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Activities / Channapatna Toys / Channapatna-Style Painted Top

Channapatna-Style Painted Top

Channapatna-Style Spinning Top: Banded Colours on a Wooden Top

Level
Beginner
Duration
45 - 90 mins (plus drying)
Budget
₹300 – ₹1,474
Age
8+
State
Karnataka

Materials

  • Unfinished wooden spinning top, about 6 cm
  • Acrylic paint set with bright colours, black and white
  • Fine round brush, sizes 0 and 1
  • Water-based gloss sealer or varnish
  • Fine sandpaper, 220 to 400 grit
  • Newspaper, paper towels and a cup of water
  • Lump of modelling clay or a cup, to stand the top on its tip

Steps

  1. Cover the table and sand the wooden top until it feels silky
    This is an inspired-by project: Channapatna toys are turned on a lathe and a stick of coloured lac is pressed on the spinning wood so friction melts it into bright bands, while you will paint similar bands by hand with no heat. Cover the table with newspaper. Rub the unfinished wooden spinning top with fine sandpaper, following the grain, for about 3 minutes until it feels silky. Wipe off the dust with a damp cloth.
  2. Paint the whole top with one light base colour and let it dry
    Hold the top by its stem and brush one thin coat of yellow or red acrylic over the body, turning it as you go. Leave the very tip of the stem unpainted if you want to hold it there. Stand the top on its tip in a cup or lump of clay to dry for 20 minutes. Common mistake: a thick coat, which dries with drips and lumps that spoil the bands later.
    Tip: A second thin coat after 20 minutes gives a richer colour than one thick coat.
  3. Set up a steady hand position for painting rings
    Hold the top by its stem between your thumb and forefinger of your left hand (right if you are left-handed). Rest your painting elbow on the table. Load a size 4 brush with paint and wipe the extra off on a paper towel. Practise the movement without paint: touch the dry brush to the body and slowly roll the stem so the top turns. This tells your hand what the real thing will feel like.
  4. Paint the first band by turning the top under a still brush
    Rest the loaded brush against the widest part of the top, without moving your painting hand. With your other hand, slowly roll the stem so the top turns one full circle under the brush. The paint spreads into a smooth ring about 5 mm wide, like the bands that lac makes on a lathe. Lift the brush away at the end. If the ring has a gap, turn the top once more.
    Tip: Keep the brush touching lightly. Too much pressure squeezes extra paint out and smears it.
  5. Paint three more bands in contrasting colours, letting each dry first
    Paint a band of blue, then green, then red, each about 5 mm wide, from the stem towards the tip, leaving a 2 mm gap of the base colour between bands. Wait 10 minutes after each band before you start the next, because neighbouring wet bands bleed into one another. Rest the top on its tip in the cup while you wait. Common mistake: painting two bands in a row without waiting, which blends the colours into mud.
  6. Add thin black or white rings between the bands
    With a size 0 brush and black or white paint, draw a ring about 1 mm wide in the 2 mm gap between each pair of bands, turning the top the same way. Then dot the flat top of the stem with a bright colour using the brush tip. The thin lines separate the colours and are what makes the top look like a proper Channapatna toy. Let the paint dry for 2 hours.
  7. Seal the top with two thin coats of gloss varnish
    Brush on a thin coat of water-based gloss varnish all over the body, turning the top as you go and not going over the same place twice, and stand it on its tip to dry for 1 hour. Add a second thin coat and let it dry for another hour. The gloss gives the shine of lac and protects the paint from handling. Common mistake: a thick coat that runs down and forms a sticky bead at the tip.
  8. Let it cure and spin it
    Leave the top for 24 hours so the varnish hardens fully. Then place it on a smooth table, pinch the stem between thumb and forefinger and twist hard. The painted bands blur into a rainbow of rings when it spins. Wooden toys with small parts are not for children under 3. Keep paint and varnish away from the mouth.

Sustainability

Medium - reuse an unfinished wooden top; use water-based paint and varnish. Inspired-by exercise: real Channapatna toys are turned on a lathe and coloured with lac, which needs heat and skill

Safety

Do not heat lac or use a lathe at home; use water-based paint and varnish only; paint on a covered table; wooden toys with small parts are not for children under 3