Last Updated on January 26, 2017 by Babita
It does not matter where we live, you will always see a prayer room or an altar (designated space for idols and pictures of gods and goddess) in most Indian homes. My old wooden altar that I was using for several years was beyond repair. So when I went to India last summer I bought a new custom made wooden altar for my prayer area.
Since I was on a time crunch, my carpenter was not able to completely finish it. Poor guy had only three days to build it from scratch. I assured him it was okay because that would give me a chance to work on it and further customize it. He was thoughtful enough to construct the altar in a way that each and every piece could be disassembled, packed into my luggage and reassembled without any effort. He also gave me instructions on how to put it back together.
This project has been long overdue. It has been 6 months since my return from India, and I have finally finished this project. The reason it took so long was:
1) I could not find the materials I wanted to decorate/embellish it.
2) Procrastination.
3) Fear – because I was afraid it would not turn out the way I visualized it.
Now that I have finished, I am happy with the way it turned out. Check it out below.
As you can see all the pieces were separate and disassembled. This altar was constructed from reclaimed wood and you can see all the color variations in the grain. I have to give credit to my carpenter for all the awesome carvings and fine details he added to customize this piece for me.
I began this project by staining and sealing each and every piece individually. I used the Miniwax Polyshades Stain and Polyurethane in 1 step (Pecan Gloss). I applied two coats with an hour of dry time in between. Finally I set them outside to dry. I finished the staining process in September (2013) and then I completely stopped working on this project for the reasons mentioned above.
For next few months, I started to look for materials to decorate the altar. Multiple trips to Michael’s, Jo-ann’s and Walmart ended in disappointment. I could not find anything to my liking. I compromised however by getting some rhinestones. I glued the rhinestones along the traditional carved leaf edge on the backboard. I also embellished the Ohm sign with smaller rhinestones and then waited for few more weeks to get additional supplies.
After few more weeks of looking around I finally settled on these deep red flat beads with gold border. I glued those to the edge of the backboard in between the rhinestones.
I also found four of these huge silver beads in Michael’s which had the appearance of an ornate jewelry. I loved it and glued them over the four rounded dome in the two side columns.
I applied a line of red beads and rhinestone below the silver beads. Applications of the beads were tricky and time consuming. They kept slipping down.
Once all the domes were completed, I slid the backboard through the slot in both the side columns.
It was then time to add some wood glue to the base of the altar. So after I applied the glue I placed the backboard and the side columns over the base and pressed it hard.
The next day all I had to do was slide in the drawer and my Indian Prayer Altar was complete. It was picture time!!
Even though this prayer altar is completely finished, I still have another component to this project which I will be finishing in a couple of weeks. Make sure you watch out for this space.
Update: Check out the latest picture
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Will you be able to do 3 altars of us if size specified?
Thanks for your query Shanti. I can only decorate the altars and not build them.
i have been searching for an altar for my family and came across your and i have fallen in love 🙂 so I hope I don’t insult you by asking….but i couldn’t allow myself not to lol… would you be willing to sell it? or make another for me? gosh if I had the time…I have the tools & the skill but not currently the space 🙁 and this is totally like something I’d make!!
But… being a single mum who Zen (home) schools her daughter while running a natural medicine practice doesn’t leave much time out for doing things I love. On top of that, my non paid gig is pioneering as many youth yoga programs as I can in the schools & teaching classes a few times a week in these programs. You can be sure all the love and care you put in to this would have a very good home and be much loved for many years and generations 🙂 (My daughter loves her daily (“self appointed”) job of lighting the insence on our altar and she also jumped for joy when she saw yours lol.
For many years now I’ve been seeking the perfect one but In shopping for an altar, I feel them to be so manufactured and to me, the origin, the energy & knowing that it wasn’t made by exploiting under paid, hard working people (or even children..) in poor communities is more important than anything.
So if you’re willing, I would very much like to offer another stay at home crafty mom the income rather than someone who already has to much of it 😉
please if you could email me directly to let me know either way? that way we can talk about it in more detail, i didn’t see another way to contact you other than here… and I’m not sure where you’re located (if you’re willing that is…) for the issue of shipping and what not but ill cover all that of course, and depending on the size, I can do some of the assembly no problem!
I very much appreciate it and keep up the stunning work… you know, you could make a fortune with this stuff….you have a real gift and I can sense the energy you put into it already and I don’t even know you. I get it though…. 😉 (I used to sew clothing and have been making art of all kinds for years so I do understand…I eventually quit selling what I made because it just wasn’t worth all the time I had to spend secluded for what I could reasonably charge for it.) so no pressure ok?!
Thanks again and Namaste!
Thank you so much for appreciating my work. Unfortunately this one is not for sale as I am personally using it.
I love what you did with it!! I would not have thought of that.
What a great DIY project. You did a really nice job!
Wow! Your altar is immaculate! Love the glitter accessories.
wow what a beautiful project and this was something i didn’t know about some of the culture having prayer altars
This looks very beautiful. You did a great job!
very nice work. it looks great! You should be very proud
All the embellishments are just so perfectly done. This is lovely!
WOW that is beautiful, what a difference the crystals make as well 🙂 x
Those are beautiful. I haven’t seen anything like those.
Such beautiful and intricate designs! My mom is a fan of wooden furniture, and one of our furniture got washed away with Haiyan, and it was our altar! This looks wonderful.
I had no idea some Indian homes have a prayer altar. You did a great job with this one! I am really impressed.
I love the way you did the beading and the rhinestones. It looks gorgeous.
You did a great job with that and it did come out great! Love the rhinestones embellishments, that really made it look even better.
That is absolutely beautiful. I think it was well worth the hard work. I can’t wait to see the next addition you make to it.
Thanks Loretta and Swatee. Arti, that is a great idea. I still have to finish the cabinet on which I am going to set it. Once it’s all done, I will dress it up with some LED lights.
Looks devotional!!!
It really is quite exquisite. How nice you were able to bring it back from India and finish it yourself.
Babita, that turned out beautiful. I love all the sparkly gems you used on it. Can’t wait to see what you are going to show us next.
Wow, this is such a lovely piece of art – it is so nice – I love how you place beads on it too.
Hats off to u…..very creative…. N beautiful too
This is just beautiful! I love the detail that went into it!
WOW! So much detail! That really is gorgeous!
That came out really good!
Can’t wait to see what other projects you come up with!
I was waiting for this one, cause you told me that you were working on it. If you want you can try to put Strip LED lights on the border. They really look nice when you switch it on.
Thanks Arti. I was finally done with it after 6 months of trial and error.
Very creative Mandir. It has turned out really nice.
It was worth the time it took to place the beads, it turned out very nice!! The wood is nice and rich looking too, a very pretty color.
Wow, you did a really good job on that. I didn’t know that most Indian homes had a prayer altar, so thanks for the info 🙂
You did a great job it looks really good can not wait to see the next part.
I love how you made the prayer altar. The attention to detail is fabulous and the end result is gorgeous! Great job!
You did an amazing job! It turned out so well.
Your wooden altar came out really beautiful. I love how you embellished it with rhinestones.
You did a marvelous job on the prayer alter-you should be very proud of yourself. I can’t wait to see what else you have planned to finish it off.