Handmade in India

CLAY TOYS
Production Clusters
Lucknow district:
Lucknow:
Takaitganj
Products
Band sets
Serving Sets
Raja-Rani sets
Brides
Sadhus
Erotic toys
Realistic
vegetables/fruits
Idols
Tools
Terracotta moulds
Brushes
Wire
THE KUMBHARS OF LUCKNOW specialize in making tiny
clay figurines,and naturalistic fruits and vegetables.The toys
are made and sold in set,based on a theme.The craft began in
the early half of the last century and was inspired by the
Britishers` interest in collecting vignettes of Indian life-the
early toys made were of
washermen,gardeners,mendicants,barbers etc.The toy-makers
belong to the Prajapati or potter community.In Uttar
Pradesh,all painting-be it on clay,wood or puja
pandals,temporary structures-is done by the Prajapati.The
craftsmen once made of unique set of 12 birds that fitted into a
matchbox.The figurines have cast-moulded bodies and handrolled
legs and hands.The fruits are completely cast.They are
sandpapered smooth before being fired.Painting the tiny
faces,especially the eyes,and the deceptively real-looking
fruits and vegetables requires immense artistic ability and an
eye for detail.
Custard apple adn guava;painted clay
toys.
Craftsperson`s work-place and tools.In
the background are coal-dust used in the
kiln.
Clay birds,Those made earlier were tiny and 12 birds could fit into a matchbox.
Realistic clay fruits in a sikki,grass basket.
BASKETRY
Production Clusters
Lucknow district:
Lucknow
Bareilly district:
Bareilly
Products
Shallow baskets
BASKETRY IS AN everyday craft in rural Uttar Pradesh.Readily available raw
material-plant stalks and tree branches are woven into rough stake and strand
baskets.In eastern Uttar Pradesh the arhar,pigeon pea provides lentil,and once
harvested,the main stalk in woven into baskets for vegetable sellers,construction
workers and gardeners.The activity is seasonal dependign on the harvesting of the
arhar crop.The stalk and branches are soaked in the village pond for a day or two so
that the fibre swells and becomes pliable.The thicker stalks are split.The stake element
is rigid and passive and is formed of the thicker branches or the main stem.The strand
is flexible and is manipulated in and out of the strand in an upward spiral.At the rim
the ends are folded back into the weave.The thicker branches are used as the warp with
the thinner ones serving as the intertwining weft.
Tools
Churri-small knife
Churri-large knife
1 Churra,the basket weaver`s
only tool.
2 Baskets from Bareilly.
3 Work baskets made from arhar stalks.The craftsman makes them by the
roadside in Nakkhas, Lucknow.