stalk is 10-12 meters long. They are cut according to our required length and soaked in water for 60 days. The Talipot fiber is manually taken from the soaked stalk and dried under sun. The pith from the fiber is removed using nail brush. The Talipot fiber can now be used for weaving using handloom

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Grass -> Root -> Product

Vetiver (Zizanioides)..

Vetiver is a kind of Grass that grows upto 1.5 meter high and form clumps as wide. Vetiver roots are important and the most useful part. Most grass have fibrous roots which spread out from the underground part of the culm and hold the soil in an horizontal pattern. The roots that penetrate vertically into the soil are not deep.

In contrast, the root system of vetiver grass does not expand horizontally but penetrates vertically deep into the soil, whether it be the main roots, secondary roots or fibrous roots. Their roots grow downward 2-4 meter in depth. Vetiver root is cooling, refrigerant, diuretic, stimulant and tonic.

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Grass -> Root -> Product

Bamboo..

Bamboo, a renewable resource, is the fastest growing plant in the world - growing as fast as 47.6 inches in a 24-hour period. Bamboo is a type of grass with a hard, woody, hollow stem. It is a perennial evergreen, meaning it grows every year and stays green year round. Hundreds of kinds grow in different regions of the world, and people have used the them in everything from construction to medicine.

The special equipment used in the manufacturing process are the knives and fixture. for Bamboo is split into thin wafers to suit the need of the end product. This is followed by manually knitting the split wafers into products especially designed to cater the needs.

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