Clay dolls from West Bengal

Doll making is an ancient craft . In India this must have started with making of terracotta dolls  , and then with wood and other available materials. Dolls making is very fascinating craft which attracts all the age range. I had recently shared about the clay doll I made.

Different kinds of dolls in India:

In India, many kinds of traditional doll making is in practise. It differs from area to area. Etikoppa , Kondapalli toys from Andhra Pradesh, Channpattana toys , and Kinnahala dolls of Karnataka  . 

Karnataka also has the tradition of celebrating Gombe Habba, festival of dolls. 

Similarly, clay dolls of Krishnanagar (West Bengal). These dolls though made of clay, and decorated with cloth to look realistic.

Craftsmen use clay and Plaster of Paris moulds to make the different parts of the figurine. The parts are joined with the support of a metal wire. Then painted and decorated with cloth and accessories. The craftsmen replete most of the professions and figure, by showing all the minute details.

Dolls of Mahatma Gandhiji

Dolls depicting some profession

Some  more cute dolls

 I got an opportunity to talk to a craftsman in an exhibition in my city. He explained me  the process of making of clay dolls,in detail. I wish to visit these craftsmen to know how they make the dolls!

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

She is beautiful, stylish- making of Clay doll

She is beautiful, she is stylish with wild designer dress, and has lovely curled golden hair. I'm not talking about any Hollywood actress, she is the cutie doll.
Here she is :

Cutie doll

Is she not mesmerizing you by her beauty? I know you can't say NO. She is the cutie doll I made from clay.

Doll making is an ancient art. Human beings are always fascinated by dolls. The Gombe habba(Festival of dolls)  of Karnataka    is an example for this.  I have written in last posts there are several kinds of dolls made  in India, like Channpatna dolls,Kinnala doll etc.

Making of clay doll:

I was longing to learn making of clay doll. Inquired many experts too. But either there was time constraint or location was too far. At last  my wish fulfilled. I enrolled to learn Siporex carving class, the organizer told me she is conducting class to make clay doll too. Immediately I enrolled for both. This took 2 days to complete the doll making. The whole experience of making doll was very nice and the trainer was very patient to answer all our queries. 

The end result is very cute. Here are the glimpses of cuteness, beautiful face

Her beautiful golden color , curly hair with hat on that:

Long golden hair!

Her stylish shoes:

Wild shoes

Overall she is not lees than any Hollywood actress :)

I wanted to share the procedure of making, but could not take the photos of the intermediate steps. Soon will make one more cutie doll and share the tutorial with my readers. 

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

 

Kinnala Dolls- looks like dolls with life

Kranataka is always known for its handicraft. Different kinds of crafts are practiced in different parts of the state. Karnataka being always has its own heritage of wooden crafts. The wooden craft practiced in coastal part of Karnataka  is unique. Similarly the wooden toys, Channapattana dolls  are world famous for its cuteness and attractive colors.
Here are  the colorful Channapatna dolls:

Channapattana dolls

 Another kind of dolls made in a small village Koppala of Karnataka, Kinnala dolls. These are also made of wood, but entirely different from Channpatana dolls. Channapatna dolls are cute and looks like dolls, but Kinnala dolls are dolls with life.At first sight you feel these are small human beings:

Kinnala dolls

Kinnala is a small village in Koppala district of Karnataka. Once this place was flourishing centre for crafts.The Kinnala craft dates back to 13th century, during rule of Vijayanagar empire, the craft flourished a lot. Kinnala art was started with painting the wooden plates and murals on the temples. Then craftsmen started making cradles , dolls etc and painting it with beautiful colors.
Very light weight wood is used to make the dolls and after making the parts, the parts are joined using paste made of tamarind seed powder and saw dust. And these are painted with natural colors. Earlier the craftsmen were making human figures:

Human figures - Kinnala dolls

Here are the dolls depicting pooja of a deity:

Now the craftsmen make animal figures too, in the below figures you can see those:

Garuda( Vehicle of Vishnu) and Kamadhenu (An animal in Hindu mythology) are very popular among Kinnala toys:

Doll making art has always fascinated human beings.In Karnataka many celebrate Gombe habba exhibiting the collection of dolls. There are different kinds dolls made of different materials like cloth, wire, sponge , wood etc. 

Recently learnt to make doll from clay. Will share about that in the coming post.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Cute... cuter....cutest dolls

Dolls ...who doesn't like dolls... Dolls have been part of human being's life from ancient time. Human being used clay, wood , metal etc to make dolls . The archaeologists have found metal dolls from Mohenjadaro during excavation.
The Doll made of brass found in excavation of  Monhenjadaro

Image courtesy- Google images

So the history of dolls is quite ancient. There are also evidences that, Greeks and Romans used to bury dolls in children's grave.
Nowadays we find, lots and lots of dolls. Different kinds of dolls are sold by street vendors to the dolls sold in big showrooms, different varieties from handmade to branded ones like Barbie, American Girl etc.
I remember I had learnt making soft toys from one of my craft teachers. I used to gift them to the kids. I really regret I don't have photos of those. Its really nice to convert the the fur and cotton into lively dolls.
Some people are masters of decorating a simple plastic dolls. I got an opportunity to see such collections of cute dolls.
 I have already written about the artist Late.Smt. Manjua. in my previous posts:

 3rd-anniversary of my blog. Happy to write about the most talented lady ...but with tears in my eyes

Lets enter the world of craft- Wire handbags made by Smt. Manjula

In this post sharing about the cute dolls decorated by Late. Smt. Manjula
Here are those dolls,

This is a doll depicting western bride , made of wood. Its looks so lovely and lively, you can see the shyness  in the eyes of the dolls.

 

The below one is doll transformed to look like Kerala woman. Specialty is the  white saree with Gold border and the hairstyle. 

 The below one is doll with water pot, this one is done so perfect, that you can see the doll is decorated with a cloth with normal print, so that it is made to look like  a woman busy with household work

A Kathakali (An Indian Dance form) dancer

Manipuri(An Indian dance form ) dancer 

This one  really shows the artistic capabilities of Smt. Manjula.  .

Doll made to look like a Banjara woman (About Banjara or Lambani you can read here .) 

You can see the Banjara embroidery made on the cloth.

 The below one a plastic doll transformed into a Lambani woman. In this also you can see very fine mirror work and embroidery made on the clothes of the doll.

The back side is also decorated with Banjara Embroidery. This shows the perfection of the artist in her work.

All dolls are very cute, in fact, each one is cute, cuter and cutest doll. :)

Soon will write about the crochet works of Smt. Manjula. 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana