Dandi march carved out in a needle's eye

Warangal: An artist from Warangal, Mattewada Ajay Kumar, has carved out of wax a depiction of the Dandi March led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930 during the Satyagraha. 

However, the replication of the famous statue in New Delhi is not visible to the eye. One needs a microscope to view it. That is because the Mahatma and the seven people following him are between 0.18mm and 1.09mm in length and 0.21mm to 0.18mm in width. They fit into the eye of a sewing needle!

The 45-year-old micro artist has made this carving on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.

The details are precise the walking stick Gandhiji carried, his spectacles, the folds of the people’s clothes, their ornaments, are all done excellently. 

“It took me 30 hours through 11 days to carve this piece. I used special instruments to carve the wax and paint the figures. It is not an easy job to look through the microscope for hours together while carving. I could work from two to five hours each day as it a strain on the eyes. I dedicate this work to my father late M. Venkata Chary who was also a freedom fighter,” the artist said.

A goldsmith by profession, Ajay Kumar has been interested in micro art since he was quite young. 

He used to write and draw on rice seeds and matchsticks. Later he discovered a way to carve figures using wax. He prepares his own instruments. His micro works include animals, deities, freedom-fighters made of wax and a miniature scissors and violin made of gold.

He found a place in the Limca Book of Records for making the smallest seven-levered lock in the world using gold, in 2004. He is the third micro artist in the world after 61-year-old Willard Wigan and 46-year-old Yury Deulin.