Papier Mache Crafts
Papier- Mache articles are made of waste paper applied in layers and pressed together on wooden moulds. Today, to save time, a thick layer of paper pulp mixed with starch is alternated with paper to get the required thickness with much less labour. Imagination runs wild as craftsmen breath life into this mould, bringing out a variety of expressions on masks.
The craftsmen of Kashmir turn a variety of utility items, of papier mache, into fabulous decorative pieces. The items are brass lined to improve their scope for utility. Designs in the shape of flowers and birds, and the heart shaped Kashmir chinar leaf add life to the objects. Bright and ethnic colors like peacock blue, dark green, brown etc. are used. Gold and silver are used on larger articles. Figures and objects like the Kashmiri houseboat are depicted.
In the south life size figures are made to portray everyday scenes of life. The dancing dolls thus made are very popular. Gwalior, in Madhya Pradesh, has a papier-mache centre but largely for toys. Ujjain in the same state specializes in figures of deities. Puppets made out of papier mache are very popular throughout India. A wide variety of designs and styles inspired by the varied cultures of the different Indian states make excellent decorative pieces.
Cermics crafts
Ceramics-the skilled art of shaping and baking clay articles has risen from its utilitarian origins and became a thing of beauty and artistic expression.
The evolution of Indian ceramics began with the Harappan age and this art has endured through the ages. Articles excavated from Indus valley civilization show the importance of potters in the society. Except for a few examples of Indian ceramics, which have been produced from a single mould, most of it is completely hand-made or wheel-thrown, a tradition carried over to the 20th century.
Ceramic ware is made of hard brittle material produced from nonmetallic minerals by firing at high temperature. Its popularity is evident from the numerous categories and types, one finds all over India.
Today, Khurja, an old town about 80 kms from Delhi, has become a center of ceramic industry. The history of Khurja pottery goes back to about 600 years ago when some of the potter families moved from Delhi to Khurja during the region
of Mohammed Bin Tuglak. Starting with red pottery, they moved to introduce blue glaze on red clay articles.
A special mix of powdered quartz is used to make the stoneware base for blue pottery, which is then glazed, blue, with the same ingredients that were used for the blue tiles of pre-Mughal and Mughal domes. This art has attained a distinct flavor and is well known as Delhi blue pottery.
The Jaipur blue pottery is equally famous and unique. Since it is impervious, it is more hygienic for daily use. Some of this pottery is semi-transparent and mostly decorated with animals and birds motifs. These pottery items, unlike that of Delhi, are made out of Egyptian paste and fired at very low temperature. The range of items is primarily decorative such as ashtrays, vases, coasters, small bowls and boxes for trinkets.
The ceramic pots and jars from Delhi and Rajastan are available in a rich variety of shapes, colors, texture and beautiful forms. They boast of sheen of glaze as well as rough-hewn ruggedness. Ceramic dinner sets, mugs and utility items have flamboyant designs and traditional folk motifs. In addition, Pondicherry is renowned for the Golden Bridge pottery, which is molded out of china clay. Hand crafted ceramic paintings and figurines of deities are very much in vogue, in India
