How to Make a Channapatna Toy

The woodcutter cuts blocks to size depending on the nature of the item. These are stored with him or the craftsperson for future use.

Wooden shavings and dust fly about, coating the room, as the woodworkers cut the wood to required sizes for Channapatna’s toy makers.

Wooden pieces cut on the lathe according to a prescribed size indicates a large order for a specific item.

A Channapatna craftsman cutting a block of wood into even smaller pieces.

First, a coal fire is lit in a small bowl for the lac chips to be heated.

The lac chips are stuck to the end of a wooden stick and held over the fire to melt to the required consistency.

Natural coloured dyes are used to tint the lac. Sometimes, turmeric is used for the colour yellow, indigo powder for blue, and deep red cosmetic powder, locally known as kum kum, for orange and red.

Turmeric powder is being used here to make a yellow paste to mix with the resin chips in order to tint the substance yellow. Dyestuffs could be natural or industrial. The latter is less popular now as the world now prefers eco-friendly materials.

The lac, or resin paste, becomes more malleable, like sticky toffee, as it heats up.
The paste turns uniformly yellow over the fire. It will eventually be used to colour the wooden item yellow.

For green colour, industrial colouring is added to the resin.

The process of preparing the resin needs dexterity, which comes from the transferred experience of generations of artisans practicing wood craft in Channapatna.

Once the lump of melted chips is pulled to its maximum thickness, the coloured lac stick is divided into shorter lengths.

Lac sticks in a variety of hues are kept ready to use to colour the surface of Channapatna wooden toys.

Basic uncomplicated instruments are used by Channapatna’s wooden toy makers to shape and decorate the surface of toys as they spin on the still or turning lathe.

Most are made at home or by local ironsmiths.

Once the wood is turned into its desired shape, the lacquer stick is held against the wooden piece while it is still on the lathe. The lac melts with the heat produced by friction and transfers the colour to the surface of the wood.

In the image on the left, the knob at the end of the wooden stick is being coloured with red lac, while being turned on the lathe.

The lacquer is spread uniformly over the surface with the help of a dried palm leaf. This also gives shine and lustre to the object.

Some artisans in Channapatna, particularly women, still work with hand and foot operated lathes to make smaller items.

A cluster of evenly sized beads, both plain and coloured, emerge from a hand- operated lathe.

Finally, the artisans use small sharp tools to hand engrave decorative elements on to the surface of lacquered toys.

A wooden toy workshop space is decorated by male artisans with images cut out of magazines of popular celebrities from the film world and other paper fancies normally used at children’s parties.

A solitary wooden toy maker brightens his workshop with paper cut outs all over the ceiling like prayer flags.

A few wooden beads are all that is needed to make costume jewellery for young girls.

A small green wooden parrot and a few beads are linked together to make an attractive key ring from Channapatna.

A woman artisan in Channapatna arranges her materials in an orderly manner around her to make a bead necklace. The cut pieces of wood stacked behind her are for larger items made in her work space.

This Channapatna wooden bead necklace was fashioned by women who often plan their own designs at the workplace.

Read more about the toy making tradition of Channapatna here:

- Lathe-turned and Lacquered toys of Channapatna
- A Portrait Gallery of Channapatna Artisans