At S. Chinnayachari’s humble art space in Etikoppaka village of Visakhapatnam district, there’s barely any art visible, at least to the naked eye.
But peer into one of the magnifying glasses, and you will be rewarded with a tiny portrait of ‘Ram Sita Pattabhishekam’ marvellously set on half a poppy seed, or parrots perched on a strand of human hair.
Over the past 25 years, he has crafted several pieces of micro miniatures, some of which are reportedly the world’s smallest.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, this artisan from the remote village known for its wooden toys is struggling to get his name figured in the Guinness Book of Records for the past three years.
His creation of a mere 1.2 mm miniature wooden chessboard would have checkmated the previous Guinness world record of 18 mm long ago, but for the challenges he is facing in documenting his work.
“It is very tough to capture a high-quality image and video of the micro chessboard as I have no access to high accuracy camera equipment. This time, I have approached a professional photography firm in Visakhapatnam to assist me in this and hope to see my name in the record books soon,” the 39-year-old artist told
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Undeterred by the challenges, he has pushed his creative limits further to make the most challenging work of his life with a 1.2 mm artwork of ‘Ram Sita Pattabhishekam’ set on half a poppy seed.
His exceptional eye for detail is evident in his latest work.
“This has been the toughest micro art I have ever made. The ‘pattabhishekam’ has intricate details like bows and arrows, and every figure has distinct features that I had to carefully present in the tiniest forms. I used the thorns on the palm tree trunk to carve out the figures,” he said. This work was recently appreciated by the Chief Minister.
Chinnayachari said it took him years to master the art to create his masterpieces and months to create each miniature object.
“The tools I use are made by me and resemble those used for carving wood, but they are very small and require lot of precision to work with,” he added.
More often he has to literally work in between heartbeats as the slightest unintentional movement could result in a costly mistake and loss of the entire work.
“I have learnt from many mistakes, and that has only chiselled my artistic abilities further. The more difficult part is to learn to not get too attached to the creations,” said the artist, who always wanted to do something different from his family profession of wooden toy-making, which eventually led to his fascination for miniature arts.
“My aim is to be known for my miniature works globally,” he added.
With several national records and an award from the President in 2003, Chinnayachari is now waiting to make a mark in the Guinness Book of Records.
Other works
His miniature marvels include a veena on a grain of rice, the Taj Mahal set on a paper pin, a stork feeding its young ones perched on a strand of human hair and many more. There were times when his fingers gave up and his eyes would hurt looking through the magnifying glass for hours at a stretch. “I had problems with my vision initially. Now I work for two hours at a stretch and then take half-an-hour break to give my eyes some rest,” he said.